Future of the NFL

[hoosierhateruklover]

This is similar to my post regarding the NBA...... With New Orleans rebuilding I wouldn't be surprised to see the Saints make a permanent home in San Antonio especially with owner Tom Benson being a businessman there and he was already threatening to move. The next ? is who moves to LA....There is no excuse for the nations 2nd largest market not to have a team, but who must it be. I just hope its not one of my favorite teams the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their having ticket problems right now. I think in the future the NFL could bring in Mexico City with either Toronto or Las Vegas as relocation cities or expansion cities. What does everyone else think?

[RP_McMurphy]

Jaguars have and don't have ticket problems........They have problems selling 75k tickets but no problem with 65K. The Jaguars wanted Altel at 64K but Jax made the stadium be 76K for the Gator Bowl and Florida/Georgia.

hoosierhateruklover wrote:
This is similar to my post regarding the NBA...... With New Orleans rebuilding I wouldn't be surprised to see the Saints make a permanent home in San Antonio especially with owner Tom Benson being a businessman there and he was already threatening to move. The next ? is who moves to LA....There is no excuse for the nations 2nd largest market not to have a team, but who must it be. I just hope its not one of my favorite teams the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their having ticket problems right now. I think in the future the NFL could bring in Mexico City with either Toronto or Las Vegas as relocation cities or expansion cities. What does everyone else think?

[Doug Hardin]

I don't think you'll see expansion any time in the near future. The scheduling and divisional alignments are too perfect with 32 teams that I don't think the owners or Tagliabue want to mess with anything.

As for LA, the Colts and Cardinals were once considered possibilities, but both are getting new stadiums in the next few years. I would think the Chargers would be the most likely team to move to LA. San Diego just built PetCo for the Padres, so I'm not sure how likely they'd be to build a new place for the Chargers. And moving from San Diego to LA wouldn't be seen as cruel and heartless on the owner's part like when Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore about 10 years ago.

[BrassowFan]

It won't happen but I think Louisville would be far better served with an NFL team rather than flirting with the NBA.

[GeorgiaBlue]

Being that Louisville is the number 50 market - I doubt pro sports will visit there anytime soon. And yes - I know Jacksonville is #52, Buffalo #49, Las Vegas #48, Green Bay #69

However - Las Vegas will probably start to get some more looks over the next couple of years.

[BrassowFan]

I agree, I don't think that Louisville will get a pro sports team anytime soon but I still think that football is a better match rather than the NBA. It has fewer games which would be more affordable and realistic to sell tickets for, due to scheduling between college & pro football there wouldn't be a scheduling conflict and therefore wouldn't fight for local market share. Finally... the people of Kentucky are starved for a real football team. The interest is there, they just don't have a local team to support.

[kauffman21]

fewer games = lower ticket price? PLEASE SOMEONE TELL THIS TO THE BENGALS!!!! Cheap seats are $45-50

[BrassowFan]

kauffman21 wrote: fewer games = lower ticket price? PLEASE SOMEONE TELL THIS TO THE BENGALS!!!! Cheap seats are $45-50
Well... in comparison to the NBA.

[kauffman21]

i can get good reds tickets for 20-30....how much are NBA games? never been to one before

[ukfanman]

With legal betting on sports, I rather imagine that Las Vegas would be a longshot to get a NFL team. While I have no doubt there would good fan support, long term problems, that the NFL does not want to address, could arise.

[BrassowFan]

kauffman21 wrote: i can get good reds tickets for 20-30....how much are NBA games? never been to one before
I think the average price is on the sunny side of $50 for most teams and they go well into the hundreds of dollars.

The important thing is season ticket prices. Regardless of the individual price, it's much cheaper to multiply it by 12 than by 45 and therefore, IMO, is a more affordable commodity for a market like Louisville.

