A THIRD Conference in the NFL? This Almost Happened

In 1990, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue floated the idea of adding a third conference to the league to go alongside the AFC and NFC. This is the story behind that bizarre proposal, why it was proposed, what it would've looked like, and the many, many problems that such a system would have
NOTE: Due to copyright, I had to remove some sections of this video. One of them came around the 5:00 mark, where I talked about how Super Bowl XXIV was a blowout, and how most of these Super Bowls were awful, with one conference (usually the NFC) being superior to the other
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[@TPTGopher]

The second I saw "1990", I knew it was a scheme to get 2 NFC teams in the Super Bowl.

[@johnliberty3647]

I have to admit, by 1986 I just considered the NFC championship as my Super Bowl.

[@timothyrosko9394]

If the road team is the third conference the game airs on Nickolodean, obviously

[@howardcosell2022]

Goodell made the NFL into a Mickey Mouse league. Befitting it's on Nickelodeon

[@IlluminovaNibiru]

Lol

[@princeofdarkness1647]

That makes him a filthy liar. All his videos are now questionable.

[@paisan8766]

Nickelodeon*

[@richardwood9177]

Nickelodeon didn’t exist then. And even if it did are you saying the NFL deserves to be on a children’s channel?

[@tygrkhat4087]

Before the Jets won SBIII, Rozelle had serious thought to skewing the playoff structure post-merger, so it might be possible for two "NFL" teams to meet in the SB, as it was still believed that the AFL wasn't as good as the the NFL. This scenario would have implemented that 20 years later. Ironically, it did happen that five times in the 70s, two "NFL" teams met in the Super Bowl. Baltimore and Pittsburgh joined the AFC and won five Lombardi trophies.

[@pullt]

NBC Conference, CBS Conference, ABC Conference....would have made perfect sense in 1990

[@99tjpro]

jaguar gator your youtube channel is awesome and i hope it grows, you should definatley consider getting better equipment to increase the production value to your videos. just a suggestion. anyways keep up the amazing content!

[@leewilsonwithers4091]

This isn't the only time the NFL considered a 3rd conference. Al Davis purposed a WFL merger that would have created a 3rd conference. This is documented in "The League, The Rise and Decline of the NFL" by David Harris.

[@toddd3944]

I'm not sure this counts as an official video without a qb with a worse rating than if he spiked the ball on every play.

[@nelroy78]

Now I could see four 10-team conferences one day if the NFL ever went to 40. Then they could have a 16-team playoff field (four teams in each conference make it) and then have each conference winner in the “conference final weekend”, could determine matchups by record, with winners meeting in Super Bowl.

[@MRB16th]

If you had 18 games a season, that works very well indeed.

[@MrErdner]

It makes sense to me. There isn't a single player still playing who was in the old AFL or the old NFL at the time of the merger. The National and American conferences are useless vestiges of the NFL/AFL merger. It was also an idea stolen from Major League Baseball. Forget conferences completely, and just have divisions. Use a seeded playoff system where it's always possible for best two teams to face each other, regardless of conference.

[@markshaw2009]

the only thing that matters is Red Zone on Sunday so I can watch how I lost my money.

[@joeshmoe7789]

TV networks have always thrown money to the NFL at ridicules rates. They would've figured it out.

[@penguinsfan251]

It's obvious why the NFL didn't expand after Seattle and Tampa. Carroll Rosenbloom, Al Davis and Bob Irsay hated their facilities and each team moved. Later, the Cardinals fled St. Louis for Phoenix. The Eagles almost moved to Phoenix before the Cardinals did. There were two players strikes. The 1980s were good for the 49ers, Giants, Redskins, the Bears for one season and nobody else. Tagliabue was a Washington lawyer who became commissioner due to a compromise. He basically won the antitrust case with the USFL. Had the NFL expanded during the USFL existence or the trial the NFL would have lost the case. The 10 team conference is an idea only a Washington lawyer could come up with. The expansion was screwed up, too. Tagliabue wanted a "new market". In the end, the NFL screwed Oakland, St. Louis and Baltimore - each city was shafted by owners who yanked their teams. Instead of going to St. Louis and Baltimore, those cities took established teams from other cities. Tagliabue really did a lousy job. Today, Oakland, San Diego and St. Louis have nothing on Sundays in the fall anymore, although Goodwill has a lot to do with that.

