If you look at the NFL map at the time of the merger, you had 10 teams east of the Mississippi, another 3 touching it (NO, STL, MIN), and then 3 teams out west—SF, LA, & DAL.

In an effort to make things a little more geographic (but not a full on realignment based on geography, the league pushed these 3 over to AFC, which already had 5 teams West of the Mississippi:

AFC East: NE, BUF, NYJ, MIA, CIN
AFC Central: KC, DEN, DAL, HOU
AFC West: LA, SF, OAK, SD

NFC East: NYG, PHI, WAS, BAL
NFC Central: PIT, CLE, DET, ATL
NFC West: CHI, GB, MIN, STL, NO

1976: SEA joins AFC West, TB joins NFC East
1984: BAL relocated to IND, switches divisions with ATL
1988: STL relocated to ARZ, moves to AFC Central, CIN leaves AFC East for NFC Central to balance leagues
1995: LA Rams relocate to STL—Rams swap divisions w/ ARZ; CAR joins NFC West; JAX joins AFC East
1996: CLE relocated to BAL, stays in division
1997: HOU relocated to TEN, stays in division
1999: CLE returns, rejoins NFC Central
2002: HOU expansion—technically the Texans could play in the AFC Central and keep the 6 division set up and things would look like this:

AFC East: NE, BUF, NYJ, MIA, JAX
AFC Central: KC, DEN, DAL, TEN, STL, HOU
AFC West: SF, OAK, SD, SEA, ARZ

NFC East: NYG, PHI, WAS, TB, ATL
NFC Central: PIT, CLE, DET, IND, CIN, BAL
NFC West: CHI, GB, MIN, NO, CAR

My gut says they try 8x4 but that leads to some tough decisions since aside from CAR, everyone is in a division that makes sense.

2002 with 8x4

AFC East: NE, BUF, NYJ, MIA
AFC Central: KC, DEN, STL, ARZ
AFC West: SF, OAK, SD, SEA,
AFC South: JAX, TEN, HOU, DAL

NFC East: NYG, PHI, WAS, BAL
NFC North: PIT, CLE, DET, CIN
NFC West: CHI, GB, MIN, IND
NFC South: NO, CAR, TB, ATL

(08-21-2026 05:43 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If you look at the NFL map at the time of the merger, you had 10 teams east of the Mississippi, another 3 touching it (NO, STL, MIN), and then 3 teams out west—SF, LA, & DAL.

In an effort to make things a little more geographic (but not a full on realignment based on geography, the league pushed these 3 over to AFC, which already had 5 teams West of the Mississippi:

AFC East: NE, BUF, NYJ, MIA, CIN
AFC Central: KC, DEN, DAL, HOU
AFC West: LA, SF, OAK, SD

NFC East: NYG, PHI, WAS, BAL
NFC Central: PIT, CLE, DET, ATL
NFC West: CHI, GB, MIN, STL, NO

NFL TV contracts would have to look very different than what they have been, as the NFC contract loses both Dallas and Los Angeles. I suspect that the NFL would have to use something like college conferences do where networks choose games on a week-by-week basis, or perhaps they alternate which network gets which conference each week.

The tv contracts might look a little different—

The AFC would own the West, have a split presence in the South and Northeast, but virtually non-existent in the Midwest.

The NFC on the other hand, would own the Midwest. I also think there Northeast presence far outweighs the toe hold the AFC would have: NYG, PHI, WAS, BAL, PIT > NYJ, BUF, NE

Maybe the tv packages become more division based—rather than receiving all 3 divisions of 1 conference, a network might get 2 from 1 and 1 from the other:

Package A: AFC East, AFC Central, NFC West
Package B: NFC East, NFC Central, AFC West