Just For Fun... Realignment

[Hostile]

Baseball is talking realignment. 5 teams are discussing a move to Los Angeles and there is labor unrest in the NFL.

Assuming one of the 5 teams will actually move to LA and teams would re-align in order to save costs and take advantage to geographic locations...how would you align the 32 teams in the NFL to take advantage?

Here are the 5 teams alleged to have had discussions about a move to LA.

Jacksonville, Minnesota, St. Louis, San Diego, and the ever not happy Oakland.

Try as well to keep the AFC and NFC equally powerful as far as TV markets.

Okay, that's your assignment. How would you do it?

I'll work on mine and post it separate from this post.

 

[JVita17]

StL to LA and keep everthing the same would make most sense.

 

[Muhast]

StL to LA and keep everthing the same would make most sense.

I would switch Dallas to nfc south and panthers to nfc east

 

[big dog cowboy]

San Diego is the team moving to LA, but that doesn't change anything as far as I am concerned.

No realignment is necessary. The NFL has become the most popular sport in this country the way things are now.

Any time and effort spent on realignment would be better spent on improving the officiating.

 

[Hostile]

Okay, Jacksonville would move to LA in my scenario.

AFC South
Dolphins
Buccaneers
Falcons
Saints

NFC North
Lions
Packers
Vikings
Bears

AFC North
Bills
Jets
Patriots
Giants

NFC East
Eagles
Panthers
Ravens
Commanders

AFC East
Browns
Bengals
Steelers
Colts

NFC South
Chiefs
Titans
Cowboys
Rams

NFC West
Chargers
Los Angeles
Raiders
49ers

AFC West
Seahawks
Cardinals
Broncos
Texans

 

[Muhast]

Okay, Jacksonville would move to LA in my scenario.

AFC South
Dolphins
Buccaneers
Falcons
Saints

NFC North
Lions
Packers
Vikings
Bears

AFC North
Bills
Jets
Patriots
Giants

NFC East
Eagles
Panthers
Ravens
Commanders

AFC East
Browns
Bengals
Steelers
Colts

NFC South
Chiefs
Titans
Cowboys
Rams

NFC West
Chargers
Los Angeles
Raiders
49ers

AFC West
Seahawks
Cardinals
Broncos
Texans

Hos that is a lot of moving lol

 

[Hostile]

Hos that is a lot of moving lol

I said in the title, just for fun.

How fun is it to go, "change nothing?"

 

[big dog cowboy]

How fun is it to go, "change nothing?"

Mere words can not describe it.

 

[hsfolk]

The only two teams that I think will probably go to Los Angeles are either San Diego or Oakland, so the divisions would stay the same

Maybe switch Carolina to the NFC East for Dallas to the NFC South

NFC South:
Atlanta
Dallas
New Orleans
Tampa Bay

*that would be the best division in profootball*

 

[Muhast]

The only two teams that I think will probably go to Los Angeles are either San Diego or Oakland, so the divisions would stay the same

Maybe switch Carolina to the NFC East for Dallas to the NFC South

NFC South:
Atlanta
Dallas
New Orleans
Tampa Bay

*that would be the best division in profootball*

I said the same. Dallas makes no sense in the east

 

[Manwiththeplan]

I said in the title, just for fun.

How fun is it to go, "change nothing?"

people hate change

 

[67CowboysFan]

I said the same. Dallas makes no sense in the east

I never have understood that one.

 

[Plumfool]

I would switch Dallas to nfc south and panthers to nfc east

Yeah those two should switch.

 

[Muhast]

I said in the title, just for fun.

How fun is it to go, "change nothing?"

Yea I know that, but I thought we'd still make it somewhat realistic. I can't see them doing an all out reassignment. I think they'd do some tweaking for sure though.

Dallas makes no sense in the NFC east. Panthers swapping with us makes perfect sense.

Assuming one of the Cali teams (oak/SD) leaves it's easy to swap the LA team with them. If not, you swap STL with them, which is fine b/c of SF and SEA being in that division.

The big changes would have to come if MINN or JAX leave.

If Jags leave:

I swap: Miami to AFC South (where they belong), Colts to AFC North(where they belong) and Ravens to AFC East(where they belong) I then move the LA Jags to the AFC west and the Cheifs to the AFC South.


so:

AFC NORTH:Steelers,Colts,Browns, Bengals
AFC EAST: Pats, Jets, Ravens, Bills
AFC WEST: Raiders, Chargers, LA-Jags, Broncos.
AFC SOUTH: Dolphins, Chiefs, Texans, Titans

I think this breakdown makes by far the most sense geographically.

