1. 16 Game Schedule - Time to enshrine this one in the annals of sports history. 16 games is the perfect season. Not too long, keeps you wanting more. Unlike MLB, the NBA, and NHL, which go on far too long.
2. Schedule Rotation - Eliminate the "1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4" scheduling. It's irrelevant. Next year the Seahawks will travel to Dallas for the third time in five years and Pittsburgh for the second time in five years, with no return dates. Instead, play six games in your division (2 each home and away); six in your conference on a rotating schedule (2 from each other divisions in your conference, such as Dallas (East) Carolina (South) and Green Bay (North) at home; Washington (East) New Orleans (South) and Detroit (North) away. Swap the other two teams from each division the next year, then reverse the home/away matchups and repeat. Play one team from each of the other Conference divisions each year for the final four games. You play every team in your conference every other year, and host them at least once every four years. Likewise you would play every AFC team once every four years and host every AFC team once every eight years. Guaranteed.
3. TV - Make a minimum of 6 games available FREE each weekend. Two each on CBS and FOX, one on NBC, MNF on ESPN. Get rid of blackouts and blocking out-of-market games. No more weekends where you only get one morning game and one afternoon game. Dump the Sunday Ticket deal with DirecTV and make all games available in all markets on all cable/satellite systems on Pay-Per-View.
4. Free Agency - Players become unrestricted free agents after four years. Franchise tag can only be applied for one year. Free agents with less than four years service time are Restricted Free Agents. Teams have right-of-first-refusal on RFA's. End tendering and draft pick compensation for signing RFA's.
5. The Draft - Institute a rookie salary cap, with schedules for bonuses and salaries. Adjust the schedules every two years. Reduce the draft to six rounds with the 7th round as a "Compensatory" round. Teams that lose more players than they sign in FA get a compensatory pick for each FA lost over FA's signed. Example: Detroit loses 6 FA's and signs 4. They get two compensatory picks, awarded in inverse order of their finish. If Detroit has the worst record, and 7 other teams receive compensatory picks; Detroit would get picks 1 and 9 in the 7th round.
6. Rules Changes -
• Make Intentional grounding legal. Getting the QB to throw it away is already a win for the defense and it would protect quarterbacks.
• Make offensive holding a five yard penalty.
• Hits above the shoulder pads are not allowed. Any player that hits above the shoulder receives a game ejection and $25,000 fine. Second offense in the same season is an ejection, $50,000 fine, and one-game suspension without pay. Third offense is ejection, $150,000 fine, and three game suspension.
• Any player who has two hands on the ball and two feet on the ground for one second has a catch, regardless of whether or not the ball then hits the ground.
• Eliminate the tuck rule.
7. The Season - Start the season on Labor Day Weekend. Have three games scheduled on Labor Day Monday. Start the season with a Thursday night Super Bowl Rematch.
8. The Playoffs - Add a fourth Wild Card (7th playoff team) in each conference, bringing the total to 14. It's not like the fans want less playoff football, and why should the 2nd place team in each conference get a first week bye? Make them play like everybody else.
9. Start Times - Make a simple rule; no western team (Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Arizona, Denver) traveling across multiple time zones (Central or Eastern) should have to play a game before 1:00 PM in their local market. This gives the eastern teams a massive, and unnecessary, advantage.
10. The Super Bowl - Get it back to the last weekend in January. The season is long enough already. February is for Valentine's Day, the Daytona 500, and snowstorms.
--Dave Bara
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