[@azizmooshoolov2308]

Dallas V NYG would pull huge ratings. The matchup has regularly featured one or both teams at below average, yet, when in prime time, it has gained audiences among the largest every time. Js

[@kyledamron]

Oh no Tagliabu with another crazy idea. He did a lot of good, but he also had some bad ideas

[@natecollison8331]

Was Tagliaboo high when he proposed the idea.? Lol. Loves it

[@r.williamcomm7693]

Having a limited number of teams (now 32) provides maximum market size while keeping each individual team as valuable as possible. Wait until the next few seasons when recession comes to our economy. Teams will experience profit issues & values will slide if TB contracts don’t increase.

[@howardcosell2022]

The CFL is on the brink due to the pandemic. I foresee the NFL expanding again

[@howardcosell2022]

@Join me on GAB at: JackTanner If the CFL goes under, I see four teams from up North integrating into the NFL. Four maybe too much at one time

[@howardcosell2022]

@Join me on GAB at: JackTanner BC Lions in Vancouver and Toronto Argos are two must haves IMO. Vancouver has a fairly new stadium and there are discussions about building a new stadium at Rogers Centre. Funny, I still think of the SkyDome (Rogers Centre) as a new stadium. But this idea is miles away from happening

[@chefz2749]

NFL-CFL merger…the wheels are turning. Montreal, Toronto, BC and…probably a lucky fourth that’s either Calgary or Edmonton…

[@blaize37]

You're the jomboy of football, but more of a story teller. Hes more analysis.

[@shackdaddy7106]

The scheduling problem you mentioned where everybody would play the same teams every year. What a been solved play what they do now which is rotate the games that are played out of conference so you see every team at least once every four years. But of course you are right it still was a stupid idea.

[@matismf]

In 55, did the two teams play each other earlier in the year? Was the game a blowout as you expected???

[@jamesage24]

Yes. No.

[@MarloSoBalJr]

You could always bring the CFL into the mix and make the NFL ever the more interesting. Imagine winning your conference only to have it be even more important that you have the best overall record in the entire league (#1AFC gets bye; #2CFL vs. #3NFC - winner between #2 or #3 face #1 in Super Bowl)

[@PaulGaither]

Why is this video cut apart so much? Copyright strikes?

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Yep

[@dr.roberts4508]

Really putting down Dallas.

[@jaylucien669]

Tagliabue ideas. 👎

[@beyondleftfield4470]

The Super Bowl is about the only thing funnier than people who actually think black lives matter 😂

[@VanillaLimeCoke]

What kind of drugs was this person on who wanted THREE CONFERENCES??

[@chadwickwhite6107]

A THIRD Conference DOESN'T make MUCH sense unless you have a 4th CONFERENCE. In order to make the League WORK you have to have an EVEN NUMBER of teams.

[@cuseyeti_one8three]

NHL has had 31 teams since admitting Vegas.

[@jasonprice1723]

@@cuseyeti_one8three true but now the kraken is coming

[@jonathanfrimerman8855]

@@jasonprice1723 if the nfl can add a 33rd team Than it will be 11 teams each conference

[@animemaster4861]

Not every aspect of the league has to be an even numbers I thought that too. look at the weird 17 game schedule now you'll never have a break even season again you'll either have a losing season or a winning season

[@nicoleknight9412]

@@animemaster4861 Unless there is a tie involved, i.e. 8-8-1.

[@milesowang7889]

You didn’t answer the question if Paul was high when proposing this. Lol. Keep up the great work!

[@Undecided0]

I was waiting for this answer, too.

[@bettyschnauber8238]

This was the cocane Era for players, why not management

[@ogreman-lll-957]

The schedule format would’ve looked like this probably: -4 other teams inside your division twice (8) -opposite division you would play every team except for one based off standings {1st\5th, 2nd\4th, 3rd\3rd} (12) - 4 games against one outside conference division over a 4 year rotation with not playing one team as mentioned before (16)

[@TheY2AProblem]

They need to remove conferences altogether and just have 8 divisions with four teams in each. Make the divisions more localized. Like; Seattle, SF, and both LA teams in one division, New England, Buffalo, and both NY teams in another, or all three Florida teams and Atlanta in a third division. 6 games against teams in your division, 7 games who finished the same rank as you, 3 games against the remaining teams in another division on a rotating basis. Division winners are ranked 1 through 8 and the wild card teams ranked 9 through 12. Fuck the 14 team playoff. We’re going back to 12.

