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Owners LOVE exhibition games because they get full price for tickets and a local TV deal and the incremental cost in terms of salaries is trivial. In some towns, season ticket holders have the option to buy exhibition game tix; in others, they come as a "take-it-or-leave-it" proposition as part of the season ticket deal. In those towns, not only are fans paying top dollar for a mediocre product, they are paying for it several months in advance so the clubs can make interest off the money.
There is a persistent rumor going around that the NFL wants to move the season start back to late September and play the Super Bowl the last week of February and that this will be part of the nonsense surrounding the new TV deal. IF THAT HAPPENS, look for the league to push the players union to move to an 18 game schedule in the next CBA talks and the games will fill in the September weekends that would be "empty" because the season got moved back.
Amazingly, colleges manage to play football without any pre-season exhibition games. I wonder why it works there but not at the NFL level ...?
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08-16-2004, 12:15 AM
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