Franchise mode within any sporting game is one that stands out for hardcore fans. Revamping your favorite team through trades, free agency, and other routes to one day lift the Lombardi trophy is what dreams are made of.
But Madden has a feature that’s missing from other sports games — the ability to relocate any NFL team to another city.
If this is your first time going about this process, we’ll walk over how this can be completed efficiently within Madden 23.
While NFL fans are well aware of recent changes to teams within the league, such as the Oakland Raiders recently becoming the Las Vegas Raiders, doing it with any NFL team is unique to Madden.
The process can only be done if you’re playing Franchise mode as an Owner rather than a Coach/Player, so be mindful of this when loading up a new save.
Another setting that has to be enabled when booting up the save is who can actually relocate a team. You’re able to set it to only yourself or allow everyone the ability to relocate. So, ideally, you could see the Packers and Bears relocate during your Franchise save.
Now that you’re ready to begin the relocation process, the first step is to pick a team with a poor stadium rating, one below 20, which will allow you to get the relocation movement started ASAP.
Picking a team with a high rating, such as the New England Patriots, for example, will still work, but you’ll have to neglect all stadium renovations and improvements until the rating is poor.
Cleveland’s stadium is poor, but has a rating of 26 which almost qualifies for relocation.
Navigate toward the Home section of the menu, and locate the Stadium option. If the rating is poor enough, the Relocation option should appear on your game.
This will begin the process, and it’ll involve you picking a new city, stadium, jerseys, logo, and basically everything that real-life owners have to consider when moving a team.
Once the council has returned to you with a selection of cities you can relocate to, it’ll have three metrics to go off of;
- Market Size
- Personality
- Team Names
The Market Size of the city you want to relocate to will determine how much funds you’ll be granted to complete the process. Personality will be the gauge of how passionate the fanbase will be if you aren’t performing well.
The full list of cities players will be able to relocate to in Madden 23 can be viewed down below.
London
- Market Size: Huge.
- Personality: Loyal.
- Team Name choices: Bulldogs, Monarchs, Black Knights.
Toronto
- Market Size: Huge.
- Personality: Loyal.
- Team Name choices: Huskies, Mounties, Thunderbirds.
Mexico City
- Market Size: Huge.
- Personality: Hardcore.
- Team Name choices: Diablos, Golden Eagles.
Brooklyn
- Market Size: Huge.
- Personality: Hardcore.
- Team Name choices: Beats, Bulls, Barons.
Chicago
- Market Size: Huge.
- Personality: Hardcore.
- Team Name choices: Tigers, Blues, Cougars.
Oakland
- Market Size: Larger.
- Personality: Front Runner.
- Team Name choices: No re-brand options.
San Antonio
- Market Size: Average.
- Personality: Loyal.
- Team Name choices: Dreadnoughts. Express.
Orlando
- Market Size: Decent.
- Personality: Front Runner.
- Team Name choices: Orbits, Sentinels, Wizards.
Salt Lake City
- Market Size: Small.
- Personality: Loyal.
- Team Name choices: Elks, Flyers, Pioneers.
Memphis
- Market Size: Small.
- Personality: Laid Back.
- Team Name choices: Hounds, Egyptians, Steamers.
Sacramento
- Market Size: Decent.
- Personality: Laid Back.
- Team Name choices: Condors, Miners, Redwoods.
Columbus
- Market Size: Decent.
- Personality: Front Runner.
- Team Name choices: Aviators, Caps, Explorers.
Portland
- Market Size: Average.
- Personality: Hardcore.
- Team Name choices: River Hogs. Snowhawks, Lumberjacks.
Austin
- Market Size: Decent.
- Personality: Front Runner.
- Team Name choices: Bats, Armadillos, Desperados.
Dublin
- Market Size: Decent.
- Personality: Laid Back.
- Team Name choices: Celtic Tigers, Antlers, Shamrocks.
Houston
- Market Size: Huge.
- Personality: Loyal.
- Team Name choices: Oilers, Gunners, Voyagers.
Oklahoma City
- Market Size: Average.
- Personality: Loyal.
- Team Name choices: Lancers, Nighthawks, Bisons.
St. Louis
- Market Size: Average.
- Personality: Laid Back.
- Team Name choices: No re-brand options.
San Diego
- Market Size: Average.
- Personality: Laid Back.
- Team Name choices: Crusaders. Red Dragons, Aftershocks.
Once you’ve got the general consensus of the relocation process in Madden 23, it’s rather easy, and in no time, you’ll be playing as the Toronto Mounties or the Dublin Celtic Tigers.
Still on the fence about picking up this year’s entry? Check out our Madden 23 review, where we outline some of the core changes, along with some questionable decisions made this year.
Written by Nick Farrell on behalf of GLHF.
