Mark Vader Posted July 14, 2014 Posted July 14, 2014 I've never even considered the idea that the talent level of the NFL has been diluted. In fact, over the decades, I think it's certainly gone the other way. We now have high schools dedicated to churning out professional football players. I haven't done a search, but I also suspect that over the years, the average size, and speed of an NFL player has gone up. It used to be an everyman's, blue-collar sport. I love that there are elite players, but there's a line between elite, and elitist. Sometimes, the NFL reminds me of what's happened to the America's Cup in sailing, where it went from a millionaire's sport to a billionaire's sport. I think there has also been a slow shift, over the decades, away from football being a source of regional pride. Hometown heroes are a rarity. That didn't used to be the case. The question also is: should football expand internationally? Honestly, I don't think I could care less about that. The London game just annoys me-- I'm not sure why. And, just how diluted would the league become? 53x8=424. There are, what, over 300 million people in the U.S.? Sure, there would be a lower percentage of elite players. But, the dispersion of elite players to piss-poor players isn't a straight line. Thee are many more average NFL players than there are elite players. Obviously. I pretty much just rattled this whole post off the top of my head, so I might change my mind. Interesting topic, though. Maybe it deserves its own thread? That has been my theory with the rumors (and near confirmation, it will be next season) of playoff expansion, it would make sense to add a couple teams (I didn't think about 4, but 2) at the same time so the playoffs aren't watered down too much. As for the diluting of players, there are so many teams that just don't have the space to keep and develop good players. Adding "424" players would certainly make it so that teams would have to put more into developing their players than just acquiring "elite" players. I just feel that 32 teams is enough. We have 8 divisions comprised of 4 teams each, which is perfect. There doesn't need to be anymore expansion.
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