Quote:
Originally Posted by BruceM
Well, now I don't buy that at all. Risk injuries? Everytime you play you risk injuries. Management are, for the most part, idiots when it comes to this sort of thing. Players get cold real quick when they sit around. They want to play. I would be willing to bet that had last years Stanley Cup final began 2 days after Ottawa eliminated Buffalo, instead of 9 or 10 days, that would have been a completely different series. The Sens were on a roll and had a great deal of momentum. They sat around while Anaheim was playing, and risking injury, and by the time the final began they couldn't get anything going. Their momentum was gone and they pretty much sucked the whole 5 games.
The only time I see management worried about risking injuries is for things like the WBC, or the All Star game, because they are meaningless to owners. And don't kid yourself about the extra revenue, Pro Team owners today see one thing and one thing only - revenue. That's why sports has become the circus it is today, because of $$$$$ and greed. If there's a buck to be made, owners want in.
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You might not feel injuries are that big of a risk, but you play more games and they are a risk of some extra degree. How big of a risk, who knows, but I would think there's a greater chance of injury risk after a long season.
As for the extra revenue, I'm pretty sure there's more money to be made by winning the World Series than by winning the first round. Now yeah, if you win the WS and an extra early round then you'd seriously clean up, but if your chances of getting to the WS are higher with getting a bye then I'm thinking you'd make more money winning say 3 rounds including the WS than winning 3 rounds and then maybe or maybe not winning the WS.
I'd be very interested in seeing a team's comparison of the two options financially, but I'm pretty confident that they'd forecast higher expected revenue with the bye than without. Not for the entire league, just a team.
But all that of course all rests on whether there's really a greater likelihood of getting through the second round with only playing one series rather than two, but I can't possibly imagine it being more likely by playing two series.