NFL Expansion and hypothetical schedule

[etv78]

If the NFL swallowed up the CFL, and added 4 teams, here's how I'd align the teams, and do the schedule. Tell me what you think:

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND
NEW YORK JETS
BUFFALO
TORONTO
BALTIMORE
PITTSBURGH

AFC CENTRAL

JACKSONVILLE
MIAMI
INDIANAPOLIS
CLEVELAND
CINCINNATI
TENNESSEE

AFC WEST

HOUSTON
KANSAS CITY
DENVER
EDMONTON
LAS VEGAS
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS

NFC EAST

WASHINGTON
PHILADELPHIA
NEW YORK GIANTS
CAROLINA
ATLANTA
TAMPA BAY

NFC CENTRAL

DETROIT
CHICAGO
GREEN BAY
MINNESOTA
WINNIPEG
NEW ORLEANS

NFC WEST

DALLAS
ARIZONA
LOS ANGELES RAMS
SAN FRANCISCO
SEATTLE
BRITISH COLUMBIA

Schedule:

18 games (h/h in division, 1 division in conference, 2 interconference games, based on record)
Season starts the Sunday of the long weekend
Teams play first 6 games without a bye, last 6 without a bye, 1 bye/season
SNF/MNF DH every weekend
Other than the night you're avoiding your annoying relatives, no more TNF
Saturday (1/wk) games starting Week 13 (1st week after byes finish)
No more "Breakfast at Wembly" or Mexico City games
7 playoff teams per conference playoff schedule remains the same otherwise
Pro Bowl AFTER SB

Non-schedule related changes

Draft goes to 8 rounds
No more compensatory picks
Time limits go 20/15/10/5 (2 rds each level)
Draft is 2 days
1st overall pick goes on the clock at high noon local time on last Saturday in April (4 rds/day)

[etv78]

Originally Posted by Nominal

Glad someone thought of it.

Snark or sincere? Would you change anything?

[Borborygmi]

Oh, Nominal will change something. Give him a little time.

[etv78]

I bet he'll change the alignment, due to lost rivalries

[DoubleJ]

Yeah, rivalries will need to be maintained -- Cleveland vs. Pittsburgh stands out to me as being missing in that alignment -- and some of the realignments just don't make sense. How on earth is the Atlantic coast of Florida "central"? I'm all in favor of bending geography to keep rivalries, that's why Dallas is in the NFC East after all, but some of that just doesn't make any sense.

I'd come up with my own version, but that sounds too much like thinking.

[etv78]

True JJ. Teams I expect to be most aggrieved:

Pittsburgh
Miami
Dallas
Atlanta

What do you think of my schedule and draft changes?

[Pogo]

(This is not response to your plan for CFL/NFL integration)

For many years, I have been tossing around a plan to address several different 'problems' in the NFL that various stakeholders complain about.

• The pre-season is too long: The season ticket holders have to pay full price for those tickets to get the season tickets. There are injuries. You rarely see the stars. The only people who seem to want it are head coaches who would like 30 pre-season games so that they could control every aspect of their season.
• Some would like a longer season: More event TV watching but the season is already too long from a player health perspective.
• NFL Europe: For at least a decade, the NFL has been talking up the eventuality of European NFL teams.
• The current London games are usually terrible. Not only is the game quality low, but the match-ups are uneven. Many coaches, players, and fans would rather not go. One team of each match-up loses a home date.

My plan:

