Move the Jags to LA

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 7-5 but can't sell out their own stadium. This week they play in-state rival, Miami, with playoff implications (they'd be in if the playoffs started now), which you'd think would generate some interest… but the Jags will once again be blacked-out on local television due to a partly empty stadium.

The Jags have seemed under-supported in the Jacksonville area for years, so maybe the right thing is to move them to LA (the largest television market without an NFL team).

This would possibly lesson the felt need by the NFL to expand beyond the 32-team-sweet-spot they have now. My personal opinion is that a 33+ team NFL would ruin its schedule, balance, and water down the talent too much. I'd much rather see existing teams relocate.

If the idea of the "Los Angeles Jaguars" doesn't sit well with you, consider this: It would make economic sense to reshuffle the AFC. You take the new LA Jags and put them in the AFC West with San Diego, Oakland, and Denver. Then you take the eastern-most AFC West team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and put them in the AFC South with Indianapolis, Tennessee, and Houston. The savings in travel costs alone ought to tempt the NFL.

This would mean, however, that the Chiefs would only play their old rivals once every 1 to 3 years, instead of twice a year. Chiefs-Broncos games and Chiefs-Raiders games are big deals around here, but if the Chiefs had been playing Peyton Manning twice a year for the last 10 years, that would be a bigger deal too.