NFL-AFC Divisional Realignment

When the National Football League (NFL) realigned the divisional system following the inclusion of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans, as well as the return of the Browns to Cleveland, the Commissioner and NFL owners made adjustments that appeared, at first glance, to make perfect sense to the football hierarchy. The realignment moved the National Football League from a three-divisions-per-conference system to a four-division system, producing within the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) the North, South, East, and West Divisions.

Teams that had previously competed against each other for the right to represent their division in the playoffs suddenly found themselves devoid of those rivalries. For example, the Indianapolis Colts, long-time AFC East rivals of the Patriots, Jets and Dolphins, found themselves in the newly-created AFC South division with the Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. Arguably, the Indianapolis Colts are neither a strictly eastern nor northern team, however, neither are they a southern team. By contrast, the Miami Dolphins are arguably the farthest southern team in the NFL. A warm weather team, the Miami Dolphins organization has been locked into the AFC East Division with three northern, cold weather teams.

During the forty-one seasons the Dolphins have been in the NFL, they have had to travel to Divisional contests out of the environs of sunny Florida to the frigid cold of Buffalo or New England in December. This circumstance presents the home teams witha sizeable advantage: a fact borne out by the divisional record of the Dolphins organization during the month of December. Other divisions -- in both Conferences -- adhere to geographical or regional standards. For example, the NFC North Division consists of the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, and Minnesota Vikings; each of these teams are centrally located in the north-central portion of the country. Chicago and Green Bay are outdoor, cold-weather teams, while Detroit and Minnesota host teams in domed stadiums. In this case, the advantage is equalized. In the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers are all centrally located around the same geographical area. In addition, they each host teams in outdoor stadiums boasting very similar weather conditions.

I therefore propose that, in the interests of fair play and parity within the National Football League, the Miami Dolphins should be removed from the AFC East Division and placed in the AFC South Division, with the Indianapolis Colts to resume their former position in the AFC East Division.