Sound Off: The NFL Expanding in the States & Beyond

[RJTurneR]

Ok, so once again the International Series game has been a big success and now the UK fans will go off debating whether or not it's realistic to have a franchise here.

The NFLUK forums are hot with this topic right now, and I thought I'd get some opinions from your side. Clearly, the NFL wishes to expand again, with a franchise in LA and London. This would bring the teams up to 34, and kind of screw up the divisions. What someone else suggested would be to try and expand to 36 with a team in LA, London, Canada and possibily another city in America (San Antonio came up a few times).

This would then make it so there are 36 teams, with 2 conferences, 3 divisions of 6 teams each conference.

Long term, I think the NFL will continue to expand possibily even past that number, given there are some cities that are maybe capable of having a franchise. Places like Oregon, Nebraska, Nevada, and maybe Hawaii. Over the next 2-3 decades we could see a big increase in the number of teams, the NFL has not hidden it's desire to 'grow the game further'.

So what are your guys thoughts on all this. Is London really capable of having a franchise? Are there still places in America which the NFL could invest in? Do you think there will be a big increase in teams in the distant future?

And just so you all know, I am very much on the fence about having a franchise over here. Very unsure.

[jth1331]

I highly, highly doubt we get to that many teams.
I think leagues are starting to see that having too many teams can actually be a bad thing.
I stand by the thought I honestly don't realistically see a team being able to keep up in the UK/overseas. Teams will HATE having to travel there, and the UK team will have a tough time traveling to the USA.

The NFL already has some teams struggling, being sold/bought, that they need to shore up here in the USA. Talk of a lot of teams possibly relocating.

I just see how crappy some teams are right now, and how there are so many teams struggling to maintain solid rosters, and the thought of increasing teams, diluting the talent pool some more, just makes me cringe on what the possible product might be out there.

[SPTO]

The NFL seems hell bent to put a team in London so I suppose that'll happen. It looks like the Chargers are going to be heading to LA once Farmers Field is built in the LA Downtown area so that takes care of the LA situation. Owners could get greedy and put an expansion team there as well but I think the more realistic option is to give an expansion team to Toronto or perhaps San Antonio.

We'll see how it develops.

[RJTurneR]

Quote:

The NFL seems hell bent to put a team in London so I suppose that'll happen.

At first, when it was rumoured a few years back, it sounded pretty cool. But now I can just see the whole thing falling flat on it's face.

I'm all for a sport trying to bring new fans in and expanding it's horizons, but London is not the way.

[NikeBlitz]

It's a pipedream. Bring NFL Europe back instead.

[av7]

Just like LA, it will go down in flames.

[Lieutenant Dan]

I love seeing the popularity going up in the UK, but I think that the Atlantic Ocean is just too big to make a team there work

[mestevo]

Quote: Originally Posted by jth1331

I highly, highly doubt we get to that many teams. I think leagues are starting to see that having too many teams can actually be a bad thing. I stand by the thought I honestly don't realistically see a team being able to keep up in the UK/overseas. Teams will HATE having to travel there, and the UK team will have a tough time traveling to the USA. The NFL already has some teams struggling, being sold/bought, that they need to shore up here in the USA. Talk of a lot of teams possibly relocating. I just see how crappy some teams are right now, and how there are so many teams struggling to maintain solid rosters, and the thought of increasing teams, diluting the talent pool some more, just makes me cringe on what the possible product might be out there.

Teams being sold/bought has little to do with them struggling. Yeah the Browns were just bought... for $1b.

The issue in other leagues from my perspective of really only being a fan of the NFL is not that there are too many teams, but instead too many games. Games just don't mean nearly as much when you are playing 50-100+ games in a season.

As for the topic, expansion is inevitable but I'm not sure exactly how they will/should do it - the logistics for London really still don't add up for me, as you'd lose the luxury of a bye to coincide with every game overseas - especially for the team based there. I've always wanted the NFL to expand to 18 games, with each team playing their expanded schedule internationally (London, Mexico City, Tononto, etc) and at neutral sites throughout the US. I expect the schedule expansion will probably come a year before or the year of team expansion.

Owners have the ability under the new CBA to nix 2 preseason games. Because the players negotiated a percentage of income, their salaries will go down if they don't want an 18 game schedule at that point. With the improvements to player safety prior to and especially under the new CBA, an expanded schedule is inevitable and debatably not as taxing to a player's health/career if it were done years ago.