IT seems so simple. As the National Football League attempts to realign its 32 franchises into eight divisions, each with four teams, for the 2002 season when the expansion Houston Texans arrive, most of the divisional combinations appear to be obvious.

Be sure to keep the traditional natural rivalries.

Keep the Giants, for example, with the Redskins, the Eagles and the Cowboys, but please transfer the Arizona Cardinals somewhere else, anywhere else. Keep the Jets with the Dolphins, the Patriots and the Bills, but let the Colts join some of their Midwestern neighbors.

Keep the other old N.F.L. and American Football League rivals together as much as possible -- the Packers, the Bears and the Lions; the Raiders, the Chiefs and the Broncos; the Steelers and the Browns. Let the other divisions fall together geographically.

In a word, keep realignment realistic. But apparently it's not that simple.

In all their debates, N.F.L. club owners have considered about 30 different realignment proposals without any consensus. That's almost as many proposals as franchises.