NFL Realigment

You get a Rec from me.

But the Buffalo Bills are more likely to move to Toronto than Portland. Also, I can see the woeful Jaguars moving not inside the nation, but outside, perhaps even to London. Roger Goodell is making a strong international push (the Wembley Stadium/Toronto games come to mind) and Peter King told me that chances are better than 50% that London will get its own NFL franchise in the next five to ten years.

Another thing: I don’t see teams moving across conference. The Saints would stay in the NFC South.

Personally, I’m a proponent for unification. Screw this AFC/NFC bull and let’s just go back to the NFL as it was in olden times: one huge league. Have the South, North, West, and Coastal divisions to spur rivalries (An East conference would be overfull)

South: Saints, Falcons, Titans, Jaguars, Bucs, Panthers, Dolphins, Redskins
West: Rams, Texans, Cowboys, Chiefs, Cards, Raiders, Broncos, Seahawks
North: Vikings, Packers, Colts, Browns, Bengals, Bears, Bills, Lions
Coastal: Patriots, Giants, Jets, Ravens, Steelers, Eagles, 49ers, Chargers

Well I know its pure speculation & everything but either way it goes, something needs to shake up the NFL. I always liked the idea of the Bills moving north of the border, regionally it makes alot of sense, but my idea was jus to those ‘lacking’ teams in a better t.v. market. Also, idk what team would go, but there needs to be a NFL franchise in L.A. not to mention there building a stadium, so maybe the higher ups know something. But @ the end of the day it’s still GO FALCONS!!!!

Much has been made of L.A.‘s size and they always seem to come up in realignment/relocation talks. My feeling is that they already had not one, but two chances. Both times the franchises left town, and I understand that a poor economic situation in L.A. led at least partly to the Rams’ departure. I’d have to see a very strong and thorough proposal made in L.A.’s favor before I agreed with that decision. One interesting idea might be to market it as “localized,” placing it in Anaheim or Long Beach and naming it accordingly.

I like the idea of Portland having a team, if for no other reason than a city that shares the title of “Beer City USA” with my hometown of Asheville (glug!) certainly deserves serious consideration. The nation’s best microbrews in the same building as pro football? Yes please!

As for other cities, Las Vegas almost always pops up in these discussions, although their economy revolves heavily around people who don’t actually live there and I don’t know if the city could sustain a franchise long term.

At the risk of sounding ridiculous I think a strong case could be made for Austin having a team — it’s already football-crazy, the local economy is sound (based on numerous high-tech subindustries) and the city has been growing steadily for years. Of course this means yet another team in Texas, and Austin is similar to Asheville in that its culture is more artsy and perhaps less-inclined to support an NFL franchise.

Columbus is another city that’s been growing recently and they already have an NBA team, but again — another team in Ohio? Lastly, two areas that nobody ever talks about that could draw fans from a large region are Richmond and Hampton Roads — stick the team in either city and it would conceivably draw fans from the other.

All of these suggestions, of course, ignore the more important point: that in the end it doesn’t matter how big a market is because given competent ownership and a dedicated fan base, an NFL franchise can thrive indefinitely anywhere, even in a city the size of, say, Green Bay.

100K fans support a tarnished college football program – maybe time to give the NFL a monolithic stadium and folks some football-filled weekends/