The National Football League (NFL) is an exciting league with 16 fixtures in the regular season plus post-season playoffs. You’re sure to enjoy watching some or all of the 32 teams in the league when they compete on the field.
The league’s branding is top-level tier in that it attracts extensive coverage and audience followership. Generally, it holds the record of having the most valuable teams in sports, with the most valuable NFL team being the Dallas Cowboys.
But the league of today is not precisely how football started in America. At first, the league was formed in 1920 as American Professional Football Association (APFA). In 1922, it was renamed the National Football League. The league would then later go on to announce a merger with a rival football league American Football League (AFL) in 1970.
Significant team movements and mergers have taken place in the league since that time. Here’s a list of NFL movements and mergers based on the league’s current division into two conferences with four divisions each. Financial instability, prospects, profitability, and stadium expansion significantly impacted the relocation.
St Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams were, in 2016, renamed Los Angeles Rams. This move saw it change grounds from St. Louis to Los Angeles, Inglewood, California. This was not the first time, however, that this American professional football franchise would undergo a move.
Originally, it was known as the Cleveland Rams, a member of the defunct American Football league. And it was active until 1945 when it moved to Los Angeles. Los Angeles Rams would later go on to play continuous football from the season of 1946-1994.
The season of 1995 will see it move to the city of St. Louis and, after about 21 seasons, a relocation to Los Angeles. The price of the back-and-forth movement overall several decades has seen it become multiple conference winners with a dynamic foundation and history at the expense of fans and city endearment.
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers is another team that returned to Los Angeles, and is currently known as the Los Angeles Chargers.
One interesting fact about the San Diego Chargers is that it started in 1960 as a football club in Los Angeles, then later moved to San Diego in 1961, and was the City Football Chargers until recently.
The year 2016 was a defining season for the San Diego Chargers after it was granted the necessary approval to return to Los Angeles after several years of trying to move. It currently shares the City Sports Center at Inglewood, California, with the Los Angeles Rams known as the Sofi Stadium.
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders have had the movement cycle between Oakland, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada. It started as the Oakland Raiders, a founding member of the 1970 National football merger.
After a court order sanctioned its request to move, it was granted the right to move to Los Angeles for the first time in 1982. A move back to Oakland from the 1995 season was mainly because the City council promised to support planned stadium construction and expansion. Its stay in Oakland was put to an end in 2019 after it voted to be one the NFL’s worst stadium
In 2020, the team was renamed Las Vegas Raiders, as it completed its relocation to Las Vegas.
If you take NFL bets on a franchise to move, where do you think would be an ideal location? Many fans like you have touted international countries outside the United States, like Canada and England. Some others still fancy a merger and move within cities in the States.
