NFL: Is Parity Good for the NFL?

Next week, the Baltimore Ravens will face the New York Giants in arguably one of the most unattractive Super Bowls in history.

Part of the reason for this unappealing pairing is the parity in the National Football League. However, is parity positive or negative for the NFL?

Since the inception of free agency in the mid-1990s, the NFL has become a league where anyone can win at any time. Each team in the NFC West, for example, has won the division crown in the past five years, four of those teams made it to the NFC championship game, and three participated in the Super Bowl.

The trend is apparent everywhere in the NFL. In the past three years, only one team has played in at least two NFC championship games - the Minnesota Vikings - and we are not assured of either the Giants, Ravens, Vikings or the Oakland Raiders returning the NFL's version of the Final Four. It appears that in the near future, it will be rare for NFL teams to stay at the pinnacle of success.

This, though, should raise some concern among NFL fans, especially from a historical standpoint. We will probably never see another dynasty in the NFL. The days of the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys dominating the league for parts or an entire decade are gone.

This is the problem with NFL parity. In sports, winning championships is the ultimate goal and the more championships one wins, the better they are. We consider the aforementioned teams great because they won and did so consistently. Since teams in the free agent and salary cap era will find it difficult to repeat, then they cannot compare with the great teams of the past.

The St. Louis Rams and this year's Super Bowl winner are mere apparitions in the end. Dynasty teams make sports great in many ways and create heroes.

Still, parity has some benefits. First, we begin each NFL season uncertain about who will represent each conference in the Super Bowl. No one predicted that the Giants would face the Ravens in Tampa Bay. Second, the uniformity of the NFL generated a competitive Super Bowl last season and, by all accounts, did so this season. This Super Bowl has often been a misnomer.

Frequently, fans are treated to scores of 46-10, 52-17 or 55-10 because some teams are far superior to their opponents. Only once in Super Bowl history did the game come down to the final play before last season, and that was in 1990 when Scott Norwood missed a field goal and the Buffalo Bills only chance of winning the big game. Last year's game was the most exciting since 25th Super Bowl and people will remember it for ages.

This year's game will probably be a close game as well. The Ravens' tough defense and anemic offense assure a close game and this is what is so beneficial about parity in the NFL. Even though it minimizes the chances of dynasties and repeat champions, it assures that almost every team has a legitimate chance at the Super Bowl and a competitive game between the two teams fortunate to reach the game.