Pro Sports Seasons Go Too Long
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Another thread on here today contained the last 17 Super Bowl results today. The Super Bowl has not been played in January since 2003. When the Super Bowl first started, the game was in mid January. I preferred the Super Bowl in January to it being in February now.
Big sports being pushed back on the calendar doesn't only happen with the NFL's signature game. The other North American major pro sports (NBA, NHL, MLB) also have this problem. I'd say the Super Bowl in February now is less bad than the other sports. The reason the Super Bowl is in February now is because the NFL doesn't want to start its season on Labor Day weekend, which they used to do.
1. The NBA Finals often end after June 15. They used to wrap up in May. By mid June, I like to think more of summer sports than an indoors sport like basketball. The NBA could end seasons earlier by shortening the first round of the playoffs to a best of 5. That could shave some time off the playoffs.
2. The NHL season ends in June. Hockey has ice. Ice is not something I'm usually pumped about in June.
3. MLB has the most egregious problem. Some recent World Series' have ended in November. No World Series should end in November or late October. The fix in baseball is easiest. Move the start of the regular season up a week by shorten spring training (an archaic ritual), and that'll help ensure all World Series games end by October 25. The best quality baseball is not played outdoors in cold weather. The World Series is baseball's showcase event, and nearly 4 hour games in not so good weather doesn't give off the best brand experience.
Does anyone else not like how sports seasons are dragging out longer & longer?
Big sports being pushed back on the calendar doesn't only happen with the NFL's signature game. The other North American major pro sports (NBA, NHL, MLB) also have this problem. I'd say the Super Bowl in February now is less bad than the other sports. The reason the Super Bowl is in February now is because the NFL doesn't want to start its season on Labor Day weekend, which they used to do.
1. The NBA Finals often end after June 15. They used to wrap up in May. By mid June, I like to think more of summer sports than an indoors sport like basketball. The NBA could end seasons earlier by shortening the first round of the playoffs to a best of 5. That could shave some time off the playoffs.
2. The NHL season ends in June. Hockey has ice. Ice is not something I'm usually pumped about in June.
3. MLB has the most egregious problem. Some recent World Series' have ended in November. No World Series should end in November or late October. The fix in baseball is easiest. Move the start of the regular season up a week by shorten spring training (an archaic ritual), and that'll help ensure all World Series games end by October 25. The best quality baseball is not played outdoors in cold weather. The World Series is baseball's showcase event, and nearly 4 hour games in not so good weather doesn't give off the best brand experience.
Does anyone else not like how sports seasons are dragging out longer & longer?
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Basketball is boring and can go away all together.
Hockey, baseball, and football can all stay on all year long for all I care...I love them.0 -
Since I posted the mentioned list of Super Bowls, I feel that qualifies me to comment.
The NFL season isn't any longer. There used to be no week between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl, which meant the Super Bowl was in January a lot. Somewhere they added an off week to make it two weeks between the conference championship and the SB. So no games were moved or added. Just a week of rest in between.
As much as I love hockey, the NHL and the NBA could both get away with starting their seasons a month later.
Baseball's season is probably too long and could be cut by some games, but if they aren't going to do that, adding some more double headers. it wouldn't take much. You could also solve the weather issue in October by playing the series on a neutral field, like the Super Bowl - but I doubt anyone would want to give up the chance for WS money.
I am fine with college seasons, except for the 4+ weeks between the last college football game and the BCS bowls.0 -
The only good thing about basketball is the playoffs, and you want to shorten it?
As for caring that the seasons tend to run a little later, couldn't care less. I've never thought to myself, "Damn. This Game 7 would be SO much better if it was held last month".
Yes, I think it would serve the NBA well to shorten the playoffs. The first round being Best of 7 is superfluous. The first round was Best of 5 from 1984-2002, and that seemed to work just fine. Sometimes less is more.
Too much playoffs can serve to make the regular season less meaningful. I like a meaningful regular season.0 -
I hate anything Bud Selig does so yeah... i hate this new playoff format that goes into late october- november.0
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My only thought is this: With as much $$$$$ as they get played to play, they better earn it. If that means long seasons, so be it.0
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Basketball is boring and can go away all together.
Hockey, baseball, and football can all stay on all year long for all I care...I love them.
This!0 -
I hate anything Bud Selig does so yeah... i hate this new playoff format that goes into late october- november.
I haven't been a Bud Selig fan, but I absolutely love the new one-game wild card. It gets another team in the playoffs, puts emphasis back on winning the division, when teams stopped caring, and is an exciting win-or-go-home game which you don't usually get in pro sports (except football).0 -
While I agree that these seasons are probably too long, don't you realize this is all about money ? Longer seasons = more $$$. Quite simple actually.0
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Baseball is a snooze-fest, and no one has the attention span for 6 months of games every day. Baseball season should be 82 games. I honestly think the length of their playoffs is fine.
I live in a baseball city, so my opinion probably isn't popular where I'm from.
