ESPN writer speculates Charleston & Columbia as potential NFL expansion spots

FILE – The NFL logo is seen during the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. Opening arguments are expected to begin Thursday, June 6, 2024, in federal court in a class-action lawsuit filed by “Sunday Ticket” subscribers claiming the NFL broke antitrust laws. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 and has withstood numerous challenges, including a dismissal that was overturned. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)

 (WCIV) — A professional NFL team in South Carolina sounds appealing to sports fans throughout the Palmetto State.

Though the Carolina Panthers are northerly neighbors, one ESPN writer, Bill Barnwell, believes that if the preeminent football league expands to 100 teams, Columbia and Charleston, or Savannah, could be in the running for a franchise, he writes in a June 24 article.

Barnwell highlighted that in England, a country the size of Ohio, there are 92 professional soccer clubs across the top five divisions in professional soccer.

Under Barnwell’s proposal, South Carolina would no longer be a little brother to North Carolina laying claim to the Carolina Panthers.

If a professional football team were to exist in Columbia, Barnwell argues the Gamecocks have a stadium, making the transition for an NFL team’s arrival in town easier.

“With two other new teams just over 100 miles away in different directions, Columbia could remain the centerpiece of football in the Palmetto State or lose some of its market share to other major cities,” Barnwell writes.

His argument for Charleston is simple: It is one of the fastest-growing cities on the Atlantic coastline.

“Charleston’s steadily growing population made it a logical pick,” he writes. “The Citadel also has an 11,500-seat stadium in town, although I’d imagine a successful pro team could command larger crowds.”

South Carolina currently has no major professional sports team.

The Panthers nearly went through with a Rock Hill, South Carolina, practice facility before the plan collapsed.

Behind the failed project were disputes over funding, which led to a bitter battle between David Tepper, Rock Hill, and York County. Construction was halted in 2022 and the project was eventually killed.