On the other side of the coin we have the Green Bay Packers. Lambeau Stadium was actually located in the town of Ashwaubenon, adjacent to and across the street from Green Bay. The cities later re-drew the borders and now Green Bays border juts out and around Lambeau Field.
New Orleans hornets/pelicans spent 2 seasons in OK city due to Hurricane Katrina .
And when they finish the stadium, the Raiders will also play out of Paradise.
My understanding (I looked up this very thing earlier today, inspired by this thread) is that, when the Packers selected that plot of land for City Stadium (later renamed Lambeau Field) in the 1950s, Ashwaubenon was unincorporated, and the city of Green Bay was able to annex the land.
What I don’t know (and what a few minutes of googling isn’t delivering) is when that annexation actually happened; in other words, it’s not clear if City Stadium / Lambeau Field was ever actually located outside of the city of Green Bay, or if the annexation occurred before the stadium opened.
But it should be pointed out that for a while the Packers played some games in Milwaukee, ~115 miles away.
Brian
RickJay:
Really? My baseball awareness begins in the late 1970s, but I’d never heard this, unless it was specifically during the time period that the second Senators team was playing in Washington (before becoming the Texas Rangers).
I’m pretty certain that the officially-sanctioned fiction of franchise history being left behind when a team moves started with the Browns-Ravens change/move.
Nitpick - the current population estimate for San Francisco is 884,000; San Jose is 1,043,000. Bigger, but not 2-3 times. Santa Clara barely breaks 100,000.
For most of the team’s history, in fact.
The Packers were playing at least occasional games in Milwaukee from 1934 to 1952; when Milwaukee County Stadium opened in 1953, the Packers then played between two and four home games per year there until 1994. (If Wikipedia is correct, part of the reason for the building of County Stadium was in hopes of luring the Packers to play there full-time.)
In the 1990s, with County Stadium aging, and with Lambeau Field having been expanded and refit with luxury boxes, the Packers finally moved their Milwaukee games back to Green Bay. At that time, I remember reading estimates that each game played in Milwaukee cost the Packers roughly $1 million in lost revenue, compared to what they would have made from playing that same game at Lambeau.
But does anybody even in Clark County ever refer to that area as “Paradise”? To the best of my knowledge, there’s no local group or organization mounting a publicity campaign reminding people that the Strip, airport, and UNLV are really in Paradise. Everybody considers it part of Las Vegas.
I’m not the OP, but I think these examples are just nitpickery. I mean, you can almost throw a stone from the Las Vegas Strip and hit the arena where the hockey team plays. When I read the OP, I was thinking we would get examples like he/she posted where a team was significantly outside of its named city, not just where a team built a stadium that was technically outside the city limits because that is where the best land could be found.
I was rolling my eyes about growing up in Milwaukee (which was pretty boring in the 50s/60s … it got better). Daughter’s fiance yelled “Are you KIDDING? You got to watch THE Milwaukee Braves and the Vince Lombardi/Bart Starr Packers!” He had a point…
Back on topic, I think the team’s name should reflect their fans. Are all your fans from NYC? Ok, you’re the New York Newbies. Ashwaubenon? Ok, Ashwaubenon Aardvarks.
I do like the name New England Patriots, and I’d hope Vermonters and Connecticutters (?) could also claim the team as their own. (Waiting for a Maine farmer to proclaim *“Waaal, don’ reckon how ah take much to that pretty-boy QB an’ his dirty coach. So we’re givin’ the team back to Beantown.”) *
Not sure about Golden State Warriors. The entire state, really? And a state as diverse as CA?
Why weren’t they named the Bay Area Warriors?
They were the San Francisco Warriors until 1971 when they moved mostly to Oakland, but also played 6 games in San Diego.
Yep…The “Cleveland Coliseum.” Built in a huge empty field and long since razed to the ground, as if it had never been there. Weird.
The opening performance there was a Frank Sinatra concert, to which my parents took me. At the time I thought it was hopelessly square, but I’m sure glad I got to hear the guy live once. Also attended my first ever arena rock concert there. Jethro Tull in…1974, I think?
The Coliseum was great news for the Country Maid ice cream stand. I’m happy they’ve survived the closing. Really, REALLY good ice cream.
The Detroit Lions played 25 miles away in the Pontiac Silverdome for 25 years.
In addition to the already mentioned SF 49ers (50 miles), Dallas Cowboys (20 miles), and NY Giants/Jets (~5 miles), other NFL teams outside their city include:
- Los Angeles Chargers (currently playing in Carson, just outside LA county limits, but about 15 miles from downtown LA)
- Washington Redskins (play in Landover, Maryland, 10 miles from D.C.)
- Buffalo Bills (play in Orchard Park, 10 miles from downtown Buffalo)
Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game for the Philadelphia Warriors took place in Hershey PA, 94.5 miles from Philadelphia. This was not a permanent location though, the Warriors played most of their games at the Philadelphia Arena under the Philadelphia name.
Not quite what the OP is talking about, but most F1 teams are based in Britain, despite their country of origin. Or country of ownership.
Including the post office. I worked in Paradise for a few years, and the office mailing address was (and still is) Las Vegas. If you really wanted to, I guess you could argue that the Golden Knights (and soon the Raiders) play in Paradise. I don’t think you could argue that they don’t play in Las Vegas.
As an aside, I believe that the Texas Rangers still control the Washington Senators-related trademarks. The issue came up when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington.
The thing is, everybody in DC knew the Twins were the former Senators no matter what MLB might say, and if you were an old Senators fan you were a Twins fan. OTOH when the new Senators left town everyone knew they became the Rangers, but everyone was happy to see them go. A notoriously bad team replaced by an even worse team was not going to leave a lot of good memories.