Imagine a world where those twice-annual clashes between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, Giants-Dallas Cowboys, and Giants-Washington Commanders rivalries were a thing of the past.
Weird right? But in Bill Barnewell’s hypothetical NFL expansion plan from 32 teams to 100, that’s what the league would look like.
In Barnwell’s hypothetical, he put eight teams in the New York metropolitan area, which consists of New York City, New Jersey and lower Conneticutt.
He acknowledged the odd dynamic of the Giants and New York Jets playing in New Jersey, so he kept the two teams in their shared stadium, and added teams to New York, including one in downtown Manhattan in a stadium that would be south of Battery Park.
Barnwell’s other “local” based locations include the New York City boroughs of Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. He’d round it out with a team in Albany, NEw York, the state capital and the former summer home of the New York Giants which is roughly a 2.5 hour drive from East Rutherford, and a team in Hartford, Conneticutt.
With added options in the area, tri-state area sports fans could literally have their pick of what teams they supported, this in addition to the NBA (Knicks, Nets), NHL (Rangers, Devils, Islanders), and MLB (Mets, Yankees) pro teams.
But a major drawback, at least from an interest point, is that it would probably be impossible for a team like the Giants to form a new rivalry as old or as interesting as what they have with the Eagles, Cowboys and Commanders.