Without a doubt, the NFL has the most successful sports league in the country. Any other sport that tries to compete against the NFL is simply asking for ratings suicide. Therefore, it only makes sense that the NFL should also be thinking about expanding its lead. It takes a tremendous amount of money to support an NFL team, so the cities have to have a population that is large enough and wealthy enough to purchase merchandise, go out to eat, support hotels, and purchase tickets. With this in mind, what are some of the top candidates to earn an expansion team? You may want to take a look at the list of NFL expansion cities.
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1. St. Louis
One of the top cities on the list is St. Louis, Missouri. There are a number of reasons why this city is on the list of potential NFL expansion cities. One of the biggest reasons is that they have had an NFL team in the past. The St. Louis Rams played in St Louis for a while until the owner decided to move the team somewhere else when the city wouldn’t gift him with a new stadium. Now, the city is stuck paying off the languishing stadium, but they may be getting some of that money back from the previous owner. Given the bad taste from when the previous owner left, the city may not necessarily welcome a new team, but they have shown that they can support one.
2. Oakland
Oakland is another city that could be getting a new NFL team. Oakland was one of several cities that lost its NFL team during the past few years when the Raiders decided to move from Oakland to Las Vegas. There are a lot of people who still call the team the Oakland Raiders, and the city has a tremendous football legacy. As a result, it would not be a surprise if the city got another team in the near future.
3. London
London has been floated as a potential NFL expansion city for a while. Games have been played in London for the past few years, and they have consistently sold out. It is obvious that the United Kingdom enjoys having NFL games in the country. At the same time, it would be a logistical nightmare to have an expansion team in London. What happens when the team has to fly from London to the west coast of the United States? This is a question that has to be answered.
4. Toronto
Toronto has also been rumored to be a potential NFL expansion team. It doesn’t have the same logistical nightmares as London, and it has shown it can support multiple professional sports teams. The Toronto Blue Jays and Toronto Raptors have both done very well during the past few decades. Does the city have enough people to support an NFL team? This is something that the league will have to address as it continues to think about the idea of adding more teams.
Looking at the Future of the NFL
These are just a few of the many cities that could be due for an NFL team. As the NFL playoffs continue to roll on, there are many people looking at the popularity of the league, wondering if more teams need to be added. Of course, it may make it difficult to divide the lead into divisions that have the same number of teams, but this is a math problem that someone smart can solve. It will be interesting to see if the league decides to welcome any new owners in the near future.
