List of major cities in U.S Lacking an NFL Football team
Several major cities and regional business centers in the continental United States lack an NFL (Football) team franchise. The following list only includes cities with metro populations greater than 800,000, witch would be the smallest a metropolitan area should be to support an NFL franchise. A partial list of such cities without an NFL team is as follows (in order by decreasing population of metropolitan area):
City |
Metropolitan area population (2012 est.) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
Los Angeles, California |
13,131,431 |
Lost the Rams to St. Louis, Missouri in 1994, then lost the Raiders to Oakland, California in 1995. |
Boston, Massachusetts |
4,590,000 |
The New England Patriots (Which now play in Foxborough) once played in Boston and were known as the Boston Patriots until 1971. |
Sacramento, California |
2,600,000 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Portland, Oregon |
2,314,554 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
San Antonio, Texas |
2,277,550 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Orlando, Florida |
2,267,846 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Las Vegas, Nevada |
2,000,759 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
San Jose, California |
1,975,342 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Columbus, Ohio |
1,944,002 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Providence, Rhode Island |
1,630,956 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
1,569,659 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Memphis, Tennessee |
1,341,746 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
1,319,677 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Louisville, Kentucky |
1,251,351 |
Lost the Brecks (Breckenridges) in 1924, then lost the Colonels in 1926. |
Raleigh, North Carolina |
1,214,516 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Hartford, Connecticut |
1,212,381 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Salt Lake City, Utah |
1,140,483 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Birmingham, Alabama |
1,140,300 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Norfolk, Virginia |
1,047,869 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Tuscon, Arizona |
996,544 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
951,880 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Bridgeport, Connecticut |
925,899 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Stamford, Connecticut |
916,829 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Albuquerque, New Mexico |
903,000 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Omaha, Nebraska |
895,151 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Albany, New York |
870,716 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
New Haven, Connecticut |
862,477 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Knoxville, Tennessee |
848,350 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
El Paso, Texas |
831,036 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Allentown–Bethlehem, Pennsylvania |
827,171 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
815,298 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
McAllen, Texas |
806,552 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
Dayton, Ohio |
800,792 |
Never had an NFL franchise. |
See also
- U.S. states without major sports teams