I think Goodell is gunning for Labor Day weekend...

However, if the season starts after Labor Day, then SB could be President's Day. A double bye would push things to last Sunday in February. WC weekend would be the last weekend of January, unbelievably.

The CFP could finish before the NFL playoffs even start, NCG and all. While there would still be conflicts with regular season NFL games on Saturdays, it does give both leagues a chance to disperse the scheduling a bit. Maybe that third Saturday in December, which is crucial, would finally open up, given the NFL would free up an additional two Saturdays after NYD.

It will still be quite a few years before the NFL can get this past the NFLPA I feel.

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-players-assoc...ame-season

(02-07-2025 09:08 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think Goodell is gunning for Labor Day weekend...

However, if the season starts after Labor Day, then SB could be President's Day. A double bye would push things to last Sunday in February. WC weekend would be the last weekend of January, unbelievably.

The CFP could finish before the NFL playoffs even start, NCG and all. While there would still be conflicts with regular season NFL games on Saturdays, it does give both leagues a chance to disperse the scheduling a bit. Maybe that third Saturday in December, which is crucial, would finally open up, given the NFL would free up an additional two Saturdays after NYD.

It will still be quite a few years before the NFL can get this past the NFLPA I feel.

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-players-assoc...ame-season

Frank has said as much regarding the schedule already. President's Day would give everyone the Super Bowl Monday they are clamoring for.

(02-07-2025 09:08 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think Goodell is gunning for Labor Day weekend...

However, if the season starts after Labor Day, then SB could be President's Day. A double bye would push things to last Sunday in February. WC weekend would be the last weekend of January, unbelievably.

The CFP could finish before the NFL playoffs even start, NCG and all. While there would still be conflicts with regular season NFL games on Saturdays, it does give both leagues a chance to disperse the scheduling a bit. Maybe that third Saturday in December, which is crucial, would finally open up, given the NFL would free up an additional two Saturdays after NYD.

It will still be quite a few years before the NFL can get this past the NFLPA I feel.

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-players-assoc...ame-season

It's not "possibly" going to be a double bye. A double bye is absolutely happening when this occurs.

Labor Day weekend may be a little less optimal as opening weekend for the NFL, but I think the 18th game and SB on Presidents' Day Weekend more than make up for that--so that's what I'd bet on us seeing.

Not sure why you believe that this would "open up" the 3rd Saturday in December, though. The NFL doesn't show games that day just because of where it falls in relation to the NFL season. The reality is, if it were legally allowed to do so, the NFL would likely show NFL games on every single Saturday of the season.

(02-07-2025 10:07 AM)djsuperfly Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 09:08 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think Goodell is gunning for Labor Day weekend...

However, if the season starts after Labor Day, then SB could be President's Day. A double bye would push things to last Sunday in February. WC weekend would be the last weekend of January, unbelievably.

The CFP could finish before the NFL playoffs even start, NCG and all. While there would still be conflicts with regular season NFL games on Saturdays, it does give both leagues a chance to disperse the scheduling a bit. Maybe that third Saturday in December, which is crucial, would finally open up, given the NFL would free up an additional two Saturdays after NYD.

It will still be quite a few years before the NFL can get this past the NFLPA I feel.

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-players-assoc...ame-season

It's not "possibly" going to be a double bye. A double bye is absolutely happening when this occurs.

Labor Day weekend may be a little less optimal as opening weekend for the NFL, but I think the 18th game and SB on Presidents' Day Weekend more than make up for that--so that's what I'd bet on us seeing.

Not sure why you believe that this would "open up" the 3rd Saturday in December, though. The NFL doesn't show games that day just because of where it falls in relation to the NFL season. The reality is, if it were legally allowed to do so, the NFL would likely show NFL games on every single Saturday of the season.

It will be an interesting discussion with the NFL calendar if/when it expands to 18 games.

You’re correct that a double bye will happen in that scenario. (It’s not a “maybe”.)

