In sports , a division is a group of teams who compete against each other for a championship.
23-642: The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created prior to the 2002 NFL season , when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams. The NFC South currently has four member clubs: the Atlanta Falcons , Carolina Panthers , New Orleans Saints , and Tampa Bay Buccaneers . Prior to
46-534: A 50-yard field in the spring and early summer). There have been attempts at forming true minor leagues for the professional game (most recently with the XFL in 2020); none so far have been able to balance the major leagues' requests with the ability to maintain financial solvency. League systems can have a negative effect on competitive balance, particularly in European professional football. This sports-related article
69-693: A governing body ( Minor League Baseball , an organization under the authority of the Commissioner of Baseball , governs baseball leagues; the United States Soccer Federation designates the American soccer pyramid.) Ice hockey 's professional minor league system is linear, with one league at most of the four levels of the game; the ice hockey league system in North America is governed by collective bargaining agreements and affiliation deals between
92-670: A lower division who finish at the top of the standings in their league are promoted (advanced to the next level of the system) while teams who finish lowest in their division are relegated (move down to a lower division). This process can be automatic each year, or can require playoffs. In North America, league systems in the most popular sports do not use promotion or relegation. Most professional sports are divided into major and minor leagues . Baseball and association football (known as soccer in North America) have well-defined pyramid shapes to their minor league hierarchies, each managed by
115-427: A pyramid structure), a division consists of a group of teams who play a sport at a similar competitive level. Teams can move up to a higher division of play or drop down to a lower one via the process of promotion and relegation , based on their performance in the standings at the end of the season. The existence of divisions based on level of competition ensures that teams at one competitive level can play other teams at
138-403: A similar competitive level, thus creating parity and more exciting matches. In North America , where sports usually operate on a franchise system rather than a league system, a division is a group of teams within a league which is organized along geographical lines rather than competitive success. Teams based in cities that are in a particular region of the continent are grouped together in
161-432: Is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids , due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in many sports in many countries. In association football , rugby union , rugby league and Gaelic games , league systems are usually connected by the process of promotion and relegation , in which teams from
184-605: Is located in the south-central United States, the Cowboys are a member of the NFC East division due to their long-standing rivalries with the New York Giants , Philadelphia Eagles , and Washington Commanders , all of whom are located on the Eastern seaboard . In U.S. college sports , a "division" has a meaning different from either sense listed above, although somewhat closer to that of
207-514: Is the highlight of a 10–12 playoff record. The Falcons' record is 365–461–6 with a playoff record of 10–14; the Falcons lost in Super Bowls XXXIII and LI . The Buccaneers' record is 267–424–1 with a victory in both their Super Bowl appearances, Super Bowl XXXVII and Super Bowl LV , and an overall playoff record of 10–9. The Panthers have the best playoff winning percentage (9–8) of any team in
230-535: The NHL , AHL and ECHL . Gridiron football does not operate on a league system. Different professional leagues play by very different sets of rules in different seasons (the NFL plays 11-a-side on a 100-yard field in autumn and early winter, the CFL uses 12-a-side on a 110-yard field in summer and early fall, while arena football and the minor indoor leagues each play 8-a-side on
253-821: The 2002 season, the Buccaneers belonged to the AFC West ( 1976 ) and NFC Central ( 1977 – 2001 ) (with their four division rivals in the Upper Midwest ), while the other three teams were part of the geographically inaccurate NFC West . The NFC South is one of two divisions to have each of its teams make a Super Bowl appearance since the 2002 realignment (along with the NFC West): Tampa Bay ( 2002 and 2020 ), Atlanta ( 2016 ), Carolina ( 2003 and 2015 ) and New Orleans ( 2009 ). Also since 2002, each team has won at least three division titles, making it one of three divisions in
SECTION 10
#1732843941972276-630: The division with losses in Super Bowls XXXVIII and 50 , with a regular season record of 195–204–1. The NFC South is the only NFC division not to have any of the twelve "old-line" franchises that predate the 1960 launch of the American Football League , the NFL's former rival league. The oldest team is the Falcons, who began play in 1966, and the Saints began play only a year later in 1967. Each of
299-401: The division's creation in 2002. Before then, they were the only division left in the NFL who had never had teams face off against each other in the postseason. Place cursor over year for division champ or Super Bowl team. (NFC South records since the division's creation in 2002) Asterisk (*) Denotes Current Year Division (sport) In sports using a league system (also known as
322-401: The division. Moreover, the top teams in a division qualify for the postseason playoff tournament that crowns the league champion, which heightens the rivalries between the teams in a division. Geographically-based divisions can become skewed if an expansion team joins the league or if one of the franchises within a division moves to another city, necessitating a shuffling or realignment of
345-405: The divisions of the league) are at the same competitive level and remain so year after year. North American professional sports leagues often construct their season schedules in a way such that teams in a division play matches against each other more often than other teams in the league. This not only has the effect of reducing travel costs, but also creates exciting rivalries between the teams in
368-504: The exception of schools in the highest level of NCAA (American) football , which have never had an NCAA-recognized national championship ). As an example, the NCAA is split into three divisions: The term division is also used in US college sports to indicate the groupings of members of a given conference . However, this usage is more recent. The first conference to divide its teams into divisions
391-528: The first team to repeat as NFC South champions since the creation of the division. The Panthers were the first team to win the NFC South three consecutive times, from 2013 to 2015; while the Saints were the first team to win the division four consecutive times from 2017 to 2020. On January 7, 2018, two NFC South teams (the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints) met in the NFL playoffs for the first time since
414-526: The league (the others are the NFC West and the NFC East ) that hold this distinction. On January 3, 2021, the Saints became the first ever team to sweep the NFC South in the regular season, they nevertheless lost to the Buccaneers (eventual Super Bowl champions) in the playoffs. Entering 2019 , the Saints have the most wins among division members. The Saints' record is 375–438–5; their win in Super Bowl XLIV
437-598: The league system. The major governing bodies for college sports, the NCAA and NAIA , divide their member schools into large competitive groups. These groups are much larger than divisions in either the league or franchise system—for example, the NCAA's highest competitive level, Division I , has more than 300 member schools. The vast majority of teams are members of conferences , smaller groupings that usually have between 6 and 14 members. Conference champions, plus selected other teams, compete in national championship tournaments (with
460-490: The other NFC divisions has three clubs that began play earlier than 1960, while the remaining three such teams are in the American Football Conference . The NFC South became the second division in five years to have a champion with a losing record, as the 2014 Carolina Panthers won the division with a 7–8–1 record. (The 2010 Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West with a 7–9 record.) Additionally, Carolina became
483-531: The same division. For instance, in Major League Baseball , both the American and National Leagues have East, Central, and West divisions; the teams in each division are mostly (but not always) located in the eastern, central, and western sections of North America respectively. In a franchise system, teams are not promoted or relegated as are teams in a league system. All teams in the league (and by extension,
SECTION 20
#1732843941972506-594: The teams in a division. Furthermore, the results of the realignment may not always reflect geographical realities. For instance, in 1995, the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) moved to St. Louis, Missouri and became the St. Louis Rams . The team retained its place in the NFC West division despite the fact that St. Louis is further east than Dallas, Texas , home of the Dallas Cowboys . Although Dallas
529-637: Was the Southeastern Conference which, upon expanding to 12 members in 1992, divided into Eastern and Western divisions. Other conferences have undergone similar expansion and division. The usage in the section above is still maintained. For example, the Georgia Bulldogs are in Division I, but are also in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. League system A league system
#971028