Why is The NFL Season so short?

i would have thought that as all of the players get battered to sh1t each week that might have something to do with it

Correct Mr Miggins......there would no players left if teams played a lot more games....it's a brutal sport for injuries with just a sixteen game schedule.

they have about a 100 players each!

This is not sufficient explanation .

Perhaps one of the reasons it's so commercially successful is because the season is so short

Maybe so .Interesting Theory .It does seem to run for the 4 peak months of US TV Ratings.

Still think they could have another 6 or so games and finish in March.

Where would the 6 games come in though?

more games would mean more dead games at the end of the season. 16 games works v well. if it aint broke..

at start of this season nfl were hinting at 2 extra games per season (replacing 2 of the 4 friendlies ), think the players weren't too interested

The game will be have been completely ruined they way the safety Nazi's have got their teeth into now, even Obama is chiming in. We're seeing the final days of the Roman Empire here is sports terms, trhe barbarians are at the gates. I urge everyone to make the most of it before it's reduced to ballroom dancing with pads on.

I find it hilarious however, that no-one seems interested in killing off Hockey where fighting is allowed (well something has to make it interesting), or Boxing where object of the sport is to batter your opponent senseless, or any other of the 'fighting' sports...

its definitely because of injuries

they have 53 players on an NFL roster and most of them will get beaten up every Sunday.

The physical demands that NFL places on the body means they need time to recover/train etc.

thats why it is a great sport to watch/follow.

many of the players barely make it past 30

Bernard Pollard played since Week 2 with 6 cracked ribs!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/ravens-insider/bal-bernard-pollard-played-with-six-cracked-ribs-this-season-20130204,0,1545511.story

Dirk, there is a certain etiquette to fighting in Hockey.  Each team will have their 'fighters' and their 'skill' players.   Fighters ONLY ever fight with Fighters and this is always by the consent of both players.  Hockey are really cracking down as well as any other infractions that may cause injury.

Certainly agree with Swardean and also worth adding that in Ice Hockey copping one on the chin is far and away the lesser of two injury evils when you see the some other methods of seeking revenge on the ice , allowing a few fisticuffs is a far safer option than for example the Matt Cooke revenge " hit " on Mark Savard ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_BZRKBYjTg


Much rather see a few punches thrown to let off steam that that sort of hit tbh 

the season was shorter years ago. Every week up to 20 players on each team are carrying injuries. 16 plus 3 playoffs if u win is loads.

Jan 27, 2013 -- 6:16PM, tobermory wrote:

they have about a 100 players each!This is not sufficient explanation .

HOW IS THAT NOT A GOOD EXPLANATION. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE 50 ODD PLAYERS IN UR TEAM DOESN'T MEAN MORE GAMES CAN BE PLAYED. IN PREMIERSHIP YOU HAVE A SQUAD OF 25-29 PLAYERS IF ROONEY VAN PERSIE WELBECK, NANI, CARRICK, VIDIC ALL GOT INJURED DUE TO THE BRUTALITY OF THE SPORT, SURE YOU CAN BRING IN REPLACEMENTS BUT WHO WANTS TO WATCH THAT.

BY THE 12TH GAME OF THE SEASON MOST PLAYERS ARE BURNED/BRUISED OUT ITS A MIRACLE THAT THEY EVEN GET TO 16 GAMES.

Dirk, there is a certain etiquette to fighting in Hockey.  Each team will have their 'fighters' and their 'skill' players.   Fighters ONLY ever fight with Fighters and this is always by the consent of both players.  Hockey are really cracking down as well as any other infractions that may cause injury.


>>>It's still violence, that has nothing to do with the 'sport'.

Just look at the amount of players who commit suicide each year after being diagnosed wirh early onset dimensia

16 games is plenty

The season is short because the NFL is essentially the younger, brasher brother of college football, which is a fall (as in autumn) sport.

The college season always ran from the beginning of September til the end of November, winding up to allow players time to study for their end of term exams. There was then 'bowl season' in which a number of top teams were invited to play end of season exhibition games in a number of southern cities in late December and early January.

The Super Bowl, and Pro Bowl, are named such after the Rose Bowl, which is known as the Granddaddy of Them All. Traditionally played between the winners of the Big Ten and the Pac 12 each year (although it has changed a little since the introduction of a national championship in the 1990s). One of the mildy amusing eccentricities of college football is the fact that the Big Ten conference has twelve teams, and the Big 12 conference has ten teams.

Given that everyone's time on this earth is finite, you'd be better off spending it watching college football than the NFL. It's so much more fun, although there are more blowouts.