St. Louis lost the Rams this year, the Cardinals did not make the playoffs and the Blues do not start their regular season until October 12. The last time St. Louis was this quiet in October in terms of its professional sports teams was 1994: The Rams were still in Los Angeles, the Cardinals weren't going to qualify for the playoffs anyway as they were under .500 when the MLB strike began in mid-August and the NHL owners had locked out the players.
So for the first time in 22 years, St. Louis fans will be experiencing some particularly cold sports days, specifically 10 while waiting for the Blues to start playing games that count. With that in mind, here are three interesting points about St. Louis' bid to get an NFL team in the future.
1. The NFL Goes Back To The Well
In terms of whether St. Louis will get another NFL team, an interesting fact is that, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in "The Terminator," the league generally states it will be back. The last city that lost an NFL team and never got one another one was Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1934.
2. The St. Louis-London Connection
While the TWA flights may not be flying from St. Louis to London anymore, there is a strong connection between these two cities. It is no secret that the NFL wants to move to London. But, if you are going to expand, you need at least two teams. St. Louis would be a prime market for an expansion team. St. Louis has shown that it can build a stadium, which is a key barometer to the NFL.
3. St. Louis Is On The Rebound
St. Louis ranked No. 1, according to Business Insider, as the place for start-up companies in the United States topping Silicon Valley, Silicon Beach (Los Angeles) and Silicon Alley (New York).
There is a lot behind this movement, but probably the most important is Washington University (a top 25 school in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings) took a page out of Stanford's playbook by creating a start-up incubator. Why is this relevant to a story about the NFL? The city being on the rise helps with money, fans, and particularly with government investing in a stadium to show that St. Louis is still one of top cities in America.
If they were making odds in Las Vegas, it looks very good for St. Louis to get an NFL team in the future.
