# Cities that have lost multiple teams **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 15, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714 "2018-01-15T20:31:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/21 "2018-01-16T00:35:37Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [From here.](http://www.grayflannelsuit.net/blog/what-city-and-state-has-lost-the-most-sports-teams) New York City > > And as a state, Ohio has lost 20 teams. The article is old enough (2015) that, as noted in the story, St Louis, with their latest loss of an NFL team, is now tied with New York City. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/22 "2018-01-16T02:57:11Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > When the Raiders relocate to Las Vegas in 2020 (or possibly 2019), the city of Oakland will have lost _the same team_ on two separate occasions. And when the Warriors move to their new stadium in San Francisco, that will be three teams that have left Oakland, including the NHL California Golden Seals (although they were known as the Oakland Seals at one point), which moved to Cleveland before merging with Minnesota (now Dallas). ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/23 "2018-01-16T03:05:51Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > …And Washington DC has lost the Senators twice (though there was an instant replacement the first time.) Tell me about it. As a youth, I was heartbroken… twice. But we did get the Redskins and Bullets… oops… I mean “wizards…” from other burgs. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/24 "2018-01-16T03:10:11Z")
er nevermind, I can’t count. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/25 "2018-01-16T03:14:36Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Melbourne “lost” South Melbourne to Sydney and Fitzroy to Brisbane. They have been increasing pressure & incentives for North Melbourne to go to Tasmania for years. > > Curiously enough, were that to succeed South Melbourne have gone north while North Melbourne would go south. This is about sports teams moving away from cities, not Australian boundary changes based on wagers or economic immigration incentives. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/26 "2018-01-16T03:41:45Z")
San Diego has lost: The Chargers to LA (NFL) The Rockets to Houston The Clippers to LA (both NBA) they’ve had 7 pro and semi-pro soccer teams (3 named The Sockers - how original) And they’ve had a long hard relationship with ice hockey (like ATL, not alot of ice): > [@](#): > > San Diego has a long history of minor league ice hockey teams, starting with the San Diego Skyhawks that played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League from 1948 to 1950. Hockey returned in 1966 with the San Diego Gulls of the Western Hockey League, . . .The Gulls ceased operations in 1974 to give way for the relocated San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey Association, which folded in 1977. Another Mariners team was one of the charter teams of the short-lived Pacific Hockey League that same year, being renamed Hawks in the following and last PHL season. . . remained without hockey until 1990, when another San Diego Gulls team was founded in the International Hockey League (1990–95). After the IHL team moved to Los Angeles, another Gulls team played for over a decade in both the West Coast Hockey League (1995-03) and ECHL (2003-06). The current San Diego Gulls, of the American Hockey League, started playing in 2015, and are owned by the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks. > **[Sports in San Diego](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_San_Diego)** > > Sports in San Diego includes two major professional league teams, other highest-level professional league teams, minor league teams, and college athletics. The San Diego Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB). San Diego FC begins play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2025. The San Diego State Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I (FBS). The Farmers Insurance Open, a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, is played annually at Torrey Pines Golf Course. > San Diego hosts two teams of the ... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/27 "2018-01-16T06:01:36Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > The Chargers to LA (NFL) This reminds me: Los Angeles has lost four pro football teams: - Dons (AAFC; when the AAFC and NFL merged in 1950, the Dons were merged with the NFL’s Rams) - Chargers (moved to San Diego in 1961) - Rams (moved to St. Louis in 1995) - Raiders (moved back to Oakland in 1995) The irony, of course, is that two of the three teams that moved away have since moved back. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/28 "2018-01-16T06:39:22Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Yeah, the Pilots were a disaster of an idea, but mostly for reasons beyond their control. > > They were forced to start play two years early, because the AL had been pressured into letting the Royals start play in 1969 instead of 1971, and the league needed to expand by two teams at once. They played in a rundown, minor-league stadium (ironically called Sicks’ Stadium), because the planned new stadium for 1971 hadn’t yet been built. They had terrible attendance, and an owner who wasn’t interested in throwing more money at a losing proposition. > > Several attempts to sell the team to owners who would keep it in Seattle fell through, and the sale of the team to Bud Selig (and its move to Milwaukee) literally happened days before Opening Day, 1970. > > (The resulting lawsuit against the American League by Seattle, King County, and Washington state eventually led to the creation of the Mariners.) I gather the loss of the SuperSonics was almost as bitter. There were also the Seattle Metropolitans, who played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and folded with that league in 1924. But if you ever want a good trivia question, they were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/29 "2018-01-16T07:49:21Z")
