Re: 1970 NFC realignment
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 10:50 am
Both Pittsburgh and Cincy also had brand new stadiums in 1970.sluggermatt15 wrote:Baltimore, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh all jumped from the NFL to the AFC in 1970. Why the Steelers moved, there were several reasons. First, there were financial incentives. Second, the Steelers had a pretty good rivalry - though one-sided at the time - with the Browns. The Rooneys and Modell enjoyed playing one another, and if one of them left the NFL, the rivalry would have largely diminished. So it was kind of a pair deal, if one went then the other really would have to have gone. Another reason that may be overlooked is, for Pittsburgh, there was also an incentive of playing in a potential division, the AFC Central, with Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Houston Oilers. The Oilers had a state of the art Astrodome Stadium and the Bengals were a relatively new franchise, coached by Paul Brown, geographically located in neighboring Ohio. The budding of a new rivalry, which has grown intense to this day.lastcat3 wrote:Also Rupert was it the league's decision to move the Steelers to the AFC or was it their own? Because if they had stayed in the NFC there probably would have been a pretty decent chance they would have been placed in the NFC East over Dallas. Maybe if the Steelers had gotten good just a few years earlier the league would have kept them in the NFC and had them play the New York market.
Can you imagine what a Steelers/Eagles/Giants rivalry would be like today if the Steelers had stayed in the NFC.