• Reduce the pre-season by two weeks. What happens to the Hall of Fame Game? I don't know but it would probably be cancelled. That's okay, though, as it was recently cancelled for bad field conditions.
• Expand the season by two weeks. This combined with the pre-season reduction means the total yearly NFL-length would be the same. The two extra weeks do NOT mean two games. Each team only adds one extra regular season game and another bye week. The overall beat-down on player health shouldn't be too much different by adding one game and removing two pre-season games, especially with the extra bye.
• Every team plays a neutral site game. This game is a team's added game. This means 8 home, 8 away, and 1 neutral site game for each team. The added game has some specific characteristics. In my plan, the week after each team plays its added game, they get the added bye week. Also, the already-existing bye week cannot be scheduled to be right after the new added bye week. There should also be a rule that the already-existing bye week cannot be just before each team's added game. This prevents one team from being much better rested before the intercontinental travel game. Similarly, neither of the two teams about to play their added game should have played on Monday night or Sunday night the previous week.
• The neutral site games are played in London. If that seems like too many London games (it would be a total of 16 games, so their 'home' schedule would be twice as long as any city with an NFL franchise) then these games can be in 2 or 4 (or 8? 16?) European cities.
• The match-ups are set by the natural draft order that was used at the NFL draft in April of that year. Furthermore, the games are played in this order. Thus the first game features the two worst teams in the league. This might seem terrible, but every team has to play in one and at least there is balance as these teams are both bad. The last such added game takes place in week 16 and features a Super Bowl re-match.

So, for this season it would look like something like this:
Week 1: Cardinals vs. 49ers
Week 2: Jets vs. Raiders (Cardinals and 49ers on added bye)
Week 3: Buccaneers vs. Giants (Jets and Raiders on added bye)
Week 4: Jaguars vs. Lions (Buccaneers and Giants on added bye)
Week 5: Bills vs. Broncos (Jaguars and Lions on added bye)
Week 6: Bengals vs. Packers (Bills and Broncos on added bye)
Week 7: Dolphins vs. Falcons (Bengals and Packers on added bye)
Week 8: Redskins vs. Panthers (Dolphins and Falcons on added bye)
Week 9: Browns vs. Vikings (Redskins and Panthers on added bye)
Week 10: Titans vs. Steelers (Browns and Vikings on added bye)
Week 11: Seahawks vs. Ravens (Titans and Steelers on added bye)
Week 12: Texans vs. Bears (Seahawks and Ravens on added bye)
Week 13: Eagles vs. Colts (Texans and Bears on added bye)
Week 14: Cowboys vs. Chargers (Eagles and Colts on added bye)
Week 15: Chiefs vs. Saints (Cowboys and Chargers on added bye)
Week 16: Rams vs. Patriots (Chiefs and Saints on added bye)
Week 17: (Rams and Patriots on added bye)
Week 18: Penultimate week of the regular season
Week 19: Final week of the regular season

[etv78]

Pogo: other than making the London games 1v32, 2v31, etc, I'd be interested in your newsletter.

[Pogo]

The problem with 1v32 , 2v31, etc. is that many of the games would be low quality blowouts. Cardinals vs Patriots would not be expected to be close. By doing 1v2, 3v4, each game would be expected to be close.

Extra:
Many folks nationwide are surprised to learn that I like some sports more than the NFL football. I am from Pittsburgh and I had two great uncles who played in the league.

But I always say that the NFL is one of the three best sports leagues in the world, probably the best. What makes it the best? Event watching (only 16 games mean that each is so important) and every fanbase has hope each year.

What gives each fanbase hope? Changes can happen quickly because the league is communistic. Revenues are shared, there's a salary cap, there's a salary floor, and the worse teams get the easier schedules. This last bit used to be more prominent, but due to realignment, there are now only two games in each team's schedule that are based on their record.

1v2 through 31v32 continues this mindset. The worst teams would have reason to believe they could win those games, all of 'em! All of the games should be close. If we went 1v32 through 16v17, we would be donating free wins to the best teams while blowing out the worst teams. And the teams from near the playoff cutoff would be required to play a tough game, e.g. 16v17.

[etv78]

Pogo: care to actually address the OP?

[Pogo]

I'll make a few posts, although it won't end up as your NFL/CFL merger. 10-20 years ago, I had a few thoughts, made a few files, and sent a few emails to my sports friends about realignment and such, mostly within the NFL.

The first topic I'll go with (in the rest of this post) had to do with cross-conference rivals. Part of this idea had to do with a different (not my later London thoughts) 17th regular season game.

NCAA leagues that have multiple divisions have cross-divisional games. In almost all cases, a team will not play every team on the other side. Rather, they play a few one year, a few the next year, etc., in a rotational pattern so that they eventually play all of the teams. However, sometimes, there is a protected rivalry such that one pairing is played every year.

