OPTIMAL REALIGNMENTS OF THE TEAMS IN THE NATIONAL-FOOTBALL-LEAGUE

In the fall of 1995, the National Football League expanded for the fir st time since 1977, adding Carolina to the National Football Conferenc e West division and Jacksonville to the American Football Conference C entral division. However, this expansion, coupled with the departure o f the Rams and the Raiders from Los Angeles, exacerbated an already in efficient alignment of the teams. This paper presents optimal realignm ents of the league's thirty teams based on the goal of minimizing tota l intradivisional travel, These realignments are both fairer and consi derably less expensive for the teams than the 1995 alignment.