In sports , a division is a group of teams who compete against each other for a championship.
25-751: The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It has four members: the Dallas Cowboys , New York Giants , Philadelphia Eagles , and Washington Commanders . The division was formed in 1967 as the National Football League Capitol Division and acquired its current name in 1970 following
50-460: A league system (also known as 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
75-730: A long history of being geographically inaccurate. While the New York Giants, Philadelphia, and Washington are based on the East Coast, Dallas and St. Louis (later Phoenix, then Arizona) remained part of the East from the 1970 merger until 2002 despite being geographically west of most teams in the conference and closer to the Pacific Ocean . To begin with, the Cowboys were located east of only two NFC teams that were outside of
100-403: 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
125-528: A team with a losing record (the previous two being the NFC South and NFC West ) when the then- Washington Football Team won the 2020 division crown with a 7–9 record. The Philadelphia Eagles are the only NFC East team to actually play in the city of the team's naming. The other three teams play in suburbs of the major cities they are named after. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas , and are
150-576: Is New England, being named for the region the team plays in.) As of 2023, all four teams in the division were in the top ten of most valuable NFL franchises (Cowboys #1; Giants #2; Commanders #7; Eagles #9). Place cursor over year for division champion. All four teams in the NFC East have won the Super Bowl. The Cowboys lead with five, followed by the Giants with four, Washington with three, and
175-572: 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
200-591: The AFL-NFL merger . The NFC East is currently the only division in the league in which all four current teams have won at least one Super Bowl . With 13 Super Bowl titles, the NFC East is currently the most successful division in the NFL during the Super Bowl era, with the AFC West second with ten titles. The NFC East currently has the longest streak without a consecutive division champion, with no team having repeated since
225-587: The Eagles are the most recent team in the division to win a Super Bowl, beating the Patriots 41–33 in Super Bowl LII . The NFC East was the first division since the 2002 realignment to send 3 teams to the playoffs when the 2006-07 NFL playoffs had Philadelphia winning the division and Dallas and New York taking both Wild Card spots. On the other hand, the NFC East became one of three divisions to be won by
250-526: The Eagles with one. In overall NFL history, however, the Giants lead with eight league championships, followed by the Cowboys and Washington with five each, then the Eagles with four. There have been three division sweeps of the NFC East Division, the 1998 Dallas Cowboys (8–0), the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles (6–0), and the 2021 Dallas Cowboys (6–0). To sort table above, click button to right of heading. Division (sport) In sports using
275-612: The East division ( Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers from the West division), while the Cardinals were east of one additional such team ( Minnesota Vikings from the Central division). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers , east of Dallas and St. Louis, joined the Central as an expansion team in 1976. The Cardinals relocated to Phoenix to start the 1988 season and stayed in the East through 2001 ; that made them located west of every team in
SECTION 10
#1732780864112300-609: The NFC except for the Rams and 49ers. The Rams relocated from Los Angeles to St. Louis to start the 1995 season and stayed in the West, while the Carolina Panthers joined the West as an expansion team that same season; this made the Cardinals and Cowboys west of every team in the conference, except for the 49ers, from 1995 to 2001. While the divisions in general have been much more geographically accurate since 2002, even following
325-550: The NFL. The division features a number of prominent rivalries such as the Cowboys–Eagles rivalry , Cowboys–Washington rivalry and Eagles–Giants rivalry , among others. Because the division's teams are in some of the United States' largest media markets (New York No. 1, Philadelphia No. 4, Dallas-Fort Worth No. 5, and Washington No. 9), the NFC East receives a high amount of coverage from national sports media outlets. In
350-508: The Philadelphia Eagles won four consecutive titles from 2001 to 2004 . The division's original name, NFL Capitol Division, derived from being centered on the capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. , and the country's birthplace, Philadelphia . In 1967 and 1969, the teams in the division were Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington and the expansion team New Orleans Saints , with the New York Giants swapping divisions with
375-468: The Rams' return to Los Angeles, the Cowboys are further west than every team in the league except for seven of the eight West teams in both conferences, in addition to the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFC West . The NFC East teams have combined to be the most successful division in the Super Bowl era with 21 NFC championships and 13 Super Bowl victories, the highest marks of any division in
400-507: The Saints for the 1968 season. This arrangement had been agreed in advance as a means to ensure all of the NFL's teams would be able to visit New York once in those three years. With the merger in 1970, following contentious negotiations culminating in a random draw, it was agreed that New York (along with the St. Louis Cardinals ) would permanently return to the re-branded NFC East. The NFC East has
425-401: 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
450-405: 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
475-616: The early 1990s the division claimed four consecutive Super Bowl champions, all against the Buffalo Bills , with the Giants and Washington respectively winning back-to-back in Super Bowls XXV and XXVI ; and the Cowboys winning twice after in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII . Those same three teams won seven out of ten Super Bowls, from 1986–87 to 1995–96 (the 49ers won the other three during that span). Meanwhile,
500-511: 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
525-602: 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
SECTION 20
#1732780864112550-754: The only team in this division not based in the Eastern Time Zone (the Cowboys are based in the Central Time Zone ). The Washington Commanders play in Landover, Maryland , and the New York Giants play in East Rutherford, New Jersey , where they share a stadium with the New York Jets . Analogously, three of the four AFC East teams do not actually play within the city of their naming. (The Patriots geographical identifier
575-545: 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,
600-557: 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
625-744: 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. List of United States television markets These links go to individual lists of television stations by
#111888