NFL Owners to Decide on Realignment

NFL owners will shuffle the deck this week for the first time in 31 years when they meet in Chicago and choose a realignment plan for the 2002 season.

The new-look NFL--a necessity with the addition of the Houston Texans as the 32nd team--will feature eight four-team divisions. The retooled conferences will have divisions designated North, South, East and West, instead of the current East, Central and West.

Team owners will vote Wednesday on seven plans, each involving at least nine teams changing divisions. The option most likely to pass is “A1,” which, among other moves, would uproot the Seattle Seahawks from the AFC West and move them--along with the NFC East’s Arizona Cardinals--into the NFC West with the San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams.

The proposals require 24 votes for passage, a three-quarters majority, and NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has collected four votes for himself. He holds those set aside for the Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens and the Rams, who handed them over as part of their relocation deals, and the Texans, who, as part of their expansion agreement, don’t get to cast their realignment vote. Tagliabue reportedly plans to cast votes for whichever direction the majority of owners is leaning.

This is the league’s first substantial reorganization since the NFL and AFL merged before the 1970 season.