NFL Expansion: Hypothetical scenario

[Hervoyel]

OK, here's the situation. The NFL has decided that it will expand again. Disaster has struck and Goodell has won over enough owners to make it happen. A team will be added to LA and another in London. That's a done deal (in this entirely hypothetical scenario).

Of course 34 teams screws up the divisions so in an unprecedented move the league has chosen to expand to 40 TEAMS. Each existing division gets one team added to it.

In this scenario insanity has obviously prevailed. Anyway.....

Where do you put each divisions new member? LA and London are set in stone but you have to add 6 other new teams in the best possible locations. Existing moves are possible if they make sense. Assume you could get away with moving an existing team or two from one division to another to make this work.

AFC East

New England Patriots
New York Jets
Miami Dolphins
Buffalo Bills

Tough call for me. At first I'm tempted to put the London team here but I see them more as an NFC team for some reason so I don't want them here. Since we are going international I'm going to add Montreal to this division.

Since Miami is the only southern team in this division I'm moving them and adding a second new team here. Richmond Virginia joins the AFC East.


AFC North

Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns

This part of the country is just thick with NFL teams which makes it hard to put one anywhere near there. To get around that I go Canadian again and add Toronto.

AFC South

Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts

The Miami Dolphins join the AFC South.

AFC West

Denver Broncos
San Diego Chargers
Oakland Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles joins the AFC South

NFC East

New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys
Washington Redskins

London joins the NFC East and Dallas departs. A second UK team is added to give the London franchise a regional rival and because Roger Goodell is riding the crazy train and taking the NFL with him. I leave it to our resident UK reader/fan welsh texan torecommend the best candidate for the second UK team.

NFC North

Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears
Minnesota Vikings

It's back to Canada for another team and due to their proximity to the rest of the members of the division I add Winnipeg to the NFC North

NFC South

New Orleans Saints
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Dallas lands here because it's where they belong and Cowboys fans deserve Saints fans. It is....THEIR DESTINY!

NFC West

San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals
Seattle Seahawks
St Louis Rams

Canada again delivers a team. Vancouver gets in to round out the division.

________________________________

Ok, I admit it. I'm bored. I have too much time on my hands this morning. Ima post it anyway!

[Dutchrudder]

As far as expansion goes, I think the best cities for new teams would be LA, London, Toronto, Montreal, Portland, San Antonio, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City.

[Dan B.]

If the NFL goes to 40 I would simply add two new divisions in each conference to create 5 divisions of 4 teams. The playoffs would be the 5 div champs and 3 wild cards -- 8 per conference and no more byes. Then I go international.

AFC Americas:

Mexico City
San Antonio
Los Angeles
Rio would rock but it's a long trip. Maybe the Caribbean?


NFC Europe:

London
Scotland (Edinburgh/Glasgow)
Berlin
Dublin or Frankfurt

I also wouldn't mind putting a franchise or two in Canada.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

As far as expansion goes, I think the best cities for new teams would be LA, London, Toronto, Montreal, Portland, San Antonio, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City.

In order from having to actually think about this, I'm going to go with this one. HOwever, I would not be opposed to a Mexico City franchise... or a Rio franchise as suggested by DanB.

Which divisions would they go in.. hmmm...

[welsh texan]

Wow, now you're not only offering me a London franchise in the NFC so I'm able to root for them, you're also giving me a UK rival to hate!! You've got rep comin' Herv! [Edit: Dammit MSR]

TBH, I think 2 franchises in the UK would be a disaster, its not like over there where you need to take a flight to get anywhere, you could cover London and back in a day by car from almost anywhere in the country.

I think that would be the main thing that would make the franchise work, the fact that everybody in the whole country could get behind it (well, NFL fans that is) and therefore it would be able to sell out it's tickets for 8 games a season.

Dan B. had a slightly better solution I feel when he suggested going back into Germany, I believe they had some fairly successful NFL Europe franchises so maybe they could get behind a team.

[mattieuk]

Originally Posted by Dan B.

I also wouldn't mind putting a franchise or two in Canada.

I think the Toronto franchise is obviously the most likely - with their Buffalo connection at the moment. If they had a team of their own - they'd be a slam dunk market. With the way they support the Leafs, I think another big league team would fit into Toronto well. Even the NBA is well supported in Toronto (rank 17th in the league in attendance). They also have a good level of support for the Argos in the Canadian Football League - and as the two leagues don't overlap too much, you won't be splitting the fanbase.

Outside of that, I think Vancouver would be the next choice for a Canadian franchise. The Grizzlies were well supported when the NBA moved to Van, and the CFL Lions are ever popular - I've no doubt they would be selling out NBA games. The only trouble would be getting the large amount of Seahawks fans here to convert to a new team.

