Los Angeles may seem to have everything, but appearances are deceiving.

The impressive size (metro population: 12.9 million) and economic clout (combined annual income: $552 billion) of the Los Angeles metropolitan area can’t obscure a major shortcoming: It doesn’t have a team in America’s hottest sport, professional football.

But it should. Los Angeles is the most attractive place in North America to put a new professional sports franchise, specifically a National Football League (NFL) team, according to a Portfolio.com/bizjournals study.

Portfolio.com/bizjournals analyzed 82 markets in the United States and Canada to determine if they have the financial ability to support professional teams in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and soccer. The study was based on each area’s total personal income (TPI), the sum of all money earned by all residents in a year. (See the methodology sidebar for further details.)

Los Angeles, which has eight franchises in the other four sports, is clearly the No. 1 choice for football expansion or relocation. Its TPI is large enough to support not just one NFL team, but five of them.

Among the study’s other findings:

• Major League Soccer (MLS) has the widest range of potential options. Forty-two open markets have income bases that are large enough to support a professional soccer team. (See the accompanying chart for ratings for all markets in all leagues.)
• Other leagues have fewer options. Eighteen markets currently outside the NFL have enough money to maintain a football franchise. The National Basketball Association (NBA) has 17 open markets with sufficient TPI, the National Hockey League (NHL) has 16, and Major League Baseball (MLB) has only two.
• Nineteen areas are overextended, with Denver, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Tampa facing the worst problems. The income bases of these overextended markets are inadequate for their existing teams, let alone any new ones.

Portfolio.com/bizjournals used data on team revenues and ticket prices to estimate the total personal income that a market would need to support a pro sports team. An MLB franchise, for example, requires a TPI base of at least $86.7 billion.

To explore an interactive that breaks down the study's results, click here.