NFL Report:  The Commissioner's View  --  Spring 2001
The Benefits of Realignment

Broncos versus Vikings; Packers versus Redskins; Jets versus Giants; Raiders versus Jaguars; Cowboys versus Texans.

Those are some of the intriguing matchups that will take place every three or four years under the new scheduling formula that will accompany the divisional alignment plan soon to be completed by the NFL’s 32 team owners.

The current six-division alignment started when the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 brought the total number of teams to 26. It was amended with the addition of expansion teams in 1976 (Seattle and Tampa Bay), 1995 (Carolina and Jacksonville), and 1999 (Cleveland). The existing scheduling formula, based on the previous season’s standings, was adopted in 1978.

Much has changed since the 1970s. The St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans, teams that relocated in the 1990s, played in Super Bowl XXXIV. New teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, Baltimore Ravens, and Carolina Panthers have played in conference championship games. Salary-cap considerations and free agency have given birth to an era of competitive balance throughout the league. In short, there are a lot of competitive teams that some fans have not had the chance to see.

Because 2002 also marks the debut of the Houston Texans—the NFL’s thirty-second team—this is the right time for the NFL to realign and revise its scheduling formula.

We have taken a careful step-by-step approach to the issue of realignment.

When Houston was awarded a franchise in October of 1999, NFL clubs agreed to realign into two 16-team conferences in 2002. Each conference will have four four-team divisions.

The next key issue—how games will be scheduled—was decided at a league meeting last October. Clubs unanimously approved a new schedule format that will increase the emphasis on same-division clubs playing common opponents (see box below).

The formula has enormous benefits and should have a more significant long-term impact on competitive balance than the alignment of teams within the divisions—the issue that has attracted the most attention. The formula also should result in a consistently more interesting series of games.

 Because 10 of 16 games every year will be against nondivision teams, the division in which a team resides will be less of a factor in its won-loss record. What’s more, a team’s record from the preceding year will have less of a bearing on its schedule. Only two, rather than four, opponents will be based on last year’s record. There will be no more so-called fifth-place schedules that often were perceived as “easier.”

What fans are apt to like best about the new scheduling formula is that all teams will play each other on a regular basis, home and away.

By playing every team in another division in your conference annually on a rotating basis, teams are guaranteed to play all nondivision opponents in their conference at least once every three years, and at home at least once every six years. Plus, every AFC team will play every NFC team once every four years, and at home once every eight years.

This will eliminate the schedule aberrations of the past. For instance: Oakland visited Pittsburgh once in the past 20 seasons, Miami and Denver played once between 1983-1997 when Dan Marino and John Elway were in their primes; Green Bay and Washington have not played since 1988 and have not played in Washinton since 1979; Atlanta and the New York Giants did not play once between 1989-1997; Pittsburgh and Kansas City played five straight times in Kansas City; Green Bay played in Dallas four years in a row; and Tampa Bay never has played in Buffalo.

Under the new formula, fans will see a more consistent presentation of the many attractive matchups the NFL has to offer.

We also addressed economic issues related to realignment. To reduce revenue disparity, our clubs have agreed to share the visiting teams’ share of ticket receipts equally. There also was agreement that teams changing divisions will not receive financial compensation and that the number of playoff teams will remain at 12.

The final piece of the puzzle is determining how the divisions will be aligned. Led by our Realignment Working Group of owners, we have engaged in extensive dialogue on this issue, including analysis and discussion on the critical matter of rivalries. There is a strong consensus that the new alignment strike a balance by preserving many traditional rivalries and creating some new ones.

It is important for any enterprise to reinvent itself periodically. For the NFL, realignment and the new scheduling formula that comes with it will reinvent the NFL in a very positive way.