NFL in San Antonio

Residents of San Antonio and city leaders have long desired to bring an NFL team to town. In South Texas, football is the king of all sports. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out each week for high school football, and the NFL is full of players with ties to San Antonio.

Over the years, San Antonio has had its share of semi-pro football teams. From the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL in the mid-1980’s to the San Antonio Texans of the CFL in the mid-1990’s, the city has been a destination for numerous football leagues looking for support.

San Antonio is currently the seventh largest city in the United States and by far the largest without an NFL team. And while many locals would welcome a team, others believe it would be wiser to spend the needed money elsewhere.

In 2005, the New Orleans Saints of the NFL relocated to San Antonio for three games after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The Saints played three games in San Antonio in the Alamodome, with an average attendance of over 62,000.

The Saints returned to New Orleans after the season and San Antonio was left where they began – without an NFL team to call its own. Despite the impressive attendance figures, San Antonio doesn’t appear to be any closer to an NFL team.

Recently, city leaders have had informal discussions with members of the San Diego Chargers, but remain skeptical that the team would leave San Diego.

The NFL is a billion dollar industry. San Antonio, which currently has only one professional sports team, would join the select few cities with multiple pro teams.

If a bid to bring the NFL to San Antonio is unsuccessful, the city could lose millions of dollars in the recruitment effort. However, if the city was granted a team, the economic windfall would be huge for local businesses and the tourism sector in general.