[Luv_ya_blue]

Well, my offerings are purely for comic relief purposes and are recommended solely for their mascot potential:

AFC:
Bagdad, California
Goobertown, Arizona
Timbuctoo, California
Nimrod, Minnesota

NFC:
Hooker, Oklahoma
Faggarts Crossroads, NC.
Bald Knob, Arkansas
Crapo, Maryland

HONORABLE MENTION:
Buddha, Indiana
Mormon Bar, California
Baptistown, NJ
Hells Kitchien, California

[ObsiWan]

Originally Posted by Luv_ya_blue

Well, my offerings are purely for comic relief purposes and are recommended solely for their mascot potential:

AFC:
Bagdad, California
Goobertown, Arizona
Timbuctoo, California
Nimrod, Minnesota

NFC:
Hooker, Oklahoma
Faggarts Crossroads, NC.
Bald Knob, Arkansas
Crapo, Maryland

HONORABLE MENTION:
Buddha, Indiana
Mormon Bar, California
Baptistown, NJ
Hells Kitchien, California

What's this?! No team for Cut and Shoot Texas??


Edit: And we gotta have a team from Roswell
(they could be the Grays) or Alamorgordo (Think of the Glo-n-the-Dark Unis)

[1bigfan13]

I think the most likely scenario is an expansion to 34 teams with both teams being in North America. One obviously in LA and the other possibly in Canada.

The NFL has had unbalanced divisions before so I don't think the league would be hell bent on keeping an equal amount of teams in each division.

I don't think sticking a franchise in Europe would be a wise decision. People may come out for the first year or two but after the novelty wears off the stadiums will be half full.

[gwallaia]

Keep the NFL in the USA.

[TexanSam]

AFC East

New England Patriots
New York Jets
Miami Dolphins
Buffalo Bills

Toronto. Buffalo's played a few home games there, but there's a ton of history there so I think Toronto would get an expansion team.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns

Can't really think of another team to put in the north. Just gonna say Chicago. Let the windy city have two teams.
AFC South

Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Indianapolis Colts

San Antonio. The Saints almost moved there until Katrina happened so I think the possibility is definitely there. Jerry Jones and Bob McNair definitely wouldn't like it because it would hurt their marketing in the state, but it would be cool to have an in-state rival.

AFC West

Denver Broncos
San Diego Chargers
Oakland Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles is the obvious choice here.

NFC East

New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Dallas Cowboys
Washington Redskins

Gonna go with another Canadian team here and say Montreal. They have a CFL team already, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind stepping up to the big leagues.

NFC North

Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears
Minnesota Vikings

Louisville. It's on the northern edge of Kentucky and not too far from Cincinnati so it's kind of north.

NFC South

New Orleans Saints
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Oklahoma City. OKC Thunder fans are devoted. Would be a solid fan base for an NFL team as well.

NFC West

San Francisco 49ers
Arizona Cardinals
Seattle Seahawks
St Louis Rams

Portland. Having another team in the pacific northwest wouldn't be a bad thing.

[1bigfan13]

Originally Posted by gwallaia

Keep the NFL in the USA.

For some reason the NFL refuses to accept that American Football is not a global sport.

[LonerATO]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

As far as expansion goes, I think the best cities for new teams would be LA, London, Toronto, Montreal, Portland, San Antonio, Salt Lake City and Oklahoma City.

Jerry would never let that happen, SA is a major and I mean major Cowboy stronghold.

[Corrosion]

I hate the idea of expansion .... The level of play is already watered down in todays NFL , not enough NFL quality at several positions across the league. I'd be in favor of contraction instead.

[welsh texan]

Originally Posted by 1bigfan13

For some reason the NFL refuses to accept that American Football is not a global sport.

One thing that people often take the piss out of over here is the fact that the Superbowl winners are crowned 'World Champions' of a sport which only really gets played in one country.

I don't really understand this 100%, but what is America's obsession with only really participating in its own sports? Obviously there is a move towards Soccer over there over time but on the whole they seem to keep them in-house?

On the other hand Britain has always been very good at inventing sports which they then export globally and then spend the rest of time getting soundly beaten at by everybody else, so maybe your way is best

[Ruinondd]

Originally Posted by welsh texan

One thing that people often take the piss out of over here is the fact that the Superbowl winners are crowned 'World Champions' of a sport which only really gets played in one country.

I don't really understand this 100%, but what is America's obsession with only really participating in its own sports? Obviously there is a move towards Soccer over there over time but on the whole they seem to keep them in-house?

