NFL - How does it bloody work?

[Positively Kanyon 0]

Can somebody explain to me how the hell a team gets to the SuperBowl? I'm confused with the whole "conferences" thing... Thank God things are simple here in Australia!

 

I've tried my best to follow NFL, and I love playing it on my GameCube but I'm just SO CONFUSED!!!

[Prime Time Andrew Doyle 0]

From one Aussie to another, it is faily simple. There are 32 teams in the leauge. From that 32 they get split in 2 to form 2 Confrences of 16 (AFC & NFC). From there the confrences get divided by 4 to have 4 confrences with 4 teams.

 

Then the 4 division winners advance to the playoffs as well as the next two teams with the best record (Wildcards). The top two divsion winners with the best records get the first week off, while the other division winners play the two wildcard's at the division winners in the Wildcard round.

 

The next week, the two Wildcard round winners than play the two teams that had the first week off in the divisional round.

 

Next, the two winners from the divisional round play in the Conference championship. The location I think is detirmined by who had the best seed going into the playoffs.

 

Finally the two Confrence winners play against each other in the Super Bowl

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

And the Super Bowl is at a neutral site. This year it's in Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are not in the playoffs at all, so they won't be playing there. I'm not sure if a team has ever gotten to the Super Bowl in their home stadium, but I'm pretty sure it has never happened.

 

Here's how the playoffs look this year...

 

NFC Seedings

1. Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East Champion, 1st round bye, homefield throughout NFC playoff rounds)

2. Atlanta Falcons (NFC South Champion, first round bye, homefield against all except Philly...and so forth down the line)

3. Green Bay Packers (NFC North Champion, first round home game)

4. Seattle Seahawks (NFC West Champion, first round home game)

5. Minnesota Vikings (Wild Card; Second place NFC North, first round @ GB)

6. St. Louis Rams (Wild card; Second place NFC West, first round @ Seattle)

 

AFC Seedings (Same stuff as above)

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC North Champ)

2. New England Patriots (AFC East Champ

3. Indianapolis Colts (AFC South Champ)

4. San Diego Chargers (AFC West Champ)

5. New York Jets (AFC East 2nd place, WC)

6. Denver Broncos (AFC West 2nd place, WC)

 

The two wild cards are given to the two best record holding teams not in first place. Any other questions you may have, I'd be glad to answer.

[The Czech Republic 0]

By the way, the AFC proves why they should expand to 16 teams in the playoffs but the NFC proves why they should not.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Minnesota is the 6th seed.

 

If they beat Green Bay, the would play Philadelphia. Also, teams from the same division cannot play in the 2nd round.

[MARTYEWR 0]

And the Super Bowl is at a neutral site. This year it's in Jacksonville, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are not in the playoffs at all, so they won't be playing there. I'm not sure if a team has ever gotten to the Super Bowl in their home stadium, but I'm pretty sure it has never happened.

I can't think of any team that played the Super Bowl in their home stadium (even the 70s Dolphins never did that), but for what it's worth, the Los Angeles Rams played against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV (1980) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. That's the closest I can think of a team playing in its own location.

 

I can't confirm that fully, because it's a bitch to find a chart on the web that lists all the Super Bowl results with the location as well. Even pro-football-reference.com has no such chart.

 

I should also mention to Positively Kanyon that the regular sites for the Super Bowl consist of Pasadena (California), San Diego, New Orleans, Miami, Tempe (Arizona), and Atlanta (I think that's all of them). This is the first year it's in Jacksonville, but since they're in Florida, it might become a regular site too, or at least will be there once in a while, like Tampa. It's rare that the Super Bowl goes into the Northern regions of the States, unless there's a dome handy, like in Detroit (which it will be in next year) and Minnesota.

[starvenger 0]

I think they were considering adding Houston to the rotation. I believe that the strip clubs here are strongly campaigning for that...

[MARTYEWR 0]

Houston can definitely mix into the rotation, given the stadium they have.

[sfaJack 0]

No team has ever had home field advantage in the Super Bowl.

 

Houston can definitely mix into the rotation, given the stadium they have.

Goddamn thing cost almost half a billion dollars to build...they better get SOMETHING beneficial out of it.

 

And how come they don't play the Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl more often? It holds 90,000 people, and has little risk of bad weather. Makes sense to me.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The weather at that time in LA is usually pretty damn unpredictable. For some reason, Super Bowl organizers don't want to have bad weather for their showtime game, which is lame in my opinion.

[sfaJack 0]

Is the weather really that strange? Huh. Never been anywhere near LA, so I have no idea.

 

But I agree. if they can play other playoff games in horrible weather, why can't they play the Super Bowl in (potentially) bad conditions?

[Guest Vitamin X]

The weather is usually in the 70's-80's from May-October, but once you hit November and all through the winter months, it's at first rainy, chilly, and windy then from February-April the weather alternates from the cold/rain/wind to the sunny 70's until it settles back down again.

 

I think the NFL wants to keep the mystique of the playoffs alive and have the championship games really mean something. The Super Bowl wasn't originally supposed to be a world championship, since the AFC was once the AFL (a competing football league for those uninformed) but the NFL merged with them and the Super Bowl became the championship game.

 

I had actually been thinking of an idea for the playoffs that would eliminate the conferences altogether and just play by seedings and tiebreakers from throughout the entire league, similar to NCAA basketball, except there are no rankings involved, just the same way tiebreakers are done for each conference, but for the whole league instead. This would have allowed some of the teams that "should have" made the playoffs in the AFC over the teams that "shouldn't have" in the NFC. But why fix something that isn't broken?

