NFL Collective Bargaining? Sure, But How About A Reorg...

I think to realign the divisions just because unworthy Seattle got in the playoffs is not warranted … If you remember Seattle beat the defending champs … that is pretty good drama.

Always has, always will

Plus the Seattle thing which basically NEVER happens (so therefor should not be reacted to) has the flipside of good divisions making it harder to earn wild card positions… this makes things interesting. Our league is Excellent. If we have to watch two more games …ok.

NO BIG (clearly drug/boredom induced) changes please!

Seeing Seattle move to the NFC was odd but not really that big of a deal. Not as big of a deal as the Brewers moving to the NL, which has different rules than the AL. Expansion and realignment can and probably will happen again in the next economic upturn, whether that’s a good thing or not.

I agree on Portland and San Antonio, and we all know that LA is inevitable regardless of how smart that is. (The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.) I lived in Salt Lake City for 12 years and I don’t think the area is big enough to support and NFL team. What I think is more likely to happen is that Goodell decides to add 4 international teams, probably all in Europe.

The 18 game schedule is what really bothers me. Part of the reason the NFL is so awesome is that every game does count, because there are so few of them. In addition, the elimination of camp, OTAs, and evaluation time will make the quality of the product for the first few games worse than it is now. As I have seen posted on MHR before, without preseason games, TD would have never made the Broncos. And we haven’t even gotten into the injury factor. But all of these points have been argued before.

What I think the NFL is really missing is that 18 games won’t necessarily cut down on “meaningless” games. For example, the Colts roar off to a 13-0 start, and the second place team in the AFC South is at 7-6. 5 games to go, 6 game lead, the division is locked up. Do you think they’re going to trot Peyton, Reggie, and the others out there for all of the final 5 games? What does history tell you they’re going to do? How meaningful will those games be, and will the Colts lose one near the end to a playoff-hopeful team (say, the Jets) and compromise the competitive integrity of the league?

I’m not saying this can’t or won’t happen with a 16-game schedule (and perhaps realignment back to 3 divisions within conference would help reduce the possibility of this happening), but with a longer season and more games, the liklihood increases tremendously. Again, going back to baseball, if you’re a Royals or Pirates fan and your team is essentially mathematically eliminated by mid-July, how much fun is that?

or Tokyo as the trip would be brutal for whatever had to take it. Mexico City, I agree, not in my life time. Toronto or Montreal? Yes, I could see that. Though I think the CFL would fight us. Portland, no. I don’t think the NW could handle another team. Maybe we could put one in NYC and the Jets and the Giants could change their names to the New Jersey Jets/Giants. The San Antonio Gunslingers, I like it.

You would have west coast teams having to travel to the east coast for division games and vice versa. Didn’t this just get fixed with the current alignment?

About a year ago I wandered upon this site that discusses NFL realignment, some of which are more funny, while others are very well thought out. Take a look. Link.

Like the article Tim but have a couple of gripes / ideas.

As much as I’d love to see the NFL in England permanently it ain’t gonna happen. sure there’s the problem of the Broncos, Seawhawks, Chargers etc having to come over and play in England once a year but the English team will have to come over the US every other week – or do they play 3 or 4 week road trips? The logistics of having a team in London is only fixed if London’s divisional games are against Barcellona, Munich and Amsterdam and then we’re back to NFL Europe.

Secondly, I love the current NFL schedule. Having a balanced schedule is actually pretty damn good and one of the main reasons I wouldn’t want an 18 game season.

Now what would be interesting is having two divisions of 16 teams with promotion and relegation similar to the way the football (soccer) leagues are arranged over here.

$cam Newton’s agent will be Bus Crook so I pity the fool GM that drafts him

Instead of dropping back down to 3 divisions each, I propose going to 2. Once conference could be aligned in a North and South divisions, while the other is East and West. Each division would be made up of 8 teams, so winning the division would be a substantial accomplishment. This also allows for the existing 32 team configuration. In my mind, we don’t need more teams, but some of the teams could relocate to better markets to help out those who are not drawing a supportive fan base now. 32 teams is enough, in my opinion.

If the NFL wants to expand their product into more markets, then why not add a minor league? Smaller markets like Salt Lake City could easily support a minor league team, and this would give the NFL a place to stash and develop players that could be called up to the major teams as needed. To me, this would solve a number of issues that the league now faces. The old Euro league used to fill this need, but why not do the same thing here instead, but in markets not now served? Each team could have their own minor league team instead of the existing practice squad, providing the base of players needed for the coming 18 game schedule.

The only Cali team that ever caught on as even a minor rivalry was the Niners. I like alignment how it is, but there should be some sort of a way for a division-winner to not get home field when they clearly haven’t earned it.

I will pass on that. Things are good the way they are and realigning the divisions and an 18-game schedule would just mess it up as far as I am concerned. I am sure that an expansion in the future is possible, however I do not want it outside of this country. I know Goodell has mentioned a team in Europe. Football is not their sport, it’s soccer and just imagine the traveling this team would have to do in an 18-game season.

You win your division then you get a home game regardless of your record. That is just the way it is.

It will be interesting to see how this CBA plays out because it looks like the possibility of an 18-game schedule is going to be a big breaking point. I don’t think the owners are looking past the dollar signs they see the 2 extra games will bring. More games will lead to more meaningless games where the starters will be sitting. No point whatsoever.

I’m from canada, played canadian football my whole life, as well as university football and I can assure you, anyone who knows anything about football up here does not like the CFL. I would rather watch a return of the XFL.

I cant see this happening, however all the expasion teams wont have a say IF there is realignment. (as this happened prior to realignment on 2002). However in the History of the NFL there has only been one division winner below .500 and (i maybe wrong on this) there has only been TWO .500 teams making the playoffs. In each of those years the NFL didnt have knee jerk reaction. One of the reasons they went to the current format is scheduling. There is more common opponents. There is no more of that ridiculous 5th place schedules. Now each team knows who they play the follwoing season, but two teams. That will be based on where they finish. The main reason teams who win their division get a home playoff game in the NFL wants a reward for winning the division. I dont see this being an issue in the new cba.

against an 18 game schedule is so weak to me, this thing about more injuries, when the undrafted free agents rookies and scrubs are literally playing a 20 game schedule,(all 4 preseason games and the 16 regular season games if they make the squad, which quite a few do) it’s the premadonna players that get to sit out most of the preseason and then only start playing the regular season (and oh BTW they are the ones that are paid in the top 10% of the league).

Then there is the matter of them complaining about having to truly tackle CORRECTLY rather than launch themselves from 20 yrads in the air stricking the other player not only with such force that the other player goes down, but the since heaad first the tackler receives a concussion too. Sorry, but our own Champ Bailey doesn’t have any problems tackling without hurting himself and or other players and he is only 190lbs.

I say great for 18 games and if they want to cut back on all the offseason stuff that’s fine. But the players shouldn’t be complaining of injury when they are the ones causing them in alot of cases.

Just my 2 cent rant. Now back to the program.