Culture
Every City That Ever Played Host To an NFL Team, on One Poster
A genealogy of American football.
Rumors are swirling yet again that professional football might soon return to Los Angeles. But until that happens, L.A. firmly remains in the distinguished club of American cities that formerly boasted an NFL squad. Who else is on the list? How about Hammond, Illinois; Muncie, Indiana; and Racine, Wisconsin.
The NFL may be one of the world's most profitable sports enterprises today, but the league's roots grew out of small cities. As this poster from historyshots.com shows, the modern NFL was largely limited to the Great Lakes region when it launched in 1920. Tonawanda, New York, located along Lake Erie with a current population of only 15,000, was home to the most modest professional football team ever assembled.