NFL Expansion (1 Viewer)

[mcnaztee]

I agree with you buckeye... the southwest is growing so fast... some team will end up there. and a team will go back to LA, the #2 market in the US. Plus, New Orleans... why even stay there? it's an empty tub beside the ocean waiting to fill back up

 

[cstu]

Why did Jacksonville ever get a team anyway?

Not really sure.as for the Saints going to San Antonio, WhoDat makes a pretty compelling case against that scenario in his post above.

Jax was able to floor the NFL with their presentation during that expansion. It was a combination of that and the unimpressive presentations by the LA groups that enabled the Jaguars to come into existence. It was even a surprise to us we'd get another team in Florida at the time. Just the same I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually move. Although they've been a competitive franchise, they've had a hard time in gaining a foothold in the Central Florida market (predominantly Dolphin fans here). They also play in a stadium that's too large and next to impossible to sell out, especially without a strong fan base in Central Florida to supplement a relatively small market in the north, leading to too many local tv blackouts. Wayne Weaver denies the speculation about moving, but in the end I won't be surprised if it happens.

This is the same issue the LA Rams had at the Coliseum, which held 100k. Sell outs shouldn't be based on the size of the stadium, but on what the average number is for sell outs in all the other stadiums.

 

[George Jefferson Airplane]

Also noticed no mention of Mexico City.I doubt they'd ever put a team there, but they have used the city as a test market recently. Probably more viable than some of the other cities mentioned if the NFL ever does expand.

I think Mexico City is about 7,400 feet above Sea Level....over 2,000 feet higher than Mile High in Denver. Wonder how the altitude and heat would affect football players. Might see a 70yd FG though.also found this link in a quick google search:

The choice of Mexico City to host the 1968 Olympics was a controversial one because of the city's high altitude, 2,300m, which meant that the air contained 30% less oxygen than at sea level. Sure enough, the rarefied air proved disastrous to many athletes competing in endurance events. On the other hand, the high altitude led to world records in all of the men’s races that were 400m or shorter, including both relays, and in the 400m hurdles, in the long jump and triple jump as well.

We certainly know how it would effect baseball. No way MLB EVER goes there. Rockies experiment is a disaster.

 

[On The Rocks]

does Salt Lake City have the stones to carry an NFL team???

 

[pokersteve]

I'm not sure about Salt Lake City, I guess the Jazz do well.

 

[RJJR]

how bout las vagas

 

[toxicbees]

Here's an article from last year:

It will pain Paul Godfrey to miss the final game of the Blue Jays' season, this coming Sunday, but only gently. He has bigger things on his plate, like scouting for an NFL franchise. As usual.

Godfrey and his personal lawyer, Dale Lastman, will be in Mexico City, taking in the San Francisco-Arizona game, the first NFL regular-season match played outside the United States. They are flying there on the private jet of Larry Tanenbaum, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Flying home, a source said, they will add a passenger to the travelling party, namely Phil Lind, the No. 2 man at Rogers who also plans to be at the game.

On the surface, the group, but mainly Godfrey, wishes to assure a regular-season game in Toronto, which is pretty much a given for 2006 or 2007. Dates and details have yet to be ironed out, but expect they will be.

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue indicated as much last February.

But the purpose of this trip certainly does not end there. The presence of Tanenbaum tells you that. Lind's, too. The fact they are flying in Tanenbaum's private jet is not a big deal. The swells go everywhere on private jets these days and these three are always close, anyway.

The real purpose of this journey by the three, the president of the Blue Jays, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and Lastman, a plugged-in board member at MLSE, is to quietly continue the longshot process of securing an NFL team for Toronto. They're not going down there for the refried beans.

Phone calls on the subject went unreturned, but it doesn't take much to figure out this play. An NFL team long has been a dream of Godfrey's. He's been at it for about a quarter-century and he's as adamant as ever. Ted Rogers, who is now beginning to turn the financial corner with the Blue Jays, since purchasing the team several years ago and the SkyDome less than one year ago, has shown no interest in laying out the several hundred millions required to purchase an NFL franchise. But he owns the building and might be interested in a position or a partnership.

