Fansided

10 cities that need NFL expansion teams

By Brad Berreman

TORONTO, CANADA - JUNE 28: Toronto Blue Jays fans watch from the standing room section in center field during MLB game action against the Chicago White Sox on June 28, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - JUNE 28: Toronto Blue Jays fans watch from the standing room section in center field during MLB game action against the Chicago White Sox on June 28, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
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Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

7. St. Louis

The “Gateway to the West” has now had two NFL teams leave it in the last 30 years, with the Cardinals bolting for Arizona in time for the 1988 season and the Rams of course going back to Los Angeles in 2016. That may make putting an expansion team there a particularly hard pill for the NFL to swallow, but if a new stadium can somehow land on the city’s broader agenda the league would surely have its curiosity peaked. Even without a new stadium in St. Louis, the Edward Jones Dome is an NFL venue that is theoretically set to go and should remain so.

The Rams never really felt like St. Louis’ team, and even the Cardinals brought some history to town from Chicago back in 1960. An expansion team would bring a proverbial clean slate, with its own franchise history from the start and the cultivation of a fan base from the ground up.

St. Louis is a major league city, with teams in MLB and the NHL along with being a past home of an NBA team (the St. Louis Hawks, 1955-1968). The NFL may be hesitant to go back, without the glitz and glamour Los Angeles and Las Vegas offer, but St. Louis is an easy, ready-made expansion option if the league goes in that direction.

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