Back before interleague play in baseball, the Yankees would play the Mets, in an in-season exhibition game for the Mayor's Trophy. I believe it was played during the All-Star break and featured the two teams minus their All-Stars (who would have been at the All-Star game.)

These situations made me think about Cross-Conference rivalries in the NFL. These games would be played every year as a 17th game. I thought through who the rivalries would be and there were only a few tough ones. Here we go:

Easy ones:

• Washington vs Baltimore - basically one metro area
• Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh - cross state, they merged one year!
• New York Giants vs New York Jets - cross town
• Dallas vs Houston - cross state
• Detroit vs Cleveland - closest NFL cities to each other
• Chicago vs Indianapolis - close midwestern cities, played in a Super Bowl
• St. Louis vs Kansas City - cross state. I chose this before St. Louis moved to LA
• San Francisco vs Oakland - cross-bay. I chose this before Oakland announced their move to Vegas
• Arizona vs San Diego - closest to each other. I chose this before St. Louis moved to LA
• Seattle vs Denver - old AFC west rivals. Demographic similarities? Picking the AFC choice for Seattle was easy once I had great solutions for Kansas City, Oakland, and San Diego
• Tampa vs Miami - cross state
• Carolina vs Jacksonvile - geographically close and they entered the NFL together. Jacksonville could have been in the Florida contest against Tampa listed earlier but Miami doesn't fit this game as well as JAX, nor did ATL fit vs JAX or MIA

Getting harder:

• New Orleans vs Tennessee - Southern SEC cities. You can make an Atlanta argument but New Orleans pairs very badly with everyone else
• Green Bay vs Buffalo - small market, northern cities with outdoor stadiums (at the time I made this list.) You can make a Minnesota argument but I think GB-Buffalo is better especially when Minnesota played indoors.

Toughest (we are left with MIN, ATL, CIN, NE):

• Atlanta vs New England - North vs South? The Boston Braves eventually moved to Atlanta?
• Minnesota vs Cincinnati - Better geography than MIN vs NE?

or

• Atlanta vs Cincinnati - Closer than people think? Former NL West rivals?
• Minnesota vs New England - Both northern cities?

I chose

• Atlanta vs New England - North vs South? The Boston Braves eventually moved to Atlanta?
• Minnesota vs Cincinnati - Better geography than MIN vs NE?

[Pogo]

How would this idea work today?

Easy ones:

• Washington vs Baltimore - basically one metro area
• Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh - cross state, they merged one year!
• New York Giants vs New York Jets - cross town
• Dallas vs Houston - cross state
• Detroit vs Cleveland - closest NFL cities to each other
• Chicago vs Indianapolis - close midwestern cities, played in a Super Bowl
• LA Rams vs LA Chargers - cross town
• Arizona vs Oakland/Vegas - desert cities close to each other.
• Seattle vs Kansas City - old AFC west rivals
• Tampa vs Miami - cross state
• Carolina vs Jacksonvile - geographically close and they entered the NFL together.
• San Francisco vs Denver - played in the Super Bowl. No one else left out west, anyway

Getting harder:

• New Orleans vs Tennessee - Southern SEC cities. You can make an Atlanta argument but New Orleans pairs very badly with everyone else
• Green Bay vs Buffalo - small market, northern cities with outdoor stadiums (at the time I made this list.) You can make a Minnesota argument but I think GB-Buffalo is better especially when Minnesota played indoors.

Toughest (we are left with MIN, ATL, CIN, NE):

• Atlanta vs New England - North vs South? The Boston Braves eventually moved to Atlanta?
• Minnesota vs Cincinnati - Better geography than MIN vs NE?

[etv78]

So basically, you will just continually ignore my OP? Even when I SPECIFICALLY ask you to address it?!

[Pogo]

This post will be about the NFL realignment in 2002. At that time, I thought some changes (that weren't made) should have been made.

