Football fans in St. Louis have not had an easy time in the past 20 years. Following a playoff appearance in 2004, the St. Louis Rams failed to produce a winning record for 11 consecutive seasons. Then, in 2016, fans were caught off guard when Rams owner Stan Kroenke decided to relocate the organization to Los Angeles, leaving local fans without a team to root for and without a community to support. Recent years have brought lower-level football leagues to the city, but with an unproven track record of stability and a lower quality of play, it was tough for fans to truly get behind a team. However, a recent merger involving two spring football leagues, the XFL and USFL, could change the football fortunes of St. Louis for good.

As of September 28th, these leagues announced a deal that involves the XFL and USFL merging into one developmental spring league. With potential guidance from the NFL, there will finally be a spring football league that isn’t susceptible to competition from other leagues. The NFL can provide financial, legal, and strategic help that will stabilize the league — and most importantly, the XFL and USFL will no longer have to fight over media attention. This can allow St. Louis to support their team without fear of more disappointment.

Out of the 15 cities that have a team in either the XFL or the USFL, St. Louis is the biggest market that doesn’t have an NFL team to overshadow it. Furthermore, in this past XFL season, the St. Louis Battlehawks were first in both attendance and TV viewership, despite not even making the playoffs. The league executives surely know that if any market is going to succeed in the revamped league, it’s going to be St. Louis. Don’t be surprised if the best players who aren’t good enough for the NFL go to St. Louis.

A dependable and successful spring football team would be huge for St. Louis, but there are bigger matters at stake. St. Louis has a unique opportunity to show the NFL that it should have never moved the Rams in the first place. If Battlehawks fans were to continue showing love, as expected, and St. Louis football pessimists were to jump on board due to the NFL’s role in the league, support for the team would be unrivaled. St. Louis would be able to showcase how it doesn’t belong in a spring football league; it deserves to play in the autumn.

There are two ways in which this support can pay off. First, while it’s unlikely that the NFL adds an expansion team in the short term, it can very well happen down the line. Increasing the size of the NFL would not work unless the structure was completely remodeled, but in 20 years, who’s to say the league wouldn’t want to add eight teams? It would likely only lead to more ticket sales, media viewership, and revenue as a whole, and St. Louis would definitely be on the list.

There’s also the chance of another team relocating to St. Louis, which is a more likely option. Teams like the Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Carolina Panthers are in smaller markets and have not been successful in recent years. There’s also the Los Angeles Chargers, who are viewed as the second fiddle to the Rams. If any of these teams were to relocate, St. Louis would have a chance to cement itself at the top of the list.