Can someone help me with a history lesson?

[FinsBR]

There is a question that I always wanted to ask.

In the beginning of the 2000´s the internet wasn´t what it is today and we didn´t have(still don´t) a media outlet here in Brazil that covers the NFL so I missed some news regarding the realignment of the conferences.

Was there any talk about the Dolphins being assigned to the AFC South and the Colts staying in the AFC East?

Geographically would make more sense, but history and rivalries were obviously an barrier.

 

[Tunaphish429]

Not that I know off..Miami had too many rivals in the Bills Jets and Pats..

The Colts were horrible ....

The NFL didnt wanna break up the good rivalaries..

Geographically it does make sense tho.

But it also makes Sense for the Bills to be in the AFC north as well.

 

[Zounds]

The owners had a lot of input as well. I remember the Seattle owner volunterring to move to the NFC west, which was a really good division at the time.

 

[zachblitz54]

Robert Kraft did not want to give up his annual vacation to South Beach, so Fins were kept in the East.


Not really, of course. Tunaphish429 is correct the owners, including Huizenga wanted to keep the strong Eastern rivalries intact.

 

[datruth55]

Well the orginal AFL Eastern Division had Buffalo, Houston, Boston Patriots (what they used to be called) and the New York Titans (who became the Jets). There were only 8 orginal AFL teams, when Miami joined in 1966 the league went to 9 and the Dolphins were added to the Eastern Division and a year later the Cincinnati Bengals joined and they were put in the Western Division which contained the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers so now it was a 10 team league.

In 1970 when the NFL and AFL merged into one league the Colts were moved to the AFC East division and Houston was moved to the AFC Central division. So the rivalries with the Patriots, Jets and Bills have been there since 1966 and when the NFL went to 4 divisions per conference it was decided to keep the longer rivalries of the Pats, Bills, Jets and Phins and move the Colts out.

 

[GreenMts]

The intensity of the rivalries definitley were a factor at that time - phins bills, phins jets, and phins pats. The phins didn't suck like they do now. If this realignment happened later we'd have ended up with the South. The Colt's rivalry with the Patriots might have swayed the decision - Manning v. Brady twice a year. I also think the intra state rivalry with the jags might be attractive.

 

[phinsfan84]

yeppp if done today it would def be us moved to the south and colts woulda stayed. Miami and Jacksonville for the florida complex each year would be cool. and Colts and Pats would be fun for the rest the league as both have great franchises that are run right and will be near the top as long as they are structured as they are in their FOs