chris_in_sunnyvale

Why are the Pats at Oakland this year? Based on the 3yr rotation with the AFCW, I would have thought the Pats would host this game based on:

@Oakland 2002...@Foxboro 2005...@Oakland 2008...

Regards,
Chris

patsfaninpittsburgh

The league decided to mix up the Oakland/ San Diego and Seattle/ San Fransisco trips

We would have had Oakland and San Diego but Kansas City is now in Oakland's spot.

The league isn't West Coast sensative.

jmt57

Yeah, as I understand it the thought process was that it was a bit unfair that two teams in a division cross three time zones and travel further (to Oakland and San Diego) while two other teams benefit from much shorter travel (to KC and Denver). Similar situation with the NFCW (Seattle & SF vs Arizona & St Louis).

It's a one-time anomaly to fix that - at least until some team moves to LA.

alamo

They changed the west division pairings after 2008, from OAK&SD or DEN&KC to OAK&DEN or SD&KC.

In other words, in the past every 3 years OAK&SD would be on the road, DEN&KC would be at home, and they'd alternate home/away.

But after the complaints in 2008 about the Pats and Jet both having two AFC west games on the coast, they switched the pairings since DEN and KC are same division but not as long a trip.

So now every 3 years OAK&DEN will be on the road, DEN&KC will be at home, alternating home/away. So no more double California trips.

ctpatsfan77

Actually, they're catering to the whiners that complained about the fact that they'd have to play four games out on the West Coast in a single season once every 24 years because of a quirk in the schedule (in most divisions, if you sort the four teams alphabetically, teams 1 and 2 have the same home and away schedules, and so do teams 3 and 4; it just so happens in the AFC West and NFC West, that it puts the two West Coast teams in each division together and the two non-coastal teams together).

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chris_in_sunnyvale

Thanks for the responses. I actually like this better as I can catch the Pats on the west coast vs. the AFCW once every 3 years (Oakland or SD, but no longer both) instead of 6. If they did the same with the SF/Seattle pairing, I can do the same for the NFCW every 4 years instead of 8.

I was looking forward to 2032, though, when all 4 games were on this coast I'm sure I'd get great seats in the wheelchair section by then.

Regards,
Chris

Dragda

I like going to games in Oakland.

patsfaninpittsburgh

it seems some teams got mad that we scheduled west coast pairs and just remained on the west coast. Apparently, we requested that from the league.

The NFL considers new and innovative Patriots thinking unfair.

What's interesting is that they ignore the west coast teams desire for 4 PM games on the east coast.