Time zones...

[Jetstream Green]

I know it will interfere with the viewing audience in some places and probably load the late games, but the scheduling of games needs to take into account that a team from a different time zone is basically being forced to play a morning game which can be a disadvantage (hell, I hate working out in the morning). The visiting team is already on the road, facing a home crowd but adding a time advantage to the game is total crap... an advantage a Western team does not have when a visiting team plays in their stadium, but with the NFL scheduling games in London who needs sense

 

[Jetstream Green]

BTW, one thing not to lose sight of... it's not just what amounts to a ten in the morning kickoff, there's also what amounts to early morning hours for a West Coast team having to get prepared too

 

[WisconsinCard]

They could hinge that a bit, by traveling early. Fighters do it all the time, to get used to the time zone, the altitude, the local cuisine. NFL owns just don't want to foot the bill.

 

[cardpa]

I don't buy into the whole time zone thing because it's the same for a team traveling East or traveling West. I remember traveling West and feeling tired or beyond tired when it hit say 10pm in the West because my body was saying it was 1AM the next day already. It took a couple days to adjust. Same when I traveled back East, I felt it was only 10pm when it was 1AM . It doesn't favor either team traveling either direction. As Wisconsin said the owners are just too cheap to have their team say travel out Thursday and allow enough time to adjust to the time zone change.

 

[blindseyed]

Let's take into account that these guys are in excellent shape and very highly trained athletes, so a few days of time change shouldn't be too bad. In any event, time doesn't matter unless we can go BACK in time and make Palmer younger oh an somehow make the O-Line actually protect for more than 1.2 seconds lol

 

[football karma]

Consensus among all the business travelers, including me:
way way easier to go east to west

 

[CardLogic]

The issue of early games as I see it. . .

The Cardinals have what amounts to 6 early (10:00am MST) games; while Seattle has only one (1) early game (10:00am PST) the whole season???

How is that an equitable schedule?

 

[Dback Jon]

The issue of early games as I see it. . .

The Cardinals have what amounts to 6 early (10:00am MST) games; while Seattle has only one (1) early game (10:00am PST) the whole season???

How is that an equitable schedule?

Agreed.


And west coast teams should never have an early east coast game - too much of an advantage for the East Coast teams

 

[GatorAZ]

The issue of early games as I see it. . .

The Cardinals have what amounts to 6 early (10:00am MST) games; while Seattle has only one (1) early game (10:00am PST) the whole season???

How is that an equitable schedule?

Ratings. Seattle is the more popular team so their away games @TEN, @NYG and @DAL were/are late afternoon start times.

 

[Big D]

Let's just start every game at the same time on the same day at neutral sites in the Midwest then.

It's been well established that cash is king for the NFL. Television and stadium revenue trumps everything.

If they don't care about making teams play on Thursday, then they damn sure don't care about teams dealing with a time zone difference.

Over half of the league plays in the EST zone. I for one am tired of hearing about how much of a disadvantage it is to travel east and play at 1pm. Either your team is ready to play on Sunday or it isn't.

 

[Jay Cardinal]

Consensus among all the business travelers, including me:
way way easier to go east to west

I think you have it opposite. Traveling east makes it tougher to go to sleep at night, and waking up early is tougher. Think about you never hear someone complaining about jet lag when traveling West (unless you are holding a late night meeting I suppose).

I have traveled to an 8 AM-start meeting 6 times this year in Florida. It is really tough presenting on 3 hours sleep. I can power through it with coffee, but imagine it would be MUCH tougher to physically perform at that time.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I think you have it opposite. Traveling east makes it tougher to go to sleep at night, and waking up early is tougher. Think about you never hear someone complaining about jet lag when traveling West (unless you are holding a late night meeting I suppose).

I have traveled to an 8 AM-start meeting 6 times this year in Florida. It is really tough presenting on 3 hours sleep. I can power through it with coffee, but imagine it would be MUCH tougher to physically perform at that time.

You misread his post. You're arguing his point.

 

[daves]

I don't buy into the whole time zone thing because it's the same for a team traveling East or traveling West.

Well it's a statistical fact whether you buy into it or not - teams traveling from west to east and playing in the early time slot have a MUCH lower winning percentage, more penalties, and more dropped passes. This article details the difference in outcomes and speculates that it is related to a difference in core body temperature at different times of day. It's not because the players are "tired" - they simply can't physiologically perform at the same level.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2016/east-coast-scheduling-bias

I remember traveling West and feeling tired or beyond tired when it hit say 10pm in the West because my body was saying it was 1AM the next day already.

Irrelevant, because games aren't played at 10pm in the West. And unsurprisingly, western time zone teams are not at a disadvantage when playing night games in eastern time.

It doesn't favor either team traveling either direction.

Your opinion is at odds with the facts.

As Wisconsin said the owners are just too cheap to have their team say travel out Thursday and allow enough time to adjust to the time zone change.

The Cardinals have routinely traveled on Friday instead of Saturday, or even stayed all week back east - which may help, but then it introduces different challenges - practicing at an unfamiliar facility, sleeping multiple nights in an unfamiliar bed, and who knows what else. Whatever the reason, it hasn't seemed to help them very much. But it wasn't for lack of trying or penny pinching.

...dbs

 

[Jetstream Green]

Well it's a statistical fact whether you buy into it or not - teams traveling from west to east and playing in the early time slot have a MUCH lower winning percentage, more penalties, and more dropped passes. This article details the difference in outcomes and speculates that it is related to a difference in core body temperature at different times of day. It's not because the players are "tired" - they simply can't physiologically perform at the same level.
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2016/east-coast-scheduling-bias



Irrelevant, because games aren't played at 10pm in the West. And unsurprisingly, western time zone teams are not at a disadvantage when playing night games in eastern time.



Your opinion is at odds with the facts.



The Cardinals have routinely traveled on Friday instead of Saturday, or even stayed all week back east - which may help, but then it introduces different challenges - practicing at an unfamiliar facility, sleeping multiple nights in an unfamiliar bed, and who knows what else. Whatever the reason, it hasn't seemed to help them very much. But it wasn't for lack of trying or penny pinching.

...dbs

And the higher the competition, the more fine tuned the athletes are which sets them up to be affected by the slightest change of their normal routine in my opinion... and why I think the Super Bowl, though fair to both sides, is hardly ever a true expression of their ability shown which got them there

 

[Jay Cardinal]

You misread his post. You're arguing his point.

Good point. Sorry about that. Too much travel, not enough football.