Fixing NFL Divisional Structure

[corta765]

With the talk of a possible London team and many proposals for divisional changes I wanted to explain an idea I had which in my eyes would completely balance the league and the playoffs. It looks like this:

 

AFC East: BUF, NE, MIA, NYJ, PIT, CIN, CLE, BAL

AFC West: KC, OAK, DEN, LAC, IND, HOU, TEN, JAX

NFC East: PHI, DAL, NYG, WAS, ATL, TB, CAR, NOLA

NFC West: SEA, ARZ, LAR, SF, DET, GB, MIN, CHI

 

Schedule wise it works like this you play everyone in your division once with a single additional game against your former division rival (aka BUF would play NE, MIA, NYJ on a rotating basis). Then you would crossover against the other division playing four of the teams there and the next season playing the four you didn't. And with the NFC we would do it the same way the NFL does with four team a year rotating.

 

For the playoffs division winners are guaranteed homefield, but the top two records get the bye. So potentially the top two teams in each conference could be from the same division.

 

Here are the advantages:

-Far more balanced schedule where you play 75% of your conference yearly

-Better chance for bigger matchups on a more routine basis

-Playoffs would finally allow wildcards to host playoff games again

-You would never see an 8-8 7-9 division champion again

-Rivalries would be created with Buffalo playing close foes like PIT and CLE yearly and same for other matchups

 

It looks like if a team moves to London it probably is coming from the AFC. If the Jags or Chargers move you would just switch MIA into their place. Probably not the fairest thing for the Phins but that is a casualty of the NFL's obsession to go to London.

[Bangarang]

I would get rid of divisions all together and just have 2 conferences. You play everyone in your conference once and 1 team from the opposing conference. The top 6 records from each conference make the playoffs. 
 

No more nonsense of having teams with better records being a WC team.

[corta765]

Just now, Bangarang said:

I would get rid of divisions all together and just have 2 conferences. You play everyone in your conference once and 1 team from the opposing conference. The top 6 records from each conference make the playoffs. 
 

No more nonsense of having teams with better records being a WC team.

 

The NFL would never approve killing the NFC crossover game down to just 1. You see the ratings when Brady plays Rodgers etc.. that won't ever be stopped.

[Bangarang]

1 minute ago, corta765 said:

 

The NFL would never approve killing the NFC crossover game down to just 1. You see the ratings when Brady plays Rodgers etc.. that won't ever be stopped.

They can still have that in my scenario.

[Seasons1992]

4 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I would get rid of divisions all together and just have 2 conferences. You play everyone in your conference once and 1 team from the opposing conference. The top 6 records from each conference make the playoffs. 
 

No more nonsense of having teams with better records being a WC team.

 

Stop making sense.........

 

[corta765]

2 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

They can still have that in my scenario.

 

I just can't see the NFL eliminating divisions I think they like the rivalries they make and for owners they like the guarantee of revenue it brings knowing they get a home game in the playoffs. I actually do agree with your proposal though of no divisions just conference.

[SJDK]

I think the league should re-align to have divisions that make sense.

 

AFC EAST:

Buff

NE

NYJ

BAL

 

AFC SOUTH:

MIAMI

HOUSTON

TENN

JACKSONVILLE

 

AFC NORTH:

INDI

CLE

PITT

CINCI

 

AFC WEST:

RAIDERS

BRONCOS

CHIEFS

CHARGERS

 

NFC EAST:

GIANTS

PHILI

WASHINGTON

CAROLINA

 

NFC SOUTH: 

ATLANTA

NO

DALLAS

TAMPA

 

NFC NORTH:

CHI

MIN

GB

DET

 

NFC WEST:

SF

ARI

SEA

RAMS

 

[Bongo]

I would move Buffalo to AFC North and Baltimore to AFC East. East is 4 teams on the Eastern coast. North are 4 teams all within a pretty tight Northern geography circle.

[row_33]

not a hope home-and-home is removed from divisions

 

pro sports love this FANTASY of a rivalry in their marketing tools

 

there aren't that many anymore, and the NHL deprived us of Montreal/Toronto in the playoffs for 40 years now, one of the few serious pro rivalries that exist....

