Quote:
Originally Posted by BizCat
I’ve said for a long time NFL needs two bye weeks.
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Two bye weeks were added in 1993 and gone in 1994. But things would be different now if they tried it again.
http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story...k/sportCat/nfl
Q: What happened when they expanded to two bye weeks in 1993?
A: One word: disaster. CBS and NBC freaked out because their ratings plummeted thanks to a continually depleted Sunday slate; teams complained that they couldn't maintain momentum when they weren't playing enough games in a row; everyone hated losing the week off between the conference title games and the Super Bowl; and most importantly, fantasy owners couldn't figure out who to bench/waive/pick up since we didn't have the Internet yet.
(Follow-up to that point: This continues to amaze me. How did we do fantasy football without the Internet? I keep wanting to ask my friends, "How did you guys have a league back then?" then I remember that I was in their league, too. Looking back, I can only remember one thing: Our commish, Camp, mailing out stats after he added them up from the Monday/Tuesday USA Today, then me excitedly getting my mail on Thursdays to see if I won. Not my e-mail, my mail. Was this the 1990s or the 1890s? I can't remember.)
The real problem: With only 28 teams and a top-heavy league, that left eight or nine Sunday afternoon games per bye week … and only two or three of those games were good. We didn't have DirecTV's season package back then, or the Red Zone Channel, so if you were stuck with a crappy local game (or even worse, a crappy local team that wiped out the quality national game you could have been watching), your whole day was ruined. Trust me, my Patriots overachieved that season by going 5-11. (Double bye weeks) + (no DirecTV) X (crummy local team) = bitter. And that's why double bye weeks went the way of New Coke, "Cop Rock," Planet Hollywood, Rick Mirer and "The Pat Sajak Show."
Q: Was there a tipping point during that 1993 season when everyone threw their hands up and said "The double byes must go immediately"?
A: Actually, there was! How did you know? The NFC East and AFC West received byes in Week 8, which meant that four of the league's best eight teams (Dallas, Kansas City, the Giants and Raiders) were shelved, and also, CBS (who had NFC rights) lost local bumps in Dallas, Philly, Washington and New York. Of the eight Sunday afternoon games, our "marquee" AFC matchup was Buffalo (which finished 12-4) at the Jets (8-8); for the NFC, it was San Francisco (10-6) at Phoenix (7-9). A ratings calamity.
(Important note: Now that we have 32 teams, DirecTV and perpetual parity, the quality of those Sunday games wouldn't be nearly as problematic. I'd rather see them bring back double bye weeks then stretch the season to an 18-game orgy of concussions. But that's just me.)