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Realignment Thread (If some moves happen)


Toronto Bills? Keep that filthy corruption out of Canada!:mad:
 
Really? You think universal health care is going to sell the players on playing for London? Really..?!?!

It's a city that is 3,000 - 5,000 miles away from all the rest of the league. These guys aren't exactly working as accountants for the Bank of London. Road trips in the NFL are grueling. Just look at all the weeping and wailing in this forum when we had to play 5 of 6 on the road. The players will see their games in London as just another extended road trip. It won't be 4 home games, it'll be 4 more weeks on the road and dealing with all the hassles that contains.

Like I said before, a 4/4/4/4 schedule just means 16 road games for the players. Good luck finding one who will go along with it.

someone else: here is an issue!

me: here is why that issue isn't as big as you think it is

a third person: You really think that the solution to to the issue the previous person mention is going to change the fact that it doesn't solve this imaginary issue i just invented?!

i guess those players will just have to get regular jobs, while the London Blue Bloods(or knights/monarchs/whatever) sign other players to highly paid contracts.

Again kids, These are grown ups making between 6 and 8 figures a year, asking them to spend part of 4 months living in London IS NOT A BIG DEAL.

So in short here is a FAQ of all your petty little precieved problems so we don't have to make yet another thread

Why would the league do this?! Because europe is a huge ****ing market and the NFL wants to tap into it even more then it currently is

But what about the TAX rate?! Players already pay a high tax rate, in addition to health care costs and Dues. This is something that can be setup so that players on the london squad would end up paying a similar amount as those on US based teams. teams in LA and NY are not exactly struggling to sign players that could go to miami with the ZERO state taxes.

But I don't want the patriots to play in london every year! That's not a question, and the league doesnt care what you want this isn't about patriot fans.

Yeah but who is going to go to london?
The jags

So indy and Tenn and Houston are going to fly to london every year?
No I'd expect that the jags and the phins to switch divisions, AFCE will travel to london each year since geographically they are the closest.

But what about night games?
London will play Monday/Thursday night games on the road.

Yeah but what about the TV ratings!?
What about them, they are playing on the road at 8:30 est just like normal, sure they are going to miss out on the normal viewership of jacksonville, but those rating's didn't add much to begin with thus the desire to move to london.

What about the fans in London having to watch at 2am?
I don't know man, how do the fans in London Currently watch night games?

But what if a player decides not to join the london squad after being drafted?
Then they wait a year and hope london doesn't draft them again.

So the London team just flies back and forth all the time?
Probably not, teams traveling to london will go after their bye week to give them additional time, and the london squad will have their games setup in groups of road games/home games so minimize travel, the league's able to handle sending seattle across the country a bunch, I'm sure that these billion dollar franchises can make it work

What if they make the playoffs HUH smart guy?!
They will play the 4:30 game, which is prime time for UK

But what if i think this whole idea is stupid?
Nobody cares

How would Brexit affect all of this?
Dude what?

What about preseason games!? I've got you here don't I
Not really, as evidence by the patriots. joint practices happen all the time with teams spending the week practicing and then playing against each other, id expect more of the same

Okay but how are players supposed to just adjust to playing in a foreign country?
Its ****ing London. They speak English, and any adult with a god damned checking account has a debit card, you can just use that, it's not rocket science. If anything they will thrive because of the stricter food standards, no more yellow dye #3

What if a player only eats and drinks yellow dye #3?
Well they're a monster and deserve to by vanquished

This all seems too complicated and can't possibly work.
You have no idea what complicated is, and probably use the word "literally" in literally every scenario, as an example I Literally died when i heard the Jags were moving to London.

I'll update the list as i see new problems arise.
 
Here's a re-alignment trade that should happen to make divisions geographically better (rivalries will be created if they are not already)......

AFC East loses Miami, gains Baltimore

AFC North loses Baltimore, gains Indy

AFC South loses Indy, gains Miami
 
Again kids, These are grown ups making between 6 and 8 figures a year, asking them to spend part of 4 months living in London IS NOT A BIG DEAL.
Are you kidding me here? Yeah in the context of modern day pro sports and what players go through, it kinda really IS A BIG DEAL. I don't think you have a thorough grasp on how huge of a competitive disadvantage a London-based NFL team would have.

Your little FAQ (which I snipped for brevity) talks about taxes and game times. It doesn't even remotely address the competitive disadvantage a team would suffer when the players are essentially playing 16 road games per year and every single game is a road trip.

