NFL: NFL Considering Expansion

ISUCyclones2015

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Mexico City is such a terrible place to live.... So dirty and gross and I can't have my amenities!

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StateThrowdown

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Oct 27, 2008
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Great, let’s try it in some of those that haven’t had a team instead of trying it for the fourth time in a place that’s had teams leave.
I get what you’re saying, but for example St. Louis and San Diego’s teams didn’t leave due to lack of fan support/interest. They left due to the unbridled greed of the jackass owners of those two franchises.
 
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CascadeClone

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Seems like the answer would be a pod in Europe. 6 of their games amongst themselves, home and away. So less transatlantic games, though still a lot. London, Munich, Paris, and idk, Madrid maybe.

Might be enough interest to make it work and add truly new eyeballs / money. If it really works, add 4 more in a decade.

I know the Euro league they had before didn't work out, but try try again.
 

coolerifyoudid

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Feb 8, 2013
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Would Portland, Oklahoma City or Memphis support a team?

Portland supports the Timbers and isn't horrible in its support of the Trail Blazers.

Memphis and OK City have been solid in their support of the Griz and Thunder.

I feel like I'd rather see one of those cities get a shot versus trying something that's already failed once or twice.
 

clone52

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The NFL and established pro leagues have been slow to expand because expansion does not grow the pie on the most significant revenue source for the league -- that is, of course, the TV money.

Most pro leagues divide the TV money out evenly or close to it. The Jacksonville Jaguars get the same check from the television partners as do the Dallas Cowboys despite the obvious and titanic difference in fan bases between the most popular teams in the largest cities and the least in the smallest ones.

Going to 36 just means you slice the TV money into 1/36th into 1/32th. That is roughly an 11% decrease for each of the existing franchises. Sure, they might make some of that up in expansion fees (at least for the cities that have to pay one, unlike St. Louis that might get a free one), but that's lot of money gone.

This is why I think London will happen. Adding a team to San Antonio doesn't bring in more TV money. People there are already watching the Cowboys or Texans or the national games just fine. Having a team in London, though, which can be "Europe's team," could be pretty lucrative for the television deals.

The NFL always figures out the logistics when there is money involved. I'm sure it could work somehow -- have the London team spend one month over there playing home games, then one month in North America playing road games, then cycle through that again until you've completed the whole season.

You don't think the NFL would get more TV money to spread out to their Teams if they had 36 teams? Of course they would.
 
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Sigmapolis

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You don't think the NFL would get more TV money to spread out to their Teams if they had 36 teams? Of course they would.

More? Sure. Incrementally.

But not nearly enough to make up for the thinner slicing of the pie.

The NFL doesn't really have an "territory" to break into with a TV contract that it doesn't already essentially dominate in the U.S. and, to some degree, in Canada and Mexico. People in Salt Lake City or Portland watch the Broncos and the Seahawks and national games just fine. Adding a team in Utah or a team in Oregon, both of which would be in two of the smallest markets in the league because all the largest cities are already snapped up, is not going to come close to making up for the 1/36th cut instead of the 1/32nd cut as it is now.

The exception to that might be London. Lots of potential new and unsaturated market in Europe.
 

melt

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Mexico City is over 7,000' in elevation, like 2,000' more than Denver. It would also become the most isolated city in the NFL, with Houston being the closest city at 2 hours 15 minutes away by plane. Seattle right now is the furthest from any other city at 2 hour flight to SF. I doubt you'll get many takers for driving to Mexico City too, plus a language barrier. It would just make no sense.
 

Bader

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Why do pro leagues always recycle the same cities? “Oh, it didn’t work these other two times, but I’m sure THIS time it will work out and be successful!”
It's because they've already cowed those cities into fully/partially paying for stadiums, so they know they can hold them hostage again
 

ISUTex

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Meanwhile homeboy probably lives in some ****** river town in Iowa.


Everybody knows Mexico City has a nice part to it with lots of rich white people. Great.

Still wouldn't want to live there. Isn't it one of the most polluted cities in the world? Maybe they've improved that. It's also sinking and over crowded. Oh, and it's in Mexico. No thanks.
 
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My sources tell me that Brock Purdy will be starting for one of these expansion teams and CMC will be its head coach.
 

clonedude

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Apr 16, 2006
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I think expansion would be a horrible idea.

Only roughly half the current teams even have a QB good enough to win a championship….. we really want to water the league down some more??
 

isucy86

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I struggle to see expansion of just 1 European city. Would seem like if the NFL wants to expand to Europe they would want to add the equivalent of a European division- aka London, Berlin, Madrid & Paris. But since the NFL has pretty much limited overseas games to London the last few years, seems like they have moved on from Europe except as a novelty (a couple games each year).

Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver would help expand the NFL outside of the current US TV markets.

Not sure how they would work the divisions with expansion. Go to five or six team divisions?
 

KnappShack

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Huh. Throw in a good time zone, major metro area, rabid fans of sports, easy air, a professional stadium in place, etc.

Bring on the Mexico City Conquistadors!

"Statistician Nate Silver estimates the number of NFL fans in Mexico City at 1.5 million, more than in Detroit and Las Vegas combined, and more than three times the fan base in London"
 

Sigmapolis

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Mexico City is over 7,000' in elevation, like 2,000' more than Denver. It would also become the most isolated city in the NFL, with Houston being the closest city at 2 hours 15 minutes away by plane. Seattle right now is the furthest from any other city at 2 hour flight to SF. I doubt you'll get many takers for driving to Mexico City too, plus a language barrier. It would just make no sense.

Three games in the regular season have been played in Mexico City. All sold more than 75,000 seats.

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People underestimate how large Mexico City is -- the metro area has a population of 21.8 million. That is the fifth-largest metro area in the world and slightly larger than NYC (19.3 million).

Yes, Mexico City is not as affluent as is NYC, but Mexico has a rapidly-growing economy, especially in Mexico City. Creating a multicultural, international, and bilingual league would be considered more of a feature than a bug to the NFL at this point. Assuming the Mexico City franchise would be in a division with teams in the Southeast or Southwest, its travel slate wouldn't be any worse than the ones of Seattle, New England, or Miami isolated in other corners of the country. Mexico City would be a favorite of Hispanic fans and draw large crowds in road games in NYC, LA, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. It makes a ton of sense if you are going to expand -- maybe the most of all. The McKinsey consultant in me would say absolutely do Mexico City.

I think expansion would be a horrible idea.

Only roughly half the current teams even have a QB good enough to win a championship….. we really want to water the league down some more??

The fact every NFL team tries to win the same way -- with a franchise quarterback -- is actually one of my least favorite things about the league. I like college football where teams play different styles and are not so dependent on heroics by a quarterback to completely carry an offense.

Seeing 1/3 the teams try to win through their QB, another 1/3 to try and win through other, more creative means, and 1/3 of the teams just plain suck would probably ultimately be more interesting.

Huh. Throw in a good time zone, major metro area, rabid fans of sports, easy air, a professional stadium in place, etc.

Bring on the Mexico City Conquistadors!

"Statistician Nate Silver estimates the number of NFL fans in Mexico City at 1.5 million, more than in Detroit and Las Vegas combined, and more than three times the fan base in London"

Largest cities on that list without a franchise --

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-nfl-should-expand-to-london-but-first-canada-mexico-and-la/

Mexico City
Oakland and San Jose (though buried with SF, so maybe it doesn't count)
San Diego
Toronto
St. Louis
Orlando
Sacramento
Virginia Beach-Norfolk
San Antonio
London
Austin
Columbus, OH
Portland, OR
Motreal
Vancouver, BC
Oklahoma City
Honolulu
Memphis
Paris
San Juan, PR
Manchester, UK
Essen-Dusseldorf, BRD
Madrid, Spain

Pretty easy to pick six viable candidates out of the top of that list -- starting with STL and San Diego.
 

sunset

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Oct 18, 2006
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St Louis and Toronto make sense. St Louis as a sorry and Toronto has all the other major sports. Hard pass on London. Soft pass on Mexico City. Don't need ANOTHER California or Texas team. Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City are the good maybes. Don't give San Diego a team back, their fan base never showed up to home games.

Not true for San Diego. As a former season ticket holder I can tell you first hand that the Chargers had really good support until the Spanos clan poisoned the well. After the BS that family put this city through they, rightfully, lost all goodwill. The worst owners in the history of sports.
 

VeloClone

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Jan 19, 2010
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Not true for San Diego. As a former season ticket holder I can tell you first hand that the Chargers had really good support until the Spanos clan poisoned the well. After the BS that family put this city through they, rightfully, lost all goodwill. The worst owners in the history of sports.
That is a pretty big boast...
 

Sigmapolis

Minister of Economy
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Not true for San Diego. As a former season ticket holder I can tell you first hand that the Chargers had really good support until the Spanos clan poisoned the well. After the BS that family put this city through they, rightfully, lost all goodwill. The worst owners in the history of sports.
I stand by that claim 100%. Worst ever.

My apologies for your loss.

I hope SD gets another team and gets the Chargers' identity back.

Let the second LA team rebrand somehow.

The NBA did it with the Hornets' IP coming back to Charlotte, so it's happened before.
 

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