I also tend to agree that the NFL will choose to move up the start of the season to take over Labor Day weekend in order to have Super Bowl Sunday fall on President’s Day weekend.

I further agree that any change to the schedule will NOT open up the third Saturday in December for college football. That is simply the first available Saturday that the NFL is allowed to have games under its antitrust exemption and that applies whether the NFL has a 12-game season, 16-game season, 18-game season, or 25-game season. In fact, the upshot is going to be that there will be another week of regular season NFL Saturday games in January.

For the CFP, the first round and quarterfinals would stay on the same dates (subject to any adjustments that need to be made to the first round). The networks really want the *quantity* of games (and more importantly, *quantity* of team and conference fan bases still involved in the national championship race) on and around New Year’s Day, so that won’t change. The semifinals can stay on the same Thursday/Friday dates, only now that they would lead into the last week of the NFL regular season as opposed to the wild card round.

The national championship game date is what would need to move, though. The current date would fall on what would be the Monday of the new NFL Wild Card Weekend, which isn’t just a conflict with the NFL in general, but a conflict with the game that ABC/ESPN *specifically* owns the rights to. From my vantage point, it can be moved to the Friday prior to Wild Card Weekend as that gives both teams at least 7 days to prepare. That would mean that the CFP can finish before the NFL playoffs start even with the current CFP calendar and the NFL chooses to move the start of its season to Labor Day weekend.

To that point, though, a Labor Day weekend start to the NFL is a waaaaaay more impactful issue for college football in the front end than anything regarding the CFP on the back end. I think we often focus too much on how to make things work for the last 2 or 4 teams playing in the CFP and that leads a lot of people to suggest or gloss over proposed changes that would severely impact all 130-plus FBS schools (e.g. any suggestion to move rivalry week off of Thanksgiving weekend).

If/when the NFL takes over Labor Day weekend, that means college football effectively HAS to turn the current Week 0 into the new Week 1. Personally, I think that the powers that be should do that even if the NFL doesn’t add an 18th game, but certainly an NFL change would force the issue. Now, to be very clear, this does NOT mean college football would be moving the entire season calendar back away (e.g. the aforementioned moving rivalry week off of Thanksgiving weekend). Instead, it would be an additional week at the beginning of the season, each team would get a 2nd bye week during the regular season, and the rest of the calendar would stay the same.

In any event, college football needs to be prepared for this change quickly. Like I’ve said, they should just take over the current Week 0 completely and let any team that wants to play that week to have a game regardless of what the NFL does. This 18th NFL game will happen - it’s just a matter of whether it’s sooner or later (and I’m betting on “sooner” since as much as the NFLPA might make a stink about it upfront, they also want the players to get paid more and this instantly gooses revenue even higher).

The 18th game, double bye and NFL kickoff on Labor Day Weekend are pretty much locked in, I think.

the NFL's next big move, looking at the calendar, would have to be...
Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Each division, going into their bye week, plays one game on Tuesday, one game on Wednesday. 8-10 days rest before, 11-12 days rest after.

The question is, who's left with the bankroll to spend a couple billion dollars a year on an NFL package to make their subscription service a "must have"?

The 4 OTA networks and ESPN are already in the NFL business. Amazon has Thursdays.

Does Netflix need weekly NFL games? or are a couple of games a year good enough to goose subscriber numbers and reduce churn?

Is Apple trying to spend NFL package money to get into the television business in a major way? Or are they okay with just winning awards and not being a serious player in the TV market?

Or is there nobody out there will the will and wallet to make every night an NFL night in the fall?

BYE before every Thursday night game please. Or Thanksgiving.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m not sure who moved this thread to the much less viewed Pro Sports forum, but this ought to be moved backed to the realignment forum. It’s directly relevant to the college football calendar and it’s an important discussion there.

(02-07-2025 11:02 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 10:07 AM)djsuperfly Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 09:08 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think Goodell is gunning for Labor Day weekend...

However, if the season starts after Labor Day, then SB could be President's Day. A double bye would push things to last Sunday in February. WC weekend would be the last weekend of January, unbelievably.

