The ideal NFL if teams moved.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Los Angeles needs a team. I can't believe it's been close to 15 years since the NFL was in LA. For 15 years it's been a matter of when, not if, a new stadium would be built. The Raiders and Rams left for the greener pastures of... Oakland and St. Louis? WTF?

I always thought the Raiders were a good fit in LA. The problem was they were playing in the Coliseum. When a new stadium is built, someone needs to grab that franchise from Al Davis's cold dead hands, and move them back down to LA. Forbes has them listed as having the lowest value of any franchise in the NFL. If they move down to LA into a new stadium, they'll immediately go into the top 10.

Florida shouldn't have three teams and particularly Jacksonville shouldn't have a team. Texas only has two teams (and only had one team for around 6-7 years before the Texans) and Florida has three. Floridians are like Californians in that they have so many other things to do, they just don't care as much about football. The difference is, California has about twice the people. California can support three teams even with the distractions. Texas is a football hungry state and can also support three teams. The Oilers moved out due to the lure of a new stadium in Tennessee and Houston's refusal to build a new stadium. Not surprisingly the NFL moved relatively quickly to put another team in Houston. Texas could use a third team, and the Saints had success in San Antonio post-Katrina and almost moved there. Unless someone doesn't move into LA before the Jaguars (the Raiders or Chargers???), then I can see San Antonio being a possible destination.

Finally, why the hell does Buffalo have a team? What's stopping Ralph Wilson from moving the Bills to Toronto? This makes little sense to me. Canada supports the CFL, they like football up there. That team could own the Canadian market.

To recap: this would be the structure after all the moves:

AFC East:

Toronto Bills

AFC West:

LA Raiders

AFC South:

San Antonio Jaguars (please change that name)

An additional note, couldn't Chicago support two teams?

[Surfah]

Oakland needs a stadium in LA. That would be perfect. Also Al Davis needs to go.

[Fiyero]

According to 1320 KFAN in SLC, Salt Lake City is on the list of venues that the Rams are "looking into." That was said about 30 minutes ago. (However, they didn't say how long the list is).

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Are the Rams looking to move? I didn't know that.

Is the prospect of playing in Los Angeles that bad? Or does no one want to move there because they know once they're there, there's no way they can get a stadium deal done?

SLC as a site for an NFL team? lol.

[cougjunkie]

The Utah Ramzz

[Surfah]

Are the Rams looking to move? I didn't know that.

Is the prospect of playing in Los Angeles that bad? Or does no one want to move there because they know once they're there, there's no way they can get a stadium deal done?

SLC as a site for an NFL team? lol.

Would they be allowed to move if Checketts buys the team? Doesn't the NFL have a policy that owners cannot be a majority owner of another professional sports franchise unless it's in the same city? Checketts owns the Blues. Which would allow him to buy the Rams. This is why Kroenke who owns the Nugs and Avs can only be a minority owner of the Rams. BTW, the MLS doesn't count to the NFL.

[Fiyero]

I suspect there's a chess game between the owner and the city, and adding SLC to the list was merely a way of padding their threat. For all we know, Toronto and Vancouver were named too.

[Coach McGuirk]

With Rush being a native Missourian, I would highly doubt he is looking to move the team.

[TripletDaddy]

The NFL has done just fine without LA. And LA has done just fine without the NFL.

I think life will go on.

With Chargers games a one hour drive from OC and Raiders and 49ers games a cheap SWA flight away, I am not sure there is any urgency to get a team here. The NFL knows that LA will never accept an expansion team. Nor will it accept a lame transplant with no tradition whatsoever.....this rules out a relo for the Jags, for example.

The Raiders are the natural fit for L.A. They never should have left. The current owner is insane. And the value of the franchise has plummeted since the move back to Jokeland. My guess is that if the NFL ever returns to LA, it will be the Raiders, post-Al Davis.

[statman]

Are the Rams looking to move? I didn't know that.

Is the prospect of playing in Los Angeles that bad? Or does no one want to move there because they know once they're there, there's no way they can get a stadium deal done?

SLC as a site for an NFL team? lol.

Charlotte has an NFL team. It's not THAT ridiculous of a proposition. At the MSA level, they're virtually the same size (~1.5 million). Roll in adjacent MSAs into a CSA, and Ogden-SLC-Provo CSA (~2.1 million) is actually bigger than Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury CSA (~1.9 million).

[TripletDaddy]

Charlotte has an NFL team. It's not THAT ridiculous of a proposition. At the MSA level, they're virtually the same size (~1.5 million). Roll in adjacent MSAs into a CSA, and Ogden-SLC-Provo CSA (~2.1 million) is actually bigger than Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury CSA (~1.9 million).

crappy alcohol sales might be a factor. Sunday attendance would also be a factor. Potential owners not wanting to move to Utah might be a factor. Larry Miller not wanting to play games on Sunday probably gives the NFL some pause.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

The NFL has done just fine without LA. And LA has done just fine without the NFL.

I think life will go on.

With Chargers games a one hour drive from OC and Raiders and 49ers games a cheap SWA flight away, I am not sure there is any urgency to get a team here. The NFL knows that LA will never accept an expansion team. Nor will it accept a lame transplant with no tradition whatsoever.....this rules out a relo for the Jags, for example.

The Raiders are the natural fit for L.A. They never should have left. The current owner is insane. And the value of the franchise has plummeted since the move back to Jokeland. My guess is that if the NFL ever returns to LA, it will be the Raiders, post-Al Davis.

I think LA would accept an expansion team, but have a tough time accepting some team like the Jaguars. The best possible team to move back would be the Raiders. And into a new stadium.

Back in the mid-90s, I suppose the NBA and LA would have survived a move by the Lakers. Both would have moved on. It's a matter of maximizing eyeballs and money. The NFL is a well-managed league, the game itself is so great on TV and it will just continue to grow. Still, you just don't leave the second largest market alone. And it's not like the NFL has intentionally left LA alone. They're not going to place an expansion team in a town with no NFL-calibre stadium.

When a stadium is built (and it will eventually happen), teams will be lining up to move, I can promise you that. The Raiders or Chargers will be the most likely teams (the Chargers are supposedly disgruntled with The Murph). Both have built-in fanbases down there. The Raiders would be the better marriage because of the brand-name and a larger built-in fanbase.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Charlotte has an NFL team. It's not THAT ridiculous of a proposition. At the MSA level, they're virtually the same size (~1.5 million). Roll in adjacent MSAs into a CSA, and Ogden-SLC-Provo CSA (~2.1 million) is actually bigger than Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury CSA (~1.9 million).

Oh, it's still ridiculous. Given the Sunday play and alcohol sales issues, I don't think any potential owner would be salivating at the thought of moving a team to Salt Lake because of 200k more people. Also, the thought of playing in Rice Eccles probably isn't very tempting either. St. Louis and the TWA Dome or whatever it's called is still the far better option.

[LiveCoug]

The Oakland Raiders of Los Angeles has a nice ring to it.

[LiveCoug]

The main issue with NFL in SLC (I don't think they would have any problems filling the stadium on Sunday) is corporate sponsorship. SLC metro doesn't have really have any huge corporations. That's a problem.

Also, with Charlotte, don't forget, there are large metros close by that also are in the catchement area for the Panthers. Raleigh, Greensboro, Columbia etc...