Baltimore -> Miami -> Indianapolis -> Baltimore

I think Baltimore fits well in the AFC East while Miami does not. Buffalo and Miami (arguably) hate each other the most, but I think Miami fits much better in the AFC South. Meanwhile Indianapolis lies super close to all of (the rest of) the AFC North. So, I moved Baltimore to Miami's slot in the AFCE, Miami to Indianapolis' slot in the AFCS, and Indianapolis to Baltimore's slot in the AFCN.

Carolina <-> Dallas

Dallas has fought in the past to remain in the NFC East, and lots of powerful teams like playing those relatively old rivalries but Dallas shouldn't be there. So I switched 'em

Houston <-> Tampa Bay
Atlanta <-> Tennessee

Nothing too drastic here, but moving these four makes their divisions work better

Seattle <-> Kansas City
San Francisco <-> Denver

Realignment forced the breakup of the AFC West and the NFL chose Seattle to be out. If they had broken it up differently (3 and 2 instead of 4 and 1) they could have had better geography.

The new divisions:

AFC West (all Pacific coast, some AFC West and Bay action):

• Oakland Raiders
• San Diego Chargers
• San Francisco 49ers
• Seattle Seahawks

AFC North (geographically tight):

• Cincinnati Bengals
• Cleveland Browns
• Indianapolis Colts
• Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South (Florida and nearby Atlanta):

• Atlanta Falcons
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Miami Dolphins
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC East (northeast):

• Baltimore Ravens
• Buffalo Bills
• New England Patriots
• New York Jets

NFC West (Missouri and the Mountain Time Zone plus some AFC West)

• Arizona Cardinals
• Denver Broncos
• Kansas City Chiefs
• St. Louis Rams

NFC North (no changes)

• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Green Bay Packers
• Minnesota Vikings

NFC South (Texas, former Texas, close to Texas):

• Dallas Cowboys
• Houston Texans
• New Orleans Saints
• Tennessee Titans

NFC East (just like it says, it's the NFC, Eastern teams):

• Carolina Panthers
• New York Giants
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Washington Redskins

[Pogo]

Originally Posted by etv78

So basically, you will just continually ignore my OP? Even when I SPECIFICALLY ask you to address it?!

No, I am getting there through my old posts.

[Pogo]

Today's version of this realignment would be almost the same. The only change would be switching Vegas (Oakland) for Los Angles Rams (St. Louis).

[Pogo]

Since you want me on that topic.

In short, I see no way that the NFL would merge with the CFL or the remains of the CFL, should the CFL disappear. Today is unlike the environment of the NFL/AFL merger. Furthermore, the NFL likes the CFL as a minor league. If the NFL needed expansion, they would rather choose their own expansion cities and get true expansions even if those franchises are in the same cities as CFL teams looking for a post-CFL home.

In the mid-nineties, the CFL expanded to the US including the Baltimore Stallions. Once Baltimore secured the theft of the NFL's Browns, the Stallions - the defending Grey Cup Champions - folded and the ownership moved to Montreal. I know this is the reverse of your proposal, but it shows the drastic difference in popularity between the NFL and the CFL.

[Pogo]

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

[Pogo]

It'll take a while for me to use my updated realignment with expansion of eight teams, if I even do it. Now, I will mention the schedule ideas (no 17th game, no expansion.) These ideas are mine and three of my former co-workers as we debated this issue back in ~2002.

I noted that I was disappointed that only two games are dictated by how well a team had performed.

Real Schedule:

• 6 games - a team plays every other team in its own division home & away
• 4 games - a team plays a division in the other conference (rotating every year in a four-year cycle) with two games at home and two on the road
• 4 games - a team plays an entire other division from the same conference (rotating in a three year cycle) with two games at home and two on the road
• 2 games - a team plays two teams, one each from the two divisions in their own conference NOT mentioned above, with the two teams chosen to be the ones that finished with the same ranking in their division that the team in question achieved in its division

My schedule idea with more games dictated by how well a team had performed:

• 6 games - a team plays every other team in its own division home & away
• 4 games - a team plays a division in the other conference (rotating every year in a four-year cycle) with two games at home and two on the road
• 6 games - a team plays on the strength of its previous finish according to the following table:

• 1st place finishers play all of the first place and second place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division
• 2nd place finishers play all of the first place and third place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division
• 3rd place finishers play all of the second place and fourth place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division
• 4th place finishers play all of the third place and fourth place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division