 

 

 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

2 hours ago, Bangarang said:

They can still have that in my scenario.

Once every 16 years? lol

 

Great players' entire careers would go by before they got a chance to play each other.

1 hour ago, Bongo said:

I would move Buffalo to AFC North and Baltimore to AFC East. East is 4 teams on the Eastern coast. North are 4 teams all within a pretty tight Northern geography circle.

Yes, the division that makes the most sense is Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinatti.

[Bangarang]

3 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Once every 16 years? lol

 

Great players' entire careers would go by before they got a chance to play each other.

Do players actually care about such a thing?

[row_33]

just put the Bills in with the Browns and Jets and Fish and see if they can win with that

 

 

[wagon127]

3 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Do players actually care about such a thing?

Television does, and that's where the NFL gets all their money.

[row_33]

3 minutes ago, wagon127 said:

Television does, and that's where the NFL gets all their money.

 

and the sugarbaby division is the NFC East, they sacrifice nightly to get Washington back in contention to show even more Prime Time games

 

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by row_33

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

I would realign everywhere. Rivalries be damned .Call the divisions what you must.

 

NYG,NYJ,BUF,NE

 

WAS,BAL,PHI,London

 

TENN,CLE,PIT,CIN

 

MIN,KC,DEN,SEA

 

CHI,INDY,GB,DET

 

NO,ATL,DAL,HOU

 

MIA, JAX, TB,CAR

 

LAR,AZ,SF,LV

 

[row_33]

still us old fogies around who won't let you mix the AFL/NFL rivalry much more

 

why bother joining the Giants and Jets, don't these fans suffer enough:?

 

[Bangarang]

36 minutes ago, wagon127 said:

Television does, and that's where the NFL gets all their money.

I guess this is why we see Rodgers and Brady every Sunday night on prime time...

 

Its all a moot point because it’ll never happen but the NFL can still have big names to pick from to put on prime time.

[wagon127]

2 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I guess this is why we see Rodgers and Brady every Sunday night on prime time...

 

Its all a moot point because it’ll never happen but the NFL can still have big names to pick from to put on prime time.

There's quite the difference between once every 4 years, vs. once every 16 years. But please, keep exaggerating to further emphasize your point.

Edited November 5, 2019 by wagon127

[May Day 10]

Tbh, im pretty bored with the current format and facing the same 3 teams for 3/8ths of every single season.

 

I hold very little animosity or care about the dolphins and jets, other than me hating nyc sports teams.  I hate new england, but that would be regardless of division.  

Edited November 5, 2019 by May Day 10

[row_33]

7 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

Tbh, im pretty bored with the current format and facing the same 3 teams for 3/8ths of every single season.

 

I hold very little animosity or care about the dolphins and jets, other than me hating nyc sports teams.  I hate new england, but that would be regardless of division.  

 

been awhile since the Bills and Fish played and it mattered

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Patriots*** Banned from the NFL forever...

[US Egg]

I would realign the league every 3 years with the 3 weakest teams in the Bills division.

 

And of course keep scheduling them to play home and home games.

[Bangarang]

35 minutes ago, wagon127 said:

There's quite the difference between once every 4 years, vs. once every 16 years. But please, keep exaggerating to further emphasize your point.

In this hypothetical scenario, who came up with the rule that an AFC team can’t play the same NFC team more than once in 16 years? 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Bangarang

[dma0034]

I think they should pull some teams from the NFC and move them to the AFC. Like flip the New York teams. 

 

Honestly. New rivalries need to be made. There isn't one in the league except.maybe Balt/Pitt that even remotely seems interesting

[Beast]

3 hours ago, Bangarang said:

I would get rid of divisions all together and just have 2 conferences. You play everyone in your conference once and 1 team from the opposing conference. The top 6 records from each conference make the playoffs. 
 

No more nonsense of having teams with better records being a WC team.

 

So the Dallas Cowboys, or any other NFC team, would visit Buffalo once every 32 years?

 

No need to fix what isn't broke.

[row_33]

when the Bills start winning these things should take on less grounds for grumbling

 

 

[MJS]

I guess I'm boring. I would just keep it the same.

