Has Major League Sports Expansion stalled in North America?

With the massive economic and population growth of North America throughout the last century sports fans have had a lot to celebrate. Especially at the turn of the century, when it seemed inevitable that every major sports league would continue growing and add a team or two every decade. Which every major sports league had been doing and in many cases three or more new teams a decade.

The last time the NFL expanded was in 2002 with the addition of the Houston Texans. The NBA last expanded in 2004 with the second incarnation of the Charlotte Bobcats. The MLB last expanded with two additional teams in 1998. The NHL expanded rapidly at the end of the century with three additional expansion teams between 1997 and 2000. Before expanding again in 2017 and 2021. Making the NHL the only exception out the four major North American sports leagues. The U.S population has grown from 282 million in 2000 to 331 million today. That is very fast growth, especially considering that the population growth of most first world countries has slumped below the 2.1 births per woman replacement rate.

So, the big question is why?
Doesn’t money talk?

In almost all scenarios the richer a company becomes their desire to grow and rake in even larger figures increases. I believe there are three major culprits that when combined with countless debatable smaller reasons can explain why sports expansion has stalled this century. While more teams does equal more money, for teams like the Dallas Cowboys who hold a massive revenue monopoly throughout Texas. For a state of almost 30 million residents and quickly growing an additional team in San Antonio or Austin would cause merchandise sells to drop drastically, and to a lesser extent ratings.

The decline of cable television is the other major culprit, and probably the biggest of them all. Without sports Cable television would either be in an extremely rough spot. Without sports all cable companies would have no choice but to drastically lower their rates. While Sports leagues do not own cable companies the transition away from cable is inevitable. But most importantly it’s also no man’s land.

Every major North American sports league has seen a decline in tv ratings, in most cases an average of 50% less viewers compared to only three years ago. While owners of sports teams still have billions in their bank accounts, certain causes concern for the future is becoming more and more prevalent. As they will most likely have to rely more on merchandise sales which are subject to revenue drops if the economic and average monthly income growth slows or even worse, recedes. On the other side of the argument, it can be argued that a big shake up in marketing or adding more expansion teams could increase interest in said sport. I believe that is a major reason why Major League Soccer has grown at such a rapid pace. While much of Major League Soccer’s lighting fast growth can be placed on the fact that there was already a large appetite for professional soccer in the U.S and no professional league until 1996. Follow SpotLife ASIA for the latest news and updates.

Some credit must be given to other causes, and that is one of the least talked about reasons. The Covid 19 pandemic was also a massive bump in the road. The NHL, NFL, and NBA lost between $3.8 and $8.3 billion in revenue in 2020. The MLB was the least impacted by the pandemic, only losing $1.1 Billion in revenue in 2020. Primarily because for two months it was the only major North American sports league up and running at a time when the world was starving for live sports. If not for the pandemic we would be hearing a lot more news and rumors about North American sports expansion. But in Conclusion, the days of quick and easy expansion is over for North American sports is over.

And for all of the reasons mentioned and countless smaller, debatable reasons, it looks like things are not changing anytime soon.