NFL Expansion and Relocation: How Teams Get Added or Move

By 4Football Staff · November 5, 2026 · 10 min read

Adding a franchise or moving one takes an owners' vote, a stadium plan and a long list of league conditions. Here is how expansion and relocation work, and how the map got its current shape.

When a city loses its team, or a new one is awarded a franchise, it can look like a business decision made behind closed doors. In part, it is. But the NFL is also a membership organization with written rules, and a franchise cannot simply load the trucks or open a new office. Every addition and every move goes through a process that the owners themselves control.

Understanding that process explains some of the sport's most emotional stories: why a team can leave a city that loves it, why a new franchise may take years to arrive, and why the league is wary of changing its structure. This article covers how the NFL grows and moves in general terms, with the well-documented history that shows the rules at work.

Who actually decides

The NFL is run as a league of independent franchise owners. Major structural decisions, including admitting a new team and approving a team's move, are made by the owners voting as a group. The league office, led by the commissioner, runs the process, studies proposals and makes recommendations, but the owners hold the votes.

The league's rules require a supermajority for these decisions. In the case of relocation, the required margin has been reported as three-quarters of the member clubs, which with a 32-team league is 24 votes. Admitting a new member also requires a supermajority of the owners. Check the current league constitution and bylaws for the exact threshold, because rules can be amended.

The high bar has a purpose. Owners share most of their national revenue equally (see our explainer on NFL revenue sharing), so every change in the membership affects every club. A new team means one more share, the schedule must be redone, and a move changes the league's footprint and its media value. Requiring a large majority forces a proposal to benefit the league, not only the team making it.

How expansion works

Expansion means adding a franchise to the league. In outline, the process looks like this:

1. The league decides it wants to grow. Owners consider whether another team would add value in the form of new markets, new fans and new media revenue, and whether the scheduling and competitive balance can handle it.
2. Candidates come forward. Cities, ownership groups and sometimes state or local governments present themselves. A serious bid usually combines a financially capable owner with a stadium plan.
3. The league evaluates the bids. Committees look at market size, the strength of the local fan base, the owner's finances, the stadium and its funding, and how the new team fits geographically.
4. Owners vote. A winning bid needs the required supermajority.
5. Franchise terms are set. An expansion team pays an entry fee to the existing owners and agrees to league conditions. The amount depends on the deal and is not something to guess at.
6. Players are provided. The league arranges a way for the new team to build a roster, most often an expansion draft, in which the new club selects players from lists of those left unprotected by existing teams, together with extra draft choices.
7. The schedule and divisions are reorganized. The new team has to fit into a division, and the league may realign.

Why the NFL expands rarely

Several factors make the league cautious.

• Dilution. National broadcast revenue is divided among the clubs. A new franchise adds a share without adding an equal amount of revenue, at least in the short term.
• Scheduling. The league's schedule is built from a formula that depends on the structure of divisions and conferences, which we describe in the schedule formula article. Adding a team means changing it.
• Talent. The league wants every team to be competitive, and each new club spreads the available talent across more rosters.
• Fit. The league wants even divisions. Odd numbers cause problems, so growth tends to come in units that keep the structure balanced.

A history of growth

The modern NFL grew from a small group of franchises. A selection of the most important steps:

Two points about that list. First, the 1970 merger of the American Football League into the NFL was the biggest single increase in the league's size, and it was a negotiated merger, not an expansion in the usual sense. You can read the background in our history article on the AFL-NFL rivalry and merger. Second, the 2002 Texans round-out was designed to create a tidy structure of eight divisions of four teams, which is the arrangement described in our piece on divisions and conferences. That was the most recent expansion at the time of writing, so check the league's current announcements for any change.

How relocation works

Relocation is the move of an existing franchise to a new city. Here the owners are deciding on a team that already belongs to the league, so the rules concern protecting the home market and the league as a whole.

League policy sets out a formal procedure for a team that wants to move. The team must submit an application within a defined window and make its case to the league. The league then considers a list of criteria, which have included such questions as:

• the team's financial performance and the reasons behind it;
• the strength of fan support and attendance in the current city;
• whether the stadium is adequate and what the team has done, and the community has done, to improve it;
• the efforts of local government and business to keep the team;
• the effect of the move on the league's relationship with the media and on the fan base left behind; and
• whether the proposed new market can support the team.

A team cannot move simply because it is dissatisfied. The league's guidelines are meant to push an owner to negotiate in good faith with the home city first. If the owners approve, the team may move. If they do not, the team usually has to stay, although the history shows the league does not always have the last word.

