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I do, with the rapid growth of many of the American cities, and the population projected to reach 400 Million by 2045.
I see a lot of hope in an expansion team, especially to popular sunbelt cities/other cities that are growing faster than they can keep up with. Like Oklahoma City, Orlando, Portland, Louisville, and Raleigh.
And the already large media market of LA, and the NFL ready city of SA.
I can see an expansion team happen, but yeahh not this decade but certainly the next.
I don't know.... Even with the growing population, there's still the question of support for these teams.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 16,049,308 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JJG
I don't know.... Even with the growing population, there's still the question of support for these teams.
That's very true but look at it this way. It could be a toss off, it could go either way by then, either they would expand or they wouldn't.
But what we can take away from all of this is the fact that the demand for NFL teams are rising.
No offense to anyone from these cities but, even the cities with the crappiest NFL teams, like Jacksonville, Buffalo, Oakland, etc, the team owners are not ready to sell their team. Almost all of them have stated that they have no interest in selling their team and they don't care whether their team sucks or not (well they do care but not as far as selling it) but they won't be selling/relocating.
However, there are Billionaires out there who are looking into purchasing teams, there are a few in LA, one in SA, and a few in other cities, that creates more demand for more teams. The NFL surely knows better though, and would only create an expansion team if they feel the purchaser/city is worthy of one. But this demand creates a competition, which would include construction/renovation of state of the art facilities.
Cities have also shown support/demand for expansions which the NFL can overlook right now since it gave an expansion just merely 8 years ago, but it's something they CANNOT deny in another 5-10 years. Especially with how cities are rapidly changing these days, plus being in a recession state economy the NFL has concerns for expansions currently, but that won't always be the case when the economy lifts and they have demands to fill in.
I vote for Wichita. This town needs a better local team than the pathetic Kansas City Chiefs (which, like one the previous poster's said, isn't even in Kansas).
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,700 posts, read 41,742,544 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JJG
I don't know.... Even with the growing population, there's still the question of support for these teams.
Don't forget one of those cities, Louisville, is in close proximity to three NFL teams and the owners of those teams may have an objection. Raleigh has to worry about Charlotte.
1. Birmingham AL - No sports teams whatsoever in Alabama
2. ALB, NM - also no sports teams here
3. San Antonio - already has the Alamo dome, where a pro team could play
Have to think would the NFL or any league want to go beyond 32 teams? It seems like that is a magic number for professional sports leagues.
Also have to point out that putting a lot of either new teams or move teams to the Sunbelt might not be a good idea. A disporportunate number of teams there in all leagues tend to be poorly attended. I am guessing the high numbers of transplants are a big factor in lower fan support in most places South of around 38 degrees North. (of course there are exceptions and are often the oldest franchises in that part of the country)
The key to locating a sports team is not just size but demographics. How many upper income residents are within a given area is the key factor in considering whether a team should be in a city. It's the primary reason that most of the cities listed by the OP don't have NFL teams.
@bellafinzi The Quad Cities has 379,066 people as of 2009, yet Green Bay has a team and the city of Davenport is the same size at 101,306 people to Green Bay's 101,857 people.. as for the Quad Cities it has over 100,000 more people than the Green Bay metro area, so you should get your facts straight. I think that the Quad Cities would be a great place to have a NFL team!
Oklahoma City REALLY Deserves one, I mean, they are huge football fans, but...their market's to small. Same goes for Birmingham, AL.
Orlando could work, Florida's got 3 teams, yes, but I think Orlando deserves a team too. Salt Lake City having a Pro-Team could work, it's big enough, and is growing a lot.
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