Football (North America: NFL, CFL, Arena Football, minor leagues)

[texaskdog]

Not looking good for Kansas City.

Said just about everyone in the first quarter of KC's past three games

or at halftime

Anyway, congrats to the great state of Kansas. Looks like next year's final four will be Chiefs, Ravens, 49ers (hoping), and... Saints, or Packers? Hmmm

No Patriots! :-)

So you think

[Rothman]

Congrats to the Great State of Kansas!

I would highly bet that many people criticizing the Pres also had no idea Kansas City wasn't in Kansas either, until they saw others giving him grief about it.

Kansas City IS in Kansas, just not 90% of the city. So many of those people also had no idea about that. And just because a city is in one state doesn't mean its stadiums aren't in another... I live in NJ...

Pfft.  KC Chiefs are in MO.  That's all there is to it.

[oscar]

Pfft.  KC Chiefs are in MO.  That's all there is to it.

Throwing things off for non-locals is the Chiefs' heavily-advertised affiliation with the University of Kansas Health System. But that system has a presence in Kansas City MO, including a sports medicine facility right next to Arrowhead Stadium.

[US71]

Zeppelin fans: there was about 4 bars of Kashmir in a medley during the Shakira segment of the show (about 3-4 minutes in). For those of you waiting for an all-prog halftime show, ... well, it's a start!

I noticed that too. That reminded me of the colleague who was a DJ in an earlier life, who told me that Kashmir and especially Stairway to Heaven were her favorite songs to play whenever she needed a bathroom break.

Alice's Restaurant was popular at the old KKEG in Fayetteville.  Or Roger Hodgson's  Had a Dream

[Henry]

Congrats to Kansas City for finally extracting revenge on San Francisco, a little over five years later!

(The Giants beat the Royals in the 2014 World Series, but the Chiefs beat the 49ers in the Joe Montana Bowl)

[texaskdog]

So now the new XFL starts up this coming weekend.

And will probably last as long as it did the last time. 

Since the last pro football startup failed before the season ended, the Alliance Of American Football already set the record for fastest implosion.  At least the XFL got a title game in, where LA beat SF.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFL_(2001)

Rick

Even the laughable WFL somehow made it 1.5 seasons

[Bruce]

The Seattle Dragons drew a crowd of 29,172 for their home opener today at CenturyLink Field. They are ranked 3rd among the venue's tenants (the Sounders got 32K for their home MLS debut in 2009).

[kevinb1994]

The Seattle Dragons drew a crowd of 29,172 for their home opener today at CenturyLink Field. They are ranked 3rd among the venue's tenants (the Sounders got 32K for their home MLS debut in 2009).

If it weren't for a fumble, penalty, and interception, Tampa would've won.

[nexus73]

The Seattle Dragons drew a crowd of 29,172 for their home opener today at CenturyLink Field. They are ranked 3rd among the venue's tenants (the Sounders got 32K for their home MLS debut in 2009).

So far that is the largest crowd of the XFL season.  Seattle turns out strong for their sports teams!

Rick

[Roadgeekteen]

How has the XFL been? Do people actually care about it?

[nexus73]

How has the XFL been? Do people actually care about it?

Sports is a niche interest instead of a national interest these days.  Even the CFP games have seen viewer percentages in the single digits.  Those who care, CARE!  Those who don't are in their own little worlds and there are a ton of 'em out there.  21st century breakdown, apologies to Green Day...

Rick

[1995hoo]

How has the XFL been? Do people actually care about it?

We were out running errands yesterday and we stopped at a burger place at Springfield Mall for lunch. I was surprised to see the XFL game on five different TVs.

[NWI_Irish96]

How has the XFL been? Do people actually care about it?

The problem the XFL is going to face from me, and I suspect many others, is that I already have some regular sports TV viewing that overlaps with the XFL schedule.  The weekend after the Super Bowl I always watch the golf pro-am from Pebble Beach.  The following weekend (that just ended) I watch the Daytona 500.  Only because it got postponed due to rain did I end up watching the XFL instead.  In March I'll be watching conference and then NCAA basketball tournaments, and the Masters in April.  If they had evening games instead of afternoon, I'd watch more.

[Big John]

Brees is returning with the Saints this year.

