NFL Would Consider Wider Field

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kaiser Wilhelm

Most of these ideas sound terrible. I agree with the pitcher having to deliver in a timely manner but replay, removing the umpire, regulating the dimensions would destroy baseball.

This is beginning to venture off-topic but I don't understand why it would be "horrible" and you don't make an argument at all as to how these rule changes would "destroy baseball". From where I sit, what I proposed doesn't change a single thing about what skills the players must have to play the game; pitchers would still pitch, catchers would still catch, batters would still bat, fielders would still field, base runners would still run bases, managers would still manage, coaches would still coach, nine or more innings would still be played, etc. etc. Also, the changes I proposed made not altercations to the rules of baseball itself; it's still nine innings to a game, three strikes to an out, four balls to a walk, hit-by-pitch to a base, foul pole is fair territory, over the fence between the poles is a home run, no temporary situational substitutions, and so on. It still sounds like baseball to me. I don't see what about the game of baseball got destroyed.

Steering back on-topic and to preemptively respond where I'd guess you'd go with it - the baseball has tradition and that the tradition is fundamentally ingrained into the sport argument - it again highlights the difference between baseball and football. Baseball, from my vantage point, is entirely too grounded in tradition and as such is change-resistant to a fault, to a point where the game is ploddingly slow to make even the most obvious yet subtle changes (what I propose I recognize doesn't necessarily fit "subtle"). Football, on the other hand, isn't afraid to be experimental. Football doesn't always get it right with said toying around, but football isn't afraid to admit errors, football isn't afraid to challenge conventional wisdom, football isn't afraid to go against the grain in the pursuit of something that may just very well be better than what exists today.

Forgive me for waxing philosophic for a moment there, but I felt it was necessary to further illustrate my point.

[slickdtc]

I literally said that at the beginning of the thread.

[kcharles520]

this will NEVER happen. just a pure speculation article posted on NFL.com to keep people talking about the league even during the offseason.

without games you gotta get the fans to think about your league somehow right? no way they will ever widen the field...ever.

[mestevo]

There's plenty to talk about, this was brought up because Polian mentioned it is all.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by kcharles520

no way they will ever widen the field...ever.

One could have just as easily said this about any given evolution of the sport prior to it happening: reducing the number of players from 15 to 11, establishment of downs and distance, establishment of the legal forward pass, establishment of a post-season playoff, use of instance replay, barring of downfield contact by defenders against offensive players, establishment of sudden-death overtime, establishment of modified sudden-death overtime, establishment of the two-point conversion, establishment of the salary cap and unrestricted free agency, etc. etc.

Football as we know it today didn't just appear, it evolved over time; I feel like some are taking that for granted in this thread. There's no reason to think that the league won't continue to evolve in the future, given its entire history has been filled with change, adaptation, and evolution.

Bonus facts: touchdowns used to be worth four points, and the two-point conversion did not exist in the NFL before 1994.

[kcharles520]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

One could have just as easily said this about any given evolution of the sport prior to it happening: reducing the number of players from 15 to 11, establishment of downs and distance, establishment of the legal forward pass, establishment of a post-season playoff, use of instance replay, barring of downfield contact by defenders against offensive players, establishment of sudden-death overtime, establishment of modified sudden-death overtime, establishment of the two-point conversion, establishment of the salary cap and unrestricted free agency, etc. etc. Football as we know it today didn't just appear, it evolved over time; I feel like some are taking that for granted in this thread. There's no reason to think that the league won't continue to evolve in the future, given its entire history has been filled with change, adaptation, and evolution. Bonus facts: touchdowns used to be worth four points, and the two-point conversion did not exist in the NFL before 1994.

while it's true that the NFL game has evolved over time, MOST of those huge changes occurred BEFORE the super bowl era.

since the super bowl era football has largely remained the same game, with a few minor changes in terms of rules (two point conversions, illegal contact, stricter unnecessary roughness penalties, new overtime rules etc.) the *huge* changes like forward passing and establishment of downs occurred when football was in its infant stages, well before the super bowl era and the game we know today.

i feel like widening the NFL field would be a HUGE change. it's not like adding new penalties, changing overtime rules or adding instant replays. those are minor changes to the rules. stretching the field is a MAJOR change that would alter the way the game is played entirely. and as such, i don't see it happening anytime soon.