I mentioned yesterday that a reader asked why the Packers always play in Dallas

I was not able to find a definitive answer, but I was able to research the games the Packers played against the Cowboys, starting in '93. I picked '93 because I consider this the "modern" era of Green Bay football. It is the first year Reggie White played, and it is the first time they made they playoffs since 1972 (they made it in '82 but that was as strike year.)

It is pretty clear that Dallas owned Green Bay in the 90's. The Cowboys beat the Packers, in Dallas, 7 times in a row from 1993-1996. Part of that was because Dallas had home field during the 90's, but part of it was the schedule.

I don't know why we were scheduled there 4 years in a row, but I do know that will not happen anymore.

Starting in 2002 when the league went to 32 teams, the NFL revamped its scheduling rules and introduced NFL schedule rotation to eliminate exactly this kind of occurrence. In fact, this anomaly was specifically mentioned in the NFL press release.

Specifically, the new schedule states that teams will play:

• Home and away against its three division opponents (6 games).
• The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating three-year cycle (4 games).
• Teams are guaranteed to play all non division opponents in their conference at least once every three years, and at home at least once every six years.
• The four teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating four-year cycle (4 games).
• Two intraconference games based on the prior year's standings (2 games). These games will match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place, and fourth-place teams in a conference will be matched in the same way each year.