There isn't a single free agent in the league who would pick London over any of the other 31. London would have to overpay - significantly - to attract free agents, and even that might not work.
I'll update the list as i see new problems arise.
Cool. Now update the list to show how a team in London could even remotely dream of being competitive when it would have a schedule that, as far as the players (and players' bodies) are concerned, is 16 road games. These men are professionals. Many have families. You think they'll be happy just picking up and leaving for weeks at a time twice a season?
 
I understand why it was the way it was, but I always found it funny that Dallas was in the NFC East while the St. Louis Rams were in the NFC West. Dallas being some 250-300 miles west of St. Louis.

Indy in the AFC South while Baltimore in the AFC North is similar, as Indianapolis is slightly north of Baltimore.

Baltimore should be in the AFC East while Miami is in the AFC South and Indy in the AFC North, if we're going to go by geography.

Keeping the conferences as they are....

AFCE - NE, NYJ, Buf, Bal
AFCN - Pit, Ind, Cle, Cin
AFCS - Ten, Jax, Mia, Hou
AFCW - LA, Den, KC, Oak

NFCE - Was, NYG, Phi, Car
NFCN - GB, Min, Det, Chi
NFCS - TB, Dal, Atl, NO
NFCW - LA, Sea, SF, Sea
 
London is only a 6 hour plane ride....not a deal killer....but yeah it's bad for a team like the Seahawks...

Only? And it’s a minimum of 6 hours for the Jags outside of London
 
Cool. Now update the list to show how a team in London could even remotely dream of being competitive when it would have a schedule that, as far as the players (and players' bodies) are concerned, is 16 road games. These men are professionals. Many have families. You think they'll be happy just picking up and leaving for weeks at a time twice a season?

I guess if we're going to be concerned that a team overseas is going to be not competitive, we shoudl talk about the browns, lions, raiders, bills, phins, cards, etc etc. teams that despite having 8 home games a year are constantly in the cellar.
 
Only? And it’s a minimum of 6 hours for the Jags outside of London

how will they ever recover from the 2 extra hours on a plane 2+ days before a game?
 
In any event, you'd also need an act of Parliament to exempt the team from various UK labor protection and anti-restriction laws. For example, as it stands now (at least according to news articles I've read over the years about this) it would be illegal for a London-based team to obey the salary cap limit and a London-based team could not be prevented from signing other teams' draft picks.
That doesn't seem to stop NFL teams from playing in London now.

Point is, there would be ways to solve the issues. Make the team officially based in the US, just play there for eight weeks every season. Or, just get an Act of Parliment. I'm sure they'd be every bit as accommodating to the league as Congress.
 
I was thinking:

AFCE - NE, NYJ, Buf, NYG
AFCN - Pit, Ind, Cle, Cin
AFCS - Atl, Jax, Mia, TB
AFCW - Ari, Den, KC, Sea

NFCE - Was, Bal, Phi, Car
NFCN - GB, Min, Det, Chi
NFCS - Hou, Dal, NO, Tenn
NFCW - LA, LA, SF, Oak
 
I guess if we're going to be concerned that a team overseas is going to be not competitive, we shoudl talk about the browns, lions, raiders, bills, phins, cards, etc etc. teams that despite having 8 home games a year are constantly in the cellar.
Those teams are not competitive because they are poorly run, not because of a geographic situation.

Get good management and good coaching on those teams and they’d be competitive.
 
how will they ever recover from the 2 extra hours on a plane 2+ days before a game?
You say it is only “2 extra hours.” And yet every team that plays in London has the bye week the following week.

Plus to say it is “2 extra hours” is bullsh*t. The shortest London trip is 2 hours longer than the longest NFL trip. The *average* difference would be more like 6 to 8 hours.
 
I always wanted all of the US sports to adopt the Soccer system of relegations and promotions. Imagine the fun we'd have sending a rival to a lower division, or the tension of trying to avoid that fate ourselves. Here's how it might start if we implemented it next year. The top team in each of the three lower tiers gets promoted next season, the bottom team in each of the higher tiers gets demoted
I love it. One of the problems with seasons is they completely reset things. For some that is the point, but I like the idea of prior seasons still having an impact on the current year. It creates continuity and prevents teams from just tanking if they want to remain in a top division.
 
