NFL considered relocating Raiders to St. Louis in 2014 amid Rams move

When the NFL was looking to move the Rams to Los Angeles back in 2014, the league didn’t want to leave St. Louis will nothing (as they have today), so they considered moving the then-Oakland Raiders into the Gateway to the West, according to documents obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

According to the documents, NFL officials briefly mulled over the possibility of relocation, accompanied by restructured ownership, a commitment to a ‘special diversity initiative and a complete brand makeover. The Oakland fanbase wasn’t happy to see their beloved Raiders head off to Las Vegas, but a move to St. Louis would’ve put some over the edge.

The talks eventually went nowhere, and the move to Las Vegas seems to have benefitted the Raiders franchise and the NFL quite profitably since the move was officially made in 2020.

It seems the NFL considered the possibility of handing the Raiders to St. Louis as a consolation prize. When the possibility of the Raiders moving to Las Vegas, a market the league has wanted to tap into for years, came about, there was no comparison for the two cities and today, St. Louis sits without a football team for the foreseeable future.

The talk of expansion is always something that gets brought up, but rarely happens, which is why the lights have dimmed on St. Louis rejoining the NFL family with an expansion franchise or an already-established franchise moving to the city. Instead, the NFL wants major markets, and may even consider doubling up in some of the United States’ largest cities.

Eric Johnson, the mayor of Dallas said last week that he believes his city should host two NFL teams if expansion comes on the table. Johnson makes the case for Dallas to get a second NFL franchise to compete with the Cowboys in the same way the Giants and Jets do, or the Chargers and Rams have started in recent years.

“The answer is Dallas,” tweeted Johnson. “Why? We are about to pass the Chicago metro and become the No. 3 metro in the U.S., which would make us the largest U.S. metro without two teams. Football is king here. Dallas needs an expansion team and we would be able to sustain two NFL teams better than (Los Angeles) or (New York.)”

Dallas is one of the short list of cities which hosts a team in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. St. Louis on the other hand, does not have an NFL or NBA team, which aside from the MLB, are two of the most profitable types of sports franchises for a city to have at their disposal.