NBA lacks the spirit of its college counterpart. I won't say anything further about the NBA except that it does feel like their playoffs drag on FOREVER. I wish college hoops went until June, but only because I'd rather watch college.
Hockey's great. 82 games is probably a good number. I admit their playoffs are about as long as the NBA's, and could be shorter.
Football, you have to keep in mind, is only once a week. So it's hard to make an argument that it drags on too long. I don't think football needs 4 preseason games, just like I don't think baseball needs a full month of "spring training" games.0 -
You know what I hate the most? FAT,OVERWEIGH AND CLEARLY OUT OF SHAPE MEN, WHO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, AND HOCKEY!!!! I find that so amusing because a) I could give two ****s about sports (except baseball because I played college ball) and b) I'd rather be looking like a damn athlete than pretending to be one! BAM!!!!!!!!0
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Easy, champ.
American men watch sports.
I can't even tell if you're a dude or a lady.
If you're a dude, you (at best) must be having a bad day, or (at worst) you have insecurities you should talk to a professional about.
If you're a lady, you should respect that guys like to watch sports. A lot of them do, and that doesn't make them bad people, or people with priorities out of alignment.
For the record, I play sports AND watch sports.0 -
I wish the NBA, NFL, NCAA Football and MLB were year around. I couldn't care less about the NHL, NCAA basketball, NASCAR, MLS or any other "sports" other than the first 4 I mentioned.0
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As a sports geek, I have given this thought. As for the 4 majors:
MLB - Preseason April, Regular Season May-September, Postseason October (NEVER November 1). 140 Regular Season games.
NHL - Preseason September 15, Regular Season October 1-March 20, Postseason March 21-April 30 (Never May 1). 80 Regular Season games.
NBA - Preseason October, Regular Season October 20-April 20, Postseason April 21-May 31 (Never June 1). 80 Regular Season games.
NFL - Preseason August, Regular Season September-December, Posteason January (Never February 1), 15 Regular Season games.
That said, CREAM. Cash Rules Everything Around Me. Ownership will NEVER go for these dates because my restricting they'd lose revenue.0 -
You know what I hate the most? FAT,OVERWEIGH AND CLEARLY OUT OF SHAPE MEN, WHO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, AND HOCKEY!!!! I find that so amusing because a) I could give two ****s about sports (except baseball because I played college ball) and b) I'd rather be looking like a damn athlete than pretending to be one! BAM!!!!!!!!
And you are? And why should I care about your opinion?0 -
You know what I hate the most? FAT,OVERWEIGH AND CLEARLY OUT OF SHAPE MEN, WHO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, AND HOCKEY!!!! I find that so amusing because a) I could give two ****s about sports (except baseball because I played college ball) and b) I'd rather be looking like a damn athlete than pretending to be one! BAM!!!!!!!!
this seems to be coming from a dark place.
i think you need a hug.0 -
You know what I hate the most? FAT,OVERWEIGH AND CLEARLY OUT OF SHAPE MEN, WHO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, AND HOCKEY!!!! I find that so amusing because a) I could give two ****s about sports (except baseball because I played college ball) and b) I'd rather be looking like a damn athlete than pretending to be one! BAM!!!!!!!!
And you are? And why should I care about your opinion?
clearly, because he put "bam!!!!!!!!" at the end.
that means something.0 -
You know what I hate the most? FAT,OVERWEIGH AND CLEARLY OUT OF SHAPE MEN, WHO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, AND HOCKEY!!!! I find that so amusing because a) I could give two ****s about sports (except baseball because I played college ball) and b) I'd rather be looking like a damn athlete than pretending to be one! BAM!!!!!!!!
settle down there, Emiril
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Um, did you get hacked?You know what I hate the most? FAT,OVERWEIGH AND CLEARLY OUT OF SHAPE MEN, WHO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL, AND HOCKEY!!!! I find that so amusing because a) I could give two ****s about sports (except baseball because I played college ball) and b) I'd rather be looking like a damn athlete than pretending to be one! BAM!!!!!!!!0 -
In reference to Wolverine's post:
This!!!
The only thing I would change about the MLB Playoff structure is to make the a 3-game instead of a single game.
I would love NBA and NHL to adapt a 3-games series for the AT LARGE teams and reward the division winners with a round 1 bye.
This would be a MESS in the NFL. The only way I can make it work is to ADD a 4th division and add 2 wildcards. Making 4 division winners and 4 AT LARGE teams. Identical to the NBA and NHL. Only, obviously, one game playoff games, versus a series.0 -
As a sports geek, I have given this thought.
NBA - Preseason October, Regular Season October 20-April 20, Postseason April 21-May 31 (Never June 1). 80 Regular Season games.
That said, CREAM. Cash Rules Everything Around Me. Ownership will NEVER go for these dates because my restricting they'd lose revenue.
I'm not sure. There's the law of diminishing returns to consider. More is not always better. If the quality of product suffers, ratings, attendance, interest, and merchandise sales follow. For instance, I think the NBA was a better league in the 1980s/1990s than it is today.