[NWI_Irish96]

NFL appears set to move from a 16 game/17 week schedule to a 17 game/19 week schedule, with the playoffs expanding from 12 to 14 teams.  Have not seen any indication as to whether the two added weeks will be at the beginning of the calendar, end of the calendar, or split between the two.  Selfishly hoping it's the beginning as that means there would still be Super Bowls on my birthday.

[ET21]

6 wild card games that first playoff weekend will be fun

[Henry]

My guess is, the division winners with the three best records among them will get a bye week, while the one with the worst record will have to play a wild-card game. In any case, I welcome the change.

[mgk920]

What will they be doing with that odd regular season game, where will it be played?  I know of no other leagues anywhere in the world where their respective regular seasons don't involve playing an even number of games (except for any needed unscheduled tiebreakers).



Mike

[nexus73]

What will they be doing with that odd regular season game, where will it be played?  I know of no other leagues anywhere in the world where their respective regular seasons don't involve playing an even number of games (except for any needed unscheduled tiebreakers).



Mike

A 17 game schedule would set up more international games.  Having two byes makes it doable plus it means the viewers get 19 weeks of regular season games. 

What I wonder about: Will we get preseason games cut back to two?

Rick

[Beltway]

A 17 game schedule would set up more international games.  Having two byes makes it doable plus it means the viewers get 19 weeks of regular season games. 
What I wonder about: Will we get preseason games cut back to two?

Goodell didn't go any further into how the 17-game schedule would work, but there are plenty of issues to be addressed.  Earlier this year, NFL Network reported that the owners and players are at least interested in exploring a one-game reduction of the preseason -- accompanied by a move from 12 to 14 playoff teams.  If the league expands the postseason by two teams and adds an extra regular-season game, the postseason could start as many as two weekends after New Year's Day in the middle of January.  The current 16-game slate typically concludes around the final Sunday in December.

If the NFL goes to a 17-game schedule, would an extra bye week be implemented?  A 17-game slate creates an imbalance in the home and road games, which could lead to that 17th game being played at a neutral site.  Would a bye be implemented after the neutral site game?  Would that be the only bye week or could the owners defer to the players and create a second bye?  If that's the case, the NFL would expand from the current 17-week schedule to 19 weeks.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/roger-goodell-says-17-game-season-is-part-of-new-cba-talks-and-it-would-push-back-nfl-schedule/

[thspfc]

My ideal NFL schedule:

- No preseason. If teams absolutely want to take the risk of injuring their starters in meaningless games, then they can schedule preseason games on their own time and dollar, negotiate broadcast rights for those games, etc. I've never watched a preseason game.

- Season begins on Labor Day weekend. The season opening game (featuring the previous year's super bowl winner) is played on the Thursday before Labor Day. On the following Sunday, there are three or four more games to get fans excited. All of the other teams play their season openers on the normal Sunday around September 7-10 ish. (the teams that played Labor Day weekend do not play on normal week 1.)

- 16 regular season games, scheduling format remains the same. Four international games, occurring in weeks 5-8. They are immediately followed by a bye for the participating teams.

- Byes: Four different teams have byes each week from week 4 to week 11.

- Playoffs remain the same.

[1995hoo]

My guess is, the division winners with the three best records among them will get a bye week, while the one with the worst record will have to play a wild-card game. In any case, I welcome the change.

I believe it's to be the opposite–only one team gets to skip the "wild-card"  weekend, and that's the top team in the conference. Think about it–with seven teams from each conference, and three "wild-card"  games per conference, six of seven teams per conference must play that first weekend.

(I put "wild-card"  in quotation marks because it's a misnomer if 75% of the division winners are playing that weekend.)

[1995hoo]

This morning's paper has an article about the proposed CBA and it says not all the additional games would be either international or neutral-site, so some teams would have nine home games while other would have eight.

[webny99]

There will be pushback, no doubt. An odd number of games is just no good, not to mention you could no longer finish with a .500 record. If we have to have more games, I would much rather skip straight to 18 games.

[oscar]

There will be pushback, no doubt. An odd number of games is just no good, not to mention you could no longer finish with a .500 record. If we have to have more games, I would much rather skip straight to 18 games.

However many games on the regular season schedule, could it be done to put the Super Bowl on Preisdent's Day/Washington's Birthday weekend? That would let the NFL have its fixation on having the Super Bowl on Sunday evening (Eastern time), while giving more workers the next day off to recover from the game. That'd also mean no suggestions about making the day after the SB a holiday, which I think would be a travesty.