freeholai asked:
A bit of a random question, but a question that has perplexed me this past week: Why are the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC EAST? To be geographically correct, they are hardly on the eastern United States….suffice to say, I am a bit surprised that they are not in the NFC South. I mean, even Tampa Bay and Carolina–two teams in the NFC South–are more east by location than the Cowboys. Anyone got an answer for me? Person with the most accurate answer gets Best Answer.
A bit of a random question, but a question that has perplexed me this past week: Why are the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC EAST? To be geographically correct, they are hardly on the eastern United States….suffice to say, I am a bit surprised that they are not in the NFC South. I mean, even Tampa Bay and Carolina–two teams in the NFC South–are more east by location than the Cowboys. Anyone got an answer for me? Person with the most accurate answer gets Best Answer.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Crazy Dave // Nov 10, 2008 at 8:01 am
For the same reason college football does not have a playoff system. People are idiots!
2 nygiantsfan // Nov 11, 2008 at 8:01 pm
hate cowboys
3 Chris F // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:12 am
Although the St. Louis Rams are geographically farther east than Dallas, the Cowboys remained in the NFC East and the Rams stayed in the NFC West because of long-standing rivalries: the Cowboys with all three other teams in the East, and the Rams with the San Francisco 49ers in the West.
This site explains why:
4 Midnight Toker // Nov 14, 2008 at 11:56 am
That is a good question…i have no idea..they should be in the south. I guess just because there biggest rivals are the eagles, giants, and redskins. Ask Rodger Goodell i bet he has the answer haha
5 Fred Goodwin // Jun 4, 2009 at 1:46 am
Dallas joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960. They played a "swing schedule", meaning they were in the NFL Western Conference in 1960 before settling into the Eastern Conference in 1961.
But Dallas wasn't the only geographical oddity of the NFL. Consider the 1959 alignment:
Baltimore was in the West
Detroit was also in the West, but was further east than the Chicago Cardinals (later the St., Louis Cardinals), which was in the East.
The Chicago Bears were in the same town as the Cards, but in a different conference (West).
Anyway, getting back to Dallas: when the franchise was awarded, Tex Schramm fought hard to place the Cowboys in the NFL's Eastern Conference. Being an old PR guy (before he was GM of the Rams), Tex knew the upstart team would benefit greatly from the media exposure of the large eastern markets, especially New York, Philadelphia and Washington.
When the NFL realigned after the merger with the AFL, two teams from the NFL East (Cleveland & Pittsburgh) joined one team from the NFL West (Baltimore) by relocating to the AFC. What was left of the NFL Eastern Conference formed the NFC East, and two expansion teams (Atlanta & New Orleans) joined the NFC West.
I read somewhere that the 1970 realignment involved many proposed arrangements, but the one we got was drawn out of a hat at random. So the bottom line is, Dallas being in the NFC East was a bit of luck combined with the tenacity of Tex Schramm in getting his way!
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