[@big8dog887]

Two reasons you'll never see that. One, putting both NY or LA teams in the same division means putting them both under the same TV contract, which makes that contract ridiculously more valuable than the other one. The other is that "AFC Champions" looks a whole lot better on a banner than "#2 Seed".

[@TheY2AProblem]

@@big8dog887 We got both New York teams in the same division in hockey and basketball. It’s not like people are falling over themselves to watch either New York team in football, both of them suck ass. We can use the names of the trophies to refer to the two teams. The winner of the 1 vs 4 in the “conference championship round” will be referred to as the George Halas Champions and the winner of the 2 vs 3 “conference championship round” will be the Lamar Hunt Champions.

[@MRB16th]

Forget three conferences, I think four would be better (I have National, American, US, and Interstate). The NFL would need to go to 40 teams - I have Birmingham, Memphis, San Antonio, Hawaii, St. Louis, San Diego, Oklahoma and Portland being added. Four conferences of ten also has a far more more workable playoff system: I have the division winners and runners-up in each conference qualifying, with the four conference winners playing off in the new Super Bowl Semi-Finals (replacing the Pro Bowl).

[@LogoAttitude]

If the three-conference plan had been approved, here's what it might have looked like: AFC (now just the old AFL teams): East: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Miami, New England, NY Jets West: Denver, Houston, Kansas City, LA Raiders, San Diego NFC: East: Cleveland, NY Giants, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington West: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota, New Orleans or Indianapolis CFC: East: Atlanta, Carolina, Indianapolis or New Orleans, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay West: Dallas, LA Rams, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle Many rivalries are preserved, and some created

[@HandsOfSweed]

I feel like you need to switch the colts and the saints.

[@LogoAttitude]

@@HandsOfSweed now that I think of it either option could work

[@LogoAttitude]

I've named the third conference the Continental Football Conference (abbreviated as CFC in original comment)

[@samuraibeastwarrior2886]

49ers and Panthers Rivals again like the mid to late 90s

[@samuraibeastwarrior2886]

@@LogoAttitude so you would have 49ers and Panthers Rivalry get a reboot

[@Garrett316]

3 conferences sounds like the most Godell thing I’ve ever heard.

[@RhinoXpress]

Nah Goodell would do 4. lol

[@jonathanfrimerman8855]

I have a good conference Steelers Patriots Packers Cowboys Ravens Bucs Giants Chiefs

[@keithclingan6689]

Add four more teams (four I can think of now are Memphis, Birmingham, Orlando and San Antonio) then you can divide everything by three (12 teams) and three divisions each.

[@k3D4rsi554maq]

Birmingham? Too broke.

[@nasetvideos]

Very interesting story--Never heard of that story of a potential 3 conferences. And yes, you are right, for so many years, the Super Bowls were really not competitive and they weren't good games. The parity in the league now, salary cap, etc. makes the championship now a higher probability of a good and fun game to watch

[@colderbeer]

As crazy as this idea sounds, you can make the real argument that sometimes the loser of a Super Bowl wasn't always the second best team that season. Sometimes the winner of the Super Bowl played the second best team BEFORE they reached the Super Bowl.......

[@jamesage24]

Cowboys/49ers in the early 90's, perfect example of that.

[@mactheknife7049]

Oddly enough, this was *not* the first time this idea was proposed. In fact, it was the *third*. The first such proposal occurred in 1948, when the AAFC and NFL agreed in principle to a merger of equals, with seven of the AAFC's eight teams functioning as an "American Conference" to go along with a "National Conference" and "Interstate Conference," each comprised of NFL teams. It was shot down because George Preston Marshall didn't want Baltimore admitted - a stance that killed the merger in '48 and nearly did so again after the 1949 season. The second was floated in connection with the AFL-NFL merger. Pete Rozelle was getting nowhere in his efforts to get three NFL teams to join the ten from the AFL in what became the AFC. Had Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh not signed on, Pete reportedly had a plan: three conferences. Two of 8 teams, and a third of 10. The teams in all three would've been determined in the same way the NFC's divisional alignment eventually was: by his secretary pulling the names of teams out of a hat, one by one. In answer to one of your questions though, "How would TV contracts work in a 3 conference alignment?" The answer is actually pretty simple: competitive bidding. The networks would alternate a pecking order for each week's games throughout the course of a regular season. If for example you had CBS outbidding Fox, and both outbidding ABC? In the first week, CBS would've had the first choice of the then 15 game schedule, along with the right to slot it as a 1 or 4 p.m. ET game. Fox would've had the second choice, but with an obligation to air it at either 1 or 4 p.m. ET. ABC would then have the third choice, presumably as its "Monday Night Football" telecast. CBS would then get another, fourth choice of game, which would air in the 1 or 4 p.m. slot on Sunday, depending on where the network chose to place the first game.

