Realinment

[USCDoom]

Parity and the way the schedules are structured are Killing the NFL. Rivalries are dying, games are boring, there is no real decent matchups end of season, travel sucks, fans get the short end of the stick on game days. Meanwhile the owners want a 17th game, and to spend less money during the league year.

So how to fix this. IMO this is actually very simple. Break the League into 1 League with 4 Divisions.

West
Seattle Seahawks
LA Rams
San Fransisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals
Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders
San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs

South
Dallas Cowboys
Houston Oilers
New Orleans Saints
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins

North
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears
Indianapolis Colts
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
Tennessee Titans

East
Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots
New York Jets
New York Giants
Washington Redskins
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
Baltimore Ravens

Each Team will play 14 Divisional Games
Each team will play one team from the other 3 Divisions that finish in the same place.
Example
South plays @North, West, @East
East plays South, North, @West
West plays @South, East, @North
North plays South, @East, West
Year 2
South plays North, @West, East
East plays @South, @North, West
West plays South, @East, North
North plays @South, East, @West

This way everyone plays 34 games over 2 years, 17 Home-17 Away.

5 Teams from each Division make the playoff.
1st Round #4 vs #5
2nd Round #1 vs #4/#5, #2 vs #3
Divisional Championship
Semi Final
Super Bowl

Under this situation, most team would build to win the Division, many teams would start running different Offenses and Defenses. We would get back a Unique game of Football IMO.

What do you think?

 

[Bmurph]

Realignment may work, don't know about all the other stuff but, food for thought

 

[The Derski]

Houston *Texans

 

[Breed]

So it'll take 2 years to finish a single season?

I once read way back (pre-Jerry Jones and pre-Daniel Snyder so its been a while) that the league was seriously thinking about realigning at one time. Placing teams in a manner as you have to take advantage of proximity to help foster natural rivalries and the like. Though they were going to keep it at 6 divisions. The biggest opponent to it was Dallas with the reason being. Dallas didn't want to give up playing in the nation's #1 tv market (NY) #4 tv market (Philly) and #8 tv market (DC) every year. And I believe DC is now the #7 tv market in the nation with Dallas-Ft Worth coming in at #5 tv market.

Being the businessmen that they are. I doubt Jerrah and Danny boy would go for it now. Jones for the same reasons as stated above and Snyder pretty much for the same reasons as the Skins are playing against teams with 3 of top 5 tv markets in the country.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

Generally speaking it wouldn't bother me to see some type of realignment. At this point there is no real reason for AFC/NFC, but I've been opposed to expanding to 18 games, and that remains the same with 17 games.

For the most part the divisions are geographically matched up okay with a few exceptions...as Breed mentioned, DAL will never move out of the NE market...Tampa, MIA, and JAX all 3 being in the different DIVs is quirky.

We'll have to see how the ratings for the balance of the playoffs go and into next season, but imo the game is healthy. I just think it may be reaching a point of depreciating returns with the fringe fan...boomer are hooked on the NFL, genXers and millennials not to the same degree.

 

[PDay8810]

still don't see it.

put Dallas anywhere and it's instant rivalries

 

[jarntt]

I'll take what do you think about after your team is eliminated for two hundred please Alex.

 

[Clayton]

 

[cowboys5xsbs]

Dallas is not giving up it's rivalries with New York, Philly, and Washington. These 4 teams will always be in the same division.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

1 season in 2 years? Ever heard of consumer fatigue?

I'm not buying that rivalries are dying and game are boring...

 

[DirtDirtDirt]

Totally

When New England gets a bye and gets to welcome Brock Ossweiler and the Houston Texans

The Dallas Cowboys get a bye, and gets to welcome Aaron Rodgers and the Packers

Something is very broken

And the 2 bye weeks for New England seems to be a recurring problem

 

[Broncosr0k]

Totally

When New England gets a bye and gets to welcome Brock Ossweiler and the Houston Texans

The Dallas Cowboys get a bye, and gets to welcome Aaron Rodgers and the Packers

Something is very broken

And the 2 bye weeks for New England seems to be a recurring problem

You have no idea how much I appreciate you picking up the torch after Hammer.

 

[soxfan1468927]

Totally

When New England gets a bye and gets to welcome Brock Ossweiler and the Houston Texans

The Dallas Cowboys get a bye, and gets to welcome Aaron Rodgers and the Packers

Something is very broken

And the 2 bye weeks for New England seems to be a recurring problem

Last year the Pats faced KC when they were on an 11-game winning streak, 2014 the Ravens were top 8 in points scored and points allowed.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

 

[RP-29]

I think the season length expansion is a dead issue for now. It's staying at 16. Owners and media have backed off of the idea. NFLPA wants nothing to do with it.

If they were to expand to 17, playing a neutral site cross-divisional game would make more sense. This would allow the NFL's desired enhanced global exposure without anyone losing a home game.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

It's only perceived to be broken.

It really isn't.

No fix required.

 

[flyerhawk]

I'll take what do you think about after your team is eliminated for two hundred please Alex.

Winner!

The only thing I would change is the seeding system. Seeds should be based on best record. An 9-7 division winner should never host a game against a 12-4.

Otherwise I think the system is just fine.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

So how to fix this. IMO this is actually very simple. Break the League into 1 League with 4 Divisions.

Each Team will play 14 Divisional Games
Each team will play one team from the other 3 Divisions that finish in the same place.

This way everyone plays 34 games over 2 years, 17 Home-17 Away.

5 Teams from each Division make the playoff.
1st Round #4 vs #5
2nd Round #1 vs #4/#5, #2 vs #3
Divisional Championship
Semi Final
Super Bowl

Please clarify. Are you suggesting that 20 teams make the playoffs each season or that they play a season that spans 2 years? Either idea is 100% ridiculous & would likely be a disaster.

 

[NEPatsfan]

Parity and the way the schedules are structured are Killing the NFL. Rivalries are dying, games are boring, there is no real decent matchups end of season, travel sucks, fans get the short end of the stick on game days. Meanwhile the owners want a 17th game, and to spend less money during the league year.

So how to fix this. IMO this is actually very simple. Break the League into 1 League with 4 Divisions.

West
Seattle Seahawks
LA Rams
San Fransisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals
Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders
San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs

South
Dallas Cowboys
Houston Oilers
New Orleans Saints
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins

North
Detroit Lions
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears
Indianapolis Colts
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
Tennessee Titans

East
Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots
New York Jets
New York Giants
Washington Redskins
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers
Baltimore Ravens

Each Team will play 14 Divisional Games
Each team will play one team from the other 3 Divisions that finish in the same place.
Example
South plays @North, West, @East
East plays South, North, @West
West plays @South, East, @North
North plays South, @East, West
Year 2
South plays North, @West, East
East plays @South, @North, West
West plays South, @East, North
North plays @South, East, @West

This way everyone plays 34 games over 2 years, 17 Home-17 Away.

5 Teams from each Division make the playoff.
1st Round #4 vs #5
2nd Round #1 vs #4/#5, #2 vs #3
Divisional Championship
Semi Final
Super Bowl

Under this situation, most team would build to win the Division, many teams would start running different Offenses and Defenses. We would get back a Unique game of Football IMO.

What do you think?

NO

 

[cerealboi]

Totally

When New England gets a bye and gets to welcome Brock Ossweiler and the Houston Texans

The Dallas Cowboys get a bye, and gets to welcome Aaron Rodgers and the Packers

Something is very broken

And the 2 bye weeks for New England seems to be a recurring problem

Bwahahahaha. Yeah because the Vikings, Lions, and Bears were such a test for the poor little Packers. Please.

Pats would have curb stomped those three.