The Cities That Feed the NFL
Today, the Los Angeles Rams hosted their first home game since 1994, after which they decamped for St. Louis. This season, their return is not just a homecoming for the club, but for many NFL players. 90 players on opening week rosters hail from the Los Angeles area — second most amongst metropolitan areas in the United States.
10 days ago, Trevor Siemien took the field as the starting quarterback for the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos in the league’s season opener. He was a surprising choice. Not only did he surprise in beating out a veteran signee and first round draft pick, but little about his background suggested he would become a starting QB. He was selected in the 7th and final round of the 2005 draft; he played college football at Northwestern, who hasn’t produced a starting QB for the NFL since Hall of Famer Otto Graham, who retired in 1955. One thing about Siemien, though, wasn’t particularly uncommon — his hometown. The Orlando, Florida area has produced 18 current NFL players, tied for 22nd most.
Of the more than 1900 players on NFL rosters (including injured and suspended players), almost 85% hail from one of the 386 Metropolitan Statistical Areas counted by the Office of Management and Budget. The most hail from Miami, Florida — 109 — but 216 metro areas produced at least one NFL player.
30 metro areas are home to an NFL team. In order of players produced:
- Miami (109)
- Los Angeles (90)
- Atlanta (67)
- Dallas (64)
- New York (63)
- Houston (54)
- Philadelphia (42)
- Washington (39)
- Chicago (36)
- Detroit (27)
- Cincinnati (26)
- Charlotte (25)
- New Orleans (25)
- Phoenix (24)
- Pittsburgh (23)
- San Francisco-Oakland (23)
- San Diego (20)
- Cleveland (19)
- Tampa Bay (19)
- Baltimore (15)
- Jacksonville (13)
- Kansas City (13)
- Nashville (13)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul (12)
- Seattle (12)
- Indianapolis (11)
- Denver (9)
- Boston (7)
- Buffalo (7)
- Green Bay (0)
Of the metros without an NFL team, here are the 10 biggest producers:
- Riverside-San Bernardino, CA (25)
- St. Louis, MO (19)
- Birmingham, AL (18)
- Columbus, OH (18)
- Orlando, FL (18)
- Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA (17)
- Austin, TX (14)
- Memphis, TN (14)
- Mobile, AL (14)
- Baton Rouge, LA (13)
Riverside-San Bernardino ranks 14th overall, while the remaining nine cities rank between 20th and 30th.
Mobile, population 415,000, is by far the smallest metro to make this list. It also leads the rankings if you examine NFL players produced per 100,000 residents.
Mobile (3.37 per 100,000) is followed by Pine Bluff, Arkansas (pop. 93,696) at 3.19. Four other metros produce more than 2 per 100,000 — Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, AL; Columbus, GA; Auburn-Opelika, AL; and Charlottesville, VA. New Orleans leads all NFL metros with 1.98
The per capita rankings skew heavily to the south. Dayton, Ohio leads outside the region with 1.5, which is good for 23rd overall.
If you’re looking for a place likely to produce an NFL player, it’s a better bet to look south.
For comparison, here is my analysis from 2012.
