As if the NFL isn’t already popular enough around the country, now there’s a possibility that two more markets will get to enjoy an NFL franchise of their own. Los Angeles is an automatic consideration given the movement for a new stadium and the consistent rumors of a current team moving there. The other team? That’s unknown at this time. But it would be exciting for sure to witness expansion in this season of the NFL’s popularity.
“We probably don’t want to go to 33” teams by adding just one new club if a suitable stadium is built in the Los Angeles area, Goodell said. Instead, the league would consider adding two. An odd number of teams would pose scheduling problems, including at least one club being off each week, and would create one division with five teams.
The possibility is raised in the AP report above that two franchises could land in SoCal, but that would be an incredible feat considering the NFL has done just fine without a single franchise there. Certainly a better move would be to expand in a market hungry for the NFL that’s currently not there.
If anything, it makes sense to hold off on expansion until the NFL feels they have a significant enough foothold in London to expand. If the league is hell-bent on making an inroads on the international level, forcing teams to travel there and miss a home game makes no sense when they can expand into the region. It’s a stretch, but it makes sense if you follow the NFL’s current marketing strategy.