NEW YORK — NFL and union officials
discussed adding two games to the regular season when they met
Wednesday for their first negotiating session since February.
Teams would still play a total of 20
exhibition plus regular-season games under the proposal. The league
would go from four in the preseason and 16 in the regular season to two
and 18.
"This is an idea that is really
gaining momentum, particularly with the owners," Green Bay Packers
president Mark Murphy said on a conference call.
The current collective bargaining agreement expires in March, which could lead to a work stoppage during the 2011 season.
In quotes released by the NFL Players
Association, Tom Brady and Ray Lewis expressed concern about the damage
two extra regular-season games could do to players' bodies.
"I've taken part in several
postseason runs where we have played 20 games," said Brady, the New
England Patriots quarterback. "The long-term impact this game has on
our bodies is well-documented. Look no further than the players that
came before we did. Each player today has to play three years in order
to earn five years of post-career health care."
Murphy said he frequently hears
Packers fans complain about the quality of exhibition games, as
starters now play sparingly in the preseason. With offseason training,
he said, players come into camp in good shape and no longer need four
games to prepare.
"Part of it is really providing more
value to our fans," Murphy said. "The quality of our preseason has
really deteriorated over time."
Murphy suggested that more
regular-season games would mean more revenue — which means more money
distributed to players. The earliest season with an expanded schedule
would be 2012.
"I know our fans may not like
preseason games and I don't like all of them," said Lewis, the
Baltimore Ravens linebacker, "but swapping two preseason games for two
end-of-season games — when players already play hurt — comes at a huge
cost for the player and the team."
Murphy said the league would look
into how players train during the offseason and season to try to reduce
injuries. The size of the active roster and practice squads could also
be increased; that would have to be agreed to in bargaining.
The NFL could expand to 22 games —
four exhibition, 18 regular season — under the current CBA, subject to
financial negotiation with players, but Murphy said the league would
not make a change without an agreement from the union.
He floated the possibility of
creating a developmental league to make up for the experience lost by
younger players with the reduction in preseason games.
"If you look across most
professional sports, we're the only league without some type of minor
league or developmental system to develop players," Murphy said.