The National Football League is the biggest professional sporting league in the United States. It holds some of the world’s most famous athletes and most of the players have a huge fan base. Some athletes own their own clothing brands and own their own charities. Many spectators of the NFL play in fantasy football leagues and partake in legal betting. Before placing money on the line many NFL fans look forward to preseason that way they can see how their players stack up against the competition. Despite some positives the NFL preseason caused so many negatives, I believe it should be taken out of the schedule.

Any NFL fan knows that preseason games are relatively meaningless. Preseason is a time for coaches and managers to see what athletes are worthy of the starting job, however, coaches typically already know who’s going to play. If coaches already know the starting roster before preseason then what’s the point of participating in preseason games? Star athletes usually despise preseason because the risk of getting injured outweighs the reward of winning. Preseason lasts for three weeks and even if your team is 3-0 it doesn’t affect anything towards the regular season.

I believe that the NFL Preseason should be taken out of the NFL. The risk and reality that players injure themselves for meaningless games is too much risk for no reward. Patriots receiver Julian Edelman tore his ACL on August 26, in his first play of preseason football and now he’s out for the year. Giants wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. suffered a left ankle sprain during preseason and now is a gametime decision for week one. His teammate and co-star receiver, Brandon Marshall, also suffered an injury during preseason and now is unlikely to play week one. The Giants have lost both top receivers in preseason and may not win the regular season game because of it. The loss of starting players in preseason will affect the teams play in the regular season. If preseason was eliminated from the NFL then teams would all be going into week one healthy and ready to compete.

Money is one of the biggest reasons that the NFL preserves preseason. The ad revenue and the attendance at games brings money to both the NFL and the two teams competing. However, if a large amount of the NFL’s top money making athletes get injured during preseason, then revenue throughout the season may decline because the big name players aren’t on the field. At what point will the NFL alter or abolish the preseason?

I understand that eliminating preseason from the NFL schedule may not be the answer to solve this problem. Having the luxury of a few meaningless games means you can play players then that won’t get a lot of playing time during the actual season. Also coaches like preseason to gain team chemistry and momentum before the actual season. My proposition to the NFL would be to reduce the amount of games played during preseason. If you reduce the amount of time the players have to get injured then you’re guaranteed to have less injuries. Keeping players healthy has been the NFL’s,”biggest concern,” in recent years but the preseason seems to contradict that entire stigma. Football is a dangerous sport and injury is inevitable, but with the right precautions and the right scheduling we can minimize those injuries.