I will skip my next expected post about scheduling to go to my expansion/realignment stuff.
I propose an expansion of eight teams giving 8 divisions of 5 teams apiece (instead of your four team expansion to 6 divisions of 6 teams each.)
Prime expansion candidates included:
- A second Chicago team - Chicago is easily this big and they had two teams until 1960
- Hartford - New York is big enough for three and New England for two teams. Hartford is kind of a combination
- Los Angeles - This is obvious especially when you realize that this was written 15-20 years ago
- A second LA team - see above
- Las Vegas - see LA above
- San Antonio - a large city in Texas football country
- Toronto - big city, new country, easy access, and integration
- Mexico City - the league still investigates this and there is strong NFL fan support in Mexico City
This led to the divisions (including my earlier realignment):
AFC West
- Oakland Raiders
- San Diego Chargers
- San Francisco 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks
- LA expansion
AFC North
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Cleveland Browns
- Indianapolis Colts
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Chicago expansion
AFC South
- Atlanta Falcons
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Miami Dolphins
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Mexico City expansion
AFC East
- Baltimore Ravens
- Buffalo Bills
- New England Patriots
- New York Jets
- Hartford expansion
NFC West
- Arizona Cardinals
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Los Angeles expansion
- Las Vegas expansion
NFC North
- Chicago Bears
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- St. Louis Rams
NFC South
- Dallas Cowboys
- Houston Texans
- New Orleans Saints
- Tennessee Titans
- San Antonio expansion
NFC East
- Carolina Panthers
- New York Giants
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Redskins
- Toronto expansion