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MLB, NHL, and NBA each have 30 teams. NFL has 32. Hard to see how you can sustain more teams without making 2 tiers.
We barely have a dozen competent quarterbacks. Same limitations apply for other skill positions. Parity would quickly disappear if more teams were added and a de facto 2-tier system would result.
It's not about getting more talent in the league. It's the power law (statistical power law). Whoever is best, there will be a handful of people almost as good (same goes for 100-m sprinters, etc.). NFL being a team sport helps reduce this effect a little.
All that is to say that the NFL could maybe add one or two teams but, beyond that, a significant expansion would just undermine the product. Given how expensive it is to sustain a team, you need both a strong local market but also some national support. For mediocre teams, they at least get collective money and extra viewers when they play a good or big-market team. But, if you add too many teams, the proportion of those games will be reduced, and mediocre small-market teams will quickly become college-level broke teams.
edit: people's reaction to my post:
We barely have a dozen competent quarterbacks. Same limitations apply for other skill positions. Parity would quickly disappear if more teams were added and a de facto 2-tier system would result.
It's not about getting more talent in the league. It's the power law (statistical power law). Whoever is best, there will be a handful of people almost as good (same goes for 100-m sprinters, etc.). NFL being a team sport helps reduce this effect a little.
All that is to say that the NFL could maybe add one or two teams but, beyond that, a significant expansion would just undermine the product. Given how expensive it is to sustain a team, you need both a strong local market but also some national support. For mediocre teams, they at least get collective money and extra viewers when they play a good or big-market team. But, if you add too many teams, the proportion of those games will be reduced, and mediocre small-market teams will quickly become college-level broke teams.
edit: people's reaction to my post:
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