snarky
04-01-2011, 10:23 AM
is part of something bigger in the eyes of Goodell?
Let's face it, the current NFL alignment is pretty much perfect of a 16 game schedule. In a way, the NFL got it 'too right' because now any sort of expansion disrupts how nicely the schedule is put together.
Sure you could add a few teams and go back to the way the schedule was previously done. But I think at this point the NFL is pretty much sold on the idea of avoiding the Marino/Elway problem (see below).
So when you think about NFL expansion, it's tough to imagine them viewing a 34 team league as desirable as it would leave an odd number of teams in each conference. You could go to 36 but that would mean each conference having 3 divisions of 6 which would still leave you with the Marino/Elway problem (unless they go to 22 games -- what was that you said Jerry Jones?).
But if you go up to 40 teams you can get a somewhat normal schedule again at 18 games if you align with 8 five team divisions and schedule as follows.
18 games (8 division games, five games against one in-conference division, 5 games against one out-of-conference division)
I know 8 teams is a lot to add to this league and I'm certainly not advocating it. But at maybe 1 billion dollars per franchis, you are talking about $250 million dollars into the pockets of each ownership group. They wouldn't do it all at once, of course. So there would be some funky years along the way.
But to me it seems like a number of things sort of add up. There is the desire to go to 18 games, the founding of a development league, the way the schedule would work out, cities like, Toronto and Mexico City and London being groomed, and even the fact that at this point in time the owners seemed to rather easily relent on the 18 game season during negotiations.
As for where you would stick 8 teams, I can come up with a decent list off the top of my head (again, I'm not advocating this, just suggesting that the NFL might have their eye on these markets):
Toronto
LA
Mexico City
London
Montreal (having lived in Montreal for a bit I don't think you can use the Expos as a gauge on this)
San Antonio
Oklahoma City
Vancouver
Frankfurt, Germany (wasn't this one of the strong franchises in NFL Europe?)
================
For those who don't know, the Marino/Elway problem has to do with the fact that for all the years those two were in the same conference (and on the same teams), they only met in the regular season once (or something like that) because of the way the NFL used to schedule (largely based on finishing position outside of division). When the league went to 32 teams the chose the current scheduling method specifically to avoid something like this repeating itself.
Let's face it, the current NFL alignment is pretty much perfect of a 16 game schedule. In a way, the NFL got it 'too right' because now any sort of expansion disrupts how nicely the schedule is put together.
Sure you could add a few teams and go back to the way the schedule was previously done. But I think at this point the NFL is pretty much sold on the idea of avoiding the Marino/Elway problem (see below).
So when you think about NFL expansion, it's tough to imagine them viewing a 34 team league as desirable as it would leave an odd number of teams in each conference. You could go to 36 but that would mean each conference having 3 divisions of 6 which would still leave you with the Marino/Elway problem (unless they go to 22 games -- what was that you said Jerry Jones?).
But if you go up to 40 teams you can get a somewhat normal schedule again at 18 games if you align with 8 five team divisions and schedule as follows.
18 games (8 division games, five games against one in-conference division, 5 games against one out-of-conference division)
I know 8 teams is a lot to add to this league and I'm certainly not advocating it. But at maybe 1 billion dollars per franchis, you are talking about $250 million dollars into the pockets of each ownership group. They wouldn't do it all at once, of course. So there would be some funky years along the way.
But to me it seems like a number of things sort of add up. There is the desire to go to 18 games, the founding of a development league, the way the schedule would work out, cities like, Toronto and Mexico City and London being groomed, and even the fact that at this point in time the owners seemed to rather easily relent on the 18 game season during negotiations.
As for where you would stick 8 teams, I can come up with a decent list off the top of my head (again, I'm not advocating this, just suggesting that the NFL might have their eye on these markets):
Toronto
LA
Mexico City
London
Montreal (having lived in Montreal for a bit I don't think you can use the Expos as a gauge on this)
San Antonio
Oklahoma City
Vancouver
Frankfurt, Germany (wasn't this one of the strong franchises in NFL Europe?)
================
For those who don't know, the Marino/Elway problem has to do with the fact that for all the years those two were in the same conference (and on the same teams), they only met in the regular season once (or something like that) because of the way the NFL used to schedule (largely based on finishing position outside of division). When the league went to 32 teams the chose the current scheduling method specifically to avoid something like this repeating itself.