17-game schedule nearing resolution with NFLPA

[Mista T]

Not possible at the moment. There's a longstanding SCOTUS decision that held that Fridays are for high school football.

and

It is just something the NFL doesn't do to avoid it becoming an issue in legislatures, where laws could be enacted. But there are none because the NFL smartly avoids playing when HS and colleges do.

No NFL games on Friday nights policy was created by neither the Supreme Court nor by the NFL avoiding legislatures. Rather, it was the U.S. Congress' granting limited antitrust exemption to the NFL in 1961:

the league has to stay away from Friday and Saturday. Why? Because Congress said so.

After two attempts to sell the NFL's broadcasting rights were declared illegal because of antitrust concerns, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle headed to the Hill to whip up support. In 1961, Congress passed the Sports Broadcasting Act, which exempted broadcasting rights by major sports leagues from antitrust decisions and cleared the way for the NFL to sell a broadcasting package to CBS, where all teams share the rights equally.

However, the law is more famous for helping to set the NFL broadcasting schedule. To protect fans of college and high school football, Congress also approved language that barred professional games on Fridays and Saturdays during the schools' seasons.

[cvilleRaven]

NCAA has their 68 team March Madness, 8 teams have to play to be the bottom 16th seed in each of 4 regions. A #1 seed in a region has lost to a #16 seed - Virginia and it came back the following year to win the NCCA title.

A 17 game schedule makes no sense other than to minimize the application of tie breakers and from the NFL perspective get a game playing the players less than market value under the present proposed contract.

Out of 350 schools. 68 is a reasonable number. The equivalent NFL tournament field would only have 6 teams.

[flraven]

High school and college football is huge here in Florida, at least in the Panhandle. The local sportscasters cover high school and college nearly exclusively and only rarely report on the pro league. I've heard them say go watch ESPN for the pro info.

[cvilleRaven]

High school and college football is huge here in Florida, at least in the Panhandle. The local sportscasters cover high school and college nearly exclusively and only rarely report on the pro league. I've heard them say go watch ESPN for the pro info.

Picking a spot halfway between Tallahassee and Pensacola - considering the closest pro teams are over 4 hours away (New Orleans at 4, Jacksonville at 4 1/2, Atlanta at 5, Tampa at 6), are you surprised? WBAL/WJZ/WBFF don't report on Pittsburgh or Philly, other than in reference to the Ravens.

[flraven]

Picking a spot halfway between Tallahassee and Pensacola - considering the closest pro teams are over 4 hours away (New Orleans at 4, Jacksonville at 4 1/2, Atlanta at 5, Tampa at 6), are you surprised? WBAL/WJZ/WBFF don't report on Pittsburgh or Philly, other than in reference to the Ravens.

No, not surprised at all. But Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Athens, and Gainesville aren't exactly close and they get a ton of coverage during football season. They will report on the Bucs, Jags and Dolphins occasionally. The Saints get their props too, since so many people came here after Katrina and decided to stay.