[@wvu05]

One thing that I saw that would have worked much better was, rather than a merger, have Major League Football, with the eventual expansion teams going to the AFL until the leagues balanced at 16-16.

[@maikotter9945]

thoughts play off roster for 16 teams out of 3 conferences The worst conference at the inter conference games will be split up in the play offs. A = American Conference C = Central Conference N = National Conference eight final game 1: A 1 (main round´s best team) - C 5 game 2: A 3 - A 4 game 3: C 1 (worst conference winner) - A 6 (main round´s best 6 th team of any conference) game 4: A 2 (division winner) - A 5 game 5: N 1 (main rounds´ 2 nd best team) - C 4 game 6: N 3 - C 3 game 7: N 2 (division winner) - N 5 game 8: C 2 (division winner) - N 4 quarter final game 9: winner of game 1 - winner of game 2 game 10: winner of game 3 - winner of game 4 game 11: winner of game 5 - winner of game 6 game 12: winner of game 7 - winner of game 8 semi final game 13: winner of game 9 - winner of game 10 game 14: winner of game 11 - winner of game 12 final game 15: winner of game 13 - winner of game 14

[@pronkb000]

Was there even the slightest, barest hint of a ghost of a chance of a real NFL/USFL merger? I haven't seen the Small Potatoes 30 for 30 and it's been a long time since I read up on it. That kind of rapid expansion is the only scenario where I can imagine a third conference working. Incidentally, there was the proposed Continental League in baseball in 1959, which was an attempt at independent, non-MLB owners at forcing their way into the Majors with a third major league, but not a competitor like the Players' League and Federal League were. Of course, that was a little different when MLB was at 16 teams and hadn't expanded since coming into its modern form in 1903.

[@pronkb000]

Answering my own question by looking through some old newspaper articles, it seemed like an ABA-NBA-style "merger" was somewhat on the table at one point, with many thinking that the NFL would add on 4 to 8 USFL teams. Obviously not enough to justify a third conference. Of course, there was a lot of overlap in markets that didn't really exist with the AFL, and the NFL didn't need both the Bears and the Blitz, or the Express along with the Rams and Raiders, so some teams were going to get left out in the cold. And of course, in the end none of this happened. But it was at least being talked about by major sportswriters.

[@baronvg]

I just wonder what that bird conference would’ve been called lol. We already have National Football Conference, then American Football Conference, what’s left? WORLD Football Conference?? LOL

[@area.man.]

Still wish we could have Tagliabue. Goodell turned me off of the NFL, hence why I watch the historical stuff on here, when I cared about the NFL.

[@sabgab]

I know, Goodell has been BAD for the league. I USED to have a damn good DRAFT Party at my house eon Saturday. Not anymore, no one wants to get together on a weeknight. Moving the draft to its current time slots was NOT for the FAN but rather for the SPORTS BARS!

[@area.man.]

@@sabgab I can't even get into the draft anymore as something to try and be interested in when there is no football, just to maybe see if that will interest me in the NFL one bit. I get tired of the talking heads and their "insight" that is wrong more than half the time. Stopped following college recruiting for the same reasons. No one knows anything about how someone will perform at the next level. I really wish one of the spring leagues could take off and succeed.

[@bkdmode]

Explain to me why you let your like or dislike of a temporary league commissioner determine your opinion of a sport? Do you not support your team(s) anymore; or were you just a bandwagoner?

[@area.man.]

@@bkdmode LMAO you think this is a bandwagon issue? If you watched the NFL in the 80s and 90s you would see the sport was much better than it is now. Just as Rozelle did many things to make the sport better, Goodell has done many things to make it unbearable. It comes down to whether you feel the sport becomes worth your time when you cannot stand to watch it.

[@iamhungey12345]

@@area.man. Plus it wasn't "temporary" when the guy had became commissioner for over a decade so far.

[@karlcooper8460]

Things started getting stupid when tagliabue took over he was a lawyer not a football man he was just all about the Benjamin's and nothing else.

