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San Antonio would be the obvious choice. The town is crazy about football, has the required population base, plenty more potential fans within 100 miles and a robust economy. The Alamodome could easily be refurbished or another Dome built to league standards. To me it's a no brainer.
That all may be....but like you said, the town is crazy about football. And most already have their team...The Cowboys. The Cowboys even do their training camp their already. If they were to move a team there, I think they might get some initital fans and excitement...but it would go down rapidly.
My prediction for the next city to get an NFL team...and I really hope it doesnt happen...is London. Goodell's been talking about it for a while now and wants to make the NFL global.
My prediction for the next city to get an NFL team...and I really hope it doesnt happen...is London. Goodell's been talking about it for a while now and wants to make the NFL global.
Charlie Caserly on CBS's NFL pregame sho said his "sources" told him a group in London wanted to buy the STL Rams and move them to London in 2014.
Besides the obvious choice of Los Angeles I think if the NFL wants to keep the divisions regionally correct I can think of 2 choices.
1.Oklahoma City.-They are a football crazy state and the Jags can play in Norman for a year or 2 until they build a football stadium in OKC.
2. San Antonio-They already have the Alamodome and could be renovated to handle the NFL standards.
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.
IMO, Jacksonville is a good football market, it just isn't a big enough market for the NFL. It wasn't big enough in 1995 either, but the NFL went against its better judgment.
As for London, I can see the NFL placing an expansion team there sometime in the next 10-15 years. However, I'd be very surprised if the NFL expanded to Europe with only one team. The league would probably want to place at least 2 teams in Europe at the same time just for travel purposes.
Here's hoping that when the Kansas City Chiefs visit Arlington this year and play the Cowboys, they'll wear Dallas Texans uniforms and helmets.
Incidentally, as some people know, former Chiefs owner and AFL founder Lamar Hunt was from Dallas. He didn't want to move the Texans but it was inevitable that either the Texans or Cowboys would need to leave Dallas; both teams were hurting from the competition in a market that was nowhere big enough to support two teams at that time. Interestingly, Hunt actually had deeper pockets than original (and long-time) Cowboys owner Clint Murchison, but Hunt would have been hit heavily by taxes due to losses incurred by the Texans had Hunt kept the team in Dallas.
I hope they do wear them. Will bring alot of memories for my grandad.
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.
You obviously do not know what you are talking about when it comes to the likelihood of San Antonio getting an NFL team. For one it isn't necessary to have a person who wants a team in SA to reside locally. Another owner of a team could easily move his team to SA at anytime. And secondly, nobody said that the Alamodome was going to be the permanent home of any team that might move into it. The thing could be renovated for about half the cost of a new Dome and be done in less time.
However if it is determined that a new Dome will be required, funding and building one would be no problem. And if you think that all football fans in SA are Dallas fans you are sorely mistaken. I for one am an avid fan and I both loath and despise the overrated Cowgirls. The fact that are so many Dallas fans in SA is a function of them being on television so much locally and that there is no local team to support. This would of course all change with a San Antonio based NFL team. (See Charlotte).
And also, San Antonio has a notorious reputation of being overly poor. This is an old stereotype and today is clearly not the case. San Antonio's economy has boomed over the last two decades and is currently one of the nation's fastest growing. Which brings up another point. The fact that SA is currently the 37th largest media marketplace. Yes it is true. But let us look at another fact that coincides. SA is one of the fastest growing markets in the country and will continue to grow at a rapid pace for years to come.
This obviously indicates that SA will not be the 37th market for very long. Can the same be said for other similar sized markets now currently in the NFL? There are at least four markets that are smaller than SA but still have NFL teams. Jacksonville, New Orleans, Green Bay and Buffalo. Why is it viable for these places to have teams but not San Antonio? If you require more proof that San Antonio is now a totally viable spot for a team see the results found in the study in the article below.
You obviously do not know what you are talking about when it comes to the likelihood of San Antonio getting an NFL team.
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........
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........
Ok. So we can agree to disagree. That's fine. So, having said that, San Antonio is still at this point a leading candidate to land a franchise one way or the other. I see it as inevitable. You may not and that's ok.
Ok. So we can agree to disagree. That's fine. So, having said that, San Antonio is still at this point a leading candidate to land a franchise one way or the other. I see it as inevitable. You may not and that's ok.
In all honesty, I think someday San Antonio will probably land an NFL team, just it will just not be the Jaguars and it will not be SOON. The economy sucks, the NFL is not looking to expand, and LA does not have a team. The Alamodome has another 10 years of rot before a new stadium in San Antonio can even be considered. In all honesty, by the time someone looks to invest 1 BILLION dollars in another Texas franchise, there is a good chance it will be closer to Austin than San Antonio.
As an accomplished football handicapper, I am setting the over/under on the year San Antonio or Austin finally gets an NFL franchise at 2035. If you want any other hot sports tips, I have a 1-900 number you guys can call. I did call the MNF game.......
San Antonio and Los Angeles make the only sense to me.
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