Roger Goodell: NFL would expand to 34

[truebluefan]

Commissioner Roger Goodell says if the NFL puts a team in Los Angeles, it is probable the league would expand to 34 franchises.

Appearing Thursday night on "Costas Live" on NBC Sports Network, Goodell said the league "doesn't want to move any of our teams."

"We probably don't want to go to 33" teams by adding just one new club if a suitable stadium is built in the Los Angeles area, Goodell said. Instead, the league would consider adding two. An odd number of teams would pose scheduling problems, including at least one club being off each week, and would create one division with five teams.

There has been speculation an LA stadium could house two NFL franchises, although Goodell did not address that with host Bob Costas.

Goodell says there are several issues that must be solved in LA, particularly which of two current stadium proposals is best. He didn't suggest any timetable for returning to Southern California.

Goodell talked about head injuries and said the NFL was helping other sports and the military through its research into concussions.

Read more: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nfl/story...os-angeles

[RaiderKaty]

Surely bringing in 2 teams creates 2 division of 5 teams in one conference or both? You'd have to re draw the division again, 32 to me is the perfect number 8 divisions, 4 teams in each it's equal 34 doesn't work out evenly in way.

[dean518]

yes , the five-team division franchise would unfortunate , their division will become more tough . But i agree to add a NFL team in LA , i am located in LA , so just come on .

[RaiderKaty]

Without a doubt I think there should be a team based out of LA but how they do that is going to be a tough one to figure out for the NFL.

[Run Like Hell]

34 teams is daft it's either got to stay at 32 and relocate teams to the likes of LA or it's got to expand to 36 and go back to 3 divisions of 6 teams in each conference for it be even across the league.

[kcareconnections]

Yes I do see what you all are saying. I do not think that 34 would be the right number. Even that it is an even number it would create challenges with the divisions.

[Clutchthese]

I'm all for adding new teams, and I wonder what it would cost to get in on something like that!!

I know my pockets aren't that deep, but how freakin cool would that be?

On a side note, a lot of talk was Minnesota Vikings moving to LA, I for one was completely against this idea... Mainly because I'm a queens fan. (I call them the viqueens)

[Silverstar2154]

34 teams seem unbalanced and it would suck if the expansion was only done to accomodate LA getting a team. It seems fiscally responsible to move a team to LA first if they want one so bad.

[iebo]

If they add more teams, it should go to forty, so each division would get a new team. There's plenty of smaller market cities that don't have a team but I'm sure would love one. Adding just one or two teams screws everything up.

[Clutchthese]

It's not just that "smaller cities would love one" it's the fact that they need a market for it. The city has to be able to sell the stadium out. A huge area such as DC can hardly ever fill the redskins stadium. A new team HAS to be in an area that can be self sustainable.