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by Johnny Hirschauer
If the NFL thinks more playoff teams will enhance the fan experience, they're sorely mistaken.
Look no further than the state of the NBA regular season. With eight playoff teams in each conference, the regular season has lost a lot of luster and meaning. The effort is often lackluster and frankly uninspiring. Is it good for the game that the eight-games-below-500 Detroit Pistons are a half-game out of a theoretical bid at the O'Brien trophy?
Yes, it excites fan bases. I get that- as a Heat fan who struggled through 2007-2009's slew of mediocre hogwash I understand the villification of lower seeds getting a playoff bid. But there's something about the NFL's current format- when compared to the NBA- that makes fans feel as if their team, by making the playoffs, has essentially earned the right to compete for a league title-whereas the NBA's 7 and 8 seeds are mere formalities.
Like anything else, moreso in today's day and age, the league is after revenue. Whether the league should respect the heritage of the game and preserve what seems to be a winning recipe is a question that is a valid one but is rather irrelevant. Roger Goodell, for better or for worse, has turned the NFL into a league driven by rampant fan interest. While that may sound logical, it can too easily lose sight of rationality that gets lost in fan-driven fads- namely the out of control offensive numbers the league is propogating. Sometimes, the masses don't know what's in their own best interest.
So what?
So Roger Goodell should really think about the long term. Yes, more playoff teams may inflate a brief spike in fan excitement. But should this come at the cost of the product on the NFL playoff field? Or the intensity of the regular season?
Popular opinion is just that-popular. But it's frequently shortlived, and too often shortsighted.
by Johnny Hirschauer
If the NFL thinks more playoff teams will enhance the fan experience, they're sorely mistaken.
Look no further than the state of the NBA regular season. With eight playoff teams in each conference, the regular season has lost a lot of luster and meaning. The effort is often lackluster and frankly uninspiring. Is it good for the game that the eight-games-below-500 Detroit Pistons are a half-game out of a theoretical bid at the O'Brien trophy?
Yes, it excites fan bases. I get that- as a Heat fan who struggled through 2007-2009's slew of mediocre hogwash I understand the villification of lower seeds getting a playoff bid. But there's something about the NFL's current format- when compared to the NBA- that makes fans feel as if their team, by making the playoffs, has essentially earned the right to compete for a league title-whereas the NBA's 7 and 8 seeds are mere formalities.
Like anything else, moreso in today's day and age, the league is after revenue. Whether the league should respect the heritage of the game and preserve what seems to be a winning recipe is a question that is a valid one but is rather irrelevant. Roger Goodell, for better or for worse, has turned the NFL into a league driven by rampant fan interest. While that may sound logical, it can too easily lose sight of rationality that gets lost in fan-driven fads- namely the out of control offensive numbers the league is propogating. Sometimes, the masses don't know what's in their own best interest.
So what?
So Roger Goodell should really think about the long term. Yes, more playoff teams may inflate a brief spike in fan excitement. But should this come at the cost of the product on the NFL playoff field? Or the intensity of the regular season?
Popular opinion is just that-popular. But it's frequently shortlived, and too often shortsighted.