The last time we saw an NFL expansion team, George W. Bush was a year into his presidency, and C. J. Stroud wasn’t even a year old when the Texans joined the league in 2002. Will the league expand from 32 teams?
There’s a lot of hope and heartbreak in our list of expansion team candidates. Some of these cities haven’t ever hosted a team, and others have been repeatedly abandoned like a Detroit factory. Here are our top 10 possibilities for the next NFL expansion teams:
10. Columbus, Ohio
Columbus has history in the NFL with the Panhandles/Tigers playing seven seasons in the league during the roaring 1920s. The NFL was even headquartered in the city for over a decade before a move to Dayton.
While Columbus has the biggest population in Ohio, the Browns, Bengals, Steelers and Colts are all within a 185-mile radius, and the Ohio State Buckeyes helps to fulfil the need for football.
9. Sacramento, California
An NFL expansion team in Sacramento would only be competing with the Kings for the city’s love. Could the league really support a fourth team in California? A team in Sacramento would fill the void left by the Raiders relocation in Northern California, and the city is one of the largest media markets without an NFL team.
8. Toronto, Canada
There’s a big reason why there isn’t an NFL team in Toronto – lack of a suitable stadium. The 52,000-seat Rogers Center would need considerable renovations or a new stadium to be built. This is one of those situations of which came first: the chicken or the egg?
The Bills Toronto Series flunked in 2013, but that’s because Toronto’s NFL fans are over the Buffalo Bills. They’d rather see their own team in what is the biggest untapped market in both America and Canada.
Reports hint that Toronto could actually be getting an NFL franchise https://t.co/wLw3sP7ATo #Toronto #NFL
— blogTO (@blogTO) November 11, 2021
7. St. Louis, Missouri
Ah, here we go. St Louis, abandoned like a Detroit factory after 21 years of production. When the Rams relocated to Los Angeles in 2016 it left a bitter taste for football fans in Missouri. The Rams left St Louis over money as the city couldn’t finance a top-tier stadium which forced owner Stan Kroenke to relocate to LA.
It brought back painful memories for fans of the St. Louis Cardinals, who relocated to Arizona in 1988 after 28 years in the NFL. The market size is big enough to support a team, but is the city willing to fund a new stadium to attract an NFL team to St. Louis for a third time?
6. Mexico City, Mexico
Two of the largest ever crowds in NFL history were set in Mexico City during preseason games, with the record set in 1994 when 112,376 watched the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers.
With a metro population of over 22 million, Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world and could host an impressive Mexican wave for the NFL. American football is also the second most popular sport in Mexico and financially, it could be too tempting for the league to turn down.
Cowboys were one of 18 NFL teams who had an international home marketing bid accepted today. Cowboys chose Mexico. They are one of nine franchises who can hold marketing, fan engagement and commercialization functions in Mexico for at least the next five years. pic.twitter.com/7p7TW1GpcT
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) December 15, 2021
5. London, England
Is American Football just a novelty to the English? The rumors of international NFL expansion teams and a London franchise never seem to go away and it shouldn’t, with over 15 million American football fans in the UK. Expanding the league with an international NFL team would truly make the competition global but there’s the obvious logistical issues with having to travel to London.
London NFL franchise mockup pic.twitter.com/tltCK9MpTE
— FB_Helmet_Guy (@FB_Helmet_Guy) March 23, 2021
4. Oakland, California
You can forgive Oakland football fans for being butthurt. Like St. Louis, Oakland has been abandoned twice after relocations to LA and Las Vegas. The loyalty of fans should never be questioned. Despite only four winning seasons in their second stint, and having to call the hole that was the Oakland Coliseum home, the passionate Raiders faithful still turned up.
Even in their first season in Las Vegas, almost one in seven fans were from Northern California. I don’t know how this one works though. The Raiders are now in Las Vegas and unless they relocate back, can you fathom Oakland being known by anything other than the Raiders?
3. San Diego, California
It’s here we finish the depressing tour of former NFL cities that deserve an expansion team. The Chargers were based in San Diego between 1961 to 2016 before relocating to Los Angeles following an overwhelming rejection by San Diego voters to help fund a new stadium in the city.
