The San Fransisco Giants just won the World Series.
Is it only in the US where major cities feature a major sports team that identifies with that city. For example is there a major sports team for Paris, London, Berlin, Manila, Tokyo and other major cities?
Since this is about sports, let’s move it to the Game Room.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Lots of 'em. Have you never heard of Manchester United? Barcelona? Real Madrid? These are the three most valuable soccer teams in the world - Forbes values Real Madrid at $3.4 billion, by comparison with a measly $1 billion for the San Francisco Giants.
There are two teams in Japan’s Central League that represent Tokyo, though Tokyo is not in either of their names. But that is also true of some US teams like the Florida Marlins. Real Madrid is a famous football (soccer) team. There are many football teams in London, though I guess not any of them represent London as a whole.
I’m confused. What else would a team represent? The local mountain or river?
It certainly isn’t just in the US - even 3/4 major sports leagues in the US aren’t just in the US - MLB, NBA, and NHL all have Canadian teams…the NHL started in Canada. The CFL and regional hockey leagues like the OHL are organized similarly.
Nippon Professional Baseball has an odd setup…it’s one team per city (with the sort-of-exception of Tokyo), but most of the teams are referred to by the company that owns them, not the city they’re based out of, though some are named with the formula City/Prefecture Owner Team - such as the memetic Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (that is to say, the Fighters are owned by Nippon Ham, and based out of Sapporo, Hokkaido).
(I should start following Japanese baseball again…I was a fan of the Giants for a while…)
Weren’t the Giants an American Football team from New York? That must be confusing.
Anyway, since teams aren’t franchised here in Europe, I’d say the main difference is that big cities can have several teams. A good instance is London, which hosts a big chunk of the Premier League.
It was probably more confusing before 1958, when both teams were in New York.
Teams in the Philippine Basketball Association represent companies. So you have, for example, the Kia Sorento (that’s the name of the team) and the San Miguel Beermen. It’s all based in Metro Manila although there are occasional games at provincial venues.
Why not? It happens that teams typically represent cities, but it’s completely arbitrary. It’s not like the players are citizens from this city, the team is owned by the city, etc…
“Irwell United” would be as good a name as “Manchester United”. Or they could have the name of companies (like cycling teams do), or of people who sponsor/own the team, or a neutral name, like “the blue team” for chariot races in the Roman/Byzantine empire, or maybe of universities if someone came up with this absurd idea.
I looked up the teams in that league:
Alaska Aces
Rain or Shine Elasto Painters
Blackwater Elite
Talk n Text Tropang Texters
Barako Bull Energy
Those are some “interesting” team names. Are the Aces from Alaska? Do the Elite work for Blackwater? And a team called the “Texters”?
I wonder if baseball in Japan goes along those lines because the teams were originally modeled after American baseball leagues? So teams are based more on cities. Although years ago many companies did own their own baseball teams.
Well you have the Colorado Rockies which are named after a mountain range but play out of Denver.
The only team I can think of which is named after a region and not a city or state is the New England Patriots.
Some are city based but want to be a national brand so thats why say the Dallas Cowboys want to simply be known as the “Cowboys” and “The Mighty Ducks” (a hockey team) started by Disney dont always go by their city name which is Anaheim California, a suburb of Los Angeles.
It is more unusual in the UK when they don’t. The only major one I can think of is cricket, where they are named after counties. And then that gets weird because over the years the county boundaries have changed so you can get things like Warwickshire, my county’s team. They play in Edgbaston, Birmingham but in 1974 the county of the West Midlands was created from parts of three different counties, meaning Birmingham left Warwickshire.
ETA:
Oh and London has far too many sports teams to have a “London” one. For football there’s a stupid amount: Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham, Chelsea, Fulham etc etc etc. There used to be three Rugby Union teams called London Irish, London Scottish and London Welsh. I’ve no idea if they are still around.
ETA (slight return):
Most London football teams are named after areas of London.
Alaska is a brand of milk. Blackwater Elite is a men’s cologne. The Texters are owned by Smart Communications, which markets mobile phone and internet broadband plans. The name of the team can change depending on whatever the sponsoring company wants to market at the time.
That’s why the official name of the football team is the New York Football Giants.
The Patriots were the Boston Patriots for years before they moved out to Foxboro.
The MLS team in Foxboro are the New England Revolution. There used to be teams called Chivas USA based out of Carson, CA and the NY/NJ Metro Stars.
The Carolina Panthers are regional.
The Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim 
I don’t think so. The official name of the team is just New York Giants.
P.S. — “based IN,” people. “Based IN!”
http://www.giants.com/
The official site of the New York Football Giants
Don’t forget the Tampa Bay teams: Bucs, Rays, and Lightning. They’re named after a body of water, ostensibly to represent the region.