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Nope. Putting a franchise in Jacksonville was a mistake - they were the fallback city in 1994 when deals for Baltimore and St. Louis fell through. Jacksonvile won the Jaguars because their presumptive billionaire owner (Wayne Weaver) could afford the team - money ultimately talks in the NFL. Likewise, it is the owner who decides to move or sell - not the league. If you think that the NFL is going to erase that mistake by mandating that the Jaguars move to the 37th biggest TV market (San Antonio), think again.
1). OKC is not even a discussion point. It is one thing to have a few petro-rednecks buy the Sonics and move it to OKC. An NFL franchise is the bigtime, and you are far too small, too college and too close to the Jerry Jones orbit for that to be a player. Which brings us to...........
2.) San Antonio. Landing an NFL team has been a pipe-dream of uninformed locals there since the days of the USFL "Gunslingers" (easily the laggard franchise of the pathetic league). Several elements are missing..... A) A billionaire jonesing for an NFL franchise in San Antonio B) A serviceable stadium (the Alamodome was acceptable in 1993, but is now woefully inadequate) C) A compelling economic reason for an owner to relocate the team to a comparatively poor, small Texas city that follows the Cowboys when LA is without a team. The ONLY way they would end up in SA is if the city made a sweetheart deal (a la Nashville) and offered a superlative new stadium and concession rights to a local owner who, as of now, doesn't exist. Sorry, ain't gonna happen. You missed your train in 1994.
My guess is that the Jags stay in Jax for another 2-3 years, a stadium deal gets done in LA, and an ownership group buys the team from Weaver and moves it to LA. I think the NFL would tolerate a year or two in the Colliseum while a stadium is being built - no matter how tepid LA fans are, it is the second largest media market in the US. Jacksonville will slowly wither and basically prove to be the NFL's Motreal expos...... a bad idea.
A franchise in London? While that would defintiely be hard on the players and bring a new dimension to "NFC East", it is not as far fetched as one might believe. It had a metro area of 14 million (about 10 San Antonios), a nice stadium...... oh yeah, it is also no less than the second most important city in the World, teeming with shady billionaires needing another vanity project. London is only 1000 miles further from the US Eastern Seaboard then Seattle. Tickets for the annual NFL game sell out in hours, and I have little doubt that the epicenter of global business will have any problems selling out luxury boxes. It would not terribly surprise me to see a team there by 2020.
Hey, I'm the last guy to tell you to ditch your civic pride. When you are done holding your breath and stomping your feet, I'll still be here.
No, a local owner is not a requisite for an NFL team (albeit the norm). And yes, the San Antonio metro area is the 4th most rapidly growing metro area in Texas - a good thing. That link you posted of arbitrary formuals incorporated with basic University statistics was interesting - clearly, SA is in the same league as Salt Lake City, Sacremento and Columbus, Ohio as cities that could possbily have NFL teams.
You biggest obstacle is this - the NFL is not expanding, and only a few teams are candidates to move while you are still alive. Jacksonville is top on this list, and LA is paving the way for a new stadium. Sorry, you aren't going to get a leg up on a metro area of 17.5 million with your 2 million people. Can you say with a straight face that "Green Bay" is less deserving of an NFL team than San Antonio (Milwaukee fan base non-withstanding)? The Green Bay Packers will probably outlive our Republic. San Antonio tried to pirate the New Orleans Saints after Katrina, and that was a source of national embarassment for your city. Toronto has an eye on the Bills, with some hybrid arrangement of splitting games that seems about as sensical as the old Autro-Hungarian empire.
As for stadiums, I'll make you this proposition - if San Antonio EVER builds an NFL caliber stadium before 2040, write me, and I will buy you whatever steak you like at Morton's. San Antonio is a city that likes to think progressive but not spend for it. With your left-wing mayor's silly talk about light rail and transporation, lets not BS - a new stadium ain't in the cards on the government dime. Do you really think that an owner will spend $600 MILLION of his OWN money to put a team in the #37 media market in America? Not even Howard Hughes was capable of such financial idiocy. The Alamodome is an atrocious barn, and among domes it is like the last mediocre propeller plane designed before the age of jets. What kind of "major renovations" do you think will make it acceptable as an NFL venue? This isn't the 1978 Hemisfair arena you are talking about. Hell, mark me down for a $50 donation if you can pull that off on the Alamodome - I am a sucker for historic feats of engineering. As it stands, it will be a fine home for the UTSA football team.
San Antonio is simply a straw man - something used as leverage when an NFL team wants a concession from their home city. You missed your chance in 1994 - a chance that was marginal then. Yes, with a fictional Daddy Warbucks and an equally fictional new stadium, San Antonio probably could do better than Jacksonville in the NFL market, but that train has sailed, as they say. Don't let the winks and pats on the back from Goodell and Jerry Jones fool you - there is no expansion on the horizon, the NFL runs GREAT as far as revenues go, and the only logical relocation is Jacksonville to Los Angeles. If you dislike the Cowboys so much, there are always the Texans........
The San Diego Chargers could move to Los Angeles and the Jacksonville Jag could move to San Antonio Texas (both) Metro's are larger than the former Metro's and could support NFL Football a little bit better.
Nope. Nice try. The Media's most hated NFL team WILL STAY HOME in JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA.
I don't have an opinion on the matter one way or the other on the Jacksonville franchise, but I'm not a big fan of teams moving unless there are solid reasons for it.
But I also am not a fan of this style of posting. I would appreciate some solid commentary and information regarding this issue, like maybe some links to a credible source, be it print media, the Jaguar organization, or what have you.
If it's only going to be snippy one liners I'll close the thread.
Nope. Nice try. The Media's most hated NFL team WILL STAY HOME in JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA.
Jealousy Jealousy Jealousy!
Dude, calm down.....
The Jaguars are NOT the most hated NFL team in the media. And just to back up what DH says, you can't spend you're whole time on a thread trolling, so just ease up.
Beside, this is an official NFL team thread so it'd be a shame to close it. (Actually this thread is just a "relocation discussion" thread) The team thread has been brought up to date.
I don't have an opinion on the matter one way or the other on the Jacksonville franchise, but I'm not a big fan of teams moving unless there are solid reasons for it.
But I also am not a fan of this style of posting. I would appreciate some solid commentary and information regarding this issue, like maybe some links to a credible source, be it print media, the Jaguar organization, or what have you.
If it's only going to be snippy one liners I'll close the thread.
I didn't think my request wasn't so out of the norm. Apparently that request doesn't work very well.
The "close thread" button works just fine though.
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