[MudCat]

hoosierhateruklover wrote: This is similar to my post regarding the NBA...... With New Orleans rebuilding I wouldn't be surprised to see the Saints make a permanent home in San Antonio especially with owner Tom Benson being a businessman there and he was already threatening to move. The next ? is who moves to LA....There is no excuse for the nations 2nd largest market not to have a team, but who must it be. I just hope its not one of my favorite teams the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their having ticket problems right now. I think in the future the NFL could bring in Mexico City with either Toronto or Las Vegas as relocation cities or expansion cities. What does everyone else think?
The NFL has repeatedly said that any expansion will be to larger markets, not smaller, and with no team in LA, San Antonio isn't going to get a team, nor will Louisville.

Benson's sent feelers out to LA before, but the NFL is going to be a good "corporate citizen" and keep a team in NOLA. The local economy is just too dependent on the revenue the Saints (and the other conventions) bring in, and the NFL is so image-conscious, they wouldn't do anything to even give the slightest impression that they're bailing on one of their cities in their time of need.

Also, it would beextremely difficult to have the Super Bowl there (NOLA) without a team, and it's one of the most (if not THE most) popular SB city.

A team has to move at this point, to keep the number of teams even, instead of expansion.

I could see Minnesota (especially now that they're not getting their stadium money from the state after the boat incident(s))or Arizona relocatingto LA before anyone else.

I also think the NFL will make it a regular thing to schedule at least one game per year in Mexico.

[BrassowFan]

The only way Louisville will ever get an NFL team is if they seriously bribe some owner to leave their current location and even then I'm not sure how well it would be received by the league. As I stated before, I think that it's a better match for the city but due to the market size and the competition from Cincinnati, Indy and Nashville, I just can't imagine a scenerio in which it could happen.

[MudCat]

Jdb1074 wrote:

The NFL has repeatedly said that any expansion will be to larger markets, not smaller, and with no team in LA, San Antonio isn't going to get a team, nor will Louisville.

Benson's sent feelers out to LA before, but the NFL is going to be a good "corporate citizen" and keep a team in NOLA. The local economy is just too dependent on the revenue the Saints (and the other conventions) bring in, and the NFL is so image-conscious, they wouldn't do anything to even give the slightest impression that they're bailing on one of their cities in their time of need.

Also, it would beextremely difficult to have the Super Bowl there (NOLA) without a team, and it's one of the most (if not THE most) popular SB city.

A team has to move at this point, to keep the number of teams even, instead of expansion.

I could see Minnesota (especially now that they're not getting their stadium money from the state after the boat incident(s))or Arizona relocatingto LA before anyone else.

I also think the NFL will make it a regular thing to schedule at least one game per year in Mexico.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, color me wrong on this one, apparently. Repeatedly over the last couple of days, word from the reporters is that the Saints have most likely played their last game in New Orleans.

Word is they'll be in San Antonion for at least next year, and then either stay there, or possibly relocate to L.A.

I can't believe (without knowing just how bad the SuperDome is now) that the NFL would pull out of New Orleans, but apparently, they (the NFL) still plans to hold Super Bowl games there.

The bad thing is that the Saints just finished a new training complex on Airline Hwy, which is (was?) a very nice, state-of-the-art facility. (Except the cafeteria staff, per Kyle Turley.)

[NotFrank]

kauffman21 wrote: i can get good reds tickets for 20-30....how much are NBA games? never been to one before


My dad and I have season tickets to the Charlotte Bobcats. The seats are 5 rows from midcourt behind the scorers table. The half-court line splits the seats in half. Awesome seats, had them for ten years through the Hornet days. Seat prices went from 85 bucks a piece the last year the Hornets were here, which included parking and Crown Club passes, to 100 bucks a piece last year in the same run down Colesium and didn't include parking or Crown Club. The arena was even worse than the Hornet days. This year tickets went to $175 a piece a game. No parking, no Crown Club. So basically tix have gone up about $100 a piece per game FOR A FREAKING EXPANSION team versus a team that went to the playoffs their last year here. NBA is a ripoff and Bob Johnson, team owner here, is a cheap, racist jerk. The only reason we keep the tickets is it's something my dad and I get to do together.

