The major news story of the week for football fans everywhere was the announcement that the St. Louis Rams would be moving to Los Angeles, and the option that the San Diego Chargers may exercise to also move to LA. And, if the Chargers decide not to move, the Raiders getting the option after that to move to LA. Disheartening for fans in multiple metro areas, but what would the league look like if they had imposed a ban on teams playing outside of the metropolitan area that they were founded in? Let’s take a look.
Before we get to teams that are obligated to stay in their original locale, let’s assume this was a term of the AFL-NFL merger, and that all AFL and NFL clubs would remain in place as of their location in 1970. While we’re at it, let’s run on the assumption that the league would add new franchises in the fashion that they did. We all know this would likely not be the case, but it makes it a lot more fun, and presumably the expansion would naturally lead to the large markets that aren’t home to NFL teams, which I am guessing would bring the NFL pretty close to in line with where it is today. So, because of that, let’s take a look at the divisions of this 1970 frozen world, using the current division setup:
| AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bills | Cincinnati Bengals | Baltimore Colts | Denver Broncos |
| Miami Dolphins | Cleveland Browns | Houston Oilers | Kansas City Chiefs |
| New England Patriots | Cleveland Ravens | Houston Texans | Oakland Raiders |
| New York Jets | Pittsburgh Steelers | Jacksonville Jaguars | San Diego Chargers |
| NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Cowboys | Chicago Bears | Atlanta Falcons | Los Angeles Rams |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Detroit Lions | Clemson Panthers | St. Louis Cardinals |
| New York Giants | Green Bay Packers | New Orleans Saints | San Francisco 49ers |
| Washington Redskins | Minnesota Vikings | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Seattle Seahawks |
Here’s how it would look in map form:
Overall, it doesn’t look too different from where we are today. Despite the NFL considering the Cleveland Browns a continuous franchise that was merely “suspended” from 1996-1998, the fact is that the Baltimore Ravens team was originally in Cleveland as the first iteration of the Browns, and I’m interpreting it as such. So Cleveland gets two teams. The only places that really lose a team are Indianapolis, Phoenix, and Nashville. Charlotte does too, because I chose to get pedantic: they played their first season in Clemson, SC while their stadium was being built. Because all of the other teams were in the same spot, I took some liberties with this one, I admit. Besides, could you imagine the hype this year with Clemson college football starting off 14-0 while the “Clemson Panthers” also started off 14-0? There’d be so much hype in South Carolina.
But let’s roll back the clocks even further. Let’s suppose that teams were never permitted to move from the metropolitan area they were founded in. This makes the map a lot more fun:
And the divisions, using current alignments:
| AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bills | Cincinnati Bengals | Baltimore Colts | Dallas Texans |
| Miami Dolphins | Cleveland Browns | Houston Oilers | Denver Broncos |
| New England Patriots | Cleveland Ravens | Houston Texans | Los Angeles Chargers |
| New York Jets | Pittsburgh Steelers | Jacksonville Jaguars | Oakland Raiders |
| NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC West |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Redskins | Decatur (IL) Staleys | Atlanta Falcons | Chicago Cardinals |
| Dallas Cowboys | Portsmouth (OH) Spartans | Clemson Panthers | Cleveland Rams |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Green Bay Packers | New Orleans Saints | San Francisco 49ers |
| New York Giants | Minnesota Vikings | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Seattle Seahawks |
Cleveland has three teams! Could you imagine? Boston has two, Dallas has two, 76,000 population Decatur, Illinois has one, 20,000 population Portsmouth, Ohio has one. Of course, the divisions are now a mess, so perhaps there’d be some realignment:
| Northeast Division | Cleveland/Pitt Division | Texas Division | West Coast Division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Redskins | Cleveland Browns | Dallas Cowboys | Los Angeles Chargers |
| New England Patriots | Cleveland Rams | Dallas Texans | Oakland Raiders |
| New York Giants | Cleveland Ravens | Houston Oilers | San Francisco 49ers |
| New York Jets | Pittsburgh Steelers | Houston Texans | Seattle Seahawks |
| Florida Division | Old Timer Division | B&O Railroad Division | SS-EBNRAA* Division |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Chicago Cardinals | Baltimore Colts | Atlanta Falcons |
| Miami Dolphins | Decatur (IL) Staleys | Cincinnati Bengals | Buffalo Bills |
| New Orleans Saints | Green Bay Packers | Philadelphia Eagles | Clemson Panthers |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Minnesota Vikings | Portsmouth (OH) Spartans | Denver Broncos |
* – Sorta South-East But Not Really At All
Could you imagine how exciting this could be? A division that’s three Cleveland teams and the Steelers? A division that’s all Boston and New York? A division that’s entirely Dallas and Houston? Sorry, Phoenix, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Nashville, San Diego, and Detroit, but I could get behind this.
But lucky for the rest of people, the NFL is a business and there’s no way they’d create a rule like this. I’m sure that those in Portsmouth, OH would be more than happy to support their Spartans right about now, but lucky for them, the NFL expanded only 104 miles down the road. That’s probably a convenience that most in St. Louis will yearn for in the coming years.