More games in a sport does not mean more fun or more entertaining. It’s just means more money! But to me the most exciting sports are the ones with less games. Sure I love a great 7 game series as much as anyone but the seasons are too long and they play way too many games.
The NBA and NHL each have an 82 game season. This isn’t terrible but when both of these leagues have a post season that is almost as long as the regular season. It begins to drag on!
Baseball has an outrageous 162 game season. These games mean absolutely nothing! I only need 10 games to know that my beloved Pirates will once again not have a winning season.
I will argue that two of the most exciting sports Leagues are the English Premier League and the NFL.
The English Premier League plays 38 games. That still is maybe a few too many games but for the most part that provides an atmosphere where every game means something. Tomorrow is the second to last week of the season, and the title is still up for grabs, as is fourth place which determines who will be in next years Champions league. For the most part there is one game a week for your favorite team and you can talk about, debate, argue, and analyze all week how the match-up will turn out.
This too is what makes the NFL great. Every game matters! There’s only 16 games. And every week there’s a game to analyze and debate about. It makes it great, and far more entertaining each game. I don’t talk about how the Pirates are gonna do against the Brewers, because they’ll play them 9 times or something!
If I was the NBA or NHL I would cut the schedule down to 64 games. One home/away game against each team in the league. Think about only 2 match ups a year between Kobe and Lebron, or Ovi and Crosby. They would be something we would look forward too. I won’t even begin to try to figure out how to make baseball more entertaining. It just isn’t an option here in Pittsburgh.
