[Mr. 205]

Interesting comments... some spot-on, many more misguided. Birmingham, given it's history, would be a great candidate for an NFL team. Ideal candidate? That's debatable... but definitely a great one.

Interestingly enough, Birmingham ranked high on NFL lists in the 90s. Unfortunately, attempts to derail stadium expansion projects severely hindered the city's chances at landing an expansion/relocated team. Believe me, Birmingham was closer than most people think.

Arguments about population and/or income don't hold water. Birmingham leads the nation in income growth, has larger television markets than some cities with NFL teams (e.g. Buffalo, Jacksonville, New Orleans, etc.), and isn't far behind others in terms of population (at 1.1 million, not much separates Birmingham from, say, Nashville or Jacksonville).

As mentioned earlier by a few posters, Birmingham has, historically, supported quality semi-pro teams. "Quality" being the keyword here. Pointing towards poor attendance at a poor game played between poor teams in a poor league hardly qualifies as evidence.

All in all, should a team locate here, there are more signs that indicate potential success as opposed to possible failure.

[Bama`s Port]

I truely believe that people under estimate and under rate Alabama. B-ham`s metro is around the same size as cities like New Orelans, Buffalo, Nashville, and Jacksonville , FL. Yet B-hama is not able to get a team Alabama as a stste has a largere population than Louisiana and Oklahoma because there has been talk about a team going to Oklahoma. Alabamians support there college teams more than any atate that I have been to, I know that the B-ham arear is ready and the state as a whole is ready .

[Psykomonkee]

I don't see why not have an NFL team in Birmingham... I REALLY hope it happens in the near future... I doubt it will happen soon, because for some reason, the rest of the nation has low respect for Alabama. They assume it's all back country, and don't realize that it has cities to. Birmingham is bigger than some NFL cities now... Metro Birmingham is just about as populated as New Orleans and Buffalo Metros, and way bigger than Green Bay...

There are NFL cities that were once college football towns before also, and people said they'd never support an NFL team because the people there weren't going to be interested because they grew up on College Football. Now they sustain NFL teams just fine... They said that about Jacksonville and Charlotte before teams came there. People said Baltimore wouldn't work because of the Redskins, regardless of Baltimore once having the Colts. I think a team in Birmingham would be a great idea... Just have to market it right.

[Psykomonkee]

Birmingham BEASTS!!!! And have a mascots of mythical (magical) monsters to go with the whole Magic City theme... Mascots like, a Minotaur (main), a Bigfoot and a Griffin...

[Psykomonkee]

Market the team as being rivals of the Falcons and/or Titans depending on which Conference...

[aktanner]

Originally Posted by Psykomonkee

I don't see why not have an NFL team in Birmingham... I REALLY hope it happens in the near future... I doubt it will happen soon, because for some reason, the rest of the nation has low respect for Alabama. They assume it's all back country, and don't realize that it has cities to. Birmingham is bigger than some NFL cities now... Metro Birmingham is just about as populated as New Orleans and Buffalo Metros, and way bigger than Green Bay...

There are NFL cities that were once college football towns before also, and people said they'd never support an NFL team because the people there weren't going to be interested because they grew up on College Football. Now they sustain NFL teams just fine... They said that about Jacksonville and Charlotte before teams came there. People said Baltimore wouldn't work because of the Redskins, regardless of Baltimore once having the Colts. I think a team in Birmingham would be a great idea... Just have to market it right.

Actually, Jacksonville has been having attendance problems the past several years to the point of having games blacked out. I think the NFL would consider putting a team in Los Angles before putting a team in Alabama.