NFL logo, Credit: The Canadian Press
Since its inception in 1920, the NFL has always sought expansion, but despite its openness to accept several franchises, a few never made it into the league.
The league started as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) with 14 teams before changing its name to the National Football League (NFL) in 1922. Over the years, the NFL has undergone several successful expansion attempts.
However, the biggest one happened in 1970 when the AFL joined the NFL, adding 10 franchises. At other times, several franchises had joined the league with the Houston Texans being the most recent in 2002.
Here are some NFL expansion franchises that almost happened—but didn’t.
Los Angeles Bulldogs (1936)
The Bulldogs were a top football team not affiliated with the NFL
Formed in 1936, The Los Angeles Bulldogs competed from 1936 to 1948 before folding up. Right from its founding, the idea was for the franchise to join the NFL.
However, that plan failed as the league selected the Cleveland Rams in 1937 instead. The Bulldogs played their home games on the American West Coast making them the first team at Major League level to establish a permanent West Coast home.
The Bulldogs joined the Second AFL in 1937 and finished the season with a perfect record. They won all eight games that season and won the league. Their heroics that year made them break another impressive record as they became the first professional team to achieve the feat.
The Second AFL dissolved after the 1947 season. So, the Bulldogs became independent once again. They played several games with NFL teams, securing a 2-1-2 record. They joined another American Football League in 1939, which later changed its name to the American Professional Football Association.
Despite having a poor run at the start of the season, they picked up pace to climb to the league’s summit. However, the league’s bosses denied them the league, handing it to the Columbus Bullies.
Soon after, the Bulldogs joined the Pacific Coast Professional Football League as a charter member and secured championships in 1940 and 1946. Things started to go sour for the Bulldogs after the formation of the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and the Los Angeles Dons in the All-America Football Conference.
The Bulldogs soon lost popularity in the city and their folding was imminent. They folded in 1948.
Memphis Grizzlies (1975)
Memphis nearly acquired a team but ultimately lost to Tampa and Seattle
In 1974, the NFL included Memphis among four other cities as favorites for expansion. However, the league went for Tampa and Seattle, leaving Memphis disappointed. The Memphis Southmen, formed in 1974, was strong but they had to settle for life in the World Football League (WFL).
Toronto was the planned home for the Southmen. So, they would have been the Toronto Northmen. However, the Canadian Football Act was against a U.S.-based professional team competing with the Canadian Football League.
Residents of Memphis didn’t fancy the name, “Southmen”. So, they unofficially called the team, the Memphis Grizzlies – a name now owned by an NBA team.
The Memphis team played in the WFL in 1974 and 1975. However, the WFL folded before the completion of the 1975 season. So, the Memphis Southmen, alongside the other WFL franchises folded.
Several players from the Memphis Southmen joined NFL teams. One of the most successful of these players is Larry Csonka. He spent seven years at the Miami Dolphins before moving to the Memphis Southmen in 1975.
His arrival, alongside many other elite players, seemed to steady the league but the WFL’s financial struggles would later win. When the WFL and the Southmen went under in 1975, players such as Csonka, along with head coach John McVay, moved to the New York Giants.
The Memphis Southmen owner, John F. Bassett, and the fans badly wanted to see their team in the NFL. They went as far as filing a lawsuit against the league. However, the court decided that the NFL had not acted illegally to maintain a monopoly and the decision not to put a team in Memphis helped other leagues, like the USFL.
Memphis Hound Dogs (1993)
Memphis lost another opportunity of having an expansion team
After the 1975 disappointment, Memphis proposed a team again for the NFL expansion. They battled it out with four other cities but lost the bid to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Cougars (now the Carolina Panthers) in 1993.
The potential ownership group included William Dunavant, who was a former co-owner of the USFL team, the Memphis Showboats. Other people interested in owning the Hound Dogs were Paul Tudor Jones, Fred Smith, and Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Once the bid failed, everyone went their separate ways but Smith wasn’t one to give up. He proposed the team to the CFL, who accepted them. He changed the team’s name to the Mad Dogs.
The franchise couldn’t survive though, as attendance kept reducing. The Memphis Mad Dogs eventually folded after just one season in the CFL.
Unlike the other cities that competed in the 1993 NFL expansion, Memphis never secured a team. They, however, had a short stint with the Tennessee Oilers. The Oilers needed somewhere to play their home games for two years while their Nashville stadium was in the works.
Memphis welcomed the Oilers but only hosted them for one year as fans rejected the team. With fans refusing to attend games, attendance declined and the only solution was for the Oilers to move out.
Memphis has settled for life outside the NFL. They, however, own the NBA team, the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis from Vancouver in 2001 and have remained there ever since.
Baltimore Bombers (1993)
Baltimore proposed an expansion team after losing the Colts but failed
Baltimore enjoyed being the home of an NFL franchise starting in 1953. However, they soon lost out to Indianapolis when the Indianapolis Colts (formerly Baltimore Colts) relocated in 1984.
The NFL planned to choose an expansion franchise from two preferred cities in 1993. Baltimore proposed the Baltimore Bombers but the league turned down their request.
The NFL selected Charlotte, North Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida instead. There were rumors that Baltimore was closer to the bottom of the list of contenders than they were to the top.
The NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was against expanding the NFL to Baltimore. In one of his speeches, he said some cities are better off as museums than hosts to football franchises.
While the NFL rejected Baltimore, the CFL opened its arms to accept them. Baltimore joined the CFL, originally taking the name Colts but was forced to change it to Baltimore Stallions.
The Stallions’ success in the CFL drew interest from football investors, leading Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns, to move the team to Baltimore. However, an agreement between Cleveland and the league made Modell abandon the name, “Browns”.
We would have had the name, “Baltimore Bombers” in the NFL but the name was deemed insensitive considering the bombings that happened in the United States around that time. Art Modell’s franchise eventually became the Baltimore Ravens, restoring the city into the NFL.
St. Louis Stallions (1993)
St. Louis lost two NFL franchises
Similar to Baltimore, St. Louis lost its NFL franchise when the St. Louis Cardinals chose to relocate. Established in 1960, the Cardinals spent 27 years in St. Louis, leaving in 1987 to Phoenix, Arizona.
St. Louis was without a team but proposed one when the NFL wanted to expand in the early 1990s. St. Louis joined four other cities to contest for an expansion franchise. They even started building a stadium in anticipation of winning the bid.
However, the NFL intended to select only two cities. They eventually selected Charlotte and Jacksonville. St. Louis was once again close to welcoming an NFL team when a St. Louis native, James Orthwein bought the New England Patriots from Victor Kiam.
The Patriots were struggling from dire financial problems caused by its initial owner, making him sell the franchise to Kiam and the Foxboro Stadium to Robert Kraft.
Orthwein wanted to move the Patriots to his home city, St. Louis, where stadium construction was ongoing. However, Kraft disagreed to consent to a move away from his Foxboro Stadium as he had signed a long-term lease to keep the Patriots there.
Orthwein gave up the team to Kraft, dashing St. Louis’s hopes yet again. St. Louis eventually got their chance to have a team as they welcomed the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams and Los Angeles didn’t meet eye-to-eye on matters concerning funding.
The St. Louis stadium that hosted the Rams, however, wasn’t modern enough. The inadequate lighting also played a role in pushing the Rams back to Los Angeles. St. Louis has yet to regain an NFL team.
