My Digging into the Oregon NFL Scene
Okay, so I got curious the other day. Someone brought up football, and I started wondering, wait a minute, does Oregon actually have its own NFL team? You know, like the Portland somethings? It felt like a gap in my knowledge, especially with how much people talk about sports out that way.
So, first thing I did was just a quick search online. Nothing fancy. I think I typed something like “nfl team based in oregon” or maybe “portland pro football team”. Pretty simple stuff.
The results popped up right away, and honestly, it was a pretty clear answer almost immediately. Nope. Oregon doesn’t have an NFL team currently stationed there. No Portland Pythons, no Salem Stags, nothing like that.
That got me thinking, why not? Portland’s a decent-sized city. I did a little more digging, just clicking around related topics. Looks like there’s been talk over the years, you know, chatter about Portland being a potential spot for relocation or expansion. Lots of “what ifs” and feasibility studies mentioned here and there, but nothing ever stuck.
I found out that most football fans in Oregon tend to latch onto nearby teams. Makes sense.
- A lot of folks root for the Seattle Seahawks up in Washington. That’s probably the most common one.
- Some might look south to the San Francisco 49ers or the Raiders when they were in Oakland (and now Vegas, I guess).
It seems they just adopt the closest regional team.
Then it hit me – college football is HUGE in Oregon. The Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers have massive, passionate followings. Like, really intense rivalries and dedicated fans. I reckon maybe the pro market just hasn’t seemed as necessary or viable because the college game scratches that football itch so well for people there. Maybe the NFL folks looked at it and thought the market was already saturated with college loyalty?
So, yeah. My little investigation concluded pretty quickly. No NFL team in Oregon. They’ve got the Ducks and the Beavers holding down the fort for football fandom. It’s a bit surprising on the surface, but when you think about the strong college presence, it kinda makes sense why the NFL hasn’t set up shop there yet. That was my journey finding that out. Just thought I’d share what I found.
