Thick in the midst of an election year, the thing we keep hearing about the most is the state of the American economy. From President Obama and the Democrats heralding supposedly promising statistics on job creation and a minuscule downswing in unemployment numbers, to presidential contenders in the Republican Party talking about a need for deregulation, tax breaks, and incentives to lure businesses back to American shores, we have heard it all. Moreover, it seems like every politician, pundit, economic journalist, businessperson and regular John Doe has a plan for getting the economy back on track. These plans range from sensible to downright harebrained, but they all seem to at least get a bit of consideration.
Well, I’d like to toss my own suggestion into the fray.
Whether or not you might have realized it, I am actually quite a fan of sports. Despite my usual tirades on various political and social issues or mocking of public figures, one of the things I enjoy most is settling down in front of my television to watch a football, soccer or, if the Vols are playing, basketball game.
It was in the aftermath of watching my New England Patriots — I’ve been fan since ’96, so keep your bandwagon charges to yourself — lose in embarrassing fashion in the Super Bowl a week ago that I had an epiphany. In an instant, a short-term solution to the economic woes of many of America’s larger cities leapt into my mind. It is my belief that football, the true American pastime, could hold the key to getting many Americans back to work.
The National Football League, one of the most profitable sports entities in the world, should expand from 32 teams to 40.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably scratching your head and wondering just how it is I think this would work. Well, the reasoning is simple.
It all starts with a front office. Teams in the NFL have to have extensive administrative networks in order to have a hope of achieving success. Sure, this calls for quite a few sports executive jobs, but it also creates the need for accountants, secretaries and support and custodial staff.
Of course no NFL team wants to play on a vacant lot. No, teams in the NFL need state-of-the-art stadiums capable of holding crowds of 65,000 or more. These new teams will be no different, so several new stadiums will have to be constructed across the country. That creates the need for architects, construction workers, civil engineers and more. After these gigantic buildings are erected, they will need maintenance workers, people to staff concession stands and ticket kiosks, and, of course, security personnel. It is in this latter category that most of the longer-term jobs will be created.
Adding more teams to the NFL means, of course, that you have to have more players, coaches and support staff. This creates more opportunity for more people to enter into the most watched sport in the United States. More coaches will get to patrol the sidelines. Better yet, more young collegiate football players will be able to achieve their dreams of playing in the NFL. This is true not only of the newer teams, but also of the existing teams. Why? Well, to add more teams to the league undeniably means that the season will have to be extended. That means that more players will have to be added to rosters in order to prepare for inevitable injuries.
This doesn’t even take into account the tourism dollars that will be created or the need for more television crews.
Logistically, it is not as much of a nightmare as it sounds. Adding eight teams allows the NFL to maintain their current divisional structure. Sure, schedules will certainly have to be altered and extended, but this can be done by making preseason games part of the regular season and by adding an additional week of postseason play.
The only remaining question is just where these new franchises should be located. Various markets have contended for teams whenever the NFL has tried to expand in the past. I would suggest sending two teams to Los Angeles, the second largest market in the United States. Additional teams could be placed in Memphis, Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Las Vegas, San Antonio, or any of the other major North American markets.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has already stated that the league could imminently expand to 34 teams to get the NFL back to Los Angeles. I think, for the sake of the economy, he and the NFL should go to 40.
— Derek Mullins is a senior in political science. He can be reached at dmullin5@utk.edu.
