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NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - andybible1995 - 02-21-2026 12:25 PM
https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1143fjb/what_if_the_nfl_and_usfl_merged_in_1986/
I found the picture above on Reddit, and I thought it could be a good topic of conversation.
I'm going to expand it, and show what I think the merger would have looked like had the teams in new markets were added:
AFC
East
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Orlando Renegades
North
Baltimore Stars
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Indianapolis Colts
Pittsburgh Steelers
South
Houston Oilers
Jacksonville Bulls
Memphis Showboats
Oklahoma Outlaws
San Antonio Gunslingers
West
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Raiders
Oakland Invaders
San Diego Chargers
NFC
East
Dallas Cowboys
New Jersey Generals
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins
North
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
St. Louis Cardinals
South
Atlanta Falcons
Birmingham Stallions
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
West
Arizona Outlaws
Los Angeles Rams
Portland Breakers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
Note: The Carolina Panthers would still be added as an expansion team to balance out the league at 40 teams.
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - Erictelevision - 02-21-2026 03:18 PM
I was gonna point out that Carolina didn’t arrive until ‘95, but you covered that. That’s a GREAT alignment! Would you go to 6 or 7 playoff teams?
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - andybible1995 - 02-21-2026 04:01 PM
(02-21-2026 03:18 PM)Erictelevision Wrote: I was gonna point out that Carolina didn’t arrive until ‘95, but you covered that. That’s a GREAT alignment! Would you go to 6 or 7 playoff teams?
With the league at 40 teams, you'd have to go to 7 playoff teams.
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - AZcats - 02-21-2026 07:26 PM
Swap Birmingham and Jacksonville. Even split of the Florida teams in each conference and keeps the central Florida teams in opposite conferences. Also swap Carolina and San Antonio. Splits the Tex-oma evenly in each conference which leaves an I-10 team and a Red River team in separate conferences.
We already have two teams sharing the Meadowlands and now the Generals are added; that would be a nightmare trying to schedule for three teams in one stadium.
All the teams that moved in the current timeline would not be able to move where they moved to because the USFL team is already there. If they did move, where would they go. I'll give that the Oilers/Titans might move directly to Nashville without stopping in Memphis, the Raiders eventually make their way to Las Vegas, and the Chargers possibly returning to Los Angeles.
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - BePcr07 - 02-23-2026 12:39 PM
1986 - NFL Alignment
AFC
Central: Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Oilers, Pittsburgh Steelers
East: Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets
West: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Raiders, San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks
NFC
Central: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
East: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Redskins
West: Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, San Francisco 49ers
1986 - USFL Alignment (Intended)
Independence: Arizona Outlaws, Jacksonville Bulls, Orlando Renegades, Tampa Bay Bandits
Liberty: Baltimore Stars, Birmingham Stallions, Memphis Showboats, New Jersey Generals
---------------------
How I'd split the USFL team:
- AFC + Baltimore Stars, Jacksonville Bulls, New Jersey Generals, Tampa Bay Bandits
- NFC + Arizona Outlaws, Birmingham Stallions, Memphis Showboats, Orlando Renegades
AFC
East: Jacksonville Bulls, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New Jersey Generals, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Bandits
North: Baltimore Stars, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers
West: Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Raiders, San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks
NFC
East: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Orlando Renegades, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins
North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Memphis Showboats, Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Cardinals
West: Arizona Outlaws, Atlanta Falcons, Birmingham Stallions, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, San Francisco 49ers
---------------------
How this plays out with expansions and relocations is anyone's guess. I suspect a few teams fold over time and, with expansions, the league somehow stays at 36.
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - Renandpat - 02-24-2026 04:34 PM
Arizona would have to be the Wranglers otherwise both Oklahoma and Arizona would Outlaws
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - Fighting Muskie - 02-24-2026 04:45 PM
I’m of the opinion that Tampa and New Jersey would have received a payout or a revenue share of the other teams and that the NFL would have only admitted the 6 teams that didn’t share a market with an existing franchise. Baltimore, Jacksonville, Orlando, Birmingham, Memphis, and Arizona would have been dispersed among the existing teams.
Without knowing what the league desired, there’s probably a 1000 possible permutations for alignment.
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - Fighting Muskie - 02-25-2026 11:41 AM
In thinking about the best place to put the 6 USFL franchises, or perhaps the least objectionable:
Baltimore Stars—conventional wisdom says put them in the AFC East where the Colts had been playing since the merger.
