5 Cities With Potential NFL Teams

On the eve of the Super Bowl, NFL commissioner, Roger Goddell has suggested that if there was to be an expansion, not just 1 but 2 teams would be added to ensure an even number of teams. Yes it would probably mean two divisions would have 5 teams but the NFL has been there before of course.

So which cities would host a potential NFL franchise in the next round of expansion? Here are my 5:

5. Las Vegas
Las Vegas is America's premiere resort city and one of its biggest tourist attractions. The Las Vegas metropolitan area is also one of the fastest growing regions in America in terms of population and wealth. It is also one of the largest metro areas without a professional sports teams although this might be down to the casino links which the major leagues have publicly tried to avoid. However, one of the leagues will eventually take the first blind leap of faith into a potentially lucrative market that has yet to be tapped. After all, Vegas already hosts one of the bowls and numerous international sporting events.

4. San Antonio
San Antonio is another untapped market when it comes to professional sports. Yes, America's 7th largest city has the San Antonio Spurs, one of the NBA's great teams of recent times, but the city is capable of hosting at least one more professional team. And given Texas' love with football, a pro football team would do quite well in San Antonio. After all, Texas is big enough for more than two pro football teams and its many college football teams.

3. Toronto
Expansion is a great opportunity to tap into the NFL's growing appeal as an international sport and Toronto is the largest city in the USA's 2nd largest market, Canada. The big city north of the border is already hosting one regular season game a year with great attendances - helped by the fact that Toronto is the nearest "big" city to Buffalo. With the NFL stating strongly that the current status quo will remain, it means the Bills will probably not move across the border meaning Toronto could have its own brand new team possibly in an expanded Rogers Centre, and fill the hole left once the CFL season concludes. The Toronto team could have the same effect as the Maple Leafs and Raptors do in the MLB and NBA.  

2. London
The success of hosting regular season games at Wembley Stadium since 2007 has had the NFL salivating strongly at the possibility that the world's most cosmopolitan city is capable of hosting its own NFL franchise. London's chances are quite strong here with talk of the Super Bowl even going over there in the future. There are a few issues to deal with: a) Wembley Stadium is still very much English football's home and the FA might not take it too kindly having their showpiece stadium ripped apart by a foreign sport, b) the 8 hour flight to the first ports of call on the East Coast of the USA - it'd take a day trip for the Pacific teams to travel to London for their one and only game. Scheduling would be key - the NFL could have a look at Super Rugby and see how the South Africans, Australians and Kiwis cope with travelling long distances over the regular season.

1. Los Angeles  
This is a no-brainer. It's a travesty that the NFL has not had a presence in America's largest media market since 1994. The NFL is trying hard to get at least a team back in the Los Angeles metropolitan area but the stadium needs to be built to facilitate that. The calls for a brand new stadium are growing stronger though and LA's drought could be over very soon. The NFL would dearly like that to be sorted out sooner rather than later as it tries to claw back the market share that the NBA and NHL have built over the years in the City of Angels.