From: John.Risk@bbs.oit.unc.edu (John Risk)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: NFL Alignment & Revision Proposal
Date: 31 Aug 92 05:41:22 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Extended Bulletin Board Service

RE: NFL Realignment

I do not read this newsgroup often, so I hope this
fits the current thread.  I have never understood
the current divisions, except that they are tied
to the old NFL-AFL, and are further broken up by
geographic boundries.  But what does it mean to be
the central division champ of the AFC?  Absolutely
nothing!  True enough, it gets a ride to the
Superbowl, but the reality is that the teams with
the 10 (or is it now 12) best records make the
playoffs, and the better records, get the home
field advantage. That fact actually diminishes the
six division titles.  I would like something to
cheer about during the season, and have a
championship title that means something.

Proposal: 

1) Expand the league to 32 teams

Current expansion will bring the league to 30. Two
more teams, would make the league a power of 2
(i.e. 2^5=32), a natural number for playoffs.  The
number 30, fits the current mold of 6 divisions.

2) Divide the league into 4 conferences of 8 teams
each.

This would be the heart of the league.  The
Division would be based on a formula that would
minimize the travel distance within the
conferences.  For discussion, I will call them
North, South, East, and West.  Your schedule and
goals would revolve around your own conference.

3) Six year schedule

Each year a team would play 7 conference games
(intra-conference), and 8 nonconference games
(inter-conference). The 8 interconference games
would be with a different conference each year. In
3 years North, for example, would play East in
year 1, South in year 2, and West in year 3. North
would play 7 intraconference games every year,
bring the total games played to 15 (one less then
the current 16, but I'll get to that later).  Over
6 years, North would play every team in its
conference 6 times (3 home, 3 away), and every
other team in the league twice (1 home, 1 away).
The 8 interconference games would be played
first, with the 7 intraconference games at the
end of the season.

4) Rivalries retained, & realigned.

Since a team gets scheduled to play every team in
the league at least twice in a six year period
(perhaps more counting playoffs), Old traditional
rivalries will continue, as long as they are
important to the teams involved.  Over time, new
rivalries, within one's own conference will
perhaps become more important.

5) Goals

I can envision three distinct Goals of each team
throughout the season.

Inter-conference championship This would go to the
team in your conference with the best record
against non-conference teams. This would also be a
head to head argument as to which conference is
stronger.

Intra-conference championship This would go to the
team with the best record against conference
teams.  Inter-conference games would have no
effect on the Intra-conference championship. Kind of
like starting over in the middle of the season.

Superbowl championship. An elimination playoff
system much like in place today.  Discussion
follows under "Playoffs"

6) Playoffs

The main difference is that this is again like
starting over. All 32 teams would be eligible to
participate. The league would be broken into 2
divisions of 16 teams each (i.e. the 16 teams that
played together that year in conference and non
conference play. North & East vs South & West in
year 1 for example).  The 16 teams would be ranked
according to overall record for the entire year
(15 games).  The first round of the playoffs would
pair the best team in one division against the
worst team in the other. Number 2 plays 15, 3
plays 14, and etc. until  15 plays 1.  This method
insures that the 16th game of the season is
against an opponent that has not been played
already that year.  This game essentially takes
the place of the 16th game that is now currently
scheduled in the regular season. All teams will
play at least 16 games (8 non conference, 7
conference, and at least 1 playoff). Home team
advantage for the first game goes to the team with
the higher seeding, not necessarily the better
record.  (i.e. number 8 vs 9 is at 8's stadium).
This home advantage is scheduled for playoff
rounds 1,2,3,&4, but not 5 (the Superbowl) where
presumably you would have the top seed in each 16
team division playing each other.  If there are
any upset along the way, that team assumes the
seed number of the team it beat. (e.g. team 10 of
one division beats team 7 of the other, then they
assume the # 7 seed, and home team advantage for
the rest of the playoffs.

Tie breaks for teams having the same records. This
is easy.  Why have complicated formulas like who
beat who, or who scored more points. In boxing,
chess, and many other individual sports, the
challenger must beat the champion in order to
become champion.  The champion only has to tie, to
retain his championship.  Any time two or more
teams are tied for a rank, or seeding, simply look
at the previous years records for tie breakers.  If
still tied, look at the year before that, and so
on.  Example, 3 teams in the North & East division
have records of 13-2. Team "A" beat team "B". Team
"B" beat team "C", and Team "C" beat team "A".
They were all beaten by Team "D".  Team "B" was
the Superbowl champion the year before with a
record of 17-3.  Teams "A" & "C" each had a record
of 11-5, losing in the first round of the
playoffs, thus playing only 16 games.  The year
before that "A" had 3 more wins than "C".  The
Seeding for this year would be "B", "A", and then
"C".  This would be true even if the above senerio
were changed where "B" had lost to both "A" & "C",
but they all still had records of 13-2.  (after
all, "B" lost to good teams with records of 13-2,
where "A" & "C" lost to teams of records not as
good as 13-2.)

No more piling on points at the end of a game
because it might make a difference in home team
advantage in the playoffs. How much you win by,
has no relevance.

7) Preseason games

These should be scheduled against teams that you
did not play the previous year, or are scheduled
to play in the current year.  Example, North plays
East this year, and last year they played West.  A
team in the North conference would schedule
preseason games with teams from the South, with
the exception of any teams from the South that
they played in last year's playoffs. Preseason
games are not critical to the overall scheduling,
and exceptions could be made.  It is even possible
for some of the teams that had rivalries
curtailed, to schedule them during preseason. It
could also be possible, and should be encouraged,
to have preseason games with minor league teams,
all star teams, Canadian teams, or developmental
teams.

8) Draft

Use the overall record for the season
(interconference, intraconference, and playoffs)
to determine inverse draft order.  Again, ties are
broken as above, by using previous years records.
Do not allow teams to trade draft picks except for
the current upcomming drafts.  The purpose of the
draft is to balance the league.  If draft picks
for ten years out are traded, this defeats the
purpose.  The current year is the exception, since
the value of the draft pick has already been
determined by the season played, and the talent
available.  It is possible that a poor team could
benefit by trading a draft pick of good talent,
but perhaps not a position that they need, for an
experienced player at a key position.

9) Tie games

Eliminate all tie games, even during the regular
season. People want a victor.

10) Awards & Championship Titles

Monetary awards, and Championship Titles should go
to Interconference, Intraconference, and playoff
champions.  No Monetary award to the 16 team
divisional champion. this is just a prelude to the
playoffs. Monetary awards to each advancement
during the playoffs.

Yes, it is possible to go 7-1, in interconference
play, 6-1 in intraconference play, and 4-1 in the
playoffs, and never win a title, even though your
17-3 record could be the best in the league.  It
is also possible to go 0-8, 0-7 and then win the
Playoffs 5-0 and become Superbowl Champs.  But who
cares.  Either senario would be a story worth
telling. Besides, the playoffs tell who had the
best team at the end of the season, not during the
season.



Comments:

I know this is more that just realignment, but I
believe it would be good for the league & the
fans. How many times does a team get off to a bad
start, and perhaps their play is affected because
they have virtually no chance to make the playoffs
after an 0-5 start.  Here you get 3 different
seasons, play every team in the league at home at
least once in six years, and minimize travel
expenses. The terms "interconference" &
"intraconference" are most descriptive, but should
probably be replaced with the more traditional
"non-conference" & "conference".

John


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