Arizona Outlaws—this one is downright tricky. The NFC “West” at this point is 2 West Coast teams and 2 southeastern teams. The AFC West has 5 members but the KC Chiefs are really geographically Midwestern. I think you make Arizona the 6th AFC West team.
Birmingham Stallions and Memphis Showboats—Welcome to the NFC West (or is it South?)—you’ll fit right in with Atlanta and New Orleans (as well as those great southern cities LA and SF)
Things get a little tricky. The league needs a home for FL teams Jacksonville and Orlando. The NFC Central already has a FL team so do you give them a 2nd? The other FL team is in the AFC East, but we just added a 6th team to it. Meanwhile the AFC Central is the one division that needs at least 1 additional member.
I can think of a few ideas. You could just assign a team to each of those divisions and be done with it. Alternatively, you could try to move some things around to yield more sensible results. The Colts seem like a logical team that you could move around. Geographically they make sense in either conference’s Central Division. Back in the days of NFL East and NFL West, they actually had a lot of history with Chicago, Detroit, and Green Bay because they were the lone east coast team in the West while the Chicago Cardinals were in the East.
You could move the Colts to the NFC Central, move Tampa out and put them in the AFC East with the Dolphins, and then add Orlando and Jacksonville to the AFC Central.
Maybe you get really crazy and put all 4 Florida teams and Houston in a division.
Maybe we ignore everything I’ve said up to this point, return the Browns, Steelers, and Colts to the NFC and make the AFC a mix of AFL and USFL teams.
RE: NFL-USFL 1986 merger alternate history - BePcr07 - 02-25-2026 02:38 PM
(02-25-2026 11:41 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote: In thinking about the best place to put the 6 USFL franchises, or perhaps the least objectionable:
Baltimore Stars—conventional wisdom says put them in the AFC East where the Colts had been playing since the merger.
Arizona Outlaws—this one is downright tricky. The NFC “West” at this point is 2 West Coast teams and 2 southeastern teams. The AFC West has 5 members but the KC Chiefs are really geographically Midwestern. I think you make Arizona the 6th AFC West team.
Birmingham Stallions and Memphis Showboats—Welcome to the NFC West (or is it South?)—you’ll fit right in with Atlanta and New Orleans (as well as those great southern cities LA and SF)
Things get a little tricky. The league needs a home for FL teams Jacksonville and Orlando. The NFC Central already has a FL team so do you give them a 2nd? The other FL team is in the AFC East, but we just added a 6th team to it. Meanwhile the AFC Central is the one division that needs at least 1 additional member.
I can think of a few ideas. You could just assign a team to each of those divisions and be done with it. Alternatively, you could try to move some things around to yield more sensible results. The Colts seem like a logical team that you could move around. Geographically they make sense in either conference’s Central Division. Back in the days of NFL East and NFL West, they actually had a lot of history with Chicago, Detroit, and Green Bay because they were the lone east coast team in the West while the Chicago Cardinals were in the East.
You could move the Colts to the NFC Central, move Tampa out and put them in the AFC East with the Dolphins, and then add Orlando and Jacksonville to the AFC Central.
Maybe you get really crazy and put all 4 Florida teams and Houston in a division.
Maybe we ignore everything I’ve said up to this point, return the Browns, Steelers, and Colts to the NFC and make the AFC a mix of AFL and USFL teams.
Adding those 6 makes sense and gets us to 34. Looking at the NFL timeline to get to 36:
- St. Louis Cardinals find a way to stay in St. Louis.
- Los Angeles Raiders still move back to Oakland (and eventually to Las Vegas).
- Los Angeles Rams find a way to stay in Los Angeles.
- Carolina Panthers still form as Team #35.
- Houston Oilers find a way to stay in Houston.
- Cleveland Browns fold and assets move to Nashville to form the Tennessee Titans. Browns re-emerge like in our timeline as Team #36.
- Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars do not form.
- San Diego Chargers still move to Los Angeles.
To go a different direction, I'll do a geographic realignment.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic: Baltimore Stars, New England Patriots, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders
Central: Birmingham Stallions, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans
Southeast: Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Orlando Renegades, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Midwest: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Cardinals
Pacific: Arizona Outlaws, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks
Southwest: Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Kansas City Chiefs, Memphis Showboats, New Orleans Saints