It doesn’t get any better than Sunday NFL football. While Americans may not embrace soccer with the same the zest that the rest of the world does our love for professional football cannot be questioned.

- Fantasy Football

- Tailgating

- Grill outs and Barbeques

- Direct TV’s NFL Sunday ticket
package

The players love to play on Sunday; the fans love to watch their favorite teams and players play on Sunday, and the owners love watching all the money roll in.

Looking back it is inevitable that this idea would surface and now it has. League owners are pushing to expand the NFL regular season from sixteen games to eighteen games starting in 2012. On the surface it all looks great. You give the people more of what they want and really who is going to say no to two extra weeks of NFL football.

"I think it's a win-win all around," said Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.

Well after further review, I’m not so sure this idea is a win-win and I see some drawbacks to the proposed new and improved eighteen game regular season.

Major league baseball has their marathon 162 game regular season, the NBA has their 82 game season, in college basketball schools are now playing close to 35 regular season games, and I’m not even going to get started on college football and their bowl/BCS postseason format. It seems as though everyone is striving for more quantity. I respect the NFL for not getting sucked into this trap and sticking with their sixteen game season. Every game matters in the NFL, a loss on opening day can’t be forgotten about in the same manner as if there were a 162 game or 81 schedule. I think this is more fun for fans and it makes the season more exciting. I realize that the addition of two games isn’t a leap in gigantic proportions but I don’t think this sixteen game format is broke so why are we trying to fix it.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer echoed these sentiments when he was asked what he thought about an 18 game season.

"With 16 games, every game is important and therefore the fans are very into it, the stadiums are packed because they know if their team loses, it pushes them further and further away from making the playoffs," Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer said. "I think if you go to 18, each game kind of loses a little bit of its significance."

Another thing to remember is just how punishing a league the National Football League is. I’ve heard numerous horror stories of past NFL players who speak of waking up in pain and still dealing with the after effects of injuries which they suffered during their playing days. The NFL regular season is only sixteen games for a reason and that is because it is so punishing. Professional football players have by far the shortest playing window because of the beating they take week in and week out. While the two extra weeks may spell profits and more lucrative television contracts for the owners, players see it as adding on to an already grueling sixteen game campaign.

"They are asking you to play more games and put yourself at more risk” Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita said.

The proposed eighteen game regular season is a classic case of the owners seeing an issue from one perspective and the player seeing the issue from another perspective. I know the owners eyes are probably lighting up thinking about the possible revenue opportunities with an extra two weeks, but I’m looking at this situation from the players’ perspective. I like the sixteen game regular season and once you go down this road of adding games you usually don’t travel backwards and shorten the season. The set up is just right, sixteen games is enough games for the players, as an NFL fan it is just enough games for myself, yet it is not enough games for the owners.

Thoughts comments opinions

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