Arkady Renko Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Paul Tagliabue presided over the worst period of franchise relocations since the NFL's infancy. Not only was there such crushing franchise relocations, they were fueled by taxpayer money and the abomination of personal seat licenses. Browns moved to Baltimore Oilers moved to Memphis/Nashville And... Raiders moved to Oakland (not necessarily a bad thing) Rams moved to St. Louis I remember when Houston got the expansion team, the question arose as to what this new team would be called. Some said "let's call them the Oilers." "No!" said Tagliabue, "that name is permanently retired." As if it would be so terrible for Houston to have the name the city's team had for decades. And why was there such franchise relocation? Yes, the 90s boom times had given governments with more money to support new stadiums, etc., but the way he promoted the bullsh-- that perfectly fine stadiums were no longer good enough for his shiny corporate NFL and the way he approached expansion caused it all. Baltimore and St. Louis were the most deserving cities to get an expansion team in 1990s. Yes, Charlotte was an up and coming city that was probably ready, but going to Jacksonville and then implying that the NFL was just going to shining new cities rather than revisit the past by returning to cities with a storied football history, created desperation on the part of these cities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts