Conference realignment

[CouchCoach]

I would simplify the system. Back to two conferences as it was in the old NFL but regionalize it. Two 16 team conferences with no cross conference play until the playoffs and in preseason. Every team plays each team within their conference and doubles up on two rotating teams to come up to 17 games.

Playoffs arrive and each conference is seeded with the top seed getting a bye the first week. All playoff games are interconference with the 2 seeds playing the 7 seeds in the other conference, 3 playing 6 and 4 playing 5. No repeat games, if a non bye team won the SB, they would have played 19 different teams.

I would build new regional rivalries like DAL and HOU, NO, TEN and MIA with JAX, TB and ATL.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

NFL is about money. Cowboys are far and away the biggest draw in the NFL, both for butts in the seats and TV viewers.

NFC EAST has 4 of the top 10 TV markets in the country, 3 of the top 5.

The NFL is a 15 Billion Dollar industry and the overwhelming majority of that money is made through Television.

Why in the world would the NFL ever consider realignment of the NFC East?

Figure it out guys............

 

[BourbonBalz]

Anything change besides you?

Everything. Our historical rivalries with the Skins, Giants, and Eagles are pretty much dead. They’re just another game now. It’s not like it was in the 70’s or 89’s. They only mean a little more now simply because they’re division games. Align us in a new division with three different teams and they’d mean just as much today.

 

[BourbonBalz]

im not against this, but why do we have the same conversation about the same time of year each year. but ill play.... i'd do for NFC MidWest: Dallas, KC, Houston & New Orleans.

I’d go with Denver or Arizona over New Orleans. Louisiana Is more of a southern state. They belong with Atlanta, Tampa, and Miami.

 

[BourbonBalz]

I go back to 1970-1971 with the Cowboys. I used to love playing our division rivalries, but they’re just not the same. Frankly, I’d live to realign and start new rivalries. It would be fresh and different. Having said that, I agree it’s not going to happen because if $ and the markets we currently play in.

 

[CouchCoach]

NFL is about money. Cowboys are far and away the biggest draw in the NFL, both for butts in the seats and TV viewers.

NFC EAST has 4 of the top 10 TV markets in the country, 3 of the top 5.

The NFL is a 15 Billion Dollar industry and the overwhelming majority of that money is made through Television.

Why in the world would the NFL ever consider realignment of the NFC East?

Figure it out guys............

To spread the TV ratings wealth and get better balance. That was once suggested by one of the owners when this subject came up years back. Might have been Rooney but it was a market outside the top 15 as I recall.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I know this is not the year to mention it or even in the near future. But what happens if the NFL decides to expand the number of teams. Or even another team moves across the country in the NFC.

I love our rivals and our matches against the Eagles, "Washington", Giants, but how would you feel in swapping conferences with the the Panthers to put us in the South and them in the East. It would create a new dynamic and change up rivals for a while.

It is something to think about, however, I don't think the Cowboys vs. Saints/Falcons/Bucs have the same rivalry as the classics. It would definitely help with travel and location based rivalries. Personally I would love a 4 team add of foreign or new markets, and moving to a 3 divisions per league division setting. Works well with the new playoff format.

I am bored, just noticed an article on this recently and it had me thinking.

They need to change it all to be honest. Bucs, Dolphins, Jags, Falcons should all be in the same division. Should be the NFC South.

And sure that would ruin old rivalries. But it would create new ones. Ones that make sense.

Dallas should be with Houston and anyone else close to them.

Pats should be with the Giants, Eagles, and Commanders.

After some work.......Not perfect.......but this is what I would do:

NFC
Pats, Giants, Philly, Commanders
GB, Bears, Indy, Minn
Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tampa, Atlanta
Carollina, Baltimore, Detroit, Jets

AFC
Seattle, SF, Rams, Chargers
Buff, Pitt, Clev, Cincy
KC, Denver, Vegas, Arizona
Dallas, Houston, NO, TN

Too many teams on the East coast so the Buffalo division stays in the AFC. A couple of left over teams that didnt quite fit in similar zones so I put them together in the Carolina/Baltimore division. And this separates the Giants and Jets. Would have no problem with Jets and Giants in same division. You could swap out the Commanders for the Jets.

 

[Aven8]

No way that’s ever going to happen. Rivalries are already set and too much history.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

To spread the TV ratings wealth and get better balance. That was once suggested by one of the owners when this subject came up years back. Might have been Rooney but it was a market outside the top 15 as I recall.

But you risk losing ratings and how does that make good business sense? You have eight games, every single year, regardless of records, that are going to be among the most viewed spots on TV, regardless of content. TV doesn't care about spreading the wealth because there thing is selling spots and getting viewers for those spots. It's the NFL's job to spread wealth and they do that through shared revenue. That's not what TV is about. It would be very foolish of them to take a chance with something that just continues to generate money. Unless there is some kind of driver, I don't see it and it won't happen.

