The Houston Texans joined the NFL as an expansion team in 2002, becoming the 32nd franchise in the league. Some people still hold out belief and hope that the NFL will expand internationally, with London, Mexico City, and Toronto being heavily mentioned.
In recent years, we haven’t seen any NFL expansion plans fail. Over the past 20 or so years, when a city pushed hard for an expansion team, they got one.
But these 11 NFL teams that were SUPPOSED to happen simply DIDN’T happen. We present an oral history of these teams who nearly joined the NFL, but for various reasons, their project and plans fell through.
Do you know some of the proposed NFL expansion franchises on this list?
11. Arizona Firebirds
A few years before the Cardinals relocated to the desert in 1988, former Green Bay Packers legendary quarterback and head coach Bart Starr tried pulling some strings to bring a team to Arizona for a new NFL expansion franchise.
The Firebirds hired Starr to become their head coach and director of football operations. Former AFL commissioner Joe Foss led the charge in bringing the Firebirds to Arizona. The team also hired Robert Whitlow — former GM of the World Hockey Association’s Phoenix Roadrunners — as their president.
The Firebirds looked destined to eventually join the NFL…until Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill revealed his plans to relocate his team from St. Louis to Arizona. So the state got its football team after all, but Starr and the other Firebirds employees would have nothing to do with Phoenix’s new club.
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How different things could have been if the Cardinals stayed in St. Louis. Then you’d have the Firebirds in Arizona. And where would the Rams have gone instead of St. Louis in 1995? Would the Raiders have gone back to LA? Mind = blown!!!
10. Seattle Sea Lions
The Seattle Seahawks joined the NFL as an expansion franchise for the 1976 season. But a few years before the Seahawks entered the league, there was an attempt to bring a team to the Emerald City. And it nearly succeeded.
Six-time Pro Bowler and Hall of Famer running back Hugh McElhenny agreed to join a club that called themselves the “Seattle Sea Lions.” Their goal was a simple one: Bring the city an NFL team.
McElhenny gave himself the GM position of an unofficial “Seattle Kings” football team. Entrepreneur Edward Nixon — the brother of former American president Richard Nixon — supported the group in hopes of trying to bring Seattle an NFL team.
Unfortunately, plans fell through. Two years later, Seattle was finally granted an expansion NFL franchise, though McElhenny had nothing to do with the Seahawks ownership or franchise whatsoever. McElhenny later acknowledged that a front office role probably wasn’t for him anyway, so everything worked out for the best.
9. Pennsylvania Keystoners
Both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Pirates — later known as the Steelers — were established in 1933. But Pirates owner Art Rooney thought it’d be a good idea if there was a third team in Pennsylvania that could split its home games in both Philly and the Steel City.
This was largely because both the Eagles and Pirates were losing tens of thousands of dollars during the ‘30s. So Rooney sold the Pirates to a 26-year-old native of Boston named Alexis Thompson. Rooney claimed there was a plan for Pittsburgh to relocate to Baltimore while he and Eagles owner Bert Bell would work together to run a Philly-Pittsburgh team.
Instead, Thompson decided to keep the Pittsburgh team in the Steel City. So Rooney agreed to take over the Pittsburgh team again while essentially trading the Eagles’ NFL franchise to Thompson. Bell was briefly head coach of the Steelers and served as NFL commissioner from 1945 until his untimely passing in 1959.
We should note that due to the problems brought on by World War II, the Steelers and Eagles merged their clubs together for the 1943 season — where they went by the “Steagles.” Otherwise, the Keystoners were never brought to life- and the two historic Pennsylvania-based NFL teams lived on.
8. Youngstown Patricians
This football team was founded in 1911 and made up of amateur football players in various cities across Ohio. They played primarily against teams from both Pennsylvania and Ohio.
But football began to die in World War I as many of the Ohio-based football players left to supposedly join “up with Uncle Sam.” In 1922, a plan was in place for the Youngstown Patricians to join the NFL, and they would be led by Elgie Tobin — who played with the team from 1915 to 1919.
But the Patricians never joined the NFL, and it was reportedly because they weren’t able to raise the proper amount of funds to field a team. And so, this historic and dominant pro football team that captured the love of Ohio had no choice but to close its operations for good. Their last season wound up taking place in 1919.
7. Los Angeles Bulldogs
The Bulldogs were founded in 1936, and the goal was for them to eventually join the NFL as an expansion franchise.
The Bulldogs played independently and eventually in various football leagues — including the second version of AFL, the APFA slash Midwest Football League, and the Pacific Coast Professional Football League.
The Bulldogs pulled off a historic perfect season in 1937 while playing in the AFL, going 16 and 0. The ‘37 Bulldogs, 1948 AAFC Cleveland Browns and 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only professional football teams that have accomplished a perfect season.
The Bulldogs played some of their games against NFL teams — and they even won some of those contests. This was clearly a franchise that was capable of fielding an NFL club. The Bulldogs even recruited some NFL players to play for their team.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs never joined the league. The Cleveland Rams were granted an NFL team instead of the Bulldogs. And the Rams would relocate to Los Angeles in 1946.
To make matters worse for the Bulldogs, the Los Angeles Dons joined the AAFC in 1946, so there were three pro-LA football teams vying for fan support. The Bulldogs saw their attendance fall dramatically, and they were renamed the Long Beach Bulldogs for the 1948 season. The Bulldogs and the PCPFL ceased operations after the aforementioned 1948 campaign.\
Also Read: EVERY NFL Franchise Relocation RANKED From WORST To FIRST (Super Bowl Era ONLY)
6. Buffalo Bills (AAFC Team)
Before the current Buffalo Bills team was born in 1960, there was another team by the exact same name from 1946 to ‘49. The old Buffalo Bills played in the All-America Football Conference.
