NFL Expansion Narrowly Passes

May 22, 1991 - The NFL agrees to expand by two teams by the start of the 1994 season. The May 23, 1991 edition of the Charlotte Observer stated that the resolution barely received the 21 votes of the then 28 franchises it needed to carry. The Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions and Phoenix Cardinals voted against the expansion while the Los Angeles Raiders and Indianapolis Colts abstained from voting.

The NFL bylaws require a ¾ majority to pass on such a change. There were multiple reasons that teams did not like the arrangement of expansion and they ranged from splitting TV revenues, lack of a collective bargaining agreement at the time and a slowing U.S. economy. Bills owner Ralph Wilson was quoted as, “ I was in the Navy, and they always said, ‘If you’re going to land the troops on the beach, you better clear the land mines first.”
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue exitted the meeting stating that financially at worst the expansion would be a wash for the current team’s revenue because the items of concern would be offset by franchise fees of the new teams plus additional revenue streams of taking the League to 30 teams. The two teams added would later be known as the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

NFL Owners Meeting 2001

On May 22, 2001 the NFL owners voted to realign the League. The Houston Texans joined the NFL and the newly created AFC South Division as the 32 tems split into a total of 8 Divisions from 6. It is also announced that the Seattle Seahawks will move from the AFC West to the NFC West for the 2002 season as the NFL realign.

The Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers entered the NFL as expansion teams in 1995. The Jaguars' first contest was ironically against the Panthers in the Hall of Fame Game. Jacksonville, led by coach Tom Coughlin, surprisingly reached the AFC Championship game in just their second season, 1996, and again in 1999, showcasing early success for an expansion franchise.

The Carolina Panthers, owned by Jerry Richardson, also experienced a strong start. In their inaugural 1995 season, coached by Dom Capers, they finished with a 7-9 record, the best ever for an expansion team's first year at the time. The Panthers even defeated the reigning Super Bowl champions, the San Francisco 49ers, in their debut season, signaling their immediate competitiveness within the league.