An off-the-wall idea for NFL scheduling, divisons and playoffs

[Moostache]

There is absolutely ZERO chance of this EVER being adopted...but I would love to see the NFL switch up the schedule and playoffs in a new way entirely.

1) Keep the existing division structure of 4 team divisions, but re-organize along geographical lines and eliminate useless conference designations:

Pacific Coastal (PCH division):
Seattle / San Francisco / Oakland (Los Angeles) / San Diego (Los Angeles)
* much like the I-70 division, this grouping heads straight up the Pacific Coast highway!

Desert Western (Frontier division):
Arizona / Denver / Houston / Dallas
* A geographically sensible grouping and some serious rivalry potential in Texas...

Upper Midwest (Great Lakes division):
Green Bay / Minnesota / Chicago / Detroit
* A completely natural grouping...

Central Midwest (I-70 division):
Kansas City / St. Louis / Indianapolis / Cincinnati
* a literal straight shot down I-70 from one end of the division to the other!

Eastern Midwest (Rust Belt division):
Cleveland / Pittsburgh / Buffalo / Tennessee
* Tennessee is a hard one here, but the other three are completely natural rivals...

Gulf Coastal (Hurricane Alley division):
New Orleans / Jacksonville (Birmingham) / Tampa Bay / Miami
*This would be an insanely partisan division...an actual professional SEC / ACC mash-up ...LSU/Bama/UF/The U...market the pro game to the deep south and really feed the rivalries.

S. Atlantic Coastal (Rebel Yell division):
Atlanta / Carolina / Baltimore / Washington
* alot like the Gulf Coastal grouping...this is taking UGa/Clemson/S.Car and tossing them into a rivalry with the Beltway teams...

N. Atlantic Coastal (Metropolis division):
New England (Boston) / New York Jets / New York Giants / Philadelphia
* You can hear Madison avenue drool over the prospects of having 3 of the top media markets in a round robin every year...

2) Play a 14 game regular season. (Games would be 6 divisional - home and home round robin - and then 4 home and 4 away games against teams from other divisions on rotational basis)...

If the regular season started the last week of August instead of after Labor Day, you would wrap up the regular season on Thanksgiving week...then take a week off before moving to the Group Stage.

*(This would require another change to the existing NFL...NO MORE OVERTIME UNTIL THE KNOCKOUT ROUND....all regular season games could end in a draw; but playoffs would require an OT period under the current OT rules, followed by the adoption of the college OT rules for multiple OTs in the playoffs, with the exception being that each team's possessions would start at the 35 instead of the 20.)

3) Have the playoffs form with all 32 teams seeded into groups
That’s right EVERYONE gets in the group stage of the playoffs!!!

The top records get the "favorable" draws along the line of current World Cup groups...seeded by record and tie-breakers after the 14 games, the division winners and runners up would get 2 home and 1 away game in the round robin, but the seedings would separate them so that division teams would not face off in the round robin.

4) Have a 3-game, 3-week round robin group stage...

This gives the league new "playoff" games without extending the regular season more than a single game - all teams in this scenario would play 17 games (14 'regular season' and 3 'group stage')...the incentive to win regular season games would be the opportunity to host one extra home game of the 3 in the round-robin.

5) Re-seed for the knock-out round… (these are one and done games like the current playoffs).

Group winners host the round of 16 games and the best records among the final 8 hosts the Quarters; after that, Semis and Final happen in rotating neutral sites with season ticket holders having the right of bidding on tickets first with each team getting 1/3 of the seats for sale...

Playoffs = Sweet 16 (Group winners host), Quarterfinals (Top 4 records of the final 8 host), Semifinals (neutral site), Super Bowl (neutral site)

To play nice with college football playoffs, the NFL playoffs could stagger around the holidays (round robin games in December, playoff rounds in January) and finish up in first weekend in February like they already do anyway...

Owners get more games (17 instead of 16, all teams would host a minimum of 1 "playoff game" every year) and more playoff teams (EVERYONE to some extent) without screwing up the competitive balance of the regular season or the playoffs - having one team per conference get a bye week is a HORRIBLE IDEA!!!

Regular season and divisional games remain, but become MORE important for seedings and group play assignments...plus some divisions remain intact while others offer some very intriguing geographical rivalries instead of forced fits like St. Louis in the West and Dallas in the East while both teams reside in the Central time zone!

Players don't have to accept an 18-game regular season...and fans don't have to see the record books heinously distorted; although by having 17 games a year instead of 16, its a safe bet that ALL records would eventually fall - which is why new metrics would be needed like all-time yards PER GAME rushing, receiving, passing, etc...