The AAFC ceased operations, however, as they were unable to keep up with the NFL during their short existence. The NFL welcomed three AAFC teams — the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers and the ORIGINAL version of the Baltimore Colts team. Many thought Buffalo deserved an entry over the Colts, since they had better attendance and richer ownership.
After welcoming the three AAFC teams, the NFL now had 13 teams — which led to complex scheduling and divisional alignment. Bills fans petitioned the league, and the city received more than 15,000 season ticket commitments.
The NFL decided to hold a vote, but rules stated that the vote had to be unanimous for Buffalo to be granted a team. Nine of 13 owners approved of welcoming the Bills into the NFL, but they were four short of the required unanimous vote.
The Buffalo Bills were finally reborn when they joined the AFL in 1960, and they joined the NFL after the two leagues merged together in 1970.
5. Union Quakers of Philadelphia
This was an independent club that played games in the City of Brotherly Love. The Union Quakers went up against the Frankford Yellow Jackets in a match billed as “the city championship of Philadelphia.” The Union Quakers won the game 7-0.
The NFL — known as the American Professional Football Association in 1920 — was keen on bringing a team to Philadelphia. Union Quakers owner and GM Leo Conway and head coach Heinie Miller met with the APFA, and a plan was in place to grant Philly a team.
However, for reasons that were never revealed, the Union Quakers never wound up joining the NFL. Conway faded out of the spotlight in Philadelphia, too. It was suggested that “blue laws” played a factor in preventing Philly from getting an NFL team.
At any rate, the Philadelphia Eagles were granted an NFL franchise in 1933, and they’ve stayed there ever since.
4. Memphis Southmen
The Southmen played the 1974 and ‘75 seasons in the World Football League, though fans often called them the “Grizzlies” simply because they hated the original team name. The league folded in 1975. However, owner John F. Bassett tried to see if the NFL would allow his franchise to join the league as an expansion team.
The Southmen were able to secure more than 40,000 season ticket pledges, and the good folks in Tennessee felt good about getting themselves an NFL team. But the league rejected Bassett’s application — though, the city wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Bassett filed a lawsuit against the NFL in 1983; the case was referred to as “Mid-South Grizzlies v. NFL.” He tried arguing that the league broke antitrust laws by refusing the Grizzlies. But the lawsuit fell apart when Bassett became owner of the USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits…and when the Memphis Showboats also joined the league.
The Houston Oilers would relocate to Tennessee in 1997, and they’ve remained there since. Hey, all’s well that ends well!
3. Baltimore Bombers
The Colts played in Baltimore from 1953 to ‘83, until owner Robert Irsay broke the hearts of Maryland by moving the team to Indianapolis in 1984. This was despite constant vows that he would never relocate the NFL franchise. The city reacted by rallying hard for another chance to host an NFL team.
The NFL was looking to expand in the early ‘90s, and the city of Baltimore was in contention. They created a logo and adopted the team name “Bombers,” which paid tribute to the B-26 Marauders, which were built in Baltimore and used in World War II.
The NFL granted teams to Carolina and Jacksonville instead – although the CFL expanded into the United States and gave Baltimore its own club called the “Stallions.” In fact, Baltimore won the 83rd Grey Cup in 1995; but the franchise lasted just two years before folding.
That’s because Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell agreed to a deal with the NFL in which he would relocate the team to Baltimore. The Ravens were born in 1996, and the city got its team back after impatiently waiting for over a decade.
2. Memphis Hound Dogs
Along with Baltimore, Charlotte, St. Louis and Jacksonville, the city of Memphis was in the running for an NFL expansion team in the ‘90s.
Three prominent and wealthy Memphis-based businessmen — Paul Tudor Jones, Fred Smith and Williams Dunavant — along with Elvis Presley Enterprises, worked towards getting the city its football team.
The team adopted the “Hound Dogs” based on the song by “Big Mama Thornton,” which Presley covered in 1956. The legendary singer was a Memphis native, after all.
Ultimately, as you now know, the league granted Carolina and Jacksonville teams. Memphis struck out, but they were awarded a CFL expansion franchise called the “Mad Dogs” in 1995. Elvis Presley Enterprises wasn’t part of the ownership group, which is why they ditched the “Hound Dogs” name.
The Mad Dogs failed after just one season, but as noted earlier, Tennessee eventually got its football team when the Houston Oilers relocated there in 1997.
1.St. Louis Stallions
The city of St. Louis was home to the Cardinals’ NFL team from 1960 to ‘87 before relocating to Phoenix in 1988. Following the relocation, the city pushed hard to get its football team back.
But St. Louis faced fierce competition for another NFL team. Baltimore had lost its Colts to Indianapolis and wanted its team back. Charlotte, Memphis, and Jacksonville also made hard efforts to get an NFL team.
Plans called for the Stallions to play their home games at Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals NFL team had played. However, the league ultimately granted Charlotte and Duval County teams — and the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars were born, as we previously discussed.
St. Louis native and businessman James Orthwein tried relocating the New England Patriots over to his hometown after he bought the team in 1992. However, future Patriots owner Robert Kraft owned Foxboro Stadium and wouldn’t let Orthwein buyout the lease for the venue.
Orthwein had no interest in retaining ownership of the Patriots if he couldn’t bring them to St. Louis, so he ultimately sold them to Kraft. Nearly 30 years later, we can say with confidence that it worked out nicely for Kraft and the Patriots organization…and not so well for Orthwein. Wouldn’t you agree?
On the bright side, the Stallions’ legacy never went away. Look at those flashy yellow and purple uniforms they had designed!
Also Read: Roger Goodell Hints At Possibility Of NFL Expansion With ‘Multiple’ Teams In London
