Why does the NFL play way less games than other sports?
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A lot of answers relating to the high impact nature of football, but there are also legal and logistical issues. With regards to the NFL, US federal law practically prohibits televising NFL games on Friday nights after 6PM and on Saturdays. The NFL earns most of its revenue from TV, so that takes 2 days of the week away already. Then you compound that with the logistical issue…roster size. The NFL has 53 man rosters, of whom 46 dress on game day. And all the players need their equipment, which probably amounts to a full truckload on its own. It’s a bit more baggage than 26 baseball players or 15 basketball players might need. And of course, while the Jets and Giants might have a short trip to play each other, that’s not the case for most teams. They’re traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles for games, even overseas for some games. So while you might physically be able to move 46 players from place to place in order to play 2 or 3 games a week, you couldn’t move all the crap they need in a cost effective manner. College teams don’t quite have the same TV broadcasting issue, but their logistical problems can be worse since they’ll dress as many as 70-100 players for games. And that’s only the teams’ logistical challenges. College football stadiums often seat 100k+ spectators. College towns can double in population on game days from all the people coming to games. That’s a big strain on police, hospitals, etc. Once a week is probably the limit for them too.
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