[Keith]

Originally Posted by nunusguy

Anyway, what a shame the 2 citys can't be in a common NFL division ? The geography and all, the love of football both states and both citys have, it would such a tremendous rivalry. Maybe it could happen the next time the league reorganizes ?

This is one of those times when I wish we still had the HPF board up and running since we had these convo's logged (though this one may have been far enough back to pre-date our transtion to vBulletin) but I digress...

Saints owner Tom Benson had proposed to put the Texans in the NFC in a division that would have included the Falcons and Bucs in addition to his Saints team. Benson reportedly wanted a "Gulf South" division.

"My preference is for Houston to be in the same division with us," Benson said at the Saints' training camp at Nicholls State. "Just think what a great rivalry it could become. Our team and our fans would compete like hell with Houston - like Texas competing against Texas A&M." ...

Benson says in his plan for realignment, one possibility might be to move Carolina into the AFC in a southern division with Jacksonville, Tennessee and Indianapolis.

Carolina and Jacksonville could capitalize on a natural rivalry that has been building since they entered the league as expansion teams in 1995 ...

McNair had wanted his yet unnamed team to fall back on its Oilers roots and play in the AFC with the Bengals, Steelers, and Browns.

The notion of the Texans in the NFC was always a pipe dream. The Texans were almost pre-ordained as an AFC team from before the franchise was awarded to McNair, I think mostly because of the TV rights aspect.

League sources say CBS, which televises AFC games, would frown on Houston moving into the NFC. They say CBS wants to establish a presence in Texas and would balk at both Texas teams being televised by Fox. ...

"Bud and I talked about this," Benson said. "If he hadn't moved the Oilers to Tennessee, he and I were talking about doing this when the league was realigned.

"Think about it for a minute. Don't you think the fans would like to see Houston and New Orleans in the same division? It'd be exciting for them. Forget everything else for a minute - it would be great for the fans."

Funny to think about this stuff as somewhat nostalgic now. Time flies, eh?