I’ll play the Devil’s Advocate for St. Louis: > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Or, things that pop into my head at 1 a.m… > > I actually started thinking about this a couple of weeks ago, when the Rams were in the NFL playoffs, in their second year back in L.A., and after their tenure in St. Louis ended with a long run of mediocre-to-bad teams. > > Not including the early years of the various major pro leagues (in which it was common for teams to fold or move), St. Louis has lost five teams in the four major pro sports: > > Football: > > - Cardinals (moved to Phoenix in 1988) A crap football team that hadn’t won an NFL championship since 1947, while it played in Chicago, and never won a playoff game while a St. Louis franchise. The incompetence continues, with one lone Super Bowl appearance since then. How do you ask St. Louis sports fans to support such incompetence? > [@](#): > > - Rams (moved to Los Angeles in 2016) The NFL has had a hard on for a NFL franchise in LA for 20 years. Moving the Rams back to LA with an owner with countless billions in his pocket was too much to resist. > [@](#): > > Baseball: > > - Browns (moved to Baltimore, and became the Orioles, in 1954) The Cardinals have won 5 World Series, the Orioles 3 since then, so who care? > [@](#): > > Basketball: > > - Hawks (moved to Atlanta in 1968) Another teams that has wasted everyone’s time > [@](#): > > - Spirits (folded when the ABA and NBA merged in 1976) This was THIS close to being an NBA franchise—if you look up the story of the owners, they made a LOT of money off the NBA! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/30 "2018-01-16T09:16:16Z")
Milwaukee lost the NBA’s Hawks to St. Louis and the Braves to Atlanta. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/31 "2018-01-16T09:18:56Z")
Chicago lost the NBA’s Zephyrs,who became the Baltimore Bullets. They also lost the NFL Cardinals to St. Louis. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/32 "2018-01-16T09:37:18Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > This is about sports teams moving away from cities. The point is a whimsy ie that other countries of the world play professional sport. The locals commonly react with incredulity at the notion. it’s a task worthy of the SDMB motto. FWLIW South Melbourne Swans became the Sydney Swans Fitzroy Lions became the Brisbane Lions By any definition they are 2 professional sports teams, of the same sport, who have left the same city as per OP Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/33 "2018-01-16T15:43:48Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > The current Milwaukee Brewers of MLB played all of _one season_ in Seattle as the Seattle Pilots. But that one season (well, most of it, anyway) was immortalized in Jim Bouton’s classic _Ball Four_. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/34 "2018-01-16T16:14:05Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > They played in a rundown, minor-league stadium (ironically called Sicks’ Stadium), because the planned new stadium for 1971 hadn’t yet been built. That site is now a Lowes, a fact I only know because they kept a sign saying something like ‘Site of the Historic Sicks Stadium.’ I believe the Rainiers, now a AAA team in Tacoma, played there at one point as well. > [@](#): > > There were also the Seattle Metropolitans, who played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and folded with that league in 1924. But if you ever want a good trivia question, they were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup. And the beloved Seattle Thunderbirds, who now play down in Kent. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/35 "2018-01-16T16:45:24Z")
Boston lost the MLB Braves, the NFL Redskins, and the WHA, then NHL Whalers. If you’re counting upstart leagues that survived briefly after a team loss, then include the USFL Breakers. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/36 "2018-01-16T17:06:56Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > But that one season (well, most of it, anyway) was immortalized in Jim Bouton’s classic _Ball Four_. I read _Ball Four_ when I was in high school; I really ought to re-read it. One enduring memory from it was Bouton relating that Pilots manager Joe Schultz’s two favorite terms were “shitfuck” and “fuckshit.” ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/37 "2018-01-16T20:16:42Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > That site is now a Lowes, a fact I only know because they kept a sign saying something like ‘Site of the Historic Sicks Stadium.’ I believe the Rainiers, now a AAA team in Tacoma, played there at one point as well. Tacoma’s had a separate AAA team in the PCL since 1960 and has gone through a number of names before settling on the Rainiers when they began their affiliation with the Mariners. However, aside from the use of the same name, the Tacoma Rainiers have no connection with the old Seattle Rainiers and never played in Sicks Stadium since they have their own park, [Cheney Stadium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheney_Stadium). ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/38 "2018-01-16T21:21:33Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Tacoma’s had a separate AAA team in the PCL since 1960 and has gone through a number of names before settling on the Rainiers when they began their affiliation with the Mariners. However, aside from the use of the same name, the Tacoma Rainiers have no connection with the old Seattle Rainiers and never played in Sicks Stadium since they have their own park, [Cheney Stadium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheney_Stadium). Looks like I made a poor assumption in there. It sounds like the Tacoma team associated with the Seattle Mariners only in 1995, and became the Rainiers the same year. As a total tangent, how does that work, exactly, given that the MLB team generally owns the players’ contracts? Did everyone (\*) who played for the Calgary Cannons (the M’s prior AAA affiliate) the previous year just transfer and become Tacoma Rainiers? (\*) everyone, of course, excluding players who retired, were promoted, demoted, or traded. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/39 "2018-01-17T00:19:40Z")
It’s interesting how Baltimore’s teams, the Orioles, and the Ravens, were formerly known as the Browns, but in separate sports. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714/40 "2018-01-17T01:02:55Z")
All that’s brown runs down to Baltimore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-have-lost-multiple-teams/806714.md?page=3)