My friend Mark's liked my concept for more games depending on performance but he didn't really get with harder schedule for better teams, easier schedule for worse teams so he adjusted my table:

• 6 games - a team plays every other team in its own division home & away
• 4 games - a team plays a division in the other conference (rotating every year in a four-year cycle) with two games at home and two on the road
• 6 games - a team plays on the strength of its previous finish according to the following table:

• 1st place finishers play all of the first place and fourth place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division
• 2nd place finishers play all of the second place and third place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division
• 3rd place finishers play all of the second place and third place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division
• 4th place finishers play all of the first place and fourth place finishers in the same conference but not in the same division

Jeff saw what we were saying and he chose to throw away the cross-conference-complete-division play. Instead, he effectively ended conferences altogether at least until the playoffs.

• 6 games - a team plays every other team in its own division home & away
• 4 games - a team plays another division in the league (rotating every year in a seven-year cycle) with two games at home and two on the road
• 6 games - a team plays on the strength of its previous finish by the playing the six other teams (not already included, above) that finished with the same ranking as the team achieved in its own division. Thus, for these six games, a first place finisher would play six other first place finishers. Tough indeed! Especially considering the are also playing the seventh first place finisher by playing that entire other division!

My boss Pete never liked the communistic NFL (he is English so he is used to powerhouse dynasty soccer.) Here is his idea:

• 6 games - a team plays every other team in its own division home & away
• 10 games - randomly determined

Well, those were the schedule ideas. Most are easily expandable for differently-sized divisions, should expansion take place.

[Pogo]

Now that I got through the NFL portions of my old files (failing my creation of a modern realignment with expansion since St. Louis, San Diego, and Oakland have moved/are moving) I will make more notes on your initial post.

If the CFL failed and the NFL decide to integrate four teams. I think you did pretty good with six divisions of six teams each. I can see historical success reasons to take Edmonton and Winnipeg, but I would suspect that the NFL would want the bigger cities in Calgary and Montreal.

So, I would straight up replace Edmonton with Calgary. To deal with Montreal I would move Indianapolis to Winnipeg's spot in the NFC Central, Pittsburgh to Indy's spot in the AFC Central, and put Montreal in Pittsburgh's spot in the AFC East.

As for scheduling, I don't have great ideas for how to choose your two games in the other conference. If it was a 19 game schedule, you'd have room for three of those and you could take the three same-rank finishers. But this would create an unbalanced home/away breakdown.

I love that you ended Thursday night football! I hate it for daily life and I think it is an (unfair) advantage to get to play in it. I am okay with Thanksgiving Thursday games but I would probably be happy to end NFL Thanksgiving and replace it with College games. Or Hockey. Or Basketball. Plus, Canada (new Canadian teams. eh?) celebrates Thanksgiving on a different date.

I am good with post-college season Saturday games.

I am fine with 7 playoff teams per conference but you will end up in a scheduling position that the league seems to be avoiding. With 7 teams (per CONF), there is only one bye (per CONF) thus three games in week one. With two such conferences, that means six games on the opening playoff weekend. That means triple-headers on both days or overlapping games.

That would probably cause a future problem: what happens with more playoff expansion? (if the league grew even more? If it was decided that the only team to get a bye got too big of an advantage? If the NFL wanted more playoff money? If the teams pressed to let more teams make the tournament?) At 8 per side, that is eight games and almost certain overlap. Unless you added Friday night, or early morning games...

Eight rounds of the draft is okay with me, but keep in mind that you are going deeper in the talent pool, especially as there are four more teams.

I used to like to watch the draft but the NFL ruined it years ago, most notably by having too few rounds on night one and too long to make the picks. I would drop the time even more. 10 minutes, 8, 8, 8, 5, 5, 5, 5. Two days is great, definitely more than one round on day one, probably three rounds!

I like compensatory picks as I think they can help a team (especially a smaller market team) from becoming a farm team for another (usually large market) team.

I hate that they even play the Pro-Bowl. Just an opportunity for injury.

