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If so, where and what would be a good team mascot for that city?
If no, why not?
Right now, the schedule formula works well for right now with 32 teams (4 per division) for 16 games.
But if the owners have their way and get the season increased to 18 games, how will the schedule formula be affected? Will more teams solve scheduling issues? Or will it cause more scheduling issues.
If the league stays at 16 game seasons, will having more teams work with the 16 game schedule? Obviously, the divisions may have to be reorganized, UNLESS there are 8 new teams added.
What are your thoughts?
And please, I want to hear more than the typical "if it's not broke, don't fix it" answers because we all know better than that. NOTHING in life period goes unchanged. EVERYTHING has to grow and undergo some change, so what will those changes be?
And to anyone who laughs at the thought and says "There won't be any changes or new teams anytime soon," take a moment to laugh at yourself, because that's the exact same sentiment people had years ago before teams relocated and new teams were added, i.e: Browns-Ravens, new Browns, Oilers-Titans, Raiders back to Oakland, Panthers, Jaguars... Trust that at some point, the list will continue.......
I've heard league officials saying that expansion probably isn't in the cards for a long time -- which doesn't surprise me, since the scheduling formula works so perfectly right now, and all the divisions are equally numbered and aligned.
If the league moves to 18 games, the easiest schedule fix would be to add games based on the previous season's rankings. For those who don't know, this is how the scheduling formula currently breaks down:
-- 6 division games.
-- One division plays another entire division within the conference on a three-year rotation (for example, the NFC East plays the NFC West one year, the NFC North the next year, and the NFC South the year after that). 4 games.
-- One division plays another entire division within the opposing conference on a four-year rotation (i.e., the NFC East plays the AFC East one year, then the AFC West, then the AFC South, then the AFC North). 4 games.
-- 2 games within the same conference, against teams in the two divisions not in the annual rotation that finished in the same place the previous season (i.e., if the NFC East is playing the NFC West, then last year's first-ranked team in the NFC East would play last season's first-ranked teams in the NFC North and NFC South. Same goes for the second-, third-, and fourth-ranked teams.)
If the league added two more games, the easiest solution would be to add two more ranking-based games. The #1 and #2 teams could all play each other in the out-of-rotation divisions, while the #3 and #4 teams could play, for example.
What I'd rather see is a 17-game schedule that would keep teams from losing home games by going to London every year. The NFL could keep the current scheduling format, but every team could add one neutral-site game outside of the regular schedule. That's the game that could be played in London, plus there would be plenty of opportunities to take the NFL to cities that don't have a team. The Cowboys and Texans could play in San Antonio, for example. The Seahawks could play a game in Portland. The Broncos could play a game in Salt Lake City. I actually think that would be a pretty neat idea.
What I'd rather see is a 17-game schedule that would keep teams from losing home games by going to London every year. The NFL could keep the current scheduling format, but every team could add one neutral-site game outside of the regular schedule. That's the game that could be played in London, plus there would be plenty of opportunities to take the NFL to cities that don't have a team. The Cowboys and Texans could play in San Antonio, for example. The Seahawks could play a game in Portland. The Broncos could play a game in Salt Lake City. I actually think that would be a pretty neat idea.
I like that idea...
Falcons play in Birmingham
Redskins & Ravens play a game in Richmond & Norfolk
Cardinals play a game in Las Vegas
Chargers play a game in Los Angeles (until there is an LA team)
Packers in Milwaukee
Bengals in Columbus
Browns in Toledo
Colts in Louisville
Titans in Memphis
I think the NFL is too big as it is. I definitely don't see the need for more than 32 teams. There has already been complaints of the NFL product being watered down as it is. I know there is talk about reducing the preseason games down to two and adding two more games. I wouldn't mind seeing the preseason reduced, keeping the regular season like it is, but moving it up into mid august.
I guess two 20 team conferences would be the next choice with five divisions of four teams. The schedule would be the same except for the games played between divisions in the same conferences. One division in each conference would have to play two teams in the other conference and zero in the same conferenence.
For example
AFC NORTH VS AFC SOUTH
AFC WEST VS AFC EAST
NFC WEST VS NFC EAST
AFC CENTRAL VS NFC CENTRAL
NFC SOUTH VS AFC SOUTH
SO the AFC CENTRAL would have no conference games outside the division except the last season finishing position games.
AFC central would play the nfc central and one other division in the NFC when the divisions play each other
That would push it to a 17 game schedule
6 division games
4 conference plus 4 outside conference games or 8 outside conference games for that one team
3 finishing position teams
The playoffs would be the same too. Divisional leaders but only one wild card.
Very complicated
Last edited by HtownLove; 05-21-2013 at 01:14 PM..
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