The National Football League consists of 32 teams, divided between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC),
Those 32 teams are spread out in 22 different U.S. states, with some states like Texas and California being home to multiple teams, leaving over half of the American states without an in-state NFL Franchise to cheer for.
Which states do not have an NFL team?
There are 28 states without an NFL team, with 6 of these states actually represented by one team; Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont are all part of New England.
Even though the Patriots are based out of Boston, Massachusetts, they serve as regional teams for all these nearby states; in 1971 NFL owners decided the “Boston Patriots” would bring more fans if they had a more regional label, hence they called them the “New England” Patriots.
See Also:
Below is a list of the remaining 22 states without NFL teams, in alphabetical order:
- Alabama, Alaska and Arkansas
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Idaho and Iowa
- Kansas and Kentucky (Kansas might not have a team, but the Chiefs bear their name and are close enough in distance: Missouri)
- Mississippi and Montana
- Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and North Dakota
- Oklahoma and Oregon
- South Carolina and South Dakota
- Utah
- Virginia and West Virginia
- Wyoming
Which states have multiple NFL teams?
Now that we’ve gone over the states that don’t have their local NFL teams representing, here are the states that are lucky enough to have more than one teamin the area:
California: Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers
Florida: Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Maryland: Baltimore Ravens and the Washington Football Team.
New York: Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, New York Jets
Ohio: Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns
Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers
Texas: Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans
