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List of NFL rivalries
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List of NFL rivalries
As with all sports leagues, there are several significant rivalries between teams and notable players in the National Football League (NFL). Rivalries are occasionally created due to a particular event that causes bad blood between teams, players, coaches, or owners, but for the most part, they arise simply due to the frequency with which some teams play each other and sometimes exist for geographic reasons.
Rivalries in the NFL are commonly recognized as such by fans and players alike. While many rivalries are well established, others are of more recent vintage, accepted as existing by the nature of the competition and history between the two teams. Other rivalries have fallen by the wayside due to league realignment and a reduction in frequency of meetings. Many modern rivalries are formed simply due to the two teams being within the same division.
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 place teams closest to each other into the same divisions (and therefore more opportunities to play other teams).
For example, until the 2022 season, Major League Baseball teams face each league opponent at least six times in the regular season, and within a division as many as 19 times, while the National Hockey League scheduling policies in the 21st century ensured at least eight games (out of 82) with division rivals and ensured the two areas with multiple teams (New York and Los Angeles) had all of the teams in one area in the same division. In recent years, the NFL changed its scheduling formula to ensure every possible matchup happens within four years, excluding pre-season games or the Super Bowl.
A main factor in the fact that crosstown rivals are almost always in opposing conferences is because of history: in the two current markets (New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles) that have two NFL teams, both have one team that was a member of the American Football League (the Jets in New York/New Jersey and Chargers in Los Angeles).
As part of the AFL–NFL merger, all AFL teams had to be retained, even if it meant multiple teams in one metropolitan area: this was not a major issue, as the Raiders and San Francisco 49ers served separate parts of their metropolitan areas separated by San Francisco Bay, and the New York market, the most populous in the United States, supported two or more NFL teams through the 1930s and 1940s. Only in Los Angeles, which was home to the Rams until the Raiders relocated there in 1982, coincidentally; both teams endured poor ownership and financial issues contributing to their relocation in 1995.
The newly merged league opted not to go through an extensive geographical realignment: instead, the AFL formed most of the AFC, with a few existing NFL teams joining the new AFC and the rest of the old NFL forming 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, thus giving all of the Big Three television networks NFL rights and effectively shutting out any further potential competitors).
NFL policy currently requires any teams who play in the same metropolitan area to play in opposite conferences: in the event of any relocation causing two teams from the same conference to share a metropolitan area, one of the two teams must move to the other conference.
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List of NFL rivalries
As with all sports leagues, there are several significant rivalries between teams and notable players in the National Football League (NFL). Rivalries are occasionally created due to a particular event that causes bad blood between teams, players, coaches, or owners, but for the most part, they arise simply due to the frequency with which some teams play each other and sometimes exist for geographic reasons.
Rivalries in the NFL are commonly recognized as such by fans and players alike. While many rivalries are well established, others are of more recent vintage, accepted as existing by the nature of the competition and history between the two teams. Other rivalries have fallen by the wayside due to league realignment and a reduction in frequency of meetings. Many modern rivalries are formed simply due to the two teams being within the same division.
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 place teams closest to each other into the same divisions (and therefore more opportunities to play other teams).
For example, until the 2022 season, Major League Baseball teams face each league opponent at least six times in the regular season, and within a division as many as 19 times, while the National Hockey League scheduling policies in the 21st century ensured at least eight games (out of 82) with division rivals and ensured the two areas with multiple teams (New York and Los Angeles) had all of the teams in one area in the same division. In recent years, the NFL changed its scheduling formula to ensure every possible matchup happens within four years, excluding pre-season games or the Super Bowl.
A main factor in the fact that crosstown rivals are almost always in opposing conferences is because of history: in the two current markets (New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles) that have two NFL teams, both have one team that was a member of the American Football League (the Jets in New York/New Jersey and Chargers in Los Angeles).
As part of the AFL–NFL merger, all AFL teams had to be retained, even if it meant multiple teams in one metropolitan area: this was not a major issue, as the Raiders and San Francisco 49ers served separate parts of their metropolitan areas separated by San Francisco Bay, and the New York market, the most populous in the United States, supported two or more NFL teams through the 1930s and 1940s. Only in Los Angeles, which was home to the Rams until the Raiders relocated there in 1982, coincidentally; both teams endured poor ownership and financial issues contributing to their relocation in 1995.
The newly merged league opted not to go through an extensive geographical realignment: instead, the AFL formed most of the AFC, with a few existing NFL teams joining the new AFC and the rest of the old NFL forming 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, thus giving all of the Big Three television networks NFL rights and effectively shutting out any further potential competitors).
NFL policy currently requires any teams who play in the same metropolitan area to play in opposite conferences: in the event of any relocation causing two teams from the same conference to share a metropolitan area, one of the two teams must move to the other conference.