And out of fashion with most of my blogospheric condition and campaign for a multi-town team, I'm saying pick one. Pick one city in the east and one in the west that should get a NFL team.
West: Boise, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Austin/San Antonio, Little Rock and Vegas of the Las. I guess I could stretch and touch onto untoucheds like Omaha and Albuquerque. Honorable mentions.
East: Louisville, Toronto and Birmingham
Okay, I'll go east to west.
I'd say Birmingham if not for the reality of Jacksonville. But sorry. And I find 3 teams in Florida as bleh, especially under the same expansion drafting with their southeastern region neighbor in Carolina.
Without embracing my Canadian brand idea of Norde Force with a multi-CFL-Stadium-sharing football, I can't vote for Toronto. Different week, different Canadian towns for such a franchise I think could work, and Canadian television ratings and northern unity would kill it. In a good way. I think the NFL and CFL could co-exist and the NFL would serve as a northern unifier and perhaps enhance Canada's brand. The NCAA tit to our NFL tat, if you will. Maybe one day we could share a minor league system.
See this November's post mentioning minor league football.
Proximity to Colts Country and Bengal Brand could be an argument against locating in Louisville. But rivalry. And that's good.
I vote for Louisville. And before, I've blogged about the
Kentucky Downs.
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Out of the many choices of the west, I'm partial to be braver with a twice per month venue, in a sport with many suitable stadiums in place like football. So I mull over the likes of Little Rock. SEC college football's presence there doesn't make my choice seem so much as brave as logical. OKC already has a big ball. So does SLC. They have big balls in Utah already, both are round and one is already afoot. Texas already has enough big balls; maybe not big enough to them, like Texas sized for a measure, but I'm more apt to share and spread the love with OKC than central Texas. Ditto for El Paso and further west to New Mexico's Santa Fe or Albuquerque, though that might be a good idea since there's no big shadow of super major college football to compete or overcome.
I would've thought MLS and then NBA, in that order for Las Vegas as its first sports landings. And again, a weekly buildup for football can work in a lot of places. But Las Vegas is one of the worldly never sleepsing towns, and as cosmo as it is, their football should be true to its name. The international football kicked more frequently with feet that is. My vote is for that soccer futbol over the elbowfingerball American brand. I'd love Vegas to share the West Coast Raiders. But anyway.
So my virgin choice of Little Rock is there and Boise is up for consideration too. Boise Blues has a ring to it? Boise Blue Legs? If you know your football and fields I won't have to break it down for ya'.
And oh God, how it's hard to resist this one-choice quandary as I box myself in with a title and convention. I'd like to combine OKC and Little Rock into a two or more state regional powerbrand by having a Midland Stampede team or Mustangs brand. Or Midland Cattlemen (take that CowBoys!).
But I'm sorry, heart over mind: Oklahoma City wins. Population of all of Arkansas is 3 mill. Little Rock Band has a nice ring to it though right? Oklahoma Oilers is alliteration. OKC Cattlemen does too. But here's my expansion of brand compromise. It ain't the Boston Patriots, baby. The team is in Oklahoma City but I still want it with the Midland name. That's more than a 7 million people name. Express, Pack, whatever.
Midland. Oklahoma City.
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| Don't be a dry old jive turkey. Be unconventional. If we can't do two-town teams, especially in the multiple games per week sports, look to brands like New England, Golden State and Carolina; not the unFlorida Marlins or unCalifornia Angels of Anaheim. |
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Louisville. OKC. Kentucky. Midland.
As you can see, either way, I'm more for an expansive expansion. Regional Sports Network this. Think apparel with that. Cha-ching.
See much more expansion, co-location and relocation talk for
football, baseball,
basketball, hockey and soccer on my blog