Why teams move

The reasons are nearly always financial. The most frequent cause is a stadium dispute: the old building is out of date, the lease is expiring, and the owner and the city cannot agree on who pays for a new one. A new stadium can raise a franchise's revenue by a large amount, so the pressure to find one is intense. Our article on who pays for football stadiums explains the usual funding arrangements. When talks fail, an owner may use the threat of relocation as leverage, and sometimes the threat is real.

Other pressures include a smaller market that struggles to sell tickets and suites, a team that has lost its audience, or a city that offers a better deal.

Notable moves

The league's history is full of relocations. A few of the best known:

These stories carry real lessons about the process.

The Raiders in 1982. The league tried to block the team's move to Los Angeles, and the team went to court. The outcome showed that the league's power to veto a relocation is limited by antitrust law, and that later rules had to be written with that in mind.

The Browns and Ravens. When Cleveland's team moved to Baltimore, the city of Cleveland negotiated an agreement under which the Browns' name, colors and history stayed in Cleveland, to be held for a new team. As a result, the Baltimore club began as the Ravens, a new identity, and the Browns resumed in 1999. This is the main example of a settlement that left each city with something. The Oilers' move to Tennessee worked differently: the franchise's history went with the team, which later became the Titans, and Houston received a brand-new franchise, the Texans, in 2002.

The Rams. The team's move back to Los Angeles in 2016 is the clearest recent example of the formal process. Competing proposals were put to the owners, who voted on them in a formal meeting, as the league's procedure requires.

Who owns the history

When a franchise moves, who keeps the records, the name and the championships? There is no single rule. The answer depends on the agreement. In many relocations the team keeps its identity, name and records along with the franchise itself, and the old city starts over with a new team. In others, including Cleveland's, the old city negotiated to keep the name and history. If you see a record book that lists a franchise under a different city for different eras, that is why.

What a city needs to get a team

A place that wants a franchise, through either expansion or relocation, has to show more than enthusiasm. League owners have looked for:

• A large enough market. That means population, corporate sponsors and a base of fans who will buy tickets, suites and merchandise.
• A modern stadium plan. The building must meet the league's standards for seating, premium space, fan experience and broadcasting.
• A strong owner. The league expects ownership to have the means and the record to run a franchise. Owners also have to be approved.
• Political and public support. Many stadiums are built with public money, so the support or opposition of local government can decide an outcome.
• A place in the schedule. Geography, rivalries and broadcast reach all matter.

None of that guarantees an invitation. Cities with good markets have waited years for a decision.

International expansion

The league has played regular-season games abroad for years, and officials have spoken on and off about the idea of a permanent team outside the United States. That is a different question from the ones above. A franchise abroad would involve travel burdens, time zones, broadcast arrangements and tax and labor law in another country. Whether it happens is a decision for the owners, and it should be read as a possibility, not a plan. Our article on international games covers what the league does at present.

How this affects fans

For a fan, the process has some real consequences.

• If your team threatens to leave, the argument usually concerns a stadium. Following the local debate gives you more information than rumors.
• If your city wants a team, the realistic path is a combined effort of an ownership group, a stadium proposal and the political backing to pay for it, followed by a league vote.
• If a team moves, the records, name and logo may or may not move with it. Check how that specific case was settled.
• If you follow the standings, new teams change divisions and the structure behind the schedule. Our teams directory lists the league as it stands now, the standings page shows how each division is arranged, and the schedule page shows the games that result.

Common misunderstandings

• Owners can move whenever they want. They cannot do so without a vote, although legal challenges have shaped how the league enforces its rules.
• Expansion automatically makes the league more money. Not necessarily. New teams split shared revenue, and the benefit depends on the market and the deal.
• A city that loses a team will get a new one. Sometimes, but there is no guarantee and some cities wait for decades.
• The commissioner decides. The commissioner leads the process, but the owners vote.

The short version

• The NFL's owners vote on adding teams and approving moves, and both require a supermajority; confirm the current threshold in the league's governing documents.
• Expansion involves bids, evaluation, a vote, an entry fee and a way for the new team to build a roster.
• Relocation follows a formal application and a set of criteria, with stadium disputes behind most moves.
• The league has been cautious about expanding because revenue is shared, schedules must be rebuilt and divisions must stay balanced.
• Who keeps a team's name, colors and history depends on the settlement in each case.
• The league reached 32 teams in 2002 and organized into eight four-team divisions; check current announcements for changes.