Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League has taken the position that he thinks four preseason games are too many. “I’m not sure, talking with NFL coaches, that four preseason football games is necessary any more to get ready for a season.”
NFL fans should not expect a shorter season though, because this is simply a prelude to cutting one game out of the preseason schedule and adding at least two games to the regular season. In other words, SHORTER IS LONGER! The NFL owners, and leadership, have long wanted to move to at least an 18-game regular season but, of course, the Players Association has balked because they haven’t, as yet, figured out how the players would get more money. Of course, the owners would get a LOT more money out of this because regular season games bring in a whole lot more money than do preseason games, both in ticket sales and television rights.
Players have not normally negotiated contracts on a basis of so much money for so many games. They have usually signed contracts that specify a certain amount of dollars for a season, both preseason and regular season. Thus, you see, the proposal to add a couple of games makes $dollar signs dance in the eyes of the owners but not the players.
One thing you can count on: the NFL IS NOT going to shorten their season. They have become masters of staying in the public eye twelve months out of the year. They are not going to take a step backwards. Expect more, not less, out of the NFL!
Speaking of money, the Big 12 Conference is wallowing in it! They just announced that the conference will distribute a record $38.8 million to each of the ten schools for the 2018-19 school year.
“We’re enjoying a period of prosperity,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said at conference meetings in Irving, Texas. Gee Bob, that’s like saying Ice cream tastes good, or, the Titanic is sinking!
In a nutshell, you now know why there HAS NOT been any expansion of the Big 12 Conference to actually have twelve members. Why spread the wealth? The current ten members are raking in lots of moola and things are just dandy the way they are. These are the kind of problems to have!
Kudos to the Scott City boys. They won the 3A championship in Track and Field last week. Again! For continued athletic success one would be hard pressed to top that of Scott City. They win in football. They win in basketball and continually are on the trophy stand in Track and Field.
It takes more than just a good athletic class to have this kind of sustained athletic success. It has become a tradition in Scott City. Something to be expected and, thus, expected, creates a work environment amongst student athletes and coaches and townspeople that leads to this kind of success.
Vince Lombardi, famous coach of the Green Bay Packers once said, “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
Congratulations Scott City. You are a notch above!
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com.
