what nfl team would be gd fit for salt lake city (Provo: university, subsidized)

[MrAnderson]

Originally Posted by prop1dd

Portland proper: 575,000 - 134sq. miles
Metro: 2,159,000

SLC proper: 181,000 - 110sq. miles
Metro: 1,115,000

True. Though if you combined the Ogden and Provo metros you'd have around 2.2 million.

[texasdiver]

The NFL in SLC is a laughable prospect.

SLC is the 49th largest metro area in the US at 1.1 million. And there is not really a large regional population to draw on as a fan base. For example, the Seattle Seahawks are in the Seattle metro area (3.5 million) but they draw fans and TV revenue from the whole northwest from Eugene, Portland, and Salem, to Spokane, Juneau, and Anchorage.

Metro areas that are larger than SLC and that are more logical choices for NFL expansion would include:

Los Angeles (12.8 million)
Riverside/San Bernardino CA (AKA the inland empire) 4.1 million
Portland (2.2 million) but not going to happen as that is Seahawk territory and Portland has no stadium
Sacramento (2.1 million) but too close to Oakland and San Francisco
Orlando (2 million) but maybe too close to Jacksonville and Tampa
San Antonio (2 million)
Las Vegas (1.8 million)
Oklahoma City (1.2 million)

Obviously Los Angeles is the looming elephant for NFL expansion. Most people think that LA will eventually get a team.

Portland is pretty unlikely in my opinion having grown up and lived there. It's a pretty NIMBY type of place and there are no logical locations for a monster NFL stadium in the central area. It would be massively controversial. Most football fans follow the Ducks and Beavers or the Seahawks 3 hours to the north.

Sacramento and Orlando are probably unlikely because each city is in relatively close proximity to two other NFL teams

San Antonio. I think San Antonio is actually the most logical choice after LA for an expansion team. The city is large and it has no local pro or college football teams. And this is in football crazed Texas. The big university in San Antonio is Univ of Texas at San Antonio which has no football team (although there are proposals to bring football to UTSA). The only major football options for San Antonio are to drive 70 miles north to Austin to watch Univ. of Texas. Or drive 200 miles east to Houston. Dallas is nearly 300 miles away. There is a large population and potential fan base in South Texas reaching all the way to the Rio Grande Valley which itself has a population similar to the SLC area.

Another choice less logical than San Antonio but still better than SLC would be Oklahoma City. A team located there would be competing with the Sooners and to some extent with the Cowboys to the south. But the Oklahoma City metro area is larger than SLC and a team based there would draw on many more towns and cities than Utah. Oklahoma has nearly a million more people than Utah and is frankly far more football crazed than Utah. Plus there is little else to do in Oklahoma but obsess about football. Utah has a lot more recreational opportunities and the whole Sunday Mormon issue mentioned previously.

Finally Las Vegas probably makes more sense than SLC. It is a city built on entertainment and tourism. An NFL team would be yet another tourism draw.

[MrAnderson]

I also think Louisville / Kentucky and Birmingham / Alabama could be future contenders.

[pw72]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

The NFL in SLC is a laughable prospect.

SLC is the 49th largest metro area in the US at 1.1 million. And there is not really a large regional population to draw on as a fan base. For example, the Seattle Seahawks are in the Seattle metro area (3.5 million) but they draw fans and TV revenue from the whole northwest from Eugene, Portland, and Salem, to Spokane, Juneau, and Anchorage.

Metro areas that are larger than SLC and that are more logical choices for NFL expansion would include:

Los Angeles (12.8 million)
Riverside/San Bernardino CA (AKA the inland empire) 4.1 million
Portland (2.2 million) but not going to happen as that is Seahawk territory and Portland has no stadium
Sacramento (2.1 million) but too close to Oakland and San Francisco
Orlando (2 million) but maybe too close to Jacksonville and Tampa
San Antonio (2 million)
Las Vegas (1.8 million)
Oklahoma City (1.2 million)

Obviously Los Angeles is the looming elephant for NFL expansion. Most people think that LA will eventually get a team.

Portland is pretty unlikely in my opinion having grown up and lived there. It's a pretty NIMBY type of place and there are no logical locations for a monster NFL stadium in the central area. It would be massively controversial. Most football fans follow the Ducks and Beavers or the Seahawks 3 hours to the north.

Sacramento and Orlando are probably unlikely because each city is in relatively close proximity to two other NFL teams

San Antonio. I think San Antonio is actually the most logical choice after LA for an expansion team. The city is large and it has no local pro or college football teams. And this is in football crazed Texas. The big university in San Antonio is Univ of Texas at San Antonio which has no football team (although there are proposals to bring football to UTSA). The only major football options for San Antonio are to drive 70 miles north to Austin to watch Univ. of Texas. Or drive 200 miles east to Houston. Dallas is nearly 300 miles away. There is a large population and potential fan base in South Texas reaching all the way to the Rio Grande Valley which itself has a population similar to the SLC area.

Another choice less logical than San Antonio but still better than SLC would be Oklahoma City. A team located there would be competing with the Sooners and to some extent with the Cowboys to the south. But the Oklahoma City metro area is larger than SLC and a team based there would draw on many more towns and cities than Utah. Oklahoma has nearly a million more people than Utah and is frankly far more football crazed than Utah. Plus there is little else to do in Oklahoma but obsess about football. Utah has a lot more recreational opportunities and the whole Sunday Mormon issue mentioned previously.

Finally Las Vegas probably makes more sense than SLC. It is a city built on entertainment and tourism. An NFL team would be yet another tourism draw.

Excellent analysis. SLC is very unlikey to house an NFL team anytime soon. As someone mentioned though, College football is big in Utah what with the success of BYU and Utah.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by pw72

Excellent analysis. SLC is very unlikey to house an NFL team anytime soon. As someone mentioned though, College football is big in Utah what with the success of BYU and Utah.

What Utah SHOULD be doing is everything they can to get Utah and BYU to join the Pac-10. That would certainly be a step up and they are the two MWC teams that are most probable candidates for a bump up to the big time.

[pw72]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

What Utah SHOULD be doing is everything they can to get Utah and BYU to join the Pac-10. That would certainly be a step up and they are the two MWC teams that are most probable candidates for a bump up to the big time.

That is an interesting concept. It would most likely force the Pac-10 to follow the Big-12 and split into a north-south format.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by pw72

That is an interesting concept. It would most likely force the Pac-10 to follow the Big-12 and split into a north-south format.

Which would allow the Pac-10 to have a lucrative championship game just like the other 12-team conferences.

Utah and BYU would probably be able to hold their own right now in football and basketball. But joining the Pac-10 would force them to up their game in all the other sports where they probably are a step behind the Pac-10 teams.

I suspect that Utah would be relatively uncontroversial. But I suspect an invitation to BYU would generate quite a bit of controversy within the other Pac-10 schools on academic freedom type issues. It would be interesting though.

[utah4grad]

I think a hockey franchise is more likely.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by ebreezy

what nfl team do you think might consider moving to salt lake city within the next's few years.

Cowboys, after Texas Secedes

[utah4grad]

Originally Posted by Boompa

Cowboys, after Texas Secedes

Not likely! You obviously don't know Texans very well. If Texas secedes (har har), Jerry Jones would probably start a new football league based out of Texas.