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Which Non-NFL States Deserve A Team The Most?

Scott Krones

Scott Krones

Last updated: August 29, 2025

Future NFL states For League

With the 2025-26 season on the horizon, it’s time for NFL fans to get excited for another year of games. Football is more fun when you have a home team to cheer on, but with 32 teams in the league and only 50 states, there are plenty of areas in the US that aren’t represented in the NFL.

This can be frustrating, as many of the states without an NFL team are full of football enthusiasts who have to travel miles for their nearest games. We think it’s time that the underrepresented fans get the voice they deserve.

By looking at some key factors, we’ll be listing the states without an NFL team that deserve a spot in the league the most. Curious to see if your state made the list, or just wondering which states could get an NFL team in the future? Here are our picks for the states most deserving of an NFL team:

The most deserving states of an NFL team

Infographic of NFL Team States

We’ve assigned each non-NFL state a score out of 100 to show how deserving they are of a team. This was based on the number of online conversations about the league, the number of championships won by their college teams (although this is a heavily disputed subject due to many organizations choosing different winners), and the number of current NFL players they have produced. These are the five states that came out on top in our list:

1. Alabama 

Thanks to the strength of their college football team, and the number of online NFL fans in the region, Alabama storms into the lead on our rankings with an overall score of 96/100. The Crimson Tide have won 18 national championships since joining the NCAA, and more than 100 active players in the NFL started their careers on the team. The state also has a huge share of online fans, with more than 130,000 online NFL discussions over the course of the past year.

2. Virginia

Despite not having the same influence on college football, Virginia is still a hotspot for NFL fans, as it tops our rankings for the states with the most online discussion about the league. More than 300,000 conversations about the NFL were registered last year – more than double that of the state with the second-most discussion – giving Virginia a score of 76/100 on our rankings of non-NFL cities deserving of a team.

3. Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Sooners have claimed seven NCAA national championships, with 72 alumni currently active in the NFL. This makes them one of the most successful college teams of the modern era. Combined with more than 95,000 online discussions about the league in the past year, we’ve scored Oklahoma 70/100 on our rankings, making them the third-most deserving state of some representation in the NFL.

4. Oregon

Despite having no NCAA national championships under their belt, the University of Oregon is home to one of the strongest teams in college football today. Their high ranking, combined with just under 85,000 online discussions about the NFL last year, earns them an overall rating of 56/100 on our list.

5. Utah

The Utah Utes are also yet to win a NCAA championship, but they’ve proven to be one of the stronger teams in the Big 12 Conference in recent years. The state also saw more than 50,000 online NFL discussions last year, giving it a total score of 52/100 to round our top five cities most deserving of an NFL team.

The states that have produced the most NFL players

States with Most NFL players Infographic

We looked at the roster of active NFL players across the 2024-25 season, and ranked each of the states without an NFL team based on the number of players their college football programs have contributed to the league. Here are the areas that provided the most NFL talent:

1. Alabama

Alabama’s position at the top of the list should hardly be a surprise, as the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide team has been a dominant force in college football for decades. With 145 active players in the NFL, they’re the state that has contributed the most players to the current roster without having a team to represent them.

Star quarterbacks who once played for the Crimson Tide include the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and the Carolina Panthers’ Bryce Young. Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is returning to the Miami Dolphins after five seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, also used to play for the team.

2. South Carolina

If you want to be pedantic, the Carolina Panthers technically count as representatives of South Carolina in the NFL. However, since they play home games in Charlotte, North Carolina, we’ve decided to separate the north and south into separate states. This makes South Carolina the non-NFL state with the second-most active players (87 overall). Current NFL stars like Denver Broncos QB Sam Darnold and former NFL champion running back Keaontay Ingram kick-started their careers at USC.

3. Mississippi

Mississippi has long been a hotspot for fans of the New Orleans Saints, who play their home games just across the state border. However, Mississippi still has no NFL team to call its own, despite 79 players on the current roster originating from the Mississippi Rebels. Among them are fan-favorite Saints players like JT Gray and Demario Davis.

4. Iowa

The Iowa Hawkeyes continue to make their presence known in the NFL, with 75 active players on the roster having graduated from their team. Arguably, their best-known alumnus is George Kittle, the star tight end for the San Francisco 79ers, but Cooper DeJean (Philadelphia Eagles cornerback) and Tyler Linderbaum (Baltimore Ravens center) also represented the Hawkeyes in college.

5. Oklahoma & Kentucky

Tied in fifth place are the Kentucky Wildcats and the Oklahoma Sooners, each with 72 alumni playing in the NFL as of last season. Former Wildcats who are active in the league include Green Bay Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine and Carolina Panthers linebacker Trevin Wallace. Meanwhile, the University of Oklahoma was the home Jalen Hurts for his final season in college football.

The states most interested in the NFL

States with Most Conversation about NFL

To find out which non-NFL states were the most interested in football, we monitored social media for conversations about the NFL across the US. We then ranked each state by the number of conversations about the league, showing where fans were the most invested in football discussions despite not having a team. Here are the states without an NFL team that discussed the league the most:

1. Virginia

Despite not having a home team to cheer on, Virginia ranked as the non-NFL state with the most online interest around the league. Our data found 312,508 online conversations about the NFL originating from the state, with 14,134 discussions about stats, and a further 5,899 discussions about the results of games.

2. Kentucky

Kentucky ranks as the state without an NFL team that discusses the league the second most. With 148,443 total conversations around the league, it has an admirable number of NFL enthusiasts, but still only clocks in at half the amount of discussion that Virginia has! It’s no surprise that the league is so popular in the state, as the Wildcats have produced plenty of star players.

3. Kansas

With 135,220 online conversations surrounding the NFL, Kansas is the non-NFL state with the third-most online buzz surrounding the league. 405 of the discussions we found were about the schedule for the season, which was a higher number than Virginia and Kentucky combined.

4. Alabama

Although Alabama topped our list of the states that produced the most players through their college teams, they don’t seem to be as enthusiastic about the NFL as some other states. Still, with 132,853 online conversations about the league, they rank as the non-NFL state with the fourth most discussions about the competition.

5. Connecticut

Connecticut once had a rich history of college football, as Yale was home to one of the most successful teams in the NCAA before the arrival of the modern era. The state still has its fair share of football fans, as it rounds out our top five for online discussions with 129,632 posts in total. 

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