What States Do Not Have NFL Teams?

There are nine states that do not currently have NFL teams. This is due to a variety of reasons, including population, market size, and interest.

Introduction

The National Football League (NFL) is the highest level of professional American football in the United States. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA), with the league changing its name to National Football League in 1922. This guide will discuss what states do not currently have an NFL team.

As of 2020, there are 32 NFL teams spread across the United States. Twenty-six of those teams are located in cities with populations over one million people, while the other six are located in smaller markets. The NFL is currently concentrated in the northeastern and midwestern United States, with a few teams located on the west coast and one team in Texas. There are no NFL teams located in the following states: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming.

Canada also does not currently have any NFL teams, although there has been talk of expanding the league into Toronto in the future. There are also no NFL teams located outside of North America at this time.

List of States without an NFL Team

There are a total of 50 states in the United States of America and 52Professional Football teams. 48 of those teams are located in the contiguous United States. There are 4 NFL teams located in the state of California. There are 3 NFL teams located in the state of Florida.

Alaska

Alaska is one of only four states without an NFL team. The other three are Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Though there have been some rumors in recent years about the possibility of an NFL team coming to Alaska, as of yet, there are no plans for such a move.

Hawaii

Hawaii is one of five U.S. states that does not have an NFL team. The others are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. There has never been an NFL team in Hawaii, although there was a short-lived American Football League (AFL) team called the Honolulu Hawaiians that played from 1976 to 1977. The nearest NFL teams to Hawaii are the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers, who both play in the same division as the Honolulu Islanders (AFL).

Montana

Montana is one of the states without an NFL team. There are a few reasons for this. One reason is that the state is simply too small to support a team. There are only about 1 million people living in Montana, which is not enough to fill a stadium on a regular basis. Additionally, Montana does not have a major city that could support an NFL team. The largest city in Montana is Billings, with a population of only about 165,000.

Another reason why Montana does not have an NFL team is because it is not considered to be a major market for the league. The NFL prefers to locate teams in larger markets where there are more potential fans and more corporate dollars to be made. Montana simply does not have the population or the corporate base to support an NFL team.

So, for now at least, Montana will remain one of the few states without an NFL team.

North Dakota

North Dakota does not currently have an NFL team. The state has a strong college football tradition, however, with the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University both fielding competitive teams. There has been some speculation that an NFL team could eventually come to the state, but nothing concrete has been announced.

South Dakota

South Dakota is one of 21 states without an NFL team. The other 20 states are: Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming.

Vermont

Vermont is one of the states without an NFL team. Though the state has a long and rich history, it has never had a professional football team call it home. This may be due in part to the state’s small population, which is less than 700,000 people.

Wyoming

Despite interest from the city of Laramie, the Joe Gabriel era, and several other failed bid attempts, Wyoming has never had an NFL team.

In 1966, the Continental League was formed as a third major professional football league, with plans to start play in 1970. The league’s intention was to have teams located in mid-sized cities that had been neglected by the NFL and AFL, such as Atlanta, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. When the NFL expanded to 16 teams in 1967 (with New Orleans and Philadelphia), they intended to block any further efforts by the Continental League to get franchises.

One of the league’s proposed franchises was to be located in Laramie, Wyoming. The other proposed teams were awarded franchises when the Continental League disbanded later that year: Cincinnati (now the Bengals), Jacksonville (who merged with Miami in 1970 to form the AFC’s current Eastern division), and Atlanta (now the Falcons).

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are the five states that do not currently have an NFL team: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. However, with the recent news of the Oakland Raiders potentially moving to Las Vegas, that could change in the near future.