Okay, let me walk you through how I ended up digging into why some states just don’t have an NFL team. It wasn’t some big research project, more like a thought that popped into my head and I decided to poke around.
My Starting Point: Just Plain Curious
So, I was probably just channel surfing or maybe looking at a US map for something completely different, and it kinda struck me – wait a minute, not every state has a pro football team? I mean, the NFL feels like it’s everywhere, right? My first, kinda simple thought was, well, maybe those states just don’t have enough people. Seemed logical enough at first glance.
Doing a Bit of Digging
But then I got thinking. Is it really just population? I decided to actually look it up. I pulled up a list of states and a map showing where the NFL teams are located. Straight away, I saw some states without teams that, yeah, are pretty small population-wise. Okay, that fits.
But, I also noticed some states without teams aren’t exactly tiny. And some cities with teams aren’t in the most populated states overall. So, I figured, population alone can’t be the whole story. It’s gotta be more complicated.
My next step was thinking about the money side of things. These teams, the stadiums, everything – it costs a fortune. I started considering things like:
- Market Size: Maybe it’s not just the number of people in the state, but in the bigger region, the TV market. You need enough folks watching games, buying merchandise, you know, supporting the team financially. A state might have decent numbers, but maybe the population is too spread out, or the nearby big city is already in another state with a team.
- Stadium Costs: Building an NFL-level stadium is crazy expensive. Billions, sometimes. I realized that getting the funding together, often needing taxpayer money, is a huge hurdle. Maybe some states just haven’t had the political will or the economic means to make that happen.
- Competition & Loyalty: Then I thought about existing fan loyalties. In some areas, college football is king, absolutely massive. Maybe an NFL team would struggle to compete for attention and dollars. Or, maybe folks in a state without a team are already die-hard fans of a team in a neighboring state. Think about places like Alabama or Oklahoma with huge college programs, or states in New England mostly rooting for the Patriots. It’s hard to break those established loyalties.
- The NFL’s Role: It’s not like anyone can just start an NFL team. The league itself decides on expansion or allows teams to relocate. They’re looking for the best possible markets – stable, wealthy, large media presence. They’re pretty selective.
Putting It All Together
So, after mulling it over and connecting these dots, it became clear it wasn’t one single thing. It’s really a mix. You need a big enough, concentrated group of potential fans and corporate support (the market). You need someone, often including the public, willing to shell out massive amounts of cash for a stadium. You need to consider if people aren’t already locked into supporting another nearby pro team or a dominant college team. And ultimately, the NFL has to see it as a good business move.
It’s less about a state simply “deserving” a team and more about whether the specific conditions – money, media market, fan potential, lack of overwhelming competition, and league approval – all line up. Some states just don’t tick all those boxes right now.
Anyway, that was my little journey figuring that out. Started with simple curiosity and ended up seeing it’s a whole web of factors. Kinda interesting when you break it down.
