Mentioned in post #5. 
You shouldn’t believe it because I did mention it
Before those mergers there was an opportunity for competition. The merged leagues have saturated the market, there aren’t any major cities that don’t have teams for those sports. The WFL had the best chance, they had a lot of money and managed to poach some quality players, but it was already too late. There’s just not enough talent and not enough demand to put on big-time games that will attract people. I think it was the USFL that tried for anti-trust action against the NFL but the case fell apart. IIRC they couldn’t show that they were harmed by the NFL, they folded because they couldn’t sell tickets or get sponsors.
What? There are tons of major cities with no NFL team. Just in the top 20 media markets there’s LA, Sacramento and Orlando. There are another 20 cities in the top 50 media markets with no NFL team (though admittedly there is some overlap between the territories they would serve under the NFL assignment system.)
If those were viable markets the NFL would have expanded into them already. So yes there are major cities, but not ones that have been considered worthwhile for expansion. If you can’t make a go of an NFL team in a city then a secondary league team isn’t going to do any better.
That’s circular reasoning.
LA is not a viable market? Granted, there’s some solid evidence for that, but c’mon.
Don’t dismiss college or high school football entirely, not if you’re interested in the entire fan experience, not just quality of play. The play at the largest football colleges is not all that much below the NFL, either. Granted, you might not be interested in a high school game (outside Texas) if you don’t have a family member or boyfriend on the team, and if you didn’t go there, but there’s more to it than that.
If you’re interested in just being part of the crowd, cheering for the same team as everyone around you, participating in the songs and chants and whatever silly and fun rituals they do, in watching some very find marching bands (they practice just as hard as the players, and go to class, too), watching cheerleaders, eating greasy snacks, yelling at dramatic points in the game, freezing your face off sometimes, well, you can find that at pretty much any college on any autumn Saturday.
So the game on the field is a little different than what you’re used to; it’s about just being there. If it’s only the game you care about, there’s always one on TV. If it’s only the score or the stats, as it is for some, the Internet is everywhere.
Setting LA aside for the moment (since it has its own set of issues, but it seems fairly likely to be home to one or more teams within the next few seasons)…
Sacramento is its own media market, but it’s within 90 miles of both San Francisco and Oakland. I imagine that there are a lot of 49er and Raider fans in Sacramento, who would not necessarily switch loyalties to an expansion team.
Similarly, Orlando is less than 90 miles from Tampa, and the state already has three NFL franchises (at least one of which, Jacksonville, struggles to generate a viable fan base as it is). I suspect that trying to draw fan attention away from college football is also a challenge in Florida.
Looking at the other top 50 markets with no NFL team, in lot of situations, you can make a strong case for one or more of the following:
(a) Though it’s a separate media market, it’s still quite close to the home market of a current NFL franchise (examples: Hartford, West Palm Beach)
(b) Fans in that market are already likely to be well-established fans of a current team (examples: Milwaukee, Raleigh-Durham)
(c) It’s a market with a big college football tradition (examples: Columbus, Austin)
You might make a case for Montreal or Vancouver as an expansion site, if the NFL weren’t already cautious about it killing the CFL and eliminating a source of backup talent. Toronto already gets a Bills game every year, and it’s always possible for the team to leave their small market in Buffalo if it comes to that.
Jacksonville just isn’t a viable market, and wouldn’t have a team at all if the Baltimore bid in its round of expansion hadn’t been so messed up. They often get mentioned as likely to move to LA, if the Rams, Raiders, and Chargers (who all used to play there) don’t beat them back. But the Jags owner, Shahid Khan, is probably more interested in moving them to London, despite the logistical nightmares (he also owns Fulham FC). They already play a game there every year, since filling the stadium in Jacksonville consistently is hopeless.
I’d agree with you but would point out that the Toronto Bills series was terminated in 2013.
CFL or no, it’s only a matter of time before Toronto has an NFL team, whether it’s an expansion or a transplant. The NFL cannot ignore a market in the 4th largest city in North America with 6 million people in the GTA and many, many more in the surrounding area.
Montreal and Vancouver would be harder sells and they’ve had some major sports franchises fail.
Part of the problem is that during that time of year, every good player is already on an NFL/CFL roster. Don’t think about watching the guys who are not quite good enough to make the 53-man; think about the guys not good enough to make the NFL 90-man … or the CFL … or the Arena league … and who are willing to risk the injury instead of just working out and waiting.
As comparison – the MVP of that league might be the 150th best QB in America. The 150th best shortstop in America is in the low minors playing in front of 300 people.
I’ve always thought the best idea was one from a couple years ago: building a league around college fanbases – imagine a team of recent Florida/FSU/Miami alum playing a Bama/Auburn team.
That’s not a bad idea. I’ve always thought a professional league specifically for 18-23 year olds could work. It should be easy to attract kids out of high school who aren’t eligible for the NFL but would like to make money playing football.
You can go watch the beer leagues any time you’re interested.
The skilled ones are “making money” already, in the sense that they’re in college on academic scholarship; the college football machine has a lot invested in getting those players into their system.
So, such a league would be made up of players who either (a) aren’t good enough to get a scholarship (b) are so unprepared academically that they can’t get into a college program, or (c) are desperate or foolish enough to pass up going to college for a paycheck right now.
With a quick check on Google, I found a website dedicate to minor league football.
Semi-pro Football Headquarters / Minor League Football Headquarters
Take a look at post #7
So when you say they’re “making money,” you mean they’re not making any actual money.
17 of the 36 first round picks in the MLB draft the other day were high school guys. Now, maybe some of those kids will choose to go to college because baseball allows for that, unlike the NFL. I’d guess most first round guys will sign. I actually think it’s more foolish to pass on the paycheck now. Spend and invest wisely and if in a few years you need a college education, you can pay for it.
Cash in hand? No, of course not. But, a full ride at a university is worth in the mid-five digits per year, and that’s likely at least as much as a minor-league football league could afford to pay players. And, at the end of their college “careers”, most of those players will have degrees, or be close to it, as well as having had several seasons of professional coaching and training.
The vast majority of college football players will never even sign with a pro team, much less have a chance of making any significant money playing pro football…but at least they’ve had the opportunity to go to college. (Whether or not they made anything out of that opportunity is another issue.)
Baseball is, of course, structured far differently than football, and has the established minor-league system for training future major leaguers. The NFL has long tacitly acknowledged that their minor-league system is college football.
I highlighted a phrase there, because it’s key. Many, many NFL players have serious problems with managing their money, and an awful lot of them wind up broke soon after their playing career ends…and that’s guys who (a) attended college, (b) are in their early to mid 20s, and (c) have the benefit of the NFL’s education programs on how to manage their income.
Yes, absolutely, there are football players coming out of high school who really have no business going to college, and want to / need to make money right away. I don’t disagree with that premise. But, you have 18 year olds who are (a) broke, and (b) lack the education (and possibly intelligence) to thrive in college…and you expect them to “spend and invest wisely”?
Huh? The NFL isn’t stopping anyone from going to college. If you’re drafted and don’t sign with the team that drafts you within 12 months, you re-enter the draft pool. The NFL essentially stops players from signing without going to college, by dint of its three year rule.
I think you missed my point. When you declare for the NFL draft you become NCAA ineligible. Plenty of college juniors have left for the NFL and then go undrafted and, well, sorry. Maybe they get picked up as UDFA, maybe not. But they can’t come back and play college football.
The MLB draft does not require such a “declaration” and therefore if you’re drafted out of HS you have a choice to sign with the MLB team or go to college.