The annual parade of season-ending injuries continues in the National Football League this August, and while you cannot prevent injuries in practice, you wouldn’t need as much “practice” that endangers athletes if you didn’t play preseason games. The NFL already cut down on the number of these exhibition games every year a few seasons ago, but with the talk of an 18-game regular season coming, it’s time to just stop.

College football doesn’t play preseason games, and that sport has more “reason” to protect the athletes from injury (in theory). Why doesn’t the NFL follow suit? Well, money is part of it, but honestly, how many people really care about preseason pro football? Not many, especially when the “stars” barely play, and the games are dominated, in terms of playing time, by a lot of dudes who will never make the final cut.

Only suckers shell out money to attend those games, of course, as wise season-ticket holders just sell those ducats and recoup some of their sunk costs. And who watches that crap on television? Most “fans” we know just watch the first quarter, if that, to see if their fantasy-football draft list is accurate, or something akin to that pastime. Barely anyone is tuned in to the second half of a preseason NFL game on television. Honestly.

So, why play them at all? Sure, it can build momentum for the start of the season after Labor Day weekend and college football openers. But does the NFL really need that momentum? No. It remains, by far, the most popular and most lucrative spectator sport in the country … by a lot. Why waste money and resources that could impact the bottom line if you don’t have to? The profit potential is negligible, really, under scrutiny.

We like the NFL just as much as the next person, yet we just don’t see the point of the preseason at this point. Owners make more than ever; players also earn more than ever. Why risk of that on games that don’t count for anything in the standings? Not that it’s all about the standings—heaven knows, we all realize the only thing matters in this nation is money—but it shows callousness toward player health and safety.

The players, therefore, should negotiate the elimination of the preseason as soon as possible, especially if they agree to another regular-season game and perhaps even expanded postseasons to ensure the Super Bowl is played on the Sunday before Presidents’ Day in February every year going forward. It just makes sense for those who make it all possible: the players themselves. Without them, after all, the NFL is nothing.