ABearWithFurniture Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Been giving this some thought and looking for opinions... If the NFL decides to go to an 18 game season, with each team getting 2 bye weeks...that equates to a 20 game season. What's going to be the optimal league configuration? For most 12 team leagues with 3 divisions of 4, playing your division mates 2x and the rest of the 8 teams in the other 2 divisions 1 time equates to 14 games and works out well with 4 teams in the playoffs playing over weeks 15 and 16. Of course there are many variations of that with some leagues having 6 teams in the playoffs and doing a double header 1 week during the regular season, or some other scenario. My first thought would be to just have each team play their division mates 3x (9 weeks) and the rest of the 8 teams in the other 2 division 1 time...equates to 17 games, and then do your regular playoffs of 4 teams over weeks 18 and 19. This also has the advantage to break up those H2H ties within the divisional races since there would be an odd number of games against each team in your division. One of the other team owners in my league suggested adding 2 more teams (14 in all), one big division playing each team 1x (13 game season). Having 6 teams in the playoffs and doing 2 games for each round...so week 14 and 15 would be round 1 with 2 teams having a bye...week 16 and 17 would be round 2 and then weeks 18 and 19 the championship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboysDiehard Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Sounds like a recipe for divorce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Four Divisions of 3 teams each. Play the other two in your division 7x ... 14 games Play the other nine teams 2x ... 18 games ... Double headers for 16 weeks ... 6 teams make the playoffs ... four division winners and two wild cards ... Playoffs like the NFL in each conference, except that the teams with a bye in round one get to use the higher of their Week 17 or Week 18 scores for their matchup in Week 18 ... then championship game in week 19 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montster Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 (edited) I wonder if the season would start, as usual, the first weekend after Labor Day and extend two weeks longer (so the Super Bowl would be in mid-February), or whether the season would start in mid-August and the Super Bowl would stay the same. The former would make more sense, but I'm assuming that, for the next few years, the Super Bowl is already committed to specific dates in the host cities and changing them would be too difficult. If that's the case, many leagues could be drafting at the end of July. edit: Actually, the season would be three weeks longer, to accommodate the extra bye week (assuming there is one). Although, they could always nix the extra week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. Edited December 16, 2010 by montster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Dallas Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 12 team league. 2 divisions. Play everyone in your own division twice = 10 weeks Play everyone in the other diviosn once = 6 weeks 3 week playoffs (six teams with 1st in each division getting a bye week) = 3 weeks total: 19 weeks skip week 20, like skipping week 17 now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Been giving this some thought and looking for opinions... If the NFL decides to go to an 18 game season, with each team getting 2 bye weeks...that equates to a 20 game season. What's going to be the optimal league configuration? For most 12 team leagues with 3 divisions of 4, playing your division mates 2x and the rest of the 8 teams in the other 2 divisions 1 time equates to 14 games and works out well with 4 teams in the playoffs playing over weeks 15 and 16. Of course there are many variations of that with some leagues having 6 teams in the playoffs and doing a double header 1 week during the regular season, or some other scenario. My first thought would be to just have each team play their division mates 3x (9 weeks) and the rest of the 8 teams in the other 2 division 1 time...equates to 17 games, and then do your regular playoffs of 4 teams over weeks 18 and 19. This also has the advantage to break up those H2H ties within the divisional races since there would be an odd number of games against each team in your division. One of the other team owners in my league suggested adding 2 more teams (14 in all), one big division playing each team 1x (13 game season). Having 6 teams in the playoffs and doing 2 games for each round...so week 14 and 15 would be round 1 with 2 teams having a bye...week 16 and 17 would be round 2 and then weeks 18 and 19 the championship. I actually really like that last idea. Before I even read your post all the way through, I was thinking that a 20-week season might enable certain league formats to turn the playoffs into a two-week event (per round). Not to mention, I've always been a fan of leagues where there are no divisions (like the Huddle Ladder, for example). The problem is that most leagues that have no divisions don't have an even/balanced schedule... Your example WOULD be a balanced schedule, which is great. No more whining about one division being stronger than another, etc. Certainly something to consider. Another option would be to expand to 16 teams, play 15 regular season weeks, and stick to one-week playoff rounds... You could even have 8 (out of 16) teams make the playoffs, and have four rounds (still leaving the final week out). Of course, that becomes a little bit too much NBA-like, in the sense that anybody with a pulse makes the post-season. Bottom line... The longer the season, the more options there are, it seems. Of course, that also might mean even MORE NFL players on IR, by the time you reach your league's championship... It will become the battle of backups, by Week 18/19. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muck Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 I personally like "all play" options, lasting the entire season. Playoffs suck. IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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