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Post by MGB01 on May 11, 2022 23:05:50 GMT -5
ALIGNMENT
EASTERN CONFERENCE LIBERTY INDEPENDENCE Chicago Birmingham Columbus Carolina New York Orlando Washington Tampa Bay
WESTERN CONFERENCE WALSH MADDEN San Antonio Dallas San Francisco Kansas City Seattle Los Angeles St. Louis San Diego
SCHEDULE
Home and away against the other three divisional opponents (six games)
Home and away against a team in the opposite division within its conference (two games)
The other three teams from the opposite division within its conference (three games) The four teams from a division in the other conference (four games)
One interconference game based on the prior year's standings against a team in the opposite conference division that the team is not scheduled to play that season (one game)
NOTES
As the Western Conference is a "zipper alignment", the designated home-and-away rivals are set: Dallas/San Antonio, Kansas City/St. Louis, Los Angeles/San Francisco, San Diego/Seattle. The Eastern Conference pairings are expected to be a looser rotation and the pairings for 2023 will be announced a later date, although Columbus and Birmingham will be one.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The makeup of the league for its 23rd season, a return to the 16-team four-division alignment of 2004-2011, and two conferences for the last two seasons of those, adds a historical flavor, as well as homage to two of the greatest.
The Eastern and Western Conferences were used in the NFL from 1953-69, and in a "16/2/4" alignment in the last three seasons. The Eastern Conference's two divisions are the Liberty and Independence, which were to be the two divisions in the would-be 1986 USFL season. For the Western Conference, the two divisions are named for Bill Walsh and John Madden. Walsh also went on to coach in the Continental Football League.
Birmingham was to be in the Liberty Division of the 1986 USFL, and was under consideration here as well. But for scheduling purposes as well as rivalries that have formed (i.e. Carolina/Orlando, New York/Chicago), a more geographical setup was left in place. With both Western Conference expansion teams in the Pacific Time Zone, a "zipper alignment" was chosen and it worked out almost perfectly on a historical basis.
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