How Is the NFL's Schedule Decided?

The National Football League has two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC), each with four divisions: East, West, North and South. Each of those divisions has four teams. That structure serves as the basis for the NFL's 16-game schedule.

  1. Games

    • Each team plays the three other teams in its division twice a year, once at home and once on the road. That's six games. It plays all the teams in one other division in its own conference. That's four more games. And it plays all the teams in one division in the other conference. That's four more. The last two teams on the schedule are determined by the previous year's standings: A team that finished in first place in its division will play the two first-place teams from its conference that aren't already on its schedule. A second-place finisher will play the remaining two second-place teams, and so on for third- and fourth-place teams.

    Rotations

    • The division-on-division matchups rotate every year. For example, in 2007 the teams in the NFC North played all the teams from the NFC East and the AFC West. In 2008, they played all the teams from the NFC South and the AFC South. In 2009, they played all the teams in the NFC West and the AFC North. In 2010, they were back to playing all the teams in the NFC East as the rotation within the conference started again, and also all the teams from the AFC East to complete the four-year rotation with the other conference.

    Locations

    • Each team plays eight home games and eight games on the road every year. The rotation system is set up so that every team will play every other team in the league at least twice every eight years, once at home and once on the road.