Sunday, February 13, 2011

Future UFL Cities?

Apparently the UFL won't be expanding this year, but the thought of the little professional football league made me think about what cities might be good choices for expansion. What follows is a list of the largest metropolitan areas that do not have an NFL team located within a 2.5-hour drive.

Portland
San Antonio
[Las Vegas]*
(Austin)**
[Virginia Beach]*
Memphis
Oklahoma City
Salt Lake City
(Tulsa)**
Fresno
Honolulu
Albuquerque
[Omaha]*
El Paso
McAllen

The UFL has kept talking about Portland and San Antonio, but evidently can't find any local businessmen to pay for a team in either town.

The thought that the southern tip of Texas would be the tenth-best location for a UFL expansion makes me believe that the NFL currently has the country well-covered. L.A. is not on this list because it's less than two hours from San Diego. If the Vikings leave Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul would be top of this list. If the Jaguars leave Jacksonville, that city would be just ahead of Memphis.

*Cities in square brackets already have UFL teams. The other two UFL cities (Sacramento and Hartford) are within two hours of NFL cities (Oakland and New York).
**Cities in parentheses are near a larger city on this list that doesn't have a team.