[Luka]

West: Seahawks Raiders 49ers Rams

West: Chargers Cardinals Broncos Chiefs

 

North: Vikings Packers Bears Colts

North: Bills Lions Browns Pittsburgh

 

South: Cowboys Texans Saints Titans

South: Dolphins Jags Falcons Bucs

 

East: Ravens Bengals Redskins Panthers

East: Jets Giants Eagles Patriots

 

New Scheduling: 3 Divisional Games (instead of 6), 4 games against like division from other conference (North play North, South plays South etc.), rotate other divisions, one from same conference, one from opposite, and 1 game against same finish from prior season from other division.

 

Bills Schedule under new structure:

 

1x each year, rotate home and away:

Lions

Browns

Steelers

Vikings

Bears

Packers

Colts

 

Then you rotate in other divisions, this example we'll play the South:

 

Cowboys

Texans

Saints

Titans

Dolphins

Jags

Falcons

Bucs

 

Then the final game is setup like the two filler games are now. So let's say we finished 2nd the prior year in the North, we'll play the 2nd place Panthers in the East.

 

I think the advantages here are:
A) Staying within your general region should help ticket sales. Could also cultivate some new "rivalries" while maintaining traditional match ups.

B) Not playing 6 divisional games helps with parody. Less likely for a repeat of the Pats dynasty where there's an easy 4-6 wins every year.

C) More entertaining. I'd much rather see 16 unique games each year. And again, parody plays into that also.

 

[Nextmanup]

5 hours ago, Bangarang said:

Do players actually care about such a thing?

Definitely not! 

 

Further, rivalries are a myth that actually means something only to fans.

 

I'd love to see the divisional system trashed as well.

 

 

 

[Dopey]

20 hours ago, corta765 said:

With the talk of a possible London team and many proposals for divisional changes I wanted to explain an idea I had which in my eyes would completely balance the league and the playoffs. It looks like this:

 

AFC East: BUF, NE, MIA, NYJ, PIT, CIN, CLE, BAL

AFC West: KC, OAK, DEN, LAC, IND, HOU, TEN, JAX

NFC East: PHI, DAL, NYG, WAS, ATL, TB, CAR, NOLA

NFC West: SEA, ARZ, LAR, SF, DET, GB, MIN, CHI

 

Schedule wise it works like this you play everyone in your division once with a single additional game against your former division rival (aka BUF would play NE, MIA, NYJ on a rotating basis). Then you would crossover against the other division playing four of the teams there and the next season playing the four you didn't. And with the NFC we would do it the same way the NFL does with four team a year rotating.

 

For the playoffs division winners are guaranteed homefield, but the top two records get the bye. So potentially the top two teams in each conference could be from the same division.

 

Here are the advantages:

-Far more balanced schedule where you play 75% of your conference yearly

-Better chance for bigger matchups on a more routine basis

-Playoffs would finally allow wildcards to host playoff games again

-You would never see an 8-8 7-9 division champion again

-Rivalries would be created with Buffalo playing close foes like PIT and CLE yearly and same for other matchups

 

It looks like if a team moves to London it probably is coming from the AFC. If the Jags or Chargers move you would just switch MIA into their place. Probably not the fairest thing for the Phins but that is a casualty of the NFL's obsession to go to London.

Heard on WGR this morning that playing in London is not gonna work unless there is a change in the tax structure in London(good luck). They mentioned a player making $28 million a year in London would take home $7 Million of it. No way that will fly with players or the NFLPA. I don't have any links to articles, just heard it on the radio this morning. 

[Chris66]

2 easy wins. That team will perpetually suck just based on logistics. Free agents will not want to play there and drafted players will leave as soon as they can.

[iinii]

21 hours ago, Bangarang said:

I would get rid of divisions all together and just have 2 conferences. You play everyone in your conference once and 1 team from the opposing conference. The top 6 records from each conference make the playoffs. 
 

No more nonsense of having teams with better records being a WC team.

Solved 

[row_33]

41 minutes ago, Chris66 said:

2 easy wins. That team will perpetually suck just based on logistics. Free agents will not want to play there and drafted players will leave as soon as they can.