Basically tix are costing $14000 plus parking...what a deal.

[hoosierhateruklover]

14,000 for an expansion team gauranteed not to make a playoff run....Yea I visited Charlotte the summer they lost the hornets to see how the whole city was reacting and I was quite surprised to see how optimistic the panthers were at Erickson stadium where i took a tour versus the run down Charlotte Coliseum in the middle of nowhere that wouldn't even allow tours. Bob Johnson is a racist but he's always bette than Larry Bird the other bidder. I just wish they would have went with the Charlotte Flight or even dragons instead of the name Bobcats.

[hoosierhateruklover]

Also, I find it quite humorous that New Orleans is in the same position Charlotte was a couple years ago: Fighting another city off for their own teams. Funny thing was when i was in Charlotte I said I would laugh if a hurricane hit New Orleans and forced their teams to move never knowing it would actually happen.

[PhatNastyCat]

Chargers are in the process of looking at a new stadium without tax payer money. They have a long tradition in San Diego and a loyal fan base. Don't expect them to move to L.A.

I wouldn't think that the NFL would put a team in Louisville when they have a franchise in Cincinnati just over the river? I thought putting a team in Jacksonville wasn't agreatselection when you have the Bucs and Dolphins.

It seems to me that if the NFL wanted a team in LA it would have happened by now. It'sbeen a rumor for years and every time an owner is upset with their local situation they play the LA card. Frankly, if any team moves I'd say make it the Saints. The city won't be in a position to support an NFL franchise for a while if ever again. However, I'd prefer to see the team move to a state or area that currently doesn't have access to pro football. Las Vegas would make sense economically, regardless of gambling. Oklahoma City could be an interesting choice depending on how the Hornets do in attendance.

My view of the NFL that is the best run professional sports league. The salary cap works (something baseball needs), there is parity and good weekly competition, consistent revenue from TV, radio andmerchandising, a draft that draws interest and viewership (including the combine), a successful cable network, age restrictions that work for entering the league, and over-allstrong leadership at the top. While you have your stars, they are not held up as bigger than the team. The NBA and MLB spend too much time marketing stars to attract attention to their game.

-PNC

[kauffman21]

PhatNastyCat wrote:

I wouldn't think that the NFL would put a team in Louisville when they have a franchise in Cincinnati just over the river?






just across the river? try 2 hrs away if your speeding! thats almost like saying the bengals and the titans are too close, whats that like 3-4hrs away?

[hoosierhateruklover]

What hurts the Louisville market for NFL potential so bad is the fact that Nashville, Indy, St. Louis, and Cincy ALL have teams. Plus the league is full at 32 and the NFL is already leary about adding more teams to deal with the San Antonio/Los Angeles/ New Orleans Saints mess. Plus Louisville would never be able to afford to build an NFL arena with the basketball arena on its way. The NBA and possibly an NHL team would be an excellent way to start out. Hopefully the when the new Colts stadium gets old in the next generation they'll threaten to move to LA once more or move to Louisville where the name Colts would fit in perfectly!

[BrassowFan]

hoosierhateruklover wrote: What hurts the Louisville market for NFL potential so bad is the fact that Nashville, Indy, St. Louis, and Cincy ALL have teams. Plus the league is full at 32 and the NFL is already leary about adding more teams to deal with the San Antonio/Los Angeles/ New Orleans Saints mess. Plus Louisville would never be able to afford to build an NFL arena with the basketball arena on its way. The NBA and possibly an NHL team would be an excellent way to start out. Hopefully the when the new Colts stadium gets old in the next generation they'll threaten to move to LA once more or move to Louisville where the name Colts would fit in perfectly!
I think that if Louisville were to win the lottery & get an NFL team it would replace the talk of a new arena for basketball, which IMO would be a blessing for them. As I mentioned above, the possibility of keeping an NFL team in a market that size is far more promising than the NBA. As for the NHL, they couldn't even get over 2K to the Panther's games a few years ago.