[@ryanstrnad8442]

The only possible way (actually a combination of two ways) I could see a third conference implemented would be for the tv money and if Europe were to get some franchises. Possibly a weekly 9am eastern time start game (like they do now with the "London" games) on what would be a third Sunday afternoon network or a combination with the other two (maybe televise some regional late Sunday night west coast games as well). Then (while this would take the drama out of winning a conference championship game but) reseed the three teams after the conference championships have been played with the best record team getting a bye into the Super Bowl. Then have a neutral site (there's your expansion of neutral site big games) be played like on a Thursday night (or Wed) half way between the conf. chams & the Super Bowl to finally come up with your second Super Bowl team (and that game would be played on President's Day weekend which has also been talked about). After all, it's about the money. $$$

[@SPTO]

I didn't know about this story either. Hindsight says it was a messy and not so great idea. I could see it as a creative solution to the SB competitiveness problem but honestly, when you tinker around to fix one issue you sometimes create a far bigger headache. At least these days the Super Bowl is pretty darn good.

[@Jason_Maier]

You've mentioned in video descriptions (including here) about copyright issues. The NFL from what I've read is the most anal about copyright. You'd think a multi billion dollar entity like the NFL knows the four factors of Fair Use (purpose, nature, amount, effect).

[@mfdixon1985]

What's funny is that the Super Bowl blowouts/didn't exactly stop after this idea got nixed. The Bills vs. Giants in XXV was obviously a great game. But the Bills/Skins in XXVI and the Bills/Cowboys in XXVII and XXVIII were both blowouts, as was the 49ers/Chargers in XXIX. And while the Cowboys/Steelers in XXX and Packers/Patriots in XXXI were more competitive, both were double-digit wins. You'd figure that would have driven more incentive to modify the format more, especially since all the winning teams were from the same conference. I'm also pretty sure that after the merger was announced but before it actually happened that Rozelle was trying to redo the playoff format so that two teams from the same conference could play in the Super Bowl. The Packers steamrolling the Chiefs and Raiders only contributed to the idea that the NFL was vastly superior and everyone thought that the Colts would keep on with that against the Jets. Granted, as soon as the Jets won, Rozelle immediately acknowledged how good it was for the sport and the looming merger.

[@UserName-ts3sp]

i mean with the tv networks, it could work now if nbc was willing to shell out more and get the third conference. rotate the game between nbc, fox and cbs. but at the time and with 32 teams... no

[@TommyRibs]

I love these videos. Great channel.

[@robbefertein2918]

I don't think this will ever happen for one reason. Superbowl. The Superbowl has always been AFC vs. NFC (or AFL vs. NFL pre-merger) If you add a third conference, well then that makes it impossible because you can't have a three way game, obviously.

[@MRB16th]

If they did three, then the top four in each conference make the playoffs. After week two, the best ranked champion has a bye in week three, while the 2nd and 3rd ranked team play in a Conference Champions Playoff - winner goes to the Superbowl.

[@arnavmehra2203]

The NFL lore is great

[@englandbengal]

Shouldn’t have shown Super Bowl XXIII logo as that was one of the best Super Bowls ever.

[@rjsweda]

love your videos, learn things about nfl never heard of before.

[@stevenbechard2242]

I do like the idea of putting all the playoff teams from both conferences into a pool, then seeding from there. This really helps if you happen to have two powerhouse teams from the same conference. And, if you don't, no harm, no foul. This could be done with two conferences now without changing anything at all about the regular season. I don't buy his argument that this could make for a boring Super Bowl if one team had already blown out the other team twice in the regular season. How likely is that? Plus, if the "bad" team made it to the Super Bowl from a pool of 14 teams, they must be a pretty good team. Also, there have been plenty of times where teams who played in the Super Bowl have played during the regular season.

[@squealingsalamander6546]

What’s your email address since you don’t have a Twitter I can’t really reach you

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

In the 50s the Pacific Coast League had "Open" classification and around 1960 there was a proposed third major league (Continential)...but the moving of the Giants/Dodgers to California and National League baseball coming back to New York respectively negated the need for those ideas.

[@joediesen1]

I don't understand the need for a third conference if the problem he was trying to solve was getting the best 2 teams in the superbowl. Why not simply change the playoff format? Seed the teams based on overall record regardless of conference or division and then create playoff brackets based on the overall seeds where the #1 and #2 teams meet in the superbowl if they both win out. That's how you get the cowboys playing the 49ers in the Superbowl in the 90s. I would not have liked this idea, but it seems like an easier way to fix the problem of NFC domination.

[@Edwards-Videos]

5:43 How does playing many of the games against the same teams every year get boring. That's exactly what happens in every year for other leagues. The MLB is really bad with this when you play other division teams 19 times per year! Even starting in 2023 with changes to scheduling, teams will still pay 13 games aggainst easch divisional rival per season.

[@NillyNilly546]

Could you by any chance touch on how Jimmy Johnson won COTY in 1990 with a 7-9 record?

[@TPTGopher]

Pretty big leap from 1-15.

[@Undecided0]

The voters were high.

[@brianreid4567]

This would have been weird

[@GR-bn3xj]

Memphis almost got an NFL team, but didn't, and to add insult to injury, Nashville ended up with one. Memphis got hosed

[@richardsiemion5903]

The only cool thing I can say about this …. Is it would have a lot if very cool early playoff Match ups … aside from that …. Hard pass

[@michaelgoodwin1239]

Interesting that College Football is basically going to a Three Conference model. SEC BIG 10 ACC/BIG12 MERGER

[@Dirtnation2]

Adding a third conference cannot be as bad as we got now with two conference with 4 divisions with teams not even in the correct geographically.

[@iangraham9988]

Destroying the American sports league system just because the Broncos kept blowing it

[@jamesthomas7405]

Well if the NFL were to add 4 more teams that would bring NFL to 36 teams. Then you could have 3 confrences of 12 teams. Also the NFL for years has been pushing for a 18 game schedule. Now each conference would have 3 divisions of 4 teams. You play your division rivals twice that's 6 games then you play 2 teams from each division in your designated conference that's 4 games giving you a total of 10 games. Then you play 4 games against the NFC and 4 games against the AFC , that's 8 games giving you a total of 18 games. Playoffs each conference 3 division winners and 1 wild card team will play to determine conference champion. Now you have 3 conference champions the team that scores the most points in the playoffs earns a bye. The other conference champions will play each other the winner will play the team that had the bye in the Super Bowl. Now if anyone has a better idea then let's hear it, and no I don't know what to name the third conference.

[@barbaracaroll]

Very interesting I never knew about this it might have been a way to get 2 NFC teams in the super bowl because the super bowls back then were usually blowouts in favor of NFC

[@ldfreitas9437]

Three isn't an even number. This reminds me of the petition that the old Pacific Coast League made to the American League and National League in 1946 to become a third major league in baseball, and certainly those "minor" league teams were as good if not better than the majors, with star players on the San Francisco Seals and Los Angeles Angels in particular. How the winner of that league would have worked into playing the AL and NL winners in a World Series would have been interesting. A round robin system of playoff games?

[@jerryjanik480]

90sBills my what my youth would never have gone to four straight Super Bowls

[@blakfloyd]

I think the NBA or BAA (what the NBA came from) had a 3-division format for a short time and their divisions functioned like conferences due to how few teams there were at that time.

[@steveswangler6373]

i've watched several of your videos and i do enjoy them, they are interesting topics. my only criticism (and i mean this as a constructive criticism) you need to work on your wording. for instance, in this video you say about pete rozelle "....he oversaw several upstart leagues." no, he was commissioner of the nfl when they were challenged by the other leagues. he oversaw the nfl and its response to the other leagues, but he did not oversee those leagues. also, no need for the super bowl history rundown. now, i wont bother reading the comments but i'm sure there will be some that dont understand my message but i hope it helps the content creator make better videos.

[@Davepool-hs7vr]

Seems like Paul Tagliabue was spiked into the ground on every play

[@rich7787]

I really like your channel and am going through and watching all the videos, but there are so many bits cut out of this one it’s too jarring and disjointed

[@eelektrosstrain]

4 conference system with 8 teams per conference

[@ryanmarshall4332]

Glad to see your editing has improved since this vid. Still a great topic and info.

[@Gareth1892000]

Right now, expanding to 36 teams since like a better option, though

[@MRB16th]

I believe this one seems like not an if, but a when.

[@WTMNNJR]

@@MRB16th San Antonio probably gets a team when Jerry Jones dies. St Louis should get a team. As long as they don’t put a team in London I’m happy.

[@MRB16th]

@@WTMNNJR I believe anything international is some time away, and they will put a team in Hawaii first (for what it's worth, Jeff Bezos is interested in buying an NFL franchise with the intent of relocating it to the Island State). And if they want a team in San Antonio, they will make a deal with a still living Jerry Jones, possibly involving a Texas-sized check of some description. I have this list for potential cities: St. Louis, Oakland, Chicago (second team), Grand Rapids, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Portland, Boise, Memphis, Birmingham, Louisville, Hartford, Hawaii and Orlando (NB: the first three had teams that relocated).

[@effend446]

1:30 AND a couple of players strikes.

[@johnliberty3647]

Playoff brackets would be wacky

[@RhinoXpress]

Maybe I'm in the minority but I would like to see no interleague play during the regular season, like the MLB used to have it. It would make superbowls even more exciting, because both conferences would be completely separate from playing each other until the superbowl.

[@UserName-ts3sp]

i think they need more emphasis on rivalries. with the 17th game, it would’ve been perfect to permanently schedule cross-conference opponents who usually don’t see each other (ex PIT/PHI, NYG/NYJ, etc)

[@vickrunalza8057]

Tagliabu trips on Acid!

[@patrickstogsdill74]

This would be itneresting

[@tonyduckett5315]

I also thought he was high.

[@DanTorinoGT01]

Whats with the cuts?

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Explained it in the description. The video, a few weeks after it was published, got blocked by the NFL for copyright, so I had to make those abrupt cuts way after the fact to keep it up. KZbin’s system is broken, and the NFL abuses copyright law by deliberately choosing to ignore fair use

[@DanTorinoGT01]

@@OfficialJaguarGator9 ah ok

[@ajk]

@@OfficialJaguarGator9 Would you have been able to win a challenge on this? I'd wonder if that coulda happened.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

@@ajk Already tried. The whole KZbin copyright system is terrible. Long story short- you can appeal, but the NFL gets to decide if you're right or not. They often don't even watch the video, and mass disapprove videos at once (I had 10 counterclaims rejected in a 30 second stretch, which is obviously not enough time to judge the merits of each case). At that point, you can take it a step higher, but if you lose, you risk getting a strike on your channel, which impacts your ability to do a ton of things. Three strikes and your channel gets banned. It's a broken system that the NFL completely abuses, and there's nothing I can do about it unless I want to seriously consider legal action, which depending on how bad it gets, I might do

[@ivanjimenez8868]

All modern Super Bowls are ridiculously fixed and manipulated

[@camerondelamotte159]

ah no

[@NillyNilly546]

I still don't understand how the playoff system would work, even after you explained it lol, it just sounds like too much of a hassle.

[@RhinoXpress]

You would have been better off going to a no conference, seeded playoff format based on record like the nhl did this past season, than doing something like this.

[@edwardcricchio6106]

On another note, the first round should be expanded to 8 teams per conference, no byes for any team. Games would be Friday night, 3 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday and Monday night. The first round would be blowouts as we saw this year but at least all 8 teams per conference play a game that first week. The bye doesn't help a team as they previously thought.

[@penvzila]

When I first heard this idea I honestly thought the TV deal was the reason, a third conference grows the TV pie. And the NFL definitely wants to go to 36 teams.

[@ThePadillaFilms]

There’s a ton of glitches in this video

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

Explained it in the description. The video was fine when first uploaded. Then, because the NFL abuses fair use policy and the copyright claim system, they blocked the video from being shown a few weeks later unless I removed a certain portion. Unfortunately, the choppy parts were completely out of my control

[@ThePadillaFilms]

@@OfficialJaguarGator9 fair enough

[@mr.akinola07]

what stadium is at :230?

[@mustang6172]

I could see this working in the NBA.

[@1USACitizen192]

The nfl fixed this by fixing games ala wwe.

[@From-North-Jersey]

I think you may be mistaken on how the TV rights by conference worked back under the old TV contract or the NY market was an anomaly . The NFC NY Giants games were always shown on CBS2 the Jets games were always shown on NBC4 The team with a home game had their game run unopposed and when the NY team who was on the road was playing both networks would air a game. NY NJ and CT only got 3 games on Sunday instead of 4 like most markets. Stupid jets. I remember when FOX entered the NFL business they outbid CBS for the rights to air NFC games. Resulting in CBS being left out in the football cold for almost a decade. Then CBS outbid NBC for the AFC games and with no football to pay for NBC basically took over and completely ruined the Olympics. NBC has aired every Olympics since they lost afternoon football.

[@americanidol30]

NBC has aired the Summer Olympics since 1988. They’ve aired the Winter Olympics since 2002. They’ve been covering Olympics since even before losing the AFC Package to CBS in 1998.