 

they will show up if the Bills build a solid base

 

the Blue Jays built up a solid base and a war chest and got the greats to show up by way of free agency to take 2 World Series

 

probably will never happen again....

[May Day 10]

17 hours ago, dma0034 said:

I think they should pull some teams from the NFC and move them to the AFC. Like flip the New York teams. 

 

Honestly. New rivalries need to be made. There isn't one in the league except.maybe Balt/Pitt that even remotely seems interesting

 

and the main reason for the rivalries that pop up, are the battle for the top of the Division.  

 

San Fran vs Seattle?  

 

You can have Buffalo and Arizona in a division and if they are #1 and #2 for 4 years, there is going to be an "intense" rivalry formed.

 

 

 

I kind of like the present format, in that it is perfectly symmetrical for schedule.  I do get sick of the constant 6/16 NE/MIA/NYJ matchups.  

 

 

Realignment in all leagues happens from time to time.  I think the nearly 20 years we have had this alignment is an eternity as far as that goes.  

[row_33]

2 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

Realignment in all leagues happens from time to time.  I think the nearly 20 years we have had this alignment is an eternity as far as that goes.  

 

since 2002

 

[corta765]

1 hour ago, Dopey said:

Heard on WGR this morning that playing in London is not gonna work unless there is a change in the tax structure in London(good luck). They mentioned a player making $28 million a year in London would take home $7 Million of it. No way that will fly with players or the NFLPA. I don't have any links to articles, just heard it on the radio this morning. 

 

I've heard that myself and they would have to make some big changes to make that fly.

6 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

Realignment in all leagues happens from time to time.  I think the nearly 20 years we have had this alignment is an eternity as far as that goes.  

 

Agreed. It's why I want the league to downsize divisions to just two and make the playoff field have a greater importance. It is asinine that a team with a better record goes on the road in the playoffs because of a division win by a crappy team.

[row_33]

3 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

I've heard that myself and they would have to make some big changes to make that fly.

 

Agreed. It's why I want the league to downsize divisions to just two and make the playoff field have a greater importance. It is asinine that a team with a better record goes on the road in the playoffs because of a division win by a crappy team.

 

they start each season with the rules for playoff seeding

 

and teams tailor their efforts in order to meet goals such as HFA or just getting into the playoffs or tanking the whole season

 

obvious talent imbalance in a conference/division and teams missing out (with better records than teams making the playoffs) have never been grounds for shaking it up

 

 

 

[KD in CA]

1 hour ago, Dopey said:

Heard on WGR this morning that playing in London is not gonna work unless there is a change in the tax structure in London(good luck). They mentioned a player making $28 million a year in London would take home $7 Million of it. No way that will fly with players or the NFLPA. I don't have any links to articles, just heard it on the radio this morning. 

It’s possible the NFL cuts a deal with London on league taxes that then gets funneled back to the players, but the larger question is how do pro sports manage this issue across the US in an era of increasing polarization of politics and tax law at the state level.  At some point it may impact competitive balance.

[Dopey]

20 minutes ago, KD in CA said:

It’s possible the NFL cuts a deal with London on league taxes that then gets funneled back to the players, but the larger question is how do pro sports manage this issue across the US in an era of increasing polarization of politics and tax law at the state level.  At some point it may impact competitive balance.

Yea. If I'm a professional athlete and strictly talking money, I want to be in place like TX or FL vs. NY or Cali. Those state taxes are a big deal. 

[djp14150]

On 11/5/2019 at 1:34 PM, Bangarang said:

I would get rid of divisions all together and just have 2 conferences. You play everyone in your conference once and 1 team from the opposing conference. The top 6 records from each conference make the playoffs. 
 

No more nonsense of having teams with better records being a WC team.

you can have groups of 4 teams that rotate to make up 2 conferences...each plays each other and you play 1 game against other conference by a lottery done for week 3 games at the draft...you know which 16 teams need to be at home that week then match the road teams from other conference to them.

 

for playoff---conference winner gets bye, then top 6 after are wild cards.