I think there’s a good dozen markets or so that don’t currently have an NFL team that could support a football team, plus several existing markets could support another team if it played in the spring instead of the fall.

East: Toronto, Milwaukee, Columbus, Louisville, Memphis, Birmingham, Norfolk, RTP, Orlando, St Louis

West: Vancouver, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento, Salt Lake, San Antonio, Oklahoma City

If you’re looking at a league attendance in the 30,000-40,000 range any combination of these cities would be great. You’d probably need to have franchises in NY, LA, and Chicago to make the league more legit.

You can potentially have some immediate star power with possible QBs Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel. Don’t have the three year out of high school rule and you’ll get some 4 and 5 star recruits, especially in the running back position, straight out of high school before the NFL can get them.

You won’t be able to pay players what the NFL does, but you can pay them earlier, and you can eventually get some really good talent. It wouldn’t happen right away, but if patient a spring league could really take off. It could likely be comparable to MLS within 5-10 years, possibly surpassing it by then.

Would McMahon and any other owners by that patient, and/or be willing to accept that the NFL would still be top dog? Who knows.

Of course fewer kids are being allowed to play football, as health issues are really causing parents to be hesitant on what their kids participate in. MLS would definitely be a safer bet. Being in Texas I know nothing of lacrosse but I have heard it is a growing sport on the coasts. I remember seeing something about a potential cricket league forming in the states as well. Cricket would definitely be the riskiest of those now, but may be completely different story in 30 years.