 Around the time CBS assumed the American Football Conference rights, the league trend of the 1980s and 1990s reversed, in that the AFC became the dominant NFL conference over the NFC.The New England Patriots dynasty in the 2000s in the only top-10 market at the time with an AFC franchise and no NFC team also contributed to the ratings surge.In fact, the primary stations for both the Broncos and Patriots are the same as when NBC carried the AFC (before their respective switches in September 1995 through the trade deal between CBS/Group W and NBC) – KCNC-TV in Denver and WBZ-TV in Boston (KUSA and WHDH-TV carried those teams' games from August 1995 [WHDH]/September 1995 [KUSA] to January 1998).