Divisions are bullshit. We have to play Burrow twice and the Steelers and Browns defenses twice, while KC get the Raiders, Broncos, and Chargers x2 in the race for the #1 seed.
I'd prefer the variety of a soccer style league where we play the entire AFC + 2 random NFC teams every year. People talk rivalries, but the real ones would persist while the rest ebb and flow with results anyway. (Pittsburgh will always be a rival, the Bengals - Browns 'rivalries' have always depended on how good they are.)
Ehh, I think scheduling wise, you'd have a hard time creating some sort of long term balance.
1. It's unlikely you'll be able to schedule it so that you'll consistently swap home/away games. i.e. if we played the Chiefs every year, it wouldn't just be home, away, home, away, etc.
2. In this model, you could go 5-6 years without playing specific NFC teams. If you're only playing three a year, it'll be that long in between playing one of those teams. It already feels like an eternity on the existing once-every-four-years schedule.
And if you factor in home/away, like you can realistically go 10-12 years.
3. If you're only playing 3 NFC teams, how do you select which one's they are for each team? Is it just random? I can imagine the noise I'd hear in here if the Steelers get to play the Bears, Panthers and Cardinals, while the Ravens get to play the Eagles, 49ers and Cowboys.
4. If divisions no longer matter, I'd argue... what's the purpose of conferences? They're just arbitrary separators. What do we need them for? Why not just put all 32 teams in a bucket and randomly draw matchups?
The reason the current model works so good is because it creates a pretty significant level of "competitive balance" among teams within their own divisions. We play a schedule that is extremely similar to the Browns, Steelers and Bengals schedule on a YoY basis. And its consistent and on a rotation.
If we're going to do away with divisions, do away with conferences. 32 team league. Top 14 make playoffs. Top two get byes.
