IF Iowa got a NFL team.

[rdmoon12]

So some friends of mine were debating if Iowa could support an NFL team. I personal said yes and some of my reasons.

1. There is nothing to do in Iowa.
2. We love our football
3. We have plenty of people if you placed it in Council Bluffs: You have Omaha right there, Lincoln an hour away, Des Moines and 1 hour 30 away, Sioux City an hour away.
4. Possible owner Warren Buffet...

Obviously this is very unlikely, but hey it could happen... right?

 

[cyclonedave25]

I think the big thing that would hold it back from being successful are the lack of big corporations to buy all the suites. ($$$)

 

[cyeah]

There are not enough additional eyeballs for an NFL franchise anywhere in that area/

Hell LA is fighting hard to get one.

 

[Cy's Taxi]

Sadly, although I think we'd be able to support one, the market isn't there. LA is struggling to get a franchise to go there as it is.

 

[cycopath25]

But what would our Uniforms look like?

 

[Wesley]

Warren will not be buying a NFL franchise. He is giving his money to charity. He is cheap.

Which stadium would you use?

 

[CyCy]

This could be accomplished in 3 easy steps.

1. Become a billionaire
2. Convince the taxpayers of some city in Iowa to build a $750,000,000 stadium
3. Buy an NFL team and convince the other owners to let you move it to Iowa

In fact while we're at it why not build a multi-purpose facility and bring in a MLB, NBA and NHL team at the same time.

 

[jdoggivjc]

If Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Minneapolis (yeah, I get this one is solely a stadium issue) are struggling to hold onto their teams, and LA has been struggling for nearly 20 years now to get a team back, I don't see how anyone can argue that any city in Iowa could support an NFL team. The only reason why it is working in Green Bay is because it survived from the original NFL days, the Green Bay community bought in and continues to buy in regardless of whether the Packers are up or down, and they have the city of Milwaukee backing them. Neither Omaha nor Des Moines = Milwaukee. The only way this would have ever had a chance to work is if the Rock Island Independents had also survived the original NFL days and the Quad Cities community adopted them in the same fashion as Green Bay did, which, I can assure you from experience by the way they treat their existing professional teams, they wouldn't have. Plus they still wouldn't have that big city "corporate" backing that the Packers have.

 

[Clark]

If you put a team on the western side of the state you make it pretty hard for the majority of Iowans to get to the games.

Any NFL team would have to be put in or around Des Moines. It's the biggest city and it's in the middle of the state so you could get people from both Council Bluffs and Cedar Rapids.

The biggest obstacle is college football. Iowans do love their football as is evidenced by the over 100,000 people that attend Iowa and ISU each home weekend. However, I'm not sure if they'd want to shell out the money for season tickets for both the NFL and college and if they had to choose I think they'd choose the college tickets.

 

[RayShimley]

If Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Minneapolis (yeah, I get this one is solely a stadium issue) are struggling to hold onto their teams, and LA has been struggling for nearly 20 years now to get a team back, I don't see how anyone can argue that any city in Iowa could support an NFL team. The only reason why it is working in Green Bay is because it survived from the original NFL days, the Green Bay community bought in and continues to buy in regardless of whether the Packers are up or down, and they have the city of Milwaukee backing them. Neither Omaha nor Des Moines = Milwaukee. The only way this would have ever had a chance to work is if the Rock Island Independents had also survived the original NFL days and the Quad Cities community adopted them in the same fashion as Green Bay did, which, I can assure you from experience by the way they treat their existing professional teams, they wouldn't have. Plus they still wouldn't have that big city "corporate" backing that the Packers have.

This. Green Bay is an outlier and really has no business having an NFL team. I remember reading an article a while back talking about how the other owners have made rules to ban anything like that (essentially a co-op) from every coming into existence again. The funny thing is that Green Bay continues to be one of the most profitable franchises and has the lowest debt:value ratio of all NFL teams.

 

[RING4CY]

An Iowa NFL would struggle to stay afloat when it would have to deal with 5 fan bases surrounding it in Chicago, Green Bay, Kansas City, Minnesota, and St. Louis.

 

[CYdTracked]

Iowa could not support a NFL franchise. Des Moines is basically a Triple-A town both for fan support and the necessary corporate sponsorships needed to make a pro franchise sucessful.

 

[CyLoboClone]

CB to KC is a 2.5 hour drive, so that market is firmly chock full o' chiefs fans

 

[Senolcyc]

Never, no chance. Population isn't enough and Iowa is virtually surrounded by close NFL franchises already. No chance, ever.

 

[isufan]

Having an NFL team would hurt Iowa and ISU's football attendance. Therefore, bad idea.

 

[HFCS]

An Iowa NFL would struggle to stay afloat when it would have to deal with 5 fan bases surrounding it in Chicago, Green Bay, Kansas City, Minnesota, and St. Louis.

Chicago could support a second NFL or NBA franchise. Bulls are #1 in attendance and were top 5 even in the years they were the worst team in the NBA. Bears tickets are absolutely outrageous and their stadium is not very large even after the renovation. Also shown ability to support two MLB teams for over a century. As a transplant like so many others I'd jump at the chance to be a fan of the new NFL team (likely western burbs which would be good for any Iowans coming in) assuming the tickets aren't $400 a pop like Bears.

 

[mj4cy]

I don't think LA is a good example of market size not being big enough to support an NFL team. LA's issue is the people who live there simply do not support football teams well.

the NFL is so versatile and so well nationally known that market size really does not matter compared to the brand it offers. The biggest reason Iowa will never get an NFL team is because like someone stated earlier, there are not enough big time corporations who will fork over a pretty penny for luxury seats.

 

[clonestar12]

So some friends of mine were debating if Iowa could support an NFL team. I personal said yes and some of my reasons.

1. There is nothing to do in Iowa.
2. We love our football
3. We have plenty of people if you placed it in Council Bluffs: You have Omaha right there, Lincoln an hour away, Des Moines and 1 hour 30 away, Sioux City an hour away.
4. Possible owner Warren Buffet...

Obviously this is very unlikely, but hey it could happen... right?

No chance whatsoever. While I agree that Iowans have a passion for the game, trice is 30 min from the largest city and has not been selling out. San Antonio, Texas has over 1 million people in the city and they can`t get an NFL franchise in tradition rich state like Texas.

 

[acrozier22]

Chicago could support a second NFL or NBA franchise. Bulls are #1 in attendance and were top 5 even in the years they were the worst team in the NBA. Bears tickets are absolutely outrageous and their stadium is not very large even after the renovation. Also shown ability to support two MLB teams for over a century. As a transplant like so many others I'd jump at the chance to be a fan of the new NFL team (likely western burbs which would be good for any Iowans coming in) assuming the tickets aren't $400 a pop like Bears.

Meh....I wouldn't. I'm a bears/bulls fan not some new crap franchise they bring in just to make money.

 

[VeloClone]

Warren will not be buying a NFL franchise. He is giving his money to charity. He is cheap.

Which stadium would you use?

This is a huge issue. There is no suitable stadium and it is a huge risk to lay out close to $1B to build a stadium for a market so marginal (I'm being generous). If it doesn't work you can't pick up the stadium and move it to a larger market. The owner and taxpayer (No owner is going to build Des Moines and Iowa a stadium without a huge chunk of public money. Right now in the Twin Cities they are talking about a 1/3 owner 2/3 public split - for an established team and fan base!) would be out a huge chunk of change with no appreciable benefit.

It's never going to happen so just concentrate on supporting the 'Clones!:yes: