Schedule
The 2010 regular season is the first year that the league will use a modified version of the scheduling formula that was first introduced in 2002, in which all teams will play each other at least once every four years, and will play in every other team's stadium at least once every eight years (notwithstanding the regular season games played overseas as part of the NFL International Series). Under the original 2002 formula, since the pairings were strictly based on alphabetical order, those teams scheduled to play all the AFC West clubs had to travel to both Oakland and San Diego in the same season, while those clubs playing the entire NFC West had to make their way to both San Francisco and Seattle. In 2008, the New England Patriots and New York Jets each had to make cross-country trips to all four of the aforementioned West Coast teams. In an effort to relieve east coast teams from having to travel to the West Coast multiple times during the same season, clubs would only have to visit one West Coast team (AFC West or NFC West), plus one western team from the same division closer to the Midwest, under the 2010 modified formula. Specifically, those clubs traveling to Oakland will now also play at Denver, while those playing at San Diego will also play at Kansas City. For teams scheduled to play the NFC West, those travelling to San Francisco will also go to Arizona, while those scheduled to play in Seattle will also go to St. Louis.
For the 2010 season, the intraconference and interconference matchups are:
Intraconference
- AFC East vs. AFC North
- AFC West vs. AFC South
- NFC East vs. NFC North
- NFC West vs. NFC South
Interconference
- AFC East vs. NFC North
- AFC West vs. NFC West
- AFC North vs. NFC South
- AFC South vs. NFC East
The entire 2010 regular-season schedule was unveiled at 7:00 pm EDT on Tuesday, April 20. Additionally, schedule release shows aired on both the NFL Network and as a SportsCenter special on ESPN2.
Read more about this topic: 2010 NFL Season