St. Louis had the Rams from 1995 through 2015, before they left for Los Angeles. Could the city be a strong expansion candidate? , with episodes released once a week. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland. Follow him on Twitter here:
In America, things have evolved differently. While minor league baseball has spread out across the country, those teams aren't independent. There's no promotion and relegation. Teams leave their local fans and move to another city or even another coast without repercussions. Franchises have been granted the rights to their cities and push back if anyone moves into their territory.
I've included a number of college cities as potential landing spots for teams here, although I've left others out if there's a notable NFL team nearby. Do they exist as a hybrid team with professional status and the history of the college football team? Are they a smaller franchise that relies upon the existing fan base of the school and probably focuses on signing alumni of that college in free agency? I'll let you decide.
: While there are certainly people in Portland who root for the Seahawks by default, that would change quickly if Oregon's largest city landed a football team. Think about the rivalry between the: Again, by default, the people of Spokane have little choice but to be Seahawks fans if they want to support a"local" NFL team. With the city nearly 300 miles east of Seattle, they could just as easily have their own team and draw fans from the nearby area.
Mobile, Alabama, hosts the Senior Bowl ahead of the NFL combine every year. Could it support an NFL team? : You probably saw this one coming as well. Most minor and/or spring football leagues have tried placing a football team in Birmingham, which makes sense; there's a large population base and a huge passion for football in Alabama. That usually hasn't led to the expected results.