Sources indicate Tanenbaum now is interested both in pursuing an NFL franchise and in joining economic forces with the Rogers/Blue Jays empire on such a purchase. While Tanenbaum doesn't have that kind of money, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan certainly does and Tanenbaum seems to have the ear of the Teachers.

Would Teachers be interested in an NFL team? Why not?

Franchise prices in the NFL are high, but values never do anything except go up. Plus, NFL teams make scads of money. Teachers, sitting on assets of something like $55 billion, toys with relatively minor properties like the Leafs and Raptors as much for entertaiment value as for profit. Why wouldn't they go a size larger with the NFL?

The SkyDome is not technically large enough for the NFL. But Rogers'

purchase of the joint did two things the NFL requires: It brought under control all luxury box revenues, which the NFL insists on. It also eliminated that shabby old AstroTurf field, the one that prevented even another NFL exhibition game from being played here.

A reasonable expansion could bring the stadium up to the 60,000-seat level the NFL requires and given the way Rogers has spent money fixing up the SkyDome so far, it might be within reach, until the cry is raised for a nice, new, publicly financed stadium.

A Canadian dollar rising against the U.S. greenback also paints a less grim picture for potential Canadian buyers of an NFL team.

With expansion franchises at $600 million, note the difference between a 60-cent Canadian dollar and today's 90-cent buck.

Do the math and somebody is forking out a couple of hundred million less.

There are NFL teams available, even without considering the New Orleans Saints' owner was looking to relocate before Hurricane Katrina ripped the city apart. Not to pick a victim's bones here, but in what promises to be a weak economic market for a long time, are the Saints worth more in New Orleans or elsewhere?

Obtaining a team is all in the future and the chances have never been great.

The present is about three amigos flying off to Mexico to continue a process that continues by landing one game.

 

[trader jake]

expansion is a bad idea, but...

1) LA

2) las vegas

3) portland

would be the most likely to get a moved franchise

 

[guderian]

I wish they wouldn't expand. 32 teams is enough--it works out well with scheduling and playoff formatting.

Unfortunately they have one billion reasons (the franchise fee) to say screw with the symmetry and award a new franchise to LA.

 

[guderian]

OZ, I do not disagree that the proof is in the pudding. I just know that NO did not support the Hornets in the last couple of years.

To be fair, the Hornets didn't do much to illicit support. They had a good team (made the playoffs) and had good attendance initially in NO, then for no reason they fired the coach and brought in Tim Floyd--who at the time had the worst career coaching record in NBA history. They lost a ton of games and then brought in Byron Scott. Still, the team resembled more of a circus with Mashburn faking injuries and Baron Davis whining to get traded. They went 18-64. I'd be interested to see how OK would support the Hornets under those conditions--and not under the novelty of a brand new team that started off pretty hot.

 

[guderian]

I agree the 32 team set up is here to stay. However in the next 10 years there could be a lot of franchises moving. Jacksonville, New Orleans, Buffulo, Oakland, and maybe even a couple other surprises over the years. There is a lot more cities working hard to obtain a franchise then on the poll. Albuqueque is one city that means business. Yes you all say it's too small of a market but trust me. Albuquerque will have a pro franchise some day. Maybe not in 10 years but some day. Rio Rancho and Sante Fe is all considered in the market area and central New Mexico is growing at an alarming rate and will have a NFL team some day! And lead by Governor Richardson has been very aggressive this past year in trying to land a pro franchise in Albuquerque. It might be a just a dream of Richardson's but it's been all over the local news for months now that he is trying to pull off a stunner that your all be sayiing I told you so some day!

Why would the NFL allow a team to move to LA and miss out on an estimated $1 billion franchise fee? They symmetry of 32 teams is nice and all, but $1 billion is $1 billion.