What does L.A. relocation mean for the Arizona Cardinals?

With the possibility of two teams moving to Los Angeles, how could the makeup of the AFC and NFC West affect the Arizona Cardinals?

Over the last couple of weeks the talk of relocation and Los Angeles has reached a fever pitch as three teams, vying to move to the west coast (or further north or south up that same coast) all submitted notice of relocation. Problem is, three teams and room for, presumably, two teams in a shared stadium, means someone will be left out.

There is also some interesting story lines on the table.

First, there are two stadium projects, one in Carson City and the other in Inglewood. The San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders are vying for the Carson City project in a shared stadium, the St. Louis Rams are looking at the Inglewood project. There are more political rumblings behind the scenes as the NFL, now, feels poised to force a join partnership between the Chargers and the Rams rather than the Raiders. Per ProFootballTalk, the Chargers would resist this marriage and force the NFL’s hand to join them to the Raiders. 

The caveat to all of this is that the Raiders and the Chargers both play in the AFC West, and, as Kansas City has been rumored to voice displeasure with both teams essentially getting an extra “home” game each season because they play each other, twice, this is where it will get interesting for the Arizona Cardinals. Someone may have to realign.

If the Rams move to L.A. (again) it would help the Cardinals in that travel between their away, divisional games would all be in the same time-zone, or an hour behind, depending on the time of year. As Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time from March to November the state is on the same time as California and Oregon to start the season, where all of their opponents would now reside, and then would be an hour ahead from November-January.

Things get complicated if the Chargers and Raiders move to LA together and the Chiefs objection causes one team to move. Because of geographical alignment that was fixed when the new divisions were realigned in 2002, moving one of those teams to the AFC North, South or East is just as crazy as when the Arizona Cardinals were in the NFC East. Equally undesirable is moving one of the current teams in those divisions into the AFC West.

So, the NFC West becomes a prime target, with San Francisco, Seattle and Arizona in close geographical proximity to the AFC West Teams (with Kansas City being the farthest away) it would make sense for the NFL to move either the Chargers or Raiders from the AFC to the NFC and vise versa to one of the four teams currently in the NFC West.

But who?

Seattle has been a member of the AFC before and it would make a good choice, but it would damper one of the NFL’s burgeoning rivalries between the other teams in the division, especially the Cardinals and the where-do-they-go-now Rams. San Francisco could make a move, riding themselves of Oakland from their market would open up the possibility of a new rivalry with the team in Los Angeles. The Rams moving would depending on where they play next season after owner Sam Kroenke nuked the bridges back on his way out of town.

That leaves the Arizona Cardinals, geographically, sans St. Louis, the farthest “east” team in the division, also pairing well with the location of Denver, Oakland/San Diego, and not far from Kansas City. Many Cardinals fans would have mixed emotions moving conferences. At a time when the team is in the pinnacle of sustained success, would moving the franchise to the AFC to face off against the Chiefs, Broncos and Chargers/Raiders twice a year set them up for continued success or damper what they’ve created?

Head Coach Bruce Arians came from the AFC, coaching Indianapolis and Pittsburgh most recently with stops around the league, but mostly in the AFC. Would that be a good move for the Cardinals, but, most importantly, would Michael Bidwell, who holds considerable clout in owner’s circles, even consider that?

It remains to be seen how this will all turn out, but with three teams vying for two spots, someone will be left out, and St. Louis has no where to go. The landscape of both conference’s western divisions could change dramatically over the next 48 hours, or a year delay could come into play.