The CFP could finish before the NFL playoffs even start, NCG and all. While there would still be conflicts with regular season NFL games on Saturdays, it does give both leagues a chance to disperse the scheduling a bit. Maybe that third Saturday in December, which is crucial, would finally open up, given the NFL would free up an additional two Saturdays after NYD.

It will still be quite a few years before the NFL can get this past the NFLPA I feel.

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-players-assoc...ame-season

It's not "possibly" going to be a double bye. A double bye is absolutely happening when this occurs.

Labor Day weekend may be a little less optimal as opening weekend for the NFL, but I think the 18th game and SB on Presidents' Day Weekend more than make up for that--so that's what I'd bet on us seeing.

Not sure why you believe that this would "open up" the 3rd Saturday in December, though. The NFL doesn't show games that day just because of where it falls in relation to the NFL season. The reality is, if it were legally allowed to do so, the NFL would likely show NFL games on every single Saturday of the season.

It will be an interesting discussion with the NFL calendar if/when it expands to 18 games.

You’re correct that a double bye will happen in that scenario. (It’s not a “maybe”.)

I also tend to agree that the NFL will choose to move up the start of the season to take over Labor Day weekend in order to have Super Bowl Sunday fall on President’s Day weekend.

I further agree that any change to the schedule will NOT open up the third Saturday in December for college football. That is simply the first available Saturday that the NFL is allowed to have games under its antitrust exemption and that applies whether the NFL has a 12-game season, 16-game season, 18-game season, or 25-game season. In fact, the upshot is going to be that there will be another week of regular season NFL Saturday games in January.

For the CFP, the first round and quarterfinals would stay on the same dates (subject to any adjustments that need to be made to the first round). The networks really want the *quantity* of games (and more importantly, *quantity* of team and conference fan bases still involved in the national championship race) on and around New Year’s Day, so that won’t change. The semifinals can stay on the same Thursday/Friday dates, only now that they would lead into the last week of the NFL regular season as opposed to the wild card round.

The national championship game date is what would need to move, though. The current date would fall on what would be the Monday of the new NFL Wild Card Weekend, which isn’t just a conflict with the NFL in general, but a conflict with the game that ABC/ESPN *specifically* owns the rights to. From my vantage point, it can be moved to the Friday prior to Wild Card Weekend as that gives both teams at least 7 days to prepare. That would mean that the CFP can finish before the NFL playoffs start even with the current CFP calendar and the NFL chooses to move the start of its season to Labor Day weekend.

To that point, though, a Labor Day weekend start to the NFL is a waaaaaay more impactful issue for college football in the front end than anything regarding the CFP on the back end. I think we often focus too much on how to make things work for the last 2 or 4 teams playing in the CFP and that leads a lot of people to suggest or gloss over proposed changes that would severely impact all 130-plus FBS schools (e.g. any suggestion to move rivalry week off of Thanksgiving weekend).

If/when the NFL takes over Labor Day weekend, that means college football effectively HAS to turn the current Week 0 into the new Week 1. Personally, I think that the powers that be should do that even if the NFL doesn’t add an 18th game, but certainly an NFL change would force the issue. Now, to be very clear, this does NOT mean college football would be moving the entire season calendar back away (e.g. the aforementioned moving rivalry week off of Thanksgiving weekend). Instead, it would be an additional week at the beginning of the season, each team would get a 2nd bye week during the regular season, and the rest of the calendar would stay the same.

In any event, college football needs to be prepared for this change quickly. Like I’ve said, they should just take over the current Week 0 completely and let any team that wants to play that week to have a game regardless of what the NFL does. This 18th NFL game will happen - it’s just a matter of whether it’s sooner or later (and I’m betting on “sooner” since as much as the NFLPA might make a stink about it upfront, they also want the players to get paid more and this instantly gooses revenue even higher).

A couple things, could the CFP work with the NFL to allow the natty to play some time on Saturday (maybe a Sat. NFL/CFP doubleheader on ABC)? If that's not an option for the NFL and the CFP wants more than at least 7 days between the semis and natty, is a Weds.-Thur. semi final an option to make a little more room for a next Fri. natty?