[etv78]

Though I don't necessarily agree with your alignment, I appreciate you actually answering the OP.

[Pogo]

No problem

Well, two problems; the digging out emails and typing took me around three hours, but it got done! And I made too many errors as I sped up at the end.

[etv78]

Thought of a couple things:

1) I'd have 2 Saturday games once they start, alternating 1/4 and 4/7 start times and alternating which network gets the early game

2) On Sundays the 1 PM window would have twice as many games as the 4 PM window.

[etv78]

Another clarification:

The interconference games for say, the AFCE, would rotate thusly:

NFCE, NFCC
NFCC, NFCW
NFCE, NFCW

AND alternate home/away

[tunaman]

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

Yeah, rivalries will need to be maintained -- Cleveland vs. Pittsburgh stands out to me as being missing in that alignment

Yeah, the AFC Central is the New Browns, the Old Browns, the Spite Browns and Pittsburgh.

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

How on earth is the Atlantic coast of Florida "central"?

Ask the NHL: all the teams in the Metropolitan Division are, on average, closer to the Atlantic Ocean than the teams in the Atlantic Division.

And let's not forget the 70s, when the Atlanta Braves were in the NL West and the Atlanta Falcons were in the NFC West.

I grew up a Falcons fan until the Smith family pissed off my dad for the last time; he swore off the Falcons and hasn't cared about them since (I had the Steelers as my second team; they have been my "first team" since 1982). Anyway, people who grew up after realignment, or didn't care about the NFL\the Falcons wonder why I hate the 49ers and Rams almost as much as I hate the Ravens and Bengals!

[etv78]

Yeah, tunaman my alignment isn't ideal. Any general thoughts on my idea?

[etv78]

I saw something about the NFL Draft today. My system moves it up a week.

[etv78]

I realized that alternating Saturday doubleheaders means the same network gets the 4 o'clock game every week. So it makes sense to go with my 1st instinct of 1 Saturday game, but alternate 1pm and 4pm.

[etv78]

Originally Posted by etv78

I realized that alternating Saturday doubleheaders means the same network gets the 4 o'clock game every week. So it makes sense to go with my 1st instinct of 1 Saturday game, but alternate 1pm and 4pm.

Or it could just go to the network with a prime time package.

[etv78]

Originally Posted by Nominal

OK, I gotta level with you, I am one of those people who does not follow, keep up with or generally care about sports. That being said, I completely support the enthusiasm, devotion, and commitment of sports fans to their teams, favorite players/coaches, and the rivalries built into their histories. The professional teams’ stadiums have been a somewhat dubious proposition for a lot municipalities(they never seem to get paid off before they need the next one), but I am okay with dodging the occasional mob of sports fans in exchange for the the large public facility. The one thing that bothers me is the cost of sports packages in the cable market, I mean sports fans really seem to need the access and are routinely paying too much for it but I just keep wondering why I can’t get a discount package without any sports programming.

If you don't like sports, why exactly are you in this thread?!

[etv78]

Tripleheaders 1/4/7

[etv78]

Flip Buffalo and Toronto with the Florida teams

[Pogo]

Here's an article on CBS Sports about the NFL owner's evolving position as it pertains to the schedule.

Maybe they've been reading this thread?

[etv78]

Another way to add four teams:

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND
NY JETS
BUFFALO
BALTIMORE
PITTSBURGH
MIAMI

AFC CENTRAL

CLEVELAND
CINCINNATI
TENNESSEE
INDIANAPOLIS
HOUSTON
JACKSONVILLE

AFC WEST

KANSAS CITY
DENVER
SAN DIEGO (expansion)
LOS ANGELES
LAS VEGAS
SAN ANTONIO (expansion)


NFC EAST

NY GIANTS
WASHINGTON
PHILADELPHIA
CAROLINA
ATLANTA
TAMPA BAY

NFC CENTRAL

CHICAGO
DETROIT
GREEN BAY
MINNESOTA
ST LOUIS (expansion)
NEW ORLEANS

NFC WEST

DALLAS
ARIZONA
SAN FRANCISCO
LOS ANGELES
SEATTLE
PORTLAND (expansion)