OT: NFL Expansion
In a "Hot Button Topic" on ESPN, they debated where the next likely NFL expansion city would be. The two cities being discussed are Mexico City and London, with the caveat of course being, after Los Angeles gets their franchse. For arguments sake however, the obvvious geographical choice would be Mexico City. Financially, London would be attractive for many reasons, even with the nightmare travel scenarios it would cause for west coast teams. I think the earning potential that London presents outweighs the travel difficulties. Mexico City is the natural choice, I just don't think it's financially prudent. London gets you into more time zones, and that as they say, is everything.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/hot?id=6965230
Actually San Antonio does have a larger corporate base than many existing NFl cities and more F500 HQ's than all of the cities mentioned for expansion including L.A. San Antonio at one point had 7 F 500 but AT&T moved its corporate headquarters form the Riverwalk to Dallas for no good reason, more of a personal reason of the CEO.
Anyway S.A. is growing faster than Orlando, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Portland, much smaller Oklahoma City and just about all cities that are discussed as NFL expansion hopeful cities. San Antonio's metro is fast approaching 2.4 million and has recently surpassed Cleveland, Cincinatti, Orlando, Sacramento, and about to eclipse Portland and Pittsburgh and gaining ground on Denver's 2.5 million population.
So within the next ten years San Antonio will be a top 20 metro. An other thing to consider is San Antonio's regional population. There are over 4.1 million people in the 5 counties that follow Interstate 35, the cities included are San Antonio, Shertz, Universal City, New braunfels, San Marcos, Kyle, Austin, Round Rock, cities that are merging together but are not considered unified on a paper even though they are contigious and joined at the hip forming one big metro. This region's TV market is cut in half, San Antonio-Austin. but if counted as one it would move it into the top 15-18 Tv markets. Separately S.A. is 36 and Austin is 44th but combined would be something totally different, the metros are just minutes apart. Austin's tv market alone is bigger than several existing NFL markets.
It may be a long time before this is area is considered one market becasue of political reasons but there are more people in this region than the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett region. This area would be the second best choice just based on population after L.A. and again just the population factor. Then this is Texas footbal crazy country and San Antonio will sell out everytime based on its strong economy, population and projected growth.
San Antonio's downtown would be an awesome place to host a superbowl with all the attractions, large hotels and ammenties. The NFL would make a big mistake to pass up San Antonio again because of some NFL teamowners agenda. cough cough Jerry Jones.
The city has to be recognized for its true strenghts once and for all. When the NFL pushed it aside in the last expansion for much smaller cities, Nashville, Charlotte and Jacksonville was a slap in the face in my opinion and Im sure by many others pushing for an SA team.
September 14th, 2011 at 7:24 PM ^
London isn't like Portland, Orlando, or Omaha, it's LONDON. This is one of the most popular cities on Earth. It has an extremely diverse and sports crazy population. I understand this is a Futbol crazy country, but Football has grown in leaps and bounds in Britain and in Europe in general. The time change is an issue, but not one that can't be solved by creative scheduling. There are too many positives and opportunities not to utilize them. Having said that, I think we're 5-10 years away from a possible London franchise.
September 14th, 2011 at 8:44 PM ^
The point isn't so much that London isn't big or rich enough, but that it would be a total mess from a geographical/time-zone standpoint. You can't just plop one franchise in Europe and have them compete with 32 North American teams.
September 14th, 2011 at 8:46 PM ^
would be a good city for an NFL team.
September 14th, 2011 at 11:39 PM ^
Lets get tropical
September 15th, 2011 at 9:25 AM ^
Call Jackie Moon
September 14th, 2011 at 9:48 PM ^
If the NFL bought a couple Concords, then maybe London. Otherwise I doubt players would put up with all the cross-Atlantic flights.
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<br>Mexico City would be pretty bad travel wise, and most players just wouldn't want to play for a team in Mexico.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:29 PM ^
Texas A&M has asked the Big 12 Conference for permission to enter into talks with the NFL.
Texas, on the other hand, decided against the NFL because they couldn't accept the reduced revenue.
The Pac-10 announced that USC will be joining the NFL in 2018, in exchange for the St. Louis Rams entering the Pac-10 Conference.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:46 PM ^
and only one post mentions Detroit and that was in positive. Times have changed ladies and gentlemen.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:53 PM ^
American football is surprisingly popular in London, but I really don't see how the logistics could play out. Might as well put a team in Honolulu while we're at it.
September 14th, 2011 at 11:46 PM ^
Yeah, let's put an NFL team in a place where people aren't sure what sport you're referring to. The only real upside to putting an NFL team in a different country besides Canada is that it means we're that much closer to not having to hear the "soccer is the most watched sport in the world" argument. No offense to all of the soccer fans on here, but it's annoying and played out.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:03 AM ^
L.A. is never going to get a team because the other owners want to keep that hedge for when they need a new stadium. It is kind of hard to threaten to move the team unless the city is a reasonable threat. L.A. without a team is that threat.
September 15th, 2011 at 3:31 AM ^
There's a civil war going on in Mexico for goodness sake.
September 15th, 2011 at 11:53 AM ^
get a stipend for enduring the crippling smog?
I'm sure the shortened life expectancy for their families will be a great selling point!
September 15th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^
Expansion?
Just move a team to LA and be done with it. No need to make the NFL bigger. It's pretty fine as is.
It's perfect for family-friendly tailgating!