-------------

If Minn moves:

NFC NORTH: Bears, Packers, Lions, Cardinals
NFC WEST: Rams, LA Vikings, Seahawks, 49ers
NFC EAST: Eagles, Commanders, Panthers, Giants
NFC SOUTH: Atlanta, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Dallas

I debated moving NYG to the NFC North, cold weather team, and a northern team but I decided to just move the Cards who are a dome team, to substitute the Vikes who were a dome team.

* I tried to make sense of everything market/geography wise, without doing wholesale moves to make it realistic but still fun.

 

[peplaw06]

If it's St. Louis, San Diego, or Oakland, I wouldn't move anyone.

If it's Jacksonville, I would have the LA team play in the AFC West, and move the Chiefs to the AFC South.

If it's Minnesota, then St. Louis is moving to the NFC North. LA would go in the NFC West with SF, Arizona, Seattle.

I would never move Dallas out of a division with NYG, Philly, or Washington. Never.

 

[DWhite Fan]

I never have understood that one.

Just like Miami being in the AFC East is wrong.

 

[pancakeman]

Completely shuffling the deck, and prioritizing geographical closeness:

NFC WEST
Seahawks, 49ers, Raiders, LA Jaguars

NFC SOUTH
Cowboys, Texans, Saints, Titans

NFC NORTH
Vikings, Packers, Bears, Rams

NFC EAST
Eagles, Giants, Bills, Patriots

AFC WEST
Chargers, Cardinals, Broncos, Chiefs

AFC SOUTH
Buccaneers, Dolphins, Falcons, Panthers

AFC NORTH
Lions, Colts, Bengals, Browns

AFC EAST
Commanders, Ravens, Steelers, Jets

 

[Hostile]

Completely shuffling the deck, and prioritizing geographical closeness:

NFC WEST
Seahawks, 49ers, Raiders, LA Jaguars

NFC SOUTH
Cowboys, Texans, Saints, Titans

NFC NORTH
Vikings, Packers, Bears, Rams

NFC EAST
Eagles, Giants, Bills, Patriots

AFC WEST
Chargers, Cardinals, Broncos, Chiefs

AFC SOUTH
Buccaneers, Dolphins, Falcons, Panthers

AFC NORTH
Lions, Colts, Bengals, Browns

AFC EAST
Commanders, Ravens, Steelers, Jets

I think this one is awesome.

 

[pancakeman]

I think this one is awesome.

Thanks Hos. There's something to be said for preserving traditional rivalries (as the NFL did last time), of course, but I think the idea of new regional rivalries could work well.

Here's a less serious one:

NFC YANKEES
Jets, Giants, Patriots, Eagles

NFC GOLDEN STATE
49ers, LA Vikings, Raiders, Chargers

NFC FLYOVERLAND
Rams, Titans, Colts, Bengals

NFC HURRICANELAND
Texans, Saints, Buccaneers, Dolphins

AFC GROWLERS
Panthers, Jaguars, Bears, Lions

AFC BIRDIES
Seahawks, Cardinals, Ravens, Falcons

AFC COWBOYS & INDIANS
Chiefs, Cowboys, Broncos, Commanders

AFC ENIGMATIC MASCOTS
Packers, Browns, Steelers, Bills

 

[Galian Beast]

History lesson...

Super Bowl era football

Two Leagues

NFL AFL

Cowboys entered the NFL as an expansion team and were in the NFL West.

In 1961 they moved to the NFL East.

After Super Bowl 1 the NFL split from East/West to 4 divisions. Capitol, Century, Coastal, Central.

The Cowboys were in the Capitol division, with the Commanders, eagles, and saints.

When the NFL and AFL merged, the amount of teams weren't equal.

The AFL had 10 teams, the NFL had 16 teams. So the new NFL had a total of 26 teams, divided by 2 conferences, divided by 3 divisions each. Which meant 1 division in each conference had an extra team.

Anyways it's not just location, but also team balance, and historic rivalries...

You don't want to pull an NCAA here and destroy rivalries.

I believe even when the cardinals left the NFC East, they had a deal to play the cowboys a certain number of times.

The reason the structuring makes most sense is to avoid lengthy travel for road games.

I would move the Rams before I moved the Cowboys. Our rivalries with the Giants, Eagles, and Commanders are epic. St. Louis to LA makes sense.

I'm not much about St. Louis rivalries, but does it make sense that Miami is in the AFC East? Not really, but I think their rivalries are a bit stronger than St. Louis'

You can't touch the NFC East though.