National Football League Rivalries - Background

Background

Purely geographic rivalries are rare in the NFL, since crosstown rivals do not play each other nearly as often as in other leagues that have more games (and therefore more opportunities to play other teams). For example, Major League Baseball teams face every other league opponent at least 3 times in the regular season, and within a division as many as 19 times. In recent years, the NFL changed its scheduling formula to ensure every possible matchup happens within a 4 year span, not counting pre-season games or the Super Bowl. A main factor in the fact that crosstown rivals are almost always in opposing conferences is history: in the two current markets (New York/New Jersey and San Francisco Bay Area) that have two NFL teams, two have one team (Jets in New York, Raiders in Oakland) that was a member of the American Football League. As part of the AFL–NFL merger, all AFL teams had to be retained, even if it meant multiple teams in one metropolitan area. The newly merged league opted not to go through an extensive geographical realignment, and instead, the AFL formed the basis of the AFC, and the old NFL formed the basis of the NFC; as a result, each team ended up in an opposite conference from their crosstown rival. This allowed the combined league to retain both existing television partnerships of each league—NBC for the AFL/AFC, and CBS for the NFL/NFC—instead of choosing one or the other (ABC joined the mix in 1970 with Monday Night Football).

Games can be classified in 3 main categories:

• Intra-divisional: Games between opponents in the same NFL division. Since 2002, there are 32 teams in 8 divisions of 4 teams each. Each team plays each division opponent twice in the regular season (once at home, once away) for a total of 6 regular season games out of 16 total. Thus, every NFL team, regardless of its age, could fairly be said to have at least 3 primary rivals. Occasionally, two teams will play 3 times in a year if they meet again in the playoffs.
• Inter-divisional: Games between opponents in different divisions but within the same conference. Teams do not play a given inter-divisional opponent more than once during the regular season, however they may meet again for a second time in the playoffs. The NFL schedules divisions to play against each other on a rotating basis, so that every team from one division will play every team from another division, for a total of 4 games per team. Each team will also play one team from each of the remaining two divisions within the conference that finished in the same divisional standing position in the prior year—for a grand total of 12 intra-conference games. Conference games are often important, as a team's record in common games, as well as its overall record against its conference, is sometimes used as a tiebreaker for playoff seeding at the end of the regular season. Also, many regular season opponents have met again in the playoffs, and the result of a regular season game can affect where the playoff game will be played.
• Inter-conference: Games between opponents in different conferences. Teams do not play a given inter-conference opponent more than once during the season unless they were to meet up in the Super Bowl. The NFL schedules inter-conference divisions to play each other on a rotating basis within a 4-year cycle. For instance, given the 2012 NFL season as a reference, the NFC East will play the AFC North during the 2012 season, then the AFC West during the 2013 season, AFC South during the 2014 season, and finally the AFC East in the 2015 season before repeating the cycle. The league also schedules inter-conference games on an 8-year cycle so any particular team will both host and visit any given team in the league within 8 years.

The league's teams do not play, and do not have rivalries with, teams outside the league.

The NFL sportscasters, journalists, and fans typically use the terms "division rival" or "divisional rival" instead of "intra-divisional rival", and "conference rival" (also "NFC rival" or "AFC rival") instead of "inter-divisional rival." The use of a prefix such as "inter-" is reserved solely for games between opponents from different conferences.

The oldest NFL rivalry, dating back to when the league was founded in 1920, consists of its two remaining charter members: the Decatur Staleys/Chicago Bears and Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals. The longest rivalry is between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears (they did not play each other in 1982 due to the player's strike, though). It dates back to 1921 and is currently approaching 180 games, with 48 Pro Football Hall of Famers and 21 league championships between the two teams. The longest continuous rivalry in the NFL is between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, as they have played each other at least twice every season since 1932. In the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns have the longest rivalry with over 117 games, 2 in the playoffs, and 14 league titles between them. The "turnpike rivalry" as it is called is only separated by a 2-hour drive and began during the 1950 NFL season. Both teams were NFL franchises predating the AFL that formed the basis of the AFC, and were moved to the AFC when the leagues merged in 1970.

No team in the NFL has faced a team from another league since 1969 (1961 if the AFL is ignored), and as such, interleague rivals do not exist. Though certain teams from opposing leagues (e.g. the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' and Toronto Argonauts' enmity toward the Buffalo Bills over the Bills Toronto Series) have fostered a rivalry for fan base and popularity, under current rules, the NFL cannot, and will not, schedule an actual game (even an exhibition game) against a non-NFL opponent, making such a rivalry academic.