Everything else, I'm in agreement with and you may still see a lot of games throughout the week the first couple if weeks (maybe some teams choose not to play Week 1 to play a Tues. or Wed. game Week 2 for exposure or back to back games Tues.-Fri. those 1st couple weeks.

(02-07-2025 12:39 PM)GoBuckeyes1047 Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 11:02 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 10:07 AM)djsuperfly Wrote:  

(02-07-2025 09:08 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  I think Goodell is gunning for Labor Day weekend...

However, if the season starts after Labor Day, then SB could be President's Day. A double bye would push things to last Sunday in February. WC weekend would be the last weekend of January, unbelievably.

The CFP could finish before the NFL playoffs even start, NCG and all. While there would still be conflicts with regular season NFL games on Saturdays, it does give both leagues a chance to disperse the scheduling a bit. Maybe that third Saturday in December, which is crucial, would finally open up, given the NFL would free up an additional two Saturdays after NYD.

It will still be quite a few years before the NFL can get this past the NFLPA I feel.

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/nfl-players-assoc...ame-season

It's not "possibly" going to be a double bye. A double bye is absolutely happening when this occurs.

Labor Day weekend may be a little less optimal as opening weekend for the NFL, but I think the 18th game and SB on Presidents' Day Weekend more than make up for that--so that's what I'd bet on us seeing.

Not sure why you believe that this would "open up" the 3rd Saturday in December, though. The NFL doesn't show games that day just because of where it falls in relation to the NFL season. The reality is, if it were legally allowed to do so, the NFL would likely show NFL games on every single Saturday of the season.

It will be an interesting discussion with the NFL calendar if/when it expands to 18 games.

You’re correct that a double bye will happen in that scenario. (It’s not a “maybe”.)

I also tend to agree that the NFL will choose to move up the start of the season to take over Labor Day weekend in order to have Super Bowl Sunday fall on President’s Day weekend.

I further agree that any change to the schedule will NOT open up the third Saturday in December for college football. That is simply the first available Saturday that the NFL is allowed to have games under its antitrust exemption and that applies whether the NFL has a 12-game season, 16-game season, 18-game season, or 25-game season. In fact, the upshot is going to be that there will be another week of regular season NFL Saturday games in January.

For the CFP, the first round and quarterfinals would stay on the same dates (subject to any adjustments that need to be made to the first round). The networks really want the *quantity* of games (and more importantly, *quantity* of team and conference fan bases still involved in the national championship race) on and around New Year’s Day, so that won’t change. The semifinals can stay on the same Thursday/Friday dates, only now that they would lead into the last week of the NFL regular season as opposed to the wild card round.

The national championship game date is what would need to move, though. The current date would fall on what would be the Monday of the new NFL Wild Card Weekend, which isn’t just a conflict with the NFL in general, but a conflict with the game that ABC/ESPN *specifically* owns the rights to. From my vantage point, it can be moved to the Friday prior to Wild Card Weekend as that gives both teams at least 7 days to prepare. That would mean that the CFP can finish before the NFL playoffs start even with the current CFP calendar and the NFL chooses to move the start of its season to Labor Day weekend.

To that point, though, a Labor Day weekend start to the NFL is a waaaaaay more impactful issue for college football in the front end than anything regarding the CFP on the back end. I think we often focus too much on how to make things work for the last 2 or 4 teams playing in the CFP and that leads a lot of people to suggest or gloss over proposed changes that would severely impact all 130-plus FBS schools (e.g. any suggestion to move rivalry week off of Thanksgiving weekend).

If/when the NFL takes over Labor Day weekend, that means college football effectively HAS to turn the current Week 0 into the new Week 1. Personally, I think that the powers that be should do that even if the NFL doesn’t add an 18th game, but certainly an NFL change would force the issue. Now, to be very clear, this does NOT mean college football would be moving the entire season calendar back away (e.g. the aforementioned moving rivalry week off of Thanksgiving weekend). Instead, it would be an additional week at the beginning of the season, each team would get a 2nd bye week during the regular season, and the rest of the calendar would stay the same.

