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International Edition: Breakdown of international expansion with 36 teams

By Dean Mullen

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Aerial view of Wembley Stadium, which will play host to its second NFL regular season game, this photo taken on October 24, 2008 in London. The match will be between the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers. Almost 90,000 American football fans are expected to attend. (Photo by David Goddard/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 24: Aerial view of Wembley Stadium, which will play host to its second NFL regular season game, this photo taken on October 24, 2008 in London. The match will be between the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers. Almost 90,000 American football fans are expected to attend. (Photo by David Goddard/Getty Images) /
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In my opinion, Roger Goodell is going to eventually expand overseas. The only question is when and where. This is the proposal for realignment with five international teams added.

The addition of five international teams is a bit extravagant. But this scenario is mere speculative. Obviously, adding five teams would make an imbalanced league. Additionally, having 37 teams wouldn’t make any sense.

However, if one team relocates to a foreign country, the math does add up. Arguably, most of the rumors that have been named about relocation have been about the Jacksonville Jaguars. The easy locale should be put in London. London is a sure bet to get a team first. That’s evident by the increasing amount of games in recent years. No doubt, the NFL can play it conservative and move one team to London.

Presumably, that is the most likely scenario. Be that as it may, the commissioner may wanna dream a bit bigger. Moreover, Goodell has mentioned several times that international expansion shall go beyond England.  Furthermore, it makes sense to go ahead and make the NFL presence known beyond London.

As a matter of fact, here is a very interesting article that is written by Nate Silver from Fivethirtyeight.com. In this article, Silver gives a statistical approximation for countries that already has an NFL following. Mexico has over 20 million people with 7% of those people fans of the NFL. This would breakdown to around 1.5 million fans in just Mexico City alone. The other cities in my proposal range from 400,000 fans to about 1 million. These numbers of course aren’t exact but give a range of possibilities of the support there at present.

Regardless, the four teams added with London are: Germany, Toronto, Vancouver, and Mexico City. The NFL breaks down to just six divisions instead of eight that exists now. The AFC and NFC would have 18 teams in each conference with three divisions in each. Imagine the possibilities for Monday Night Football. The Saints vs. Germany, New England vs. London, or a battle of Canada Toronto vs. Vancouver. This expansion would help brand the NFL in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. This is exactly how the league would look.

(* Denotes teams added from the International proposal)

NFC

NFC East                  

Dallas

Philadelphia

Washington

New York Giants

Arizona

Mexico*

NFC North                                  

Chicago

Green Bay

Detroit

Minnesota

Toronto*

Vancouver*

NFC South                                 

Saints

Atlanta

Carolina

Tampa

San Fran

L.A. Rams

AFC East

Buffalo

Jets

Miami

New England

Germany*

London*

AFC North

Cleveland

Pittsburgh

Baltimore

Cincinnati

Houston

Tennessee

AFC West

Denver

San Diego

K.C.

Oakland

Seattle

Colts

The Saints would regain their old NFC West opponents with the Rams and 49ers. The Canadian teams get added to the geographically centered NFC North. Additionally, Mexico and Arizona joins the NFC East. In the AFC, Germany and London are geographically closest to the AFC East. Also, Seattle gets moved back to the AFC West along with Indianapolis. In Addition, The new AFC North adds Tennessee and Houston.

This is the proposal for Roger Goodell. Share your opinions on our Facebook page or Twitter.

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