Houston offensive tackle Eric Winston was just on ESPN’s Jim Rome is burning and the six year veteran had some logical ideas for the NFL to generate more money, but protect its players.
1.) Thursday Night Football Bid – The NFL would like to add two more games to every team’s schedule, with the projected profits being an extra $500 million dollars a year. Winston’s idea? He would like to see the NFL’s Thursday games be expanded much like Monday Night Football. Right now, Thursday night games are only played late in the season and are on the NFL Network. According to Winston, Monday Night Football is worth nearly $1.9 billion dollars. With numbers like that, it’s probably safe to say the NFL could bid out Thursday night games to networks for an extra $750 million to $1 billion dollars.
2.) Extra Playoff Games – The biggest drawback by players for two additional games is the chance of getting hurt. Winston’s take - is $500 million dollars in a $9 billion industry really worth the risk of 1692 players getting hurt in a game? Winston had another idea for the NFL to make additional television money without expanding the schedule. Expand the playoffs. Add two more teams in conference, which means four additional playoff games. Surely four extra playoff games would create over $500 million dollars in revenue for the NFL.
These are two interesting ideas that both myself and Ted Madden had never heard before. What are your thoughts? Seems like two ideas that wouldn’t affect fans, but could increase profits for the NFL owners and players.
Who wouldn’t love an additional night of football each weekend?