Not even gonna say JMO on this one because they've showed this to us for years. 60 years now and Dallas is still playing in a primarily Eastern Conference alignment. NFL isn't changing that.

Think about it, Rooney was one of the most powerful Owners in the NFL with one of the Premier Franchises and even he couldn't make it happen. Never even got serious consideration. It would take something really drastic, IMO, to have the NFL consider something like this.

 

[calicowboy54]

I’d go with Denver or Arizona over New Orleans. Louisiana Is more of a southern state. They belong with Atlanta, Tampa, and Miami.

denver would be better i agree.

 

[baltcowboy]

im not against this, but why do we have the same conversation about the same time of year each year. but ill play.... i'd do for NFC MidWest: Dallas, KC, Houston & New Orleans.

Oh no....... We would have the worst quarterback in the division.

 

[SlammedZero]

It would weird seeing Dallas in another division. Geographically I often thought it never make sense, but, it is what it is. Seems St. Louis and Dallas swapping would have made sense back when the Rams existed there. Is there another team that is farther (or as far) away from their division foes as Dallas? Maybe Miami to the AFC East?

 

[camelboy]

As I've always said, the NFL is missing a chance to add more spice, more interest, more $$$ by not adopting the concept of alignment every year. Especially, with the ease of travel nowadays ...
I always said they should make a draw every year to decide divisions. After each season, break the teams into four buckets (top 8 are bucket A, next 8 in bucket B, then C and D) and then make the draw just like they do for the World Cup or Champions League.

Of course, there needs to be some rules to the draw based on geographical, and state/city factors (maybe others). For instance, you cannot put two teams from the same state/city in the same division, or apply certain rules for east/west mix. They can put together a very interesting set of rules that makes it very interesting.

Imagine they add this event to their calendar every year after the draft. They have the season, the "Super Bowl", "The Combine", "The Draft", and now "The Draw"

Rivalries are almost dead, if not completely. No one cares about Bears/Packs, or Dal/Wash etc. anymore. People are more interested in seeing two strong team going at each other, no matter who they are. Those are the new rivalries, especially with free agency and having a age-old cowboy fan playing with eagles and vise versa ..

 

[InTheZone]

Just kick the Commanders out to a new division since that team and rivalry is dead

 

[MikeB80]

Why would anyone want to change the NFC East? Its been the best division in the league with the biggest tv markets. There isn't a single reason to ever change it.

 

[NeathBlue]

Jerry isn't giving up 3 games in the highly populated northeast.

TV companies aren’t going to give up those matchups either.

 

[stiletto]

I could see a Covid caused realignment happening. It's not going to go away even by next year, not trying to have discussions out of the Covid area but it is reality. New alignments might make sense in most sports for a few years now.

 

[gjkoeppen]

Everything. Our historical rivalries with the Skins, Giants, and Eagles are pretty much dead. They’re just another game now. It’s not like it was in the 70’s or 89’s. They only mean a little more now simply because they’re division games. Align us in a new division with three different teams and they’d mean just as much today.

The skins and giant games haven't always been like they have been in recent years. But I look forward to those games because those are 4 games the Cowboys should win. I don't get why people want to create a different division with teams that have been doing better and making it that much harder for the Cowboys to win that new division. Do Cowboys fans really want to make things harder for the Cowboys? If the league has ZERO problems with the Cowboys being in the NFC East, and just because a sportswriter wrote an article because he is bored, why do Cowboys fans jump on this meaningless never going to happen thinking?
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[gjkoeppen]

To spread the TV ratings wealth and get better balance. That was once suggested by one of the owners when this subject came up years back. Might have been Rooney but it was a market outside the top 15 as I recall.

Realigning teams won't solve your TV ratings wealth, it will just shift it and then create the same problem just with different teams. The NFL is out to make money so they will schedule the teams that will draw the most viewers as often as they can. The NFL has a rule that every team has to be on at least 1 prime time game every 2 years. The most any team can be on prime time in any season is 5. The Cowboys get the max every year because the league has always counted the turkey day game as one because the entire country gets that game just like a prime time game.
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[BourbonBalz]

The skins and giant games haven't always been like they have been in recent years. But I look forward to those games because those are 4 games the Cowboys should win. I don't get why people want to create a different division with teams that have been doing better and making it that much harder for the Cowboys to win that new division. Do Cowboys fans really want to make things harder for the Cowboys? If the league has ZERO problems with the Cowboys being in the NFC East, and just because a sportswriter wrote an article because he is bored, why do Cowboys fans jump on this meaningless never going to happen thinking?
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Sorry, I’m interested in more than just easy wins against **** teams. But that’s just me.