[BostonCard]

isn't the pro rule sudden death--which is the impetus for the proposal--while college it's equal number of possessions?

It's sudden death after each team gets at least one possession, unless the first team scores a touchdown, but it still gives the team that receives an unfair advantage.

You are right that in college, there are an equal number of possessions, but there is a slight advantage to going on offense second, since the team going second knows what they have to do to win.  Consider a team getting to fourth down.  Unless it is fourth and very short, the team on offense first will generally kick a field goal, not knowing what the second team will do.  OTOH, the second team can tailor their strategy knowing how much they have to score; if the first team scored a field goal or failed to score, you can kick the field goal, whereas if the first team scored a touchdown, you know you have to score a touchdown.

I think very quickly teams would know roughly what the generally optimal place to spot the ball is, with some slight variation to account for the teams relative offensive and defensive strengths (a team with a strong offense and weak defense would spot the ball deeper than a team with a strong defense and weak offense).

Since you get sudden death from the get-go, it becomes more exciting, and better than college, where a team can score but then has to see if they can stop their opponent.

BC

[BostonCard]

isn't the pro rule sudden death--which is the impetus for the proposal--while college it's equal number of possessions?

It's sudden death after each team gets at least one possession, unless the first team scores a touchdown, but it still gives the team that receives an unfair advantage.

You are right that in college, there are an equal number of possessions, but there is a slight advantage to going on offense second, since the team going second knows what they have to do to win.  Consider a team getting to fourth down.  Unless it is fourth and very short, the team on offense first will generally kick a field goal, not knowing what the second team will do.  OTOH, the second team can tailor their strategy knowing how much they have to score; if the first team scored a field goal or failed to score, you can kick the field goal, whereas if the first team scored a touchdown, you know you have to score a touchdown.

I think very quickly teams would know roughly what the generally optimal place to spot the ball is, with some slight variation to account for the teams relative offensive and defensive strengths (a team with a strong offense and weak defense would spot the ball deeper than a team with a strong defense and weak offense).

Since you get sudden death from the get-go, it becomes more exciting, and better than college, where a team can score but then has to see if they can stop their opponent.

BC