Winter Break?

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Looking at most sports today the seasons just seem to blend into each other with little to no breaks in between. The fans and public are more demanding than ever and the various sports are stretching what they have to offer demanding more from the players and teams involved. With more money being pumped into the various sports the players are benefiting financially more than ever so on that front they can't really complain.

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There are only 52 weeks in the year and we sometimes wish there were more to try and cram everything in. Every sport looks as though they have added to their offerings yet we still forget that most sports also have a pre season to keep players in peak shape yet that pre season is now eating into whatever "break" they are getting The reality is there is no break and this is now a full time job.

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If you take a normal football season of 38 matches in the English Premier league, Championship is worse standing at 46 matches and throw in the FA Cup and Carbaro Cup competitions as well. That is a good 60 plus matches per season without any International fixtures and that seems rather too much.

I think every sport is under pressure right now as the demands have stretched beyond the normal season boundaries. Taking rugby we had a World Cup recently and for the Northern Hemisphere players who were involved they were given a few weeks off as the timing was off for them which must have sucked.There is no time for downtime and recovery yet you are selected on form and performance. There is no ways a top rugby player can perform week in and week out for 9 or 10 months of the year as your body just cannot cope. Players careers are going to be shortened and that is a fact unless they are managed correctly.

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Betting is a major driving force as more events and matches means increased revenue.

Sports such as Formula One are in the same predicament as the race calendar even though dropping one race this year had two races added making for 22 races. The plans for the future are to take it next to 25 races and who knows what the number will be in 5 years time. The demand is there and teams have to just keep up with whatever is thrown at them.

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Currently the racing calendar has some breaks where the teams have a chance to gather themselves between the far distant races on other continents giving them 14 days instead of 7. With the increased numbers I can see those 14 days becoming 7 days taking in extra races in that particular region. The tweaking that will happen won't make it any easier just a little less travelling fitting in extra races closer by.

If we just look at this years schedule it is a little crazy as testing starts on the 19th February followed by the first race in Australia. The teams don't really stop until the 29th November except for a month gap in August. Currently only December and January is free of any type of racing, but for how long?

Formula One is a team sport so it is not just the drivers ,but the team itself that makes things happen. The designers and fabricators who are the creative side will now be finishing off the car for this season, but straight into work for next seasons car that needs to be totally different as there are heaps of specification changes.I am certain that most teams will have thousands of man hours developing the 2021 car already.

I just think we have become so accustomed to what we have all been watching that the demand is there for more. Television rights and advertising is where the bulk of sports revenue comes from and this is big business with many zero's added on. There has to be a breaking point somewhere as it can't continue by just adding things.

Making something bigger doesn't necessarily make it any better and I would rather see more quality than just volume.