it's not the player's job to worry about the future of the game. That's the commissioner and the owner's responsibility.
The old guard of owners always had the health of the game as top priority. That's why the Steelers, one of the oldest NFL teams, agreed to be moved to the new AFC conference when the NFL merged.
these new owners see no problem using things like practice time as a negotiating tool so long as they get some money for it. Nevermind if it hurts the quality. Now they want to expand the playoffs.
The reason NFL is king is because their regular season means so much. How many baseball fans watch all 162 games? or NBA fans watch all 82? Not many. But dame near every fan watches all 16 of their team, or at least they are watching redzone to keep tabs on each game. If they miss, it's likely because they had to work or something.
Making the season longer and adding more playoff teams cheapens the regular season.