[starvenger 0]

But I agree. if they can play other playoff games in horrible weather, why can't they play the Super Bowl in (potentially) bad conditions?

Probably because there are a lot more suits that attend the Super Bowl than your average game, and they need to be pampered. Or something.

[the pinjockey 0]

Also remember, that you are not talking about just the game anymore. The Super Bowl has become a week long event. So while you can play in bad weather, I doubt the parties and other events would be as attractive.

[Bored 0]

No team has ever had home field advantage in the Super Bowl.

That's technically true but twice a team has played very close to their home. The Rams in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl and the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium.

Also remember, that you are not talking about just the game anymore.  The Super Bowl has become a week long event.  So while you can play in bad weather, I doubt the parties and other events would be as attractive.

Yup although next year they are returning to Detroit for the first time in 24 years.

[The Czech Republic 0]

The Rose Bowl seems to have fallen out of the rotation for Super Bowl sites, despite the NFL wanting to be in LA sooooooo bad!

[Bored 0]

I think the NFL is going to continue to avoid the L.A. area as a Super Bowl site until a team moves back there.

[sfaJack 0]

Also remember, that you are not talking about just the game anymore. The Super Bowl has become a week long event. So while you can play in bad weather, I doubt the parties and other events would be as attractive.

But it was rather cold (in Houston terms of cold, anyway) with a couple of drizzly days down here for most of Super Bowl week this last year, yet nobody complained.

 

And in 2006, the Super Bowl's in friggin' DETROIT. Seems like you've got a real good chance of foul weather there, so I'm not sure I buy the "weather" argument from the NFL.

[starvenger 0]

And in 2006, the Super Bowl's in friggin' DETROIT. Seems like you've got a real good chance of foul weather there, so I'm not sure I buy the "weather" argument from the NFL.

Having previously lived across the river in Windsor, I'd say that it's a mortal lock for bad weather in Detroit in February.

 

Anyways, I think that hosting a Super Bowl was a reward for building a stadium downtown. Although given the close proximity of 4 casinos and Canadian strip clubs, I wonder if there was any other factors at work here.

[the pinjockey 0]

That is the only thing I can think of, is that it was a condition of the stadium build. Otherwise, even if you were willing to go cold weather Detroit is still down on the list.

[Positively Kanyon 0]

And what channel does NFL screen on... I heard that you guys have a bizarre setup where NFL is on a different channel each season... Why doesn't it just screen on one channel every year? That's how football is here in Australia, NRL on Channel 9 and AFL on Channel 10... It's so simple!

[CanadianChris 0]

If they beat Green Bay, the would play Philadelphia. Also, teams from the same division cannot play in the 2nd round.

Are you talking about just this year? Because it's not true otherwise. In fact, the Jets would play the Patriots if the Jets and Broncos both won this weekend.

 

And what channel does NFL screen on... I heard that you guys have a bizarre setup where NFL is on a different channel each season... Why doesn't it just screen on one channel every year? That's how football is here in Australia, NRL on Channel 9 and AFL on Channel 10... It's so simple!

The NFL has a TV contract with three broadcast networks (Fox, CBS and ABC) and one cable network (ESPN). Fox shows games involving NFC teams, and CBS shows AFC games. Inter-conference games are split depending on which conference the away team belongs to. ESPN shows one Sunday night game each week, as well as some other games at special times, and ABC shows one game every Monday night. ABC shows two playoff games, while CBS and Fox show one each, on the first weekend, and the rest of the playoff games are split by conference. The Super Bowl is shown by each of the broadcast networks on a three-year rotation.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

and all the games except the ABC and ESPN games are aired on DirectTV as a part of a special package

[sfaJack 0]

and all the games except the ABC and ESPN games are aired on DirectTV as a part of a special package

And it is obscene that said package is available only on DirecTV.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

And in 2006, the Super Bowl's in friggin' DETROIT.

99.9% sure it was held in Detroit for 49ers/Bengals I...

[the pinjockey 0]

Wasn't that the jumping point for the idea of exclusively warm weather areas for games as that was a disaster having the game during a blizzard making it impossible for people to get there?

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

Wasn't that the jumping point for the idea of exclusively warm weather areas for games as that was a disaster having the game during a blizzard making it impossible for people to get there?

Pretty much; however road crews are better and it's downtown now unlike The SilverDome was for that game.

 

Good thing it was a classic or Detroit never would have lived it down.

[Positively Kanyon 0]

The Super Bowl is shown by each of the broadcast networks on a three-year rotation.

So who gets the SuperBowl this year? And how long does this deal go for?

 

I spose when the rights are up, would one network go after the whole NFL package?

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

FOX.

 

Next year it's ABC.

 

The Monday and Sunday Night package is actually on the table now but ABC and ESPN likely will pick it up.

 

I strongly doubt NFL will do a one network deal. It makes more bank with multiple networks. I dont think a Network can afford the whole NFL and it'd suck.

 

I'd Rather All three NBC, Fox and CBS split sunday and ABC/ESPN keep the monday and sunday night package. Get rid of the AFC=CBS NFC=FOX notion and just have 4 games for each network on Sunday Afternoon. Fox and CBS keep Thursday Thanksgiving(cbs retaining Detroit and Fox keeping Dallas) and give a special Xmas game to NBC.

 

As for the playoffs, One network gets the SB(let's say FOX)...So NBC covers the AFC Part and CBS takes the NFC part and alternate everyyear.

 

That way more games can be shown, NFL makes more $$$ and we're happy.

[Positively Kanyon 0]

I'm under the assumption that games are scheduled on at the same time if different networks need to show games on Sunday night at the same time?