Posts tagged: Buffone

BUFFONE: NFL Preparing for 8-Game Season

There’s no guarantee that there will be a full NFL season in 2011. That being said, the league is now reportedly preparing an eight-game contingency plan that would move opening day to late November if the work stoppage looms. Only in 1982 when nine regular season games were played due to the biggest work stoppage in league history has there been such a dramatic cut of games from the schedule. The current 16-game schedule was released in mid-April and there have been talks that the season could still be played in full even if it started in Week 4. The theory behind this is that all bye weeks and the week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl would be eliminated while the Super Bowl itself would be pushed back an additional week. However, the feasibility of an eight-game season is still in question. Divisional matchups would automatically take up six games for each team and the other two regular season games could be decided in countless other ways. While the ultimate goal is still to get football on track before the scheduled opening day (September 8), the NFL is at least now admitting that there is a chance that the season will be affected by the lockout. This series of events now installs an uneasy question in the heads of all football fans, “Is half an NFL season better than no NFL season?”

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categories BUFFONE - Sports Zone | jbuffone June 8, 2011 | comments Comments (0)

BUFFONE: Another Lockout Looms

If you think the NFL lockout is dragging on, just wait until the NBA season is over. The collective bargaining agreement between the NBA Players Union and the team owners is up after the 2011 season and it looks as if it could be headed for a paralyzing standoff. The owners are demanding more of the basketball-related revenue, shorter player contracts and most of all, a hard salary cap and assurances to protect against floundering economies. Unless the players union is feeling submissively generous, NBA fans could be in for a long summer. Rumors continue to swirl about what the new CBA may bring. There are talks of a contraction vote, which could eliminate the most financially struggling teams even though NBA Commissioner David Stern said he’d never let that happen. Another big issue that is sure to gain attention is moving back the entry-level age for a player to 20. Under the current CBA, a player must be one year removed from high school before he can enter the NBA. The current format has sprung the “one and done” dilemma in college basketball. Reports are concluding that the NBA owners are not only coming into this labor debate hardheaded, but angry. The unbending mentality that they’re bringing to the table could result in another major sports lockout and the second NBA lockout in thirteen years. No matter what the outcome however, it’s becoming clear the NBA as we know it could be radically changed next year. Who would have thought with all the labor disputes in the major sports, Major League Baseball would be the most stable?

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categories BUFFONE - Sports Zone | jbuffone April 12, 2011 | comments Comments Off