and end a week early, based on individual conference desires?

MLB starts usually around April 1 (or even the last days of March). NFL season starts a week AFTER Labor Day Sunday and ends, well actually never ends until February.

Wouldn't it be nice if MLB went from April 15 to Oct 15 (that includes the World Series)? Would need to drop a number of games, though. April 1 and October 31 can be pretty cold in certain parts of the country. The temps start to decline significantly after Oct 15 in the Midwest, New England, etc. Temps start to warm in around April 15 in most parts of the country (although a few cities can still hit cold during the 2nd half of April).

Maybe CONFERENCES, by their choice, would start a week early and finished up the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving.

For the MAC, the two MACC teams would have two weeks between the final game and the MACC.

I'd think this would be good for conferences such as the MAC, B1G, MWC, maybe B12, maybe AAC, and a number of FCS and D-II conferences (e.g., GLIAC which are all cold weather cities).

ONLY teams from conferences opting to start early could be involved in games the week BEFORE Labor Day.

Good idea but won't happen? Bad idea, period?

Or maybe "I just don't get it". The NHL is playing hockey outdoors in mid-Winter, the Super Bowl will be in balmy NYC, etc.

(11-29-2013 07:08 AM)emu steve Wrote:  and end a week early, based on individual conference desires?

MLB starts usually around April 1 (or even the last days of March). NFL season starts a week AFTER Labor Day Sunday and ends, well actually never ends until February.

Wouldn't it be nice if MLB went from April 15 to Oct 15 (that includes the World Series)?

YES! Those are exactly the dates I believe are appropriate too. (Although I'd be willing to see it go a week later).

Quote: Would need to drop a number of games, though. April 1 and October 31 can be pretty cold in certain parts of the country.

Exactly right.

Quote:I'd think this would be good for conferences such as the MAC, B1G, MWC, maybe B12, maybe AAC, and a number of FCS and D-II conferences (e.g., GLIAC which are all cold weather cities).

ONLY teams from conferences opting to start early could be involved in games the week BEFORE Labor Day.

Good idea but won't happen? Bad idea, period?

Means practicing longer for bowl teams. That's where the NCAA purportedly has concerns.

So MLB would want to have fewer games and cut back on their revenue because...?

(11-29-2013 09:53 AM)axeme Wrote:  So MLB would want to have fewer games and cut back on their revenue because...?

Because they read the Pope's Apostolic Exhortation (I believe that is the correct term) on issues with unfettered capitalism. Not.

Or because they care about the players and fans. Not. (anyone remember how the Tigers opened the season at Minnesota this year with sub-freezing temps?).

But seriously, if they cared about the players, they would shorten the season to 154 games and give each team about one week off at All-Star Game time which would be for the players' health, i.e., give them a chance to rest and heal nagging injuries. Half the team would get the 5 days before the All-Star break off and then other half 5 days after the All-Star Game break.

Shouldn't pro athletes be treated at least as well as race horses, which are considered very valuable and rested periodically throughout the race seasons?

If everyone cared about the health and well-being of players, modern football wouldn't exist. Should we cut the college season back to six games and give players an extra week between games to heal?

(11-29-2013 10:50 AM)axeme Wrote:  If everyone cared about the health and well-being of players, modern football wouldn't exist. Should we cut the college season back to six games and give players an extra week between games to heal?

There is actually a lot of truth in your statement.

Baseball, basketball, soccer, track and field, etc. are relatively safe sports.

Football is not. Bare knuckle fighting in hockey is not. Boxing is not.

(11-29-2013 09:53 AM)axeme Wrote:  So MLB would want to have fewer games and cut back on their revenue because...?

That's pretty questionable. Diminishing returns. Fewer games might get just as many fans thru a season, and owners could probably pay less.

Stadiums and municipalities are the ones who wouldn't like it.

Big baseball fan I know said he thought there were too many games, but it's the hot Jul-Aug that's the problem. Addressing all of that, we'd see baseball down to about 100 games.

The greed and disregard for the health of the athletes is much greater in college football than it is in MLB. College football has gone from 10 games plus a possible bowl game for a few to 12 games plus cc game, plus bowl games for more than half and next year an added game for two teams who will be playing in their 15th game most likely. That is a big escalation without any regard for player safety and body stress and it is entirely for one reason--money.

(11-29-2013 11:02 AM)axeme Wrote:  The greed and disregard for the health of the athletes is much greater in college football than it is in MLB. College football has gone from 10 games plus a possible bowl game for a few to 12 games plus cc game, plus bowl games for more than half and next year an added game for two teams who will be playing in their 15th game most likely. That is a big escalation without any regard for player safety and body stress and it is entirely for one reason--money.

I'm in favor of cutting back college FB to 11 games and keeping two bye weeks with the MAC, etc. finishing the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving.

Let the B1G, SEC, etc. have tomorrow and today.

That said, the REAL problem is the NFL. They have a 20 game, pre-season and regular season, and players there are much bigger, faster, etc. etc.

Injuries in FB are a problem at the collegiate level but exponentially more in the NFL. In the NFL it is size/speed x # of games x career length = big problems.

In college a player might play 50 game in a career (at EMU it is 48 ) vs. big / strong / fast players.

In the NFL, that same player might play 150 games vs. much bigger / stronger / faster players.

I could be wrong, but most debilitating injuries are occurring in the NFL not college.

All of the brain injuries I've read about are from former NFL players.

(11-29-2013 11:02 AM)axeme Wrote:  The greed and disregard for the health of the athletes is much greater in college football than it is in MLB. College football has gone from 10 games plus a possible bowl game for a few to 12 games plus cc game, plus bowl games for more than half and next year an added game for two teams who will be playing in their 15th game most likely. That is a big escalation without any regard for player safety and body stress and it is entirely for one reason--money.

Sure. Impossible to deny.

(11-29-2013 07:08 AM)emu steve Wrote:  and end a week early, based on individual conference desires?

<snip>

Maybe CONFERENCES, by their choice, would start a week early and finished up the Saturday BEFORE Thanksgiving.

For the MAC, the two MACC teams would have two weeks between the final game and the MACC.

I'd think this would be good for conferences such as the MAC, B1G, MWC, maybe B12, maybe AAC, and a number of FCS and D-II conferences (e.g., GLIAC which are all cold weather cities).

ONLY teams from conferences opting to start early could be involved in games the week BEFORE Labor Day.

Good idea but won't happen? Bad idea, period?

Or maybe "I just don't get it". The NHL is playing hockey outdoors in mid-Winter, the Super Bowl will be in balmy NYC, etc.

Yes, but the problem is that for most schools, the football season is already starting during the first week students are back in town. It's the same thing as having football games the weekend after Thanksgiving, don't complain if students don't come if school isn't in session.

It would be good if football could work like the NCAA baseball works - the baseball plays for about a month down south, when it's still cold up north. Wouldn't it have better to have the LSU and South Alabama games in November, rather than September?

I think it's a good idea. Limit the Black Friday games which don't draw well. Also, teams from those conferences could be required to take Thanksgiving week off from practice if the extra week was a concern.

I like the idea. I'd also like to see the MAC try to negotiate for September and October weekday games rather than November. With the extra week we could more easily make those schedules and have warmer weather for night games. Let November football be played Saturday afternoon.

I realize ESPN will dictate to the MAC whether we can do that but its worth a try. We could own Tuesday and Wednesday night football for the first 7-8 weeks of college football.