The Raiders will kick off their 2020-21 NFL season in a new city, Las Vegas. The LA Rams and Chargers will play at their new home, SoFi Stadium, after relocating from St. Louis and San Diego in 2015 and 2016 respectively. 

The leverage for cities to become hometown to an NFL franchise is primarily leveraged off multi-billion dollar stadiums, where team owners have the pull to threaten and leave if they don’t like the public funding figure to build new stadiums. 

With the NFL already at 32 teams, it’s likely that teams will relocate rather than expand. Eventually all stadiums get old and as leases inch closer to expiration, opportunities arise for cities to become prime candidates to entice franchise owners to relocate.

It remains to be seen whether the league will expand or continue to just relocate teams. In no particular order here are five deserving cities that are willing and waiting for an NFL shot if the opportunity arises.

5. San Antonio, Texas

“San Antonio to this date has not been an NFL city before but I think those days are coming to a close.”, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said back in 2018 when talking to KSAT. “You will see an NFL team in San Antonio in the next 10 years.”

San Antonio is booming, and is only 80 miles away from Austin. The TV market in San Antonio is bigger than Kansas City, Las Vegas and Cincinnati. Combined with Austin, the market is up near that of Denver and Seattle-Tacoma. 

The city’s Alamodome would be ready for NFL football, the recent recipient of a $60 million renovation to modernize the venue which has been completed.

Whether Texas can host a third team, completing the ‘Texas Triangle’ along with the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans is the biggest question that remains to be seen. Likely the Cowboys and Texans could push back a move. 

4. Mexico City, Mexico

Three of the ten largest crowds in history for an NFL game were in Mexico City. In 1994 the Dallas Cowboys played the Houston Oilers in front of more than 112 000 people.

The NFL have committed to play a fifth and sixth game in Mexico City during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, with the Arizona Cardinal to play hosts next season.

“We look forward to being back and we are proud to be able to say we’re going to be there for two more games over the next two years”, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said following the announcement.

“Our fan base down there [Mexico City] continues to grow and become more passionate. We want to build on that.”

The NFL estimates that there are over 22 million NFL fans in Mexico and if you didn’t know, Mexicans go absolutely ballistic for their sports teams. Geographically being just south of the border, Mexico City is better suited logistically than London and would be ideal for international expansion.  

3. Portland, Oregon

“I have no doubt that an NFL franchise would have been a hit in Portland if the 1964 ‘Delta Dome’ $25 million bond measure had not narrowly failed”, John Canzano of the Oregonian wrote back in 2012.

Delta Dome was to be the largest covered stadium in the world but it never went ahead. 

Portland has the 22nd largest TV market in America, ahead of 11 current NFL teams including Baltimore, Nashville and Kansas City.

The city has great support with their city’s teams, the Trail Blazers in the NBA and the Timbers in the MLB. The question is whether the Northwest can support two teams, with the Seahawks already based in Seattle. 

The biggest thing going against Portland is it lacks a base for potential corporate sponsors and any stadium funding planning would likely face heavy push back from the Portland taxpayer.

2. Toronto, Canada

“The one thing I’ve said openly over the years – you may not be aware of it – but a stadium that is up to NFL standards is going to be a certain requirement,” Goodell said earlier this year when quizzed on the potential of an NFL team in Toronto.

“It’s not enough to just have a great city, which you have. You have to have a facility also.”

Toronto is the third largest city in the United States or Canada which makes it an extremely lucrative city to base a franchise in.

A new stadium would be required in the city, as the 52,000-seat Rogers Center falls short of the minimum 65,000-seat requirement imposed by the NFL, a major obstacle for the city. 

The Buffalo Bills also played six regular season NFL games in Toronto from 2008-13 averaging just over 47,000 in attendance.

And despite being the oldest existing professional sports team in North America to use their original name, the Toronto Argonauts have one of the lowest average attendances in the CFL.

Hockey will always come first in Canada but a franchise could be an opportunity for the NFL to capitalize on the success similar to that of the Toronto Raptors in the NBA, if Torontonians decide to show up.

1. Oakland, California

The Raiders’ franchise is nomadic to say the least. Known as the Oakland Raiders from 1960-81, the team then moved to Los Angeles from 1982-94 before a move back to Oakland. 

As of next year the Raiders will play in Las Vegas where they will begin as the Las Vegas Raiders from the 2020 season. 

The Raiders in Oakland played out of the second smallest stadium in the NFL at an aging Oakland Coliseum. The city failed to propose an adequate solution and the NFL decided it was time for the franchise to relocate.

The city of Las Vegas was able to contribute large sums of public money for the $1.8 billion Allegiant Stadium, with the Raiders scheduled to be ready in time for the 2020 NFL Season. 

“For a team that’s struggling in a particular market and looking for a solution, Oakland may be a good one,” the owner of an NFC team reportedly told MMQB.com’s Albert Breer in 2017.

A solution may be for the Raiders to play home games out of Levi’s Stadium, with San Francisco only 12 miles out of Oakland.  

The Giants and Jets have shown us they can do it successfully at MetLife Stadium but convincing Raider Nation that it’s a good idea – the most passionate, extreme and rowdy fans in all of sport – surely won’t go down well sharing a stadium with the 49ers. 

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I'm just a 30-something year old who loves sports, but I ain’t flexin’. I’m a completely amateur sports writer ‘journalist’ inspired by US and UK sports covering basketball, soccer, American football and more. I’m not a pretender, it’s a hobby and if I sound like I’m half street half corporate talk that’s my holistic approach. Peace bro.