On the other hand Britain has always been very good at inventing sports which they then export globally and then spend the rest of time getting soundly beaten at by everybody else, so maybe your way is best

We always have kind of done our own thing. Also until not to long ago becoming a fan of any sport but the big 3 and maybe hockey in certain areas was almost impossible. No events to go to, very little on tv and if it was on it was in the middle of the night. No advertising it either, somebody you knew had to tell you about the sport ect ect.

World champs sounds better than Continental champs. It's also true when it comes to football. Complaining about someone being the worlds best in something you don't even care to play is kinda funny. You can't say your best in the world, on this continent we don't play that! Spreading out the talent over hundreds of teams worldwide would SUCK. Rather keep it played at the highest level possible

[welsh texan]

Originally Posted by Ruinondd

We always have kind of done our own thing. Also until not to long ago becoming a fan of any sport but the big 3 and maybe hockey in certain areas was almost impossible. No events to go to, very little on tv and if it was on it was in the middle of the night. No advertising it either, somebody you knew had to tell you about the sport ect ect.

World champs sounds better than Continental champs. It's also true when it comes to football. Complaining about someone being the worlds best in something you don't even care to play is kinda funny. You can't say your best in the world, on this continent we don't play that! Spreading out the talent over hundreds of teams worldwide would SUCK. Rather keep it played at the highest level possible

I know, its not me saying that but its one that I've heard said many times. Also, you'd likely find that if it was played worldwide, the talent pool would be a lot bigger, maybe not straight away but eventually. Just look at us with the Rugby, we invented the game and we can't beat the southern hemisphere trio of Australia New Zealand and South Africa at it.

The one I've never been able to comprehend though, is US motorsport, I'm a huge F1 fan and it is clearly the ultimate, yet American's have hardly made an impact on it, despite the fact they have their own series. Back in the day the Indy 500 used to count towards the World Championship, and the F1 drivers regularly used to go over and beat you guys at your own formula. I can't wait to see what Barrichello can do over there if he gets his drive, he was never top class in F1, despite having some of the best machinery you could hope for, and he's well over the hill, I'm hoping he does really well over there and proves the gulf in class.

[Ruinondd]

I'm sure there would be more talent if the NFL went worldwide, but it would happen far to slowly and the entire sport would suffer. If it was played as it is here, from like age 10 and up, then you could build up a big enough pool of talented players to slowly grow franchises elsewhere.

Didn't mean to suggest the last bit was aimed at you personally :P I'm not sure the NFL can grow much more than it has, we are already almost at the limit of games per year that can be played without killing the players. I really don't want it to get to the point where you never ever see this team play that one, it takes years for some teams to play each other again even now.

Motorsports in the US is much more of a regional thing. Maybe we'd do better if it was bigger here, maybe not. How is it driving across the pond? Do you have to be as paranoid as us about cops? No idea how much actual time they spend doing it, but here they have quotas of tickets to fill every month. Just about every small town on a highway in Texas has speed traps. There really isn't anywhere to just open the throttle unless you want to risk a big ticket.

[gtexan02]

We would need to change the N for national into an I for international. IFL

[welsh texan]

Originally Posted by Ruinondd

I'm sure there would be more talent if the NFL went worldwide, but it would happen far to slowly and the entire sport would suffer. If it was played as it is here, from like age 10 and up, then you could build up a big enough pool of talented players to slowly grow franchises elsewhere.

Didn't mean to suggest the last bit was aimed at you personally :P I'm not sure the NFL can grow much more than it has, we are already almost at the limit of games per year that can be played without killing the players. I really don't want it to get to the point where you never ever see this team play that one, it takes years for some teams to play each other again even now.

Motorsports in the US is much more of a regional thing. Maybe we'd do better if it was bigger here, maybe not. How is it driving across the pond? Do you have to be as paranoid as us about cops? No idea how much actual time they spend doing it, but here they have quotas of tickets to fill every month. Just about every small town on a highway in Texas has speed traps. There really isn't anywhere to just open the throttle unless you want to risk a big ticket.

Well I live only a few miles from the Snowdonia national park, I own a Renaultsport Clio 182, souped to 200 brake, it weighs less than a ton as well, needless to say i've been in court for it more times than I'd like to remember, but the roads are just so damn good some of us just can't help ourselves




But hey, we're getting way off topic, I'll be starting an F1 thread in the sports forum in the next few weeks, the season is nearly upon us and you guys are having a Texas GP, can't wait to find out the fixture list for next season as i'm hoping the Texans have a home game either side of it and making a holiday of it.