The NFL that fans know and love today has the balance and symmetry of 32 teams neatly divided into eight four-team divisions, setting up a rotating schedule that has every team playing every opponent at least every four years.
That wasn’t always the case, but 20 years ago this month, the NFL started playing after realignment, literally shifting the geography of the league to set up more regionalized rivalries. Some franchises have benefited from the new look, others not so much, but the anniversary is a chance to look back on a fairly problem-free realignment process and how the league arrived at its current setup.
After operating with 28 teams and uneven division sizes for 19 years from 1976 to 1995, the NFL had added four franchises in seven years, with the Panthers and Jaguars arriving in 1995 for six five-team divisions, the new Browns arriving in 1999 for an awkward 31-team look, and the expansion Texans joining for a nice, round 32 in 2002.
The NFL’s realignment plan was unanimously approved in May 2001, more than a year before it would take effect, and those familiar with the process credited commissioner Paul Tagliabue with working extensively to build support and approval for a plan that was widely seen as fair, smart and simply logical for the league’s future. Three league executives from the time reflect on how it came together:
Bill Polian, former Colts general manager and president: “It was very smooth, in my memory. There had been lots of preliminary talk among the competition committee, of which I was a member, about how it would look.
.