With last week’s news that the NHL plans to add a franchise in Las Vegas by the 2017/18 season – the 1st ever professional team in any major sport to call Sin City home – NFL fans have to be wondering how long it will be until they follow suit.
My guess? Not long.
Raiders owner Mark Davis has already made it known to the league that he plans on moving his Raiders to Sin City if a deal cannot be reached for a new stadium in Oakland (or he’s throwing up a convincing bluff), which is great and all, but what about the Raider faithful in Oakland? What about the ‘Black Hole?’ There’s a devout fanbase that would be left clamoring for some NFL love, and surely the motley crew in Oakland wouldn’t be a welcomed demographic in the fancy, new San Francisco stadium.
Is it possible that the league would allow Davis to move the team, then add a ‘new’ franchise in Oakland, much akin to the Ravens/Browns ordeal in the mid-90’s?
London also continues to be a hot topic around the league. With three more games on the docket for 2016/17, the league continues to push towards a London franchise, and we honestly may be seeing this come to fruition by 2020 (at least confirmation by then) but again – will this franchise be an addition to the current league of 32? Or will this be a relocation for an existing team?
At this juncture, the only reasonable team to move would be the Jacksonville Jags, but would the league snatch them away after only 23 seasons in Jacksonville? The Jaguars represent the 3rd most recent expansion team, behind the Browns and Texans. Letting them walk from Jacksonville wouldn’t be the best look for the NFL, especially with a Jags team that, by all appearances, seems to be on the rise. I can’t foresee current Jacksonville owner Shahid Kahn giving Goodell and the league owners the green light on that move. Perhaps a new franchise is the best bet at this point after all.
With London and Vegas clearly front and center for the NFL, one has to wonder what other cities are also going to start vying for some attention from the league. After all, a one- or two-team expansion would throw a major wrench in the works for the divisional layout of the league. Adding four teams would make much more sense for schedule balancing.
One city that’s also been mentioned in connection to Mark Davis’ Raiders is San Antonio. Before you say it – yes, Texas already has the Texans and the Cowboys, but from a proximity standpoint, San Antonio is over three hours from Houston and four-and-a-half hours from Dallas. Essentially, the Ravens/Skins/Eagles are all in much closer proximity. According to the latest Census, San Antonio is the 7th most populated city in the US, which to the NFL, simply screams cash cow. It’s also worth noting with San Antonio already home of the NBA’s Spurs, the league sees major sports can succeed in that town.
[Related: Ravens are Ready for London]
Another name that’s been floated, although to much less capacity, is Portland, Oregon. Again, we have a high-population city (26th highest) that already hosts a professional sports team (NBA’s Trail Blazers) and was in contention for the most recent expansion spot in the NHL that eventually went to Vegas. Portland sits over three-and-a-half hours from their closest NFL team, the Seattle Seahawks, and a nice 10-hour road trip from the second closest NFL city in Oakland.
With all of the love for expansion out west, could there possibly be an east coast city clamoring for an NFL team?
I strongly believe there’s a wild card just south of us, that could become the next major city to see professional sports break through- Norfolk, Virginia.
Hear me out on this. Norfolk (86th), Virginia Beach (41st), and Richmond (98th) all currently rank in the top 100 for major city population, and are all within 45 minutes of each other. There were rumors floating in recent years about the area looking to add an NBA team. There’s ample distance from Norfolk to Lanham (Redskins) as well as Charlotte (Panthers). It all makes far too much sense!
THE only missing criteria is an existing professional franchise of some sort, which is something every NFL city currently has (or within very close proximity). Then again, stranger, less logical decisions have been made in terms of NFL expansion over the years, haven’t they?
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