Your idea of ending the NBA season by the end of May could work. In the early 1980s, the NBA changed their season starting dates so that the Finals would happen in June at the request of CBS. One of the sweeps months in broadcast TV is May, and CBS wanted to air their regular programming like "Dallas" that would get better ratings than the NBA Finals. However, consider the TV environment today. Almost nothing on TV gets the same type of ratings that they got in the 1980s. If ABC wanted to have the NBA Finals during sweeps in late May, it'd probably get better ratings than anything else that ABC has on TV now. It is an idea worth further exploration.
The other part of the TV equation is that rights fees for broadcasting games makes it much harder to keep games on the traditional broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX). The cost of acquiring rights makes it harder to turn a profit selling advertising. Cable networks like TNT/ESPN make money both on selling ad space & on subscriber fees. Cable subscribers that don't watch sports contribute to the revenue model of the pro sports just by having cable.0 -
As far as college the BCS is obviously a joke. As is a 4-game Playoff series. I would propose 8 with no BYES. Everyone should be able to end their regular seasons to allow a 3 week playoff series culminating on new years day!0
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What stinks is that the BCS involves no human component. Hopegully strictly the AP (media) and USA Today (coaches) will account for #10 beating #4 by 18 is a better win then #3 beating an FCS opponent by 70.0
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In reference to Wolverine's post:
This!!!
The only thing I would change about the MLB Playoff structure is to make the a 3-game instead of a single game.
I would love NBA and NHL to adapt a 3-games series for the AT LARGE teams and reward the division winners with a round 1 bye.
This would be a MESS in the NFL. The only way I can make it work is to ADD a 4th division and add 2 wildcards. Making 4 division winners and 4 AT LARGE teams. Identical to the NBA and NHL. Only, obviously, one game playoff games, versus a series.
the single game structure is terrible. I hate that a team has to use their ace during that game and #2 man has to pitch game 1 of the next series. It messes up the entire rotation.0 -
In reference to Wolverine's post:
This!!!
The only thing I would change about the MLB Playoff structure is to make the a 3-game instead of a single game.
I would love NBA and NHL to adapt a 3-games series for the AT LARGE teams and reward the division winners with a round 1 bye.
This would be a MESS in the NFL. The only way I can make it work is to ADD a 4th division and add 2 wildcards. Making 4 division winners and 4 AT LARGE teams. Identical to the NBA and NHL. Only, obviously, one game playoff games, versus a series.
the single game structure is terrible. I hate that a team has to use their ace during that game and #2 man has to pitch game 1 of the next series. It messes up the entire rotation.
It might mess up the rotation, but I see the purpose in it. It places an incentive in the regular season to win the division. If a team doesn't win a division, they have a playoff disadvantage.0 -
In reference to Wolverine's post:
This!!!
The only thing I would change about the MLB Playoff structure is to make the a 3-game instead of a single game.
I would love NBA and NHL to adapt a 3-games series for the AT LARGE teams and reward the division winners with a round 1 bye.
This would be a MESS in the NFL. The only way I can make it work is to ADD a 4th division and add 2 wildcards. Making 4 division winners and 4 AT LARGE teams. Identical to the NBA and NHL. Only, obviously, one game playoff games, versus a series.
the single game structure is terrible. I hate that a team has to use their ace during that game and #2 man has to pitch game 1 of the next series. It messes up the entire rotation.
It might mess up the rotation, but I see the purpose in it. It places an incentive in the regular season to win the division. If a team doesn't win a division, they have a playoff disadvantage.
I'd rather see fewer teams in the post-season with the best players on the field at all times.0 -
In reference to Wolverine's post:
This!!!
The only thing I would change about the MLB Playoff structure is to make the a 3-game instead of a single game.
I would love NBA and NHL to adapt a 3-games series for the AT LARGE teams and reward the division winners with a round 1 bye.
This would be a MESS in the NFL. The only way I can make it work is to ADD a 4th division and add 2 wildcards. Making 4 division winners and 4 AT LARGE teams. Identical to the NBA and NHL. Only, obviously, one game playoff games, versus a series.
the single game structure is terrible. I hate that a team has to use their ace during that game and #2 man has to pitch game 1 of the next series. It messes up the entire rotation.
It might mess up the rotation, but I see the purpose in it. It places an incentive in the regular season to win the division. If a team doesn't win a division, they have a playoff disadvantage.
I'd rather see fewer teams in the post-season with the best players on the field at all times.
I see no problem in this. The old 8 team MLB playoff system used from 1995-2011 was that, as well as the 1969-1993 playoff formats.0 -
The ONLY change to MLB playoffs should be, the wild-card round should be a 3-game series, versus a single game. That's my opinion. Even with this, there is NO reason NOT to wrap up the season by October 31. But there is big network money at play. They need a few days off between same venue games to show there regular programming.0
This discussion has been closed.
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