San Diego is making moves elsewhere however and will host the next MLS expansion team in 2025. The same question with Sacramento and Oakland needs to be asked, does California have room for a fourth team?
San Diego should still have an NFL franchise. 😡 pic.twitter.com/AOy46nFwJD
— FB_Helmet_Guy (@FB_Helmet_Guy) July 14, 2021
2. Portland, Oregon
A Portland NFL expansion team would create an intense rivalry with the Seahawks similar to the Battle of Cascadia in the MLS. Portland also has huge potential with a media market bigger than half of the NFL’s teams, and the Trail Blazers being the only major league sports team in the city. In the 1960s Portland voters rejected building the Delta Dome. Had they done so, we’d likely be talking about Seattle as a possible expansion team and not Portland.
The Delta Dome – an unbuilt dome stadium meant for Portland, OR. Design from 1964. via r/RetroFuturism by @fenshield pic.twitter.com/7Tkit0ZfQW
— Awesome Pics (@meantimeongiphy) December 11, 2019
1. San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the favorite city for an NFL expansion team. The 64,000-seat Alamodome was built in 1993 and could host a team, but it’s in need of upgrades. That will be costly, but what makes San Antonio the most viable of all possible NFL expansion teams is its metro population of over 2.5 million, and a media market bigger than Kansas City, Cincinnati and Vegas,
When adding Austin into the mix, the area has a bigger market than Seattle-Tacoma, and San Antonio is the only city in the top ten most populated cities in America not to have an NFL team. You can also imagine the intense rivalry San Antonio would create against the Cowboys and Texans, who continually push back on a third Texan team.
Will San Antonio ever get an NFL franchise? Mayor Nirenberg believes the investments the city is making now gives the Alamo City a chance to get a franchise in the next 10 years.https://t.co/Ex1PlddMr1
— KSAT 12 (@ksatnews) January 22, 2021
Bring NFL to El Paso, Texas for Texas Leopards 2025
Eldon if I could do if for you my man I would. Maybe relocate the Titans to El Paso and call them the Texas Titans..
ew man i want the oilers back
amen, bro
What about St. Louis? I feel like they were cheated by the Rams and deserve another chance with the NFL.
St Louis seems the most likely having had success with both the Cardinals & the Rams recently.
El Paso is a dumpster city that will never have a pro or even sim pro sports team. It is the 85th largest media market in the united states. that means there is 84 better cities for a NFL to put a team like Providence Rhode Island, Tulsa Oklahoma, Little Rock Arkansas. 3 bigger cities in states that don’t have a NFL at all.
Providence is Very close to Foxborough MA where the Patriots play, so I highly doubt a team would ever pop up in Providence RI.
Dude Austin and San Antonio deserve a new NFL team more than El Paso because they’re bigger markets.
The 49ers play in SANTA CLARA (a crappy San Jose suburb), not San Francisco. Get your facts straight!
Sorry dude! Just changed it. That’s what happens when you’re writing from down under
It’s Santa Clara Dick Boy not San Jose plus the whiners needed an upgrade in city hence the reason why y’all out in the South Bay.
Bahaha Dick Boy 😂 chill.
Not an issue with me. Call them the Santa Clara 49’s just to be politically correct.
5. San Antonio – Unless they can shut the Cowboys up (the Texans should be easy), then San Antonio will have to settle for the XFL for time being.
4. Mexico City – Good idea.
3. Portland – I like the idea, but it could be very tough to pull off. XFL is more likely.
2. Toronto – Unless the CFL dies or you cut a gigantic paycheck to the Canadian government, then forget it.
1. Oakland – Grassroots are already underway to replace the Raiders. Don’t expect them to be in Santa Clara though. The 49ers won’t share, plus it defeats their purpose. Playing in Oakland, California. No doubt it’s going to take years for them to show up since they’ll need to replace the coliseum, and to grab a team on the chopping block. Unfortunately, they’ll probably get an expansion team since I don’t see a Mike Brown or the Khan’s sell their teams even if they move them. On the bright side, London can get the other expansion team for the NFC East rather being stuck in say, the AFC South if they got the Jaguars.