*(In addition to this, I would start an 8-team developmental league that would serve as a place for both players who do not want to go to college as well as veterans looking to stay in the mix for roster spots...each team would get players from a separate division, kind of like a place where you stash your practice squad players; but instead of only playing for one team, they would be in the minor leagues with call-up options to their parent club if a roster spot or performance warranted it. This league would have 4 games a week during the 14 week regular season and would play on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the regular season - the NFL network would televise all games and the Thursday night NFL games would disappear to make scheduling the real NFL easier and more balanced...)

 

[Alan]

You put a lot of thought into that.

 

[ChrisW]

I like swapping Tennessee and Cincy in those two divisions. The grouping would be a little tighter geographically.

 

[Leuzer]

This is crazy, but I like it! Did you come up with this by yourself or did you see it on a website?

 

[Moostache]

This is crazy, but I like it! Did you come up with this by yourself or did you see it on a website?

I came up with the idea last year during the World Cup...saved it to my PC then and found it today while cleaning out old desktop folders...lol

 

[bluecoconuts]

I'm not a fan of ties or changing up all the divisions, breaking up historical rivalries.

 

[Leuzer]

I came up with the idea last year during the World Cup...saved it to my PC then and found it today while cleaning out old desktop folders...lol

Nice
It definitely has that World Cup feel for the playoffs. I agree with @bluecoconuts on the whole don't separate the historical rivalries, but if the NFL decides to drastically change the divisions and the playoff format, I like your concept. Also, not a big fan of ties either. Is there a way this plan would work without ties or do we need them?

 

[LesBaker]

Detriot, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Cincinnati or Buffalo should be in a division IMO.

They are the closest 4 teams in the NFL

 

[Moostache]

Well...that COULD happen...but exactly how likely do you think that is?

And the whole point is to give the playoffs an added air of opportunity before the knock out round. Sure, if you go with group play and knock out rounds, a low tier team MIGHT spring an amazing upset and shock the world, but imagine the press that would generate...and would it really be all that different than when a #8 seed in the NBA (Denver Nuggets with Dikembe did it once) or the NHL (shit, in the Stanley Cup playoffs there is so much luck involved its crazy, especially in these 2 and 3 OT games) pulls off the upset? Or what about the 2006 Cardinals who won 83 games in the regular season and went on the win the Series over the Tigers?

It's fun to consider, but I really think this would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the extra wild card they are considering adding...

 

[Ramrasta]

Cool idea but it would take away the excitement of the regular season if every team made it. Wins and losses would become so much less meaningful that teams might choose to rest players for certain phases and be at full capacity for the inevitable playoffs.

 

[Mojo Ram]

It's too Euro.
Win or go home. It's the American way.

 

[Mojo Ram]

I do think the divisions could use some realignment though. Nice work there.

 

[Dodgersrf]

Ideally, complete division realignment makes sense, but I just can't get into breaking up historic rivalries.

 

[bluecoconuts]

and would it really be all that different than when a #8 seed in the NBA (Denver Nuggets with Dikembe did it once) or the NHL (crap, in the Stanley Cup playoffs there is so much luck involved its crazy, especially in these 2 and 3 OT games)

Yeah, it'd be different, because those are best of 7 series. A team may have an off game every so often, so if it happens to be that one time, that sucks. When teams in hockey or basketball pull off the upset they were better for four games, it wasn't just a lucky win.

I mean look at the Rams beating up on the Saints, or the Broncos last year. Did we have the better teams? Not a chance, we pulled a crazy upset. If we met them over a 7 game series do you'd think we would have beaten them 3 more times? I doubt it.

 

[beej]

*(In addition to this, I would start an 8-team developmental league that would serve as a place for both players who do not want to go to college as well as veterans looking to stay in the mix for roster spots

I don't like that idea at all. It would virtually kill college football. And college football might be the only football I watch in 2016.

 

[Moostache]

I don't like that idea at all. It would virtually kill college football. And college football might be the only football I watch in 2016.

College football is actually in a lot more trouble than people realize.

The stipends and extra money being provided the football players starting THIS year is going to change the game in a lot of unintended ways...mark my words, 20 years from now its entirely possible that we will not have "college" teams, we will have minor league teams sponsored by universities as advertising and promotion but not using actual students. The move by the Northwestern players to unionize is still pending as well.

Money and unions = professionals and that is the death of the college game. I would not like to see it happen, but the money genie is out of the bottle and its impossible to put it back now.

 

[DaveFan'51]

I came up with the idea last year during the World Cup...saved it to my PC then and found it today while cleaning out old desktop folders...lol

A lot of work on your part! But this is what people come up with when they have too much time on their hands, during Off-Season!!