In any event, college football needs to be prepared for this change quickly. Like I’ve said, they should just take over the current Week 0 completely and let any team that wants to play that week to have a game regardless of what the NFL does. This 18th NFL game will happen - it’s just a matter of whether it’s sooner or later (and I’m betting on “sooner” since as much as the NFLPA might make a stink about it upfront, they also want the players to get paid more and this instantly gooses revenue even higher).

A couple things, could the CFP work with the NFL to allow the natty to play some time on Saturday (maybe a Sat. NFL/CFP doubleheader on ABC)? If that's not an option for the NFL and the CFP wants more than at least 7 days between the semis and natty, is a Weds.-Thur. semi final an option to make a little more room for a next Fri. natty?

Everything else, I'm in agreement with and you may still see a lot of games throughout the week the first couple if weeks (maybe some teams choose not to play Week 1 to play a Tues. or Wed. game Week 2 for exposure or back to back games Tues.-Fri. those 1st couple weeks.

Realistically, there is less than zero chance of the NFL doing anything to accommodate the CFP on that first Wild Card Saturday. In theory, the CFP could take a 11 am Central Time slot on that day, but that’s not a great time to maximize viewership and that essentially just makes it an undercard event for the day. Plus, the NFL has already sold off the Saturday prime time Wild Card Game to Amazon for a LOT of money. Everyone needs to bend to whatever the NFL playoff schedule demands as opposed to the other way around.

The possibility of an 18-game season that stretches the regular season to Mid-Jan and the Super Bowl to President day weekend is going to push more clubs to build indoor NFL stadiums in the north.

It makes perfect sense to me that Nashville, Chicago and Cleveland are all proposing new indoor stadiums in part to accomodate all the cold weather games in Dec&Jan.

It also continues to baffle me that the Bufallo Bills did not push for at least for a retractable roof. The Bills are most famous for snow storms messing up their games. Now the Eagles are also starting to think about their next stadium. The owner really likes outdoor games but I think he at least recognizes the reality that he may have to get at least a retractable roof.

I just have a feeling that Bufallo and Green Bay are going to be the last places where any new NFL outdoor only stadiums are built in a cold weather city.

You would think the NFLPA would advocate for a larger active roster size in this instance too. More games = the greater likelihood of injuries. I think it would make sense to expand the active roster pool.

(02-10-2025 09:26 AM)goofus Wrote:  The possibility of an 18-game season that stretches the regular season to Mid-Jan and the Super Bowl to President day weekend is going to push more clubs to build indoor NFL stadiums in the north.

It makes perfect sense to me that Nashville, Chicago and Cleveland are all proposing new indoor stadiums in part to accomodate all the cold weather games in Dec&Jan.

It also continues to baffle me that the Bufallo Bills did not push for at least for a retractable roof. The Bills are most famous for snow storms messing up their games. Now the Eagles are also starting to think about their next stadium. The owner really likes outdoor games but I think he at least recognizes the reality that he may have to get at least a retractable roof.

I just have a feeling that Bufallo and Green Bay are going to be the last places where any new NFL outdoor only stadiums are built in a cold weather city.

At least with Buffalo's new stadium, the majority of the seating area is covered (70% from what I recall). They'll have snowmelt systems on the roof to melt the snow so that it doesn't cause a roof collapse. The field itself will be natural grass and have heating elements installed as well.

If you're going to have a longer schedule, you need to expand the league as well. For a 17 game schedule, expand the league to 34 teams, and for an 18 game schedule, expand it to 36 teams.

(02-10-2025 01:13 PM)andybible1995 Wrote:  If you're going to have a longer schedule, you need to expand the league as well. For a 17 game schedule, expand the league to 34 teams, and for an 18 game schedule, expand it to 36 teams.

There are barely enough QB's for a 32 team league.