Quote:But if it is all about the West Coast, the NFL could have sent the Jaguars to San Diego and the Raiders to Jacksonville to alternate with last year's trip to Oakland.

 

The issue with the NFL is trying to limit the amount of trips teams take to the West Coast in the same season.  Both San Diego and Oakland are on the West Coast,  hence,  the league isn't concerned which of the two sites a team outside the AFC West ends up.      The main thing is that a team from a non-West Coast division doesn't have to take two trips to the West Coast in the same Division.   Hence,  if a team lets say from the AFC South goes to San Diego in the season that the AFC South and AFC West are matched up against each other,   the other AFC West Road trip will be to either Denver or Kansas City.    Then 3 years later,   the trips are reversed.    In the case of interconference games,   the reversal is 4 years later.

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