[@nathansimpson5721]

Idk if you knew this, but MLB had three "leagues" at one point. They had the American League, National League, and the Federal League. It is very similar to a 3 conference idea. I'm pretty sure the Chicago Whales owner was the one who made Wrigley Field.

[@johncate9541]

The Federal League was completely independent of the other two leagues. It operated for a few years in the 1910s and then folded. But yes, Wrigley Field was originally built for the FL team. The Cubs acquired it after the FL folded and have used it ever since.

[@yourfavoritelineman]

I think that every division should become a conference and the pro bowl would become a tournament with every player representing their own conference/division

[@kcroyals85]

The Only way a third conference could work, and that is a huge maybe is to make an International Conference

[@mrmoose6619]

Was there a chart of what team would have went to what conference? Trying to envision this...

[@big8dog887]

An official chart would be interesting, but since I don't know of one, I'll take a guess. They would probably go primarily on geography. What seems to make the most sense that way is having one conference, we'll call it the Walter Camp Conference go down the east coast. This would mean Patriots, Giants, Jets, Eagles, Redskins, Panthers (assuming same expansion teams), Falcons, Jaguars, Dolphins, Buccaneers. The second conference, we'll call it the Pete Rozelle Conference, goes down the west coast and circles on the southern border. This would be Seahawks, 49ers, Raiders, Rams, Chargers, Cardinals, Broncos, Cowboys, Oilers, Saints. The third conference is what's left, basically industrial midwest. We'll call this the George Halas Conference. This would be Vikings, Packers, Bears, Lions, Colts, Browns, Bengals, Steelers, Bills, Chiefs. However, this isn't the final word, because some teams would have a conniption over the breakup of rivalries. So the league would try to accommodate this. Dallas would insist on being with NY, Washington and Philly, so we move them from the Rozelle to the Camp. Likewise, Kansas City would want to be with Oakland and Denver, so we move them from the Halas to the Rozelle. Note the Rozelle has lost and gained a team, so they are still at 10. Buffalo would want to be with Miami, New England and NY, so we move them from the Halas to the Camp. Now the Camp has 12 teams and the Halas has 8. Probably the most logical thing to do is move the Florida teams (TB and Jacksonville, not Miami because of their long rivalries) to the Halas to start a new fledgling rivalry. That done, each conference would split into American and National divisions. Camp National: Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Redskins, Falcons Camp American: Patriots, Jets, Bills, Dolphins, Panthers. Halas National: Vikings, Packers, Bears, Lions, Colts Halas American: Steelers, Bengals, Browns, Jaguars, Buccaneers Rozelle National: 49ers, Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, Saints Rozelle American: Raiders, Chargers, Broncos, Chiefs, Oilers. Of course, this all blows up when teams move and new expansion teams join.

[@big8dog887]

Actually, the more I think about it, you could make a strong case for switching the Seahawks and Oilers, since the Seahawks were an AFC team at the time with the other 4 former AFC West teams, while giving the Oilers "National" designation wouldn't be that blasphemous since AFC/NFC no longer exists, and they could have a rivalry with the nearby Saints. Likewise, switching the Falcons and Panthers would make sense. I gave Falcons "National" designation because the Panthers were an expansion team with no alliances at the time. However, the Falcons would be a better rival for the Dolphins, while the Panthers would be a better rival for the Redskins.

[@gilbertthomas7296]

Very nice 😍💋 💝💖♥️❤️

[@rogerswab2131]

Dude, please work on your editing. I love your videos, but sentences being cut off and started in the middle of different topics gets really confusing.

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

I explained it in the description. What happened with the cut-off was that after it was published, someone from the NFL manually copyright claimed the video and blocked a 10 second clip from being shown. I had to remove it, hence the abrupt cut

[@rogerswab2131]

@@OfficialJaguarGator9 My apologies, I didn't read the description. My bad. Is that what is happening in some of your other videos too? Either way, it's pretty lame of them.

[@tomdarby4906]

tagliabue is a lawyer. there's your answer

[@sulaimanbeyah3308]

It's quite easy to see why they'd do it: MONEY!!! More money from fans, more jobs for players, & more CONFUSION in the Sports World!!!

[@beyondleftfield4470]

Bruh, if you saw the same Super Bowl I did between the Chiefs and 49ers and thought it was a great one, then you need to find other things to talk about... The 49ers pass defense was beyond atrocious and against as potent an offense as the chiefs had been that season, it should've been a blowout.

[@suicidality2744]

This was never a serious consideration. A lot of stupid ideas get talked about and then shot down.