Posted on 04/29/2013 10:32:06 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
Here’s a tip: my Chelsea gear (if I actually had any) isn’t a tribute to a Clinton.
From experience, you have plenty of weenies in Madison. Not soccer fans, either.
Yeah, well I’d like you to try to call Everton (and US national goalie) Tim Howard a “Euro-Weenie”.
A true sports fan will appreciate the best in any major sport. I enjoy NASCAR, Formula 1, soccer, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, NFL football, hockey, rugby and even the occasional cricket or volleyball match if it involves the best of the best. I’d certainly prefer most NFL games to most EPL games but I’m not going to spend an afternoon watching a late season match between Miami and Cleveland.
Teams are listed by rank, i.e., NE was #1 overall in the AFC.
1st Division:
AFC - NE, BAL, PIT, HOU, DEN
NFC - ATL, GB, SF, CHI, NYG
2nd Division:
AFC - SD, CIN, NYJ, IND, TEN
NFC - NO, SEA, WAS, MIN, DAL
3rd Division:
AFC - MIA, OAK, KC, JAX, BUF, CLE
NFC - DET, PHI, STL, TB, ARI, CAR
Notes: The AFC division was clear, they actually had nice gaps at 5th-6th and at 10th-11th. The NFC was more muddled, with the Giants and Saints very close for 5th and 6th (before the Super Bowl adjustment) and a very tight contest between 9th (MIN 10.22) and 12th (PHI 10.69).
I thought the Chicago Cubs made the most money in baseball?
Continuing my completely theoretical exercise...
For lack of a better description, an equivalent to the FA cup called the NFL Cup would be a single-elimination contest across all professional teams drawn out over the season. With a 32-team pool to choose from, it’s pretty simply — 5 rounds. Spreading the games roughly 5 weeks apart makes the season look something like this:
Mid-August: League games begin
Labor Day Weekend: No league games, NFL Cup round of 32
Columbus Day Weekend: No league games, NFL Cup round of 16
Thanksgiving Weekend: No league games, NFL Cup round of 8
(Roughly) Christmas Weekend: No league games, NFL Cup round of 4
Late January: Final league game.
Last week of January/First week of February: NFL Cup final.
You could set up the bracket by their 1-32 ranking from the previous year (in year 1, AFC 1 vs. NFC 16, etc.). Or you could do something like group 1-4, 5-8, etc., into pools and randomly draw matchups from pool 1-4 vs pool 29-32, etc., to add a little drama to the matchups. Home team determined by coin toss except the final, played at a predetermined site (like the current Super Bowl).
If expanding past 32 teams, the week prior to league play beginning would be a preliminary round to cut the field to 32.
Speaking of expansion, I can think of several cities that could conceivable field a franchise: Los Angeles, Anaheim, Oklahoma City, Iowa City, Birmingham, probably more I’m not thinking of off the top of my head. Possibly include from Canada (Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg) and/or Mexico (Mexico City, Monterrey).
The Forbes list is about value of the franchise, which accounts for more than just current revenues but actual "fair market" value if the club were up for sale.
Scheduling would need to be flexible enough to ensure that teams aren't forced to play less than 4 days from a previous game (using the current Sun/Thu case as the minimum rest model), and as such, games for the weeks before and after NFL Cup rounds may need to be adjusted for teams still alive in the tournament.
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