Why Are There Major Cities With No NFL Team?

by Will Brown, August 26, 2025

Despite being the most popular major professional league in the US, there are still several major cities with no NFL team. In some cases, the cities have previously hosted teams that eventually relocated to other larger markets, while others have never had a chance despite having large populations. In this guide, we’ve explored the cities and states without teams, how the NFL judges new franchise city candidates, and potential new markets that could be approved.

Why Do Some States Not Have NFL Teams?

There are a range of reasons why the largest cities with no NFL team have been overlooked. This includes a lack of infrastructure, competition with college sports, and previous teams in the cities going bankrupt. Our guide discusses both cities and states that remain NFL-free.

From there, we’ve looked at what the NFL looks for when approving new franchises, before discussing the cities and states that have multiple teams. To round out this guide, we’ve unpacked the prospects of both domestic and international cities that could open a franchise in the future.

• The Largest Cities With No Teams
• The States With No Teams
• The NFL Expansion Approval Process
• Cities With Multiple Teams
• Potential New Cities

The Largest Cities With No NFL Team

For this guide, we define a large city as either having a population of around one million people or a city with a rich culture and strong economy that could support a team. In some instances, these omissions are baffling, with the cities already home to passionate NFL fans and appropriate infrastructure.

One of the most notable large cities to be excluded from franchise hosting is San Antonio, Texas. With a metropolitan population of around 2.6 million, San Antonio is already home to the NBA’s Spurs as well as the 64,000-seat Alamodome Stadium, which currently hosts college football games. The biggest challenge for San Antonio’s prospects is that many locals already support the Dallas Cowboys.

As the recent home of the Chargers, San Diego, California is also now without a team. The team relocated to Los Angeles after it failed to secure a new stadium. This left its metropolitan population of 3.3 million without a local team to back, and while it remains a viable market, little has been done to fund a stadium that would suit the league’s needs.

In some cases, competition from other state cities makes opening a franchise untenable. With a metropolitan population of 2.7 million, Ohio’s largest city of Columbus is larger than Cleveland or Cincinnati. Despite this, the other cities host NFL franchises. The popularity of Ohio State’s college team also seems to have met the population’s demands for local football.

To summarize, cities are often overlooked due to underwhelming local interest, a lack of public or private funding, competition with nearby teams, or insufficient infrastructure. Below is a list of the 10 cities with no NFL team that have large metropolitan populations:

• San Diego, California – 3.3 million
• St. Louis, Missouri – 2.8 million
• San Antonio, Texas – 2.6 million
• Austin, Texas – 2.5 million
• Orlando, Florida – 2.7 million
• Sacramento, California – 2.4 million
• Portland, Oregon – 2.5 million
• Salt Lake City, Utah – 1.3 million
• Columbus, Ohio – 2.1 million
• Virginia Beach–Norfolk, Virginia – 1.8 million

Of the above cities, only St. Louis and San Diego have previously hosted teams. In 2016, the St. Louis Rams moved to Los Angeles, sparking a successful lawsuit against the team’s owner and the NFL. The team’s former stadium of The Dome at America’s Center, now hosts games of the UFL’s Battlehawks.

The States With No NFL Teams

While it’s clear why some cities don’t have teams, what is even more surprising is the fact that 26 states are not represented in the NFL. While some looks to be great future prospects, others are simply too small to ever justify opening a new franchise. The states with no teams include:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Maine
• Mississippi
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

So why do some states not have NFL teams? Often, it’s because they do not have cities with metropolitan populations large enough to financially support a team. In other instances, especially in the South, the locals are more than happy with the thriving college football options as can be seen by local betting behavior at the best NFL online sportsbooks.

For these states to open a new franchise, they would either need to find alternative stadiums for their college teams or build expensive stadiums. For example, for Las Vegas to host the Raiders, they needed to invest nearly $2 billion to build Allegiant Stadium alone. States with a much lower volume of tourists would struggle to justify this expense.

How the NFL Approves New NFL Cities

If some of the largest cities with no NFL team wanted to open a franchise, they would need to pass a rigorous approval process from the NFL. One of the league’s biggest concerns is that the franchise could be economically sustained for the long term. This would require a large fan base, local investment, and corporate sponsorship deals.

The NFL has strict stadium requirements of more than 50,000 seats with specific dimensions and guarantees for game day temperatures. When considering weather alone, the answer to the question “Why do some states not have NFL teams?” is clear. Amenities such as ample parking, training facilities, transport, and hotel accommodations are also essential.

Any proposed franchise must also have backing from an approved ownership group. At the end of the application process, the league must approve the expansion with a three-fourths majority of franchise owners. This could make things difficult for cities such as San Antonio or Austin, for example, if there is resistance from other Texas teams’ owners.

The Cities With Two Teams

The NFL team’s city and state with the most storied representation in the league is New York, New York. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, with a metropolitan population of over 23 million. The city is represented by both the Giants and the Jets. The Giants were established in 1925, while the Jets joined in 1959.

The only other city with two teams is Los Angeles, which is represented by the Rams and the Chargers. Interestingly, LA wasn’t represented in the league at all between 1995 and 2015, with the Rams relocating in 2016, followed by the Chargers in 2017. Again, its metropolitan population of over 18 million justifies this.

It’s not just the size of the local market that justifies hosting two teams in these cities. Both have a wealth of state-of-the-art sporting infrastructure, are major international business hubs, can host millions of tourists, have established media markets, and attract large corporate sponsors. This ensures their economic sustainability and longevity.

Potential New Franchise Cities

So, what states have NFL teams on the way? When it comes to infrastructure, Missouri is perhaps the best candidate. Having previously hosted the Rams until 2016, The Dome stadium has the capacity and facilities to support a new team. Its local population has also proven to have a strong appetite for a team.

Both Texas and California, with their sizable populations, could also host new franchises. Austin has experienced explosive growth in the last decade, thanks to a booming technology sector and post-pandemic migration. This could make it easy to find private funding. San Diego in California, too, is a suitable prospect.

Of course, there has also been plenty of talk about international franchises. Teams in Mexico City or Toronto are geographically viable, while recent international series games in London, Madrid, Dublin, and Germany have been seen to be potential gauges of how European teams could fare. While the NFL hasn’t revealed expansion plans, its pursuit of global expansion is no secret.