Yo Trapper thanks for the comment! Which option would you like to see most? Personally would like to see a Canadian franchise and have a similar interest the Raptors have had on the NBA
texas has like 3 damn teams they dont need more same with california toronto and mexico city dont make sense because its called american football for a reason no other contry plays football id say portland makes sense because we dont have a team same with other states who dont have teams at all like kansas oklahoma or kentucky
Portlands ‘woke’ idenity all but put the nails in the coffin for an NFL team. Half of the town would be triggered by a tackle.
What about Columbus,Ohio or Birmingham, AL
Thanks for the suggestion Jake! I’ll write up another article shortly and include those in a list of the next 5 cities deserving a relocation or expansion franchise
Birmingham sounds doable. Not sure about Columbus. They have their Buckeyes, albeit a good college program.
No San Diego?
Hi mate! Drafting an article at the moment with 5 more deserving cities which has San Diego on the list. Will post in the next couple of days
What are your thoughts on Utah? Fanatic sports followings (college, MLS, and of course the Jazz). Two stadiums that offer over 60K capacity (close to Goodell’s requirement). Large corporation presence for sponsorship. Downfall is the Sunday play thing.
Hi! I just wrote another article about 5 more cities deserving a team (Columbus, Birmingham, San Diego, London and Frankfurt).
I had Salt Lake City as a possible city to add to this list but it is regarded as a smaller compared to many others.
Salt Lake citys population centre is bigger than Jacksonville, Cincinatti, Buffalo, Indianaplois, Nashville and New Orleans so there is hope I think!
I don’t think Sunday games would be as much as an issue as it would have a couple decades ago.
Austin Texas has nothing we need a team we are the capital
texas has two teams already if anything the texans should move to austin
London, England. The Tottenham Hotspur stadium is ready and waiting.
As an international fan of the NFL (based in Australia) I’d love to see London with its own franchise
I like the idea of the NFL in San Antonio, I can’t stand Jerry Jones, thinking he can dictate what we can do here in San Antonio, and I say we bring back the team name as our San Antonio Gunslingers
Wish you all the best for a San Antonio franchise. My favs I’d go with is either San Antonio Thunderbirds or Wings
It’s obvious Jerry Jones thinks the Cowboys will lose fans if there’s a new NFL team in San Antonio. San Antonio has tried to get a new NFL team for 25 years!
I’m from San Antonio and while the Alamodome may meet the league’s minimum requirements, it’s not going to entice any team to move there. It’s ugly as hell inside and out, honestly.
It would be awesome if a new stadium could be built north of SA, perhaps around New Braunfels, to make it more of a shared stadium with the Austin market. Unfortunately I don’t see New Braunfels or Comal County putting up the necessary money, but who knows what could be worked out between the various cities and counties.
But it’ll probably never happen because of the Cowboys. There are a ton of Cowboys fans in SA and south Texas. I don’t think many of them would change allegiances even if the Cowboys didn’t block a move.
Hi D, thanks for your comment really appreciate it! I’m located down under in Australia so really appreciate the local context you provide about San Antonio.
How loyal are the Cowboy fans in SA? Would be interesting to see if they could ever jump on the back of a team in SA.
The UK would be a great team and a big fan Base!🏈Go Steelers
I’d love a team in Sydney, Australia but that would never happen. So the second best result would be rooting for a team in the Commonwealth! Go Ravens!
Orlando would be a great place in my opinion
Would be an awesome rival to the Jags
no they already have three teams they will flooding the market
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Hey Matt — I was doing some research on American pro sports teams, and tripped across your article. To make a long story short:
The 10 largest U.S. metro areas (city + suburbs) that do not currently have an NFL team area, ranked by population (e.g., the Riverside, CA metro area is the 13th-largest metro area in the U.S.), are:
— #13 Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario, CA: 4.65 million people (Note: Riverside is only 54 miles from Los Angeles, and only 99 miles from San Diego; but along with neighboring cities San Bernardino & Ontario, Riverside is nevertheless still considered to be a separate metro area from Los Angeles and San Diego) (Also note: The Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario metro area has no NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL or MLS teams; the next most populous U.S. metro area with no pro teams in any of those 5 sports is #37 Virginia Beach/Norfolk/Newport News, VA, with 1.77 million people; the closest NFL team to Virginia Beach, VA is the Washington (D.C.) Football Team, 211 miles away)
— #17 San Diego, CA: 3.34 million people (Note: San Diego is 120 miles from Los Angeles, and is thus a separate metro area) (Also note: San Diego Chargers relocated to Los Angeles after the 2017 season)
— #20 St. Louis, MO: 2.80 million people (Note: St. Louis Rams relocated to Los Angeles after the 2015 season) (Also note: The closest NFL team to St. Louis currently is the Kansas City (MO) Chiefs, 248 miles away)
— #23 Orlando, FL: 2.61 million people (Note: Orlando is 84 miles from Tampa, and is thus a separate metro area)
— #24 San Antonio, TX: 2.55 million people (Note: San Antonio is 197 miles from Houson & 274 miles from Dallas)
— #25 Portland, OR: 2.49 million people (Note: Portland is 174 miles from Seattle, WA)
— #26 Sacramento, CA: 2.36 million people (Note: Sacramento is 88 miles from San Francisco, and is thus a separate metro area)
— #29 Austin, TX: 2.23 million people (Note: Austin is 80 miles from San Antonio, 165 miles from Houston, & 196 miles from Dallas)
— #32 Columbus, OH: 2.12 million people (Note: Columbus is 107 miles from Cincinnati, OH: 143 miles from Cleveland, OH; 176 miles from Indianapolis, IN; and 186 miles from Pittsburgh, PA)
— #35 San Jose/Sunnyvale/St. Clara, CA: 1.99 million people (Note: San Jose is only 48 miles from San Francisco, but is nevertheless still considered to be a separate metro area from San Francisco. On the other hand, Oakland, which is just 13 miles from San Francisco, is considered part of the San Francisco metro area. By themselves — without counting suburbs — San Francisco is the 16th-largest U.S. city; San Jose is #10; and Oakland is #45.)
Finally: 23 of 50 U.S. states have no pro sports teams at all (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL or MLS). The largest U.S. state (by population) with no pro sports team: South Carolina, the 23rd most populous state. The smallest U.S. state with at least 1 pro sports team: Nevada, the 33rd most populous state (with Las Vegas now the home of the NFL Raiders and the NHL Golden Knights).
st.Louis wasn’t cause by the fan base they showed up until they found out they was planning on moving lets face it they was bad i went to a few of their games and they wasn’t real competitive
Kansas City is located in Missouri. And it’s never called “Kansas”.
I think that there will be, in the best case scenario, a move of the Washington Redskins to San Diego, and, at worst, a collapse of EVERY sports league, not just on the professional level, but upon ALL levels, and all because of the polititards that are arguing over team names, but, if the NFL DOES manage to survive, then San Diego will get the Redskins and then name them something like, say, the Cougars, Redwoods, or Rattlers, and I think that would be the most likely move for, as well as the new start of, a old/new franchise of the NFL, that, and Washington D.C. is becoming an ever increasingly unsafe place to live.
litterly none of that makes sense its football not rugby so no other contrys should be in the nfl because it doesnt make sense since its a only american sport also califrnia and texas alreay have more than one team so they really dont need more lol portland makes sense because oregon doesnt have a nfl team and im from oregon so yk need a team also places like utah, alaska and like one of the dakotas would make sense same with alabama and maine
A team in Omaha, NE Omaha, Huge football fan base all throughout Nebraska and Iowa and center of the UNited States. Closest team is the Chiefs over 3 1/2 hour drive away. Next closest is Chicago and Denver nearly over 7 hours away. Omaha has been in the top 10 best cities to live in over 10 straight years and population continues growing every year. A major sports franchise could make this city explode!
Hi Kirk thanks for the comment. Sounds like a real dark horse to me. What’s the most popular sport and team in Nebraska at the moment?
I do not believe NFL too much. Let me tell you that NFL promised to United Football League 5 or 6 teams join NFL but never.
how many teams are they planning putting in Texas they got two teams already and three teams in California the chargers are already having trouble with a fan base not a good idea to have two teams in one city
What about Salt Lake, Santa Fe, or Oklahoma City?
How about Puerto Rico. Lots of lovely ladies for cheerleader’s