This this this. It's perfect just the way it is. The only change I would do if Jax moved to London (which isn't going to happen, by the way, but I'll play along) is Jax to the AFC East and Miami to the AFC South.
The 2002 realignment got a lot of things right. But there are still lots of "meh" rivalries. Do we really care about the Dolphins, for example, when it comes down to it? The Jets are the only intense rivalry in the division. Move the Giants into the division and we can really have a grudge match twice a year.

Overall, even if the divisions do not get realigned I'd like to see the league develop 1-2 "grudge" games between conferences. I really would like to play the Giants and Eagles each season since they are regional teams. And get a trophy for these special matchups. Like the "Colonial Cup" or something cheesy that would please all the drunks out there.
 
with the assumption that having 2 teams from the same city in the same conference is bad marketing,

AFCE: NWE, NYJ, BUF, BAL
AFCS: MIA, JAX, TEN, ATL
AFCN: PIT, CLE, IND, CIN
AFCW: LAC, OAK, DEN, KC

NFCE: NYG, PHI, WAS, CAR
NFCS: DAL, NO, HOU, TB
NFCN: GB, MIN, CHI, DET
NFCW: LAR, SF, SEA, AZ
 
with the assumption that having 2 teams from the same city in the same conference is bad marketing,

AFCE: NWE, NYJ, BUF, BAL
AFCS: MIA, JAX, TEN, ATL
AFCN: PIT, CLE, IND, CIN
AFCW: LAC, OAK, DEN, KC

NFCE: NYG, PHI, WAS, CAR
NFCS: DAL, NO, HOU, TB
NFCN: GB, MIN, CHI, DET
NFCW: LAR, SF, SEA, AZ
Bad marketing is taking the Cowboys out of the NFC East. Yeesh.
 
Only? And it’s a minimum of 6 hours for the Jags outside of London

Well, I live in Cali....and fly back/forth to Boston a lot...so....6 hours is just 6 hours to me...3 Netflix movies basically...
 
I know I'm in the vast minority but I hate the 4X4 divisions with two conferences. It's sort of a joke that Brady and Rodgers have met so infrequently, playing two games against each divisional team creates a lot of bad games as two examples.

This will never happen but I would prefer no conferences with 4X8 team divisions. It allows for any playoff and SB matchup. There would have been NE vs Indy SBs, potentially GB coming to NE for a round, etc. Facing some of the teams we face again and again is a little boring.

East: NE, Buffalo, NYJ, NYG, Pitt, Philly, Baltimore and Washington.
South: Miami, TB, Jax, Carolina, Atlanta, NO, Dallas and Houston.
North: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Detroit, GB, Minnesota, Chicago and Tennessee
West: KC, Denver, AZ, LAR, LAC, SF, Oak/LV and Seattle.

For scheduling you play everybody in your division once, alternating home and away seasons with each. For the other 9 games you get three games from each division based upon the previous years finish.

#1 finisher plays 1, 3 & 5 from the other divisions
#2 finisher plays 2, 4 & 6 from the other divisions
#3 finisher plays 1, 4 & 5 ""
#4 finisher plays 2, 3 & 6 ""
#5 finisher plays 1, 3 & one 5, one 7 & one 8 from other divisions
#6 finisher plays 2, 4 & one 6, one 7 & one 8 from other divisions
#7 finisher plays 7, 8 & one 5, one 6 from other divisions and 2nd game against divisional 8
#8 finisher plays 7, 8 & one 4, one 6 from other divisions and 2nd game against divisional 7

So as an example the Patriots schedule in some form of home and away this year would have been:

Buffalo, NYJ, NYG, Pitt, Philly, Baltimore, Washington, Minnesota, NO, LAR, Seattle, JAX, Tenn, AZ, GB and Cincinnati.

I find that a more entertaining schedule than NYJ 2X, Buffalo 2X and Miami 2X (although the Fins games have been the best of the bunch overall). Even with the existing divisions I'd rather have more out of division games.

Again I know nearly nobody will agree with this.
 
with the assumption that having 2 teams from the same city in the same conference is bad marketing,

AFCE: NWE, NYJ, BUF, BAL
AFCS: MIA, JAX, TEN, ATL
AFCN: PIT, CLE, IND, CIN
AFCW: LAC, OAK, DEN, KC

NFCE: NYG, PHI, WAS, CAR
NFCS: DAL, NO, HOU, TB
NFCN: GB, MIN, CHI, DET
NFCW: LAR, SF, SEA, AZ
You want to get rid of Dallas’ rivalry with Washington, Philly and the Giants? Seriously? Lol!!
 
@everlong

I can't say I agree with your proposal, but will give you props for creativity.
 


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