NFL | Towards a 40-team league?

When Stan Kroenke became the majority shareholder of the St. Louis Rams in 2010, it quickly became fairly clear that he was ogling the then deserted Los Angeles market. After unsuccessful negotiations with the City of St. Louis, Kroenke moved his club to the City of Angels in 2016.

Miguel bujold
Press

This departure from Missouri led to a lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams, which remains unresolved. According to FrontOfficeSports.com, Kroenke offered $ 100 million to the three entities that brought the lawsuit, namely the City of St. Louis, the County of St. Louis and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority. However, the offer was said to have been refused.

Which brings us to the probable solution. In addition to financial compensation, which could ultimately lead to the construction of a new stadium to replace the Dome at America’s Center, where the Rams were playing in St. Louis, the allocation of an expansion team would be the best scenario for all parties.

It is not by chance that whispers about a potential expansion are being heard more and more often. Giving a franchise back to a city that lost its team not once, but twice, would certainly make the lawsuit resolution easier. Before the Rams arrived in the 1990s, remember that St. Louis was home to the Cardinals from 1960 to 1987 before they moved to Arizona in 1988.

But it’s not just to give St. Louis a new team that the NFL is considering expansion. The surge in sports betting has dramatically improved ratings for NFL games and that is likely to only get worse.

Those familiar with the world of sports betting understand that football is the sport of choice for a majority of punters due to the point spread.

It is not for nothing that the USFL and the XFL want to restart their circuit. The CFL has studied the possibility of merging with the XFL, precisely in order to be able to indirectly touch a fraction of the windfall generated by sports betting. The more matches there are to bet on, the more pairs of eyes there will be on the small screen. Ultimately, a large part of the sponsorship money (including that of the thousand and one online gaming companies…) will go into the coffers of professional leagues and teams.

But the NFL will not block other potential circuits. It’s not really her style… She will want to occupy as much market share as possible. In that sense, the always interesting Mike Florio, founder of profootballtalk.com, wrote earlier this week that the idea of ​​a 40-team league was far from far-fetched. And he is absolutely right.

Eight divisions of five teams. Florio points out that London already has two stadiums that can accommodate new teams (Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium). The visiting teams could therefore regularly play two consecutive games in London, which would make things easier from a logistical point of view.

San Antonio, Texas, and Toronto are two other cities that come up often in expansion rumors. Mexico City would certainly be another interesting candidate.

Why not Montreal? you ask yourself. It certainly wouldn’t be difficult to have crowds of 50,000 spectators ten times a year with a product like the NFL.

The problem is of course the stadium. The NFL simply wouldn’t accept one of its teams playing in a stadium built 50 years ago like the Olympic Stadium. Certainly not in the long run.

It’s always a question of the stadium, here in St. Louis or anywhere else. While most major cities in North America and Europe have relatively new stadium or stadiums capable of hosting major sporting and cultural events, Montreal no longer has a baseball team, the Alouettes are playing. in a run-down college stadium and the possibility of getting an NFL club isn’t even an option. It takes money to generate money, as they say.

Finesse team

Kroenke and the Rams have gone all out so they can emulate the Buccaneers, who won the last Super Bowl in their own stadium in Tampa Bay. This season’s final will be played on February 13 in the jewel of SoFi Stadium.

After closing a deal to acquire Matthew Stafford last winter, the Rams have secured Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. in the past two weeks. The acquisition of Beckham Jr. occurred less than 48 hours before Robert Woods tore an anterior cruciate ligament. The former New York Giants and Cleveland Browns isn’t as good a player as Woods, who remains one of the NFL’s best-kept secrets, but let’s say the timing of his arrival in California could not have been better.

It obviously doesn’t help when your quarterback suffers two interceptions early in the game like Stafford did in the Rams’ two recent losses, to the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers. That said, it’s in terms of toughness that the Rams have lost those two games. Alley battles are not their thing …

It is no coincidence that the Niners have won their last five encounters against their division rivals. Opposed to physical players like Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, and some more dynamic ground play, the Rams’ defense had no solution in its stinging 31-10 loss on Monday night. Very worrying for Sean McVay’s team and his supporters.

Thanks to quarterback fighters of the caliber of Miller and Aaron Donald and the presence of a defensive back like Jalen Ramsey, the Rams defense is well equipped to stop the pass. But a team unable to stop ground play is a very vulnerable team, especially in January.

The Rams made more additions, but forgot about the hard-hitting linebacker. Surprise games and fancy passing patterns are nice, but at some point you have to be willing to pay the price on the scrimmage line to win in the NFL. The essence of football will never change.

Three matches to follow

Indianapolis v. Buffalo, Sunday, 1 p.m.

It’s not that hard. If the Colts are to leave Buffalo with a win, Jonathan Taylor will likely have to be their star of the game. The running back averages 5.8 yards per carry and is tied with Derrick Henry for No. 1 in the league with 937 yards rushing. On the other side of the ball, Darius Leonard is having another very good season. The Colts linebacker, who currently plays despite a knee injury, has 73 tackles, 2 interceptions and caused 4 fumbles.

Dallas v. Kansas City, Sunday, 4:25 p.m.

The Chiefs’ defense has played significantly better in its last three games than it had earlier in the season and will need to be in peak form on Sunday. Dak Prescott already had a strong number one receiver in Amari Cooper, but he isn’t even the most productive wide-winger on the team anymore. In his second season on the league, CeeDee Lamb has more catches (47v44), yards (726v583) and touchdowns (6v5) than Cooper. To win Sunday, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense will have to play like they did last Sunday in Las Vegas.

Pittsburgh at Los Angeles (Chargers), Sunday, 8:20 p.m.

You could call Sunday night’s game the “COVID Bowl.” The Steelers will be deprived of the services of safety back Minkah Fitzpatrick and possibly Ben Roethlisberger, while the Chargers may have to play without three defensive linemen: Joey Bosa, Jerry Tillery and Christian Covington. All of these players either contracted COVID-19 or had direct contact with someone who had the virus. The Steelers may also have to do without T. J. Watt (knee and hip). The Chargers’ game plan will surely be to attack the middle and deep areas given the absence of Fitzpatrick. Najee Harris may be in high demand on the Steelers side.