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New Mexico Seeks Out NFL

Are you ready for some football? More importantly , is the National Football League ready to look at a small state like New Mexico? That?s the $400,000 question that Gov. Bill Richardson?s administration hopes to answer by hiring a California-based consulting firm to study the feasibility of bringing an NFL team to the state.

But state Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, questioned why Richardson approved funding for the NFL study but vetoed hundreds of capital-outlay projects from legislators, including 11 of Grubesic?s . ?He bashes us for needless expenditures, this definitely is one of those,? Grubesic said.

New Mexico, which ranks 36th among U.S. states in population size, has a smaller population than most NFL markets. But officials said Wednesday that a joint effort with Mexico would significantly expand the team?s market. While the Albuquerque market only has about 800,000 residents, the El Paso-Ciudad Ju?rez market ? a little under four hours away by car ? boasts roughly 3 million people, officials said.