Is there really parity in the NFL?

[K Train]

You think it's just a coincidence that teams like the Steelers and Patriots with huge fan bases do so well year after year but teams like the Panthers and the Jags with no fan base at all do terribly year after year? There has to be some correlation there.

the panthers and jags are expansion teams, the panthers have appeared in a superbowl and the jags have been a playoff team. thats pretty damn good for a young franchise, the texans had their growing pains too. Jacksonville was a terrible place to put an NFL team, that doesnt stop them from competing though that stops them from selling tickets

the steelers have bee great for the last ten years but there was an awful lot of mediocrity bewteen the early 80s and the early 2000s

the browns and lions are historically horrid teams, but they have a TON of fans, whats the correlation there?

im pretty sure the redskins are the most valuable NFL team, maybe second to the cowboys but what has that gotten them?

also id say the only "huge" fanbases are the steelers and cowboys, a case could be made for the giants and niners too, NE had such poor fans before the 2000s and thats with them being an entire region, not just a city or a state

[LarryNJ]

You think it's just a coincidence that teams like the Steelers and Patriots with huge fan bases do so well year after year but teams like the Panthers and the Jags with no fan base at all do terribly year after year? There has to be some correlation there.

What about the Redskins? They have to be in the top 5 of fan bases. (how is a fan base measured?) Raiders, & Chiefs also have huge fan bases, even the Browns have a big fan base and they have sucked for the better part of 50 years. Than you have the Ravens who only have about 100,000 fans total and they have been consistently good.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

You still can't buy championships no matter how much money you have, Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder are proof of that. Those teams have been a disaster for so long that even when they are competitive they can't finish the deal when it counts. I'll take a top flight front office with a low budget any day over a team with tons of money and a mismanaged front office.

[steelersbabex25]

What about the Redskins? They have to be in the top 5 of fan bases. (how is a fan base measured?) Raiders, & Chiefs also have huge fan bases, even the Browns have a big fan base and they have sucked for the better part of 50 years. Than you have the Ravens who only have about 100,000 fans total and they have been consistently good.

They're awful because they have an awful owner.

[LarryNJ]

They're awful because they have an awful owner.

Exactly! It all starts and ends in the front office. Everything else is equal!

[Black@Gold Forever32]

To add to the Panthers and Jags....They did make it to their conference title games in the 2nd year of their existence.........Panthers lost the Packers and the Jags lost to the Pats.......The Jags did remain a consistent play-off contender after their title game loss and really just in the last 5 years have fallen off......The Panthers have been up and down but mostly down.......

The Texans took 10 years to finally make the post-season but that largely due to the Colts being the juggernaut of their division for the entire decade and the Texans missing bad on David Carr........Missing on a QB especially number 1 overall takes years to overcome.....

The Browns since returning in 1999 as an expansion team have been really bad......Bad drafts and being in the same division with the Steelers/Ravens have been big factors.....

But its much easier for an NFL expansion team to be competitive quick thanks to parity in the NFL today.......

[ChucktownSteeler]

I believe the chance for parity is there, but not guaranteed. Better organizations are always going to rise to the top.

C-town

[BlitzburghRockCity]

The Jags built their team right, whereas the Panthers went for all veterans and ended up getting old all at the same time. That was it for them after that. The Jags just couldn't hold things together though and that fan base there that never shows up for the games doesn't help matters either.

[CowherPower]

I just hope we don't do any more expansion teams. 32 is enough right now and there's plenty of competition around the league to keep things interesting for a long time.

[ChucktownSteeler]

I just hope we don't do any more expansion teams. 32 is enough right now and there's plenty of competition around the league to keep things interesting for a long time.

I wouldn't mind seeing a little contraction myself, thinks of the Jags and Seahags to go would be a good start.