On the other end of the scale, we once had a team named after a fifth of a city, the Brooklyn Dodgers.
And then there’s the team that not only played in two different cities, but in two different states - I give you the NBA’s Kansas City-Omaha Kings! Now playing in the somewhat more lucrative Sacramento market …
The Hornet started in Charlotte, as the Charlotte Hornets and have been replaced by the Charlotte Bobcats. The Oklahoma City Thunder are also named after a city, of course.
…For now…
When it was named, it was an entire city, though.
The Twin were the first in a major league to use the state designation. Our local newspaper (Newsday) hated the idea and referred to them as the Minneapolis Twins for several years before giving up.
Though Canadian NHL teams have city names, in the CFL you have the Saskatchewan Rough Riders and the British Columbia Lions (now called the BC Lions).
That’s nothing. For the last five years, the Bills have been playing in two different countries. In addition to Orchard Park, New York, they’ve played one regular season home game each year in Toronto, Ontario.
Thunder Bay, Ontario.
- It’s a city that has no other pro sports team named for it.
They used to be the California Angels.
You’re right, I had missed those.
- There’s another team already in the state
- They’re in Washington State, which can be mixed up with Washington D.C.
- It’s a city that has no other pro sports team named for it.
The Orlando franchise was already in the works when the Heat were created, so “Florida” was not really an option.
Correct; in both cases there were already teams in state, so they opted for a body of water.
Why?
And, then, the Anaheim Angels. (Though, going back to 1961-1964, they started out as the Los Angeles Angels).
The current owner of the Angels changed the name to its current absurdity in 2005, in an effort to increase their fan base in Los Angeles. (The name change also led to several years of legal action by the city of Anaheim, which claimed that the name change violated the terms of the Angels’ lease with the city on their stadium.)
Chuck already touched on this, but until 1896, “New York City” only meant the island of Manhattan. Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island were not part of “New York City” until then. Which probably explains why, even now, when someone from Brooklyn or Queens takes the subway to Manhattan, he says, “I’m going to the City.”
Brooklyn was an independent city, and in population terms, it USED to be one of the largest cities in America. Even now, as you drive from Queens into Brooklyn, you’ll see a sign saying “Welcome to Brooklyn, the 4th largest city in America.”
The Brooklyn Dodgers started playing in 1883, before Brooklyn was part of New York City. They saw no reason to change their name after the city was incorporated.
And … that’s another reason for us Minnesotans to sneer at East Coast ignorance.
The Twins originally played in Bloomington, Minn., a neutral location between – and south of – the Twin Cities.
The Angels had an agreement with the city of Anaheim that, if the city paid for improvements to their stadium, they would keep “Anaheim” in their team name. Years later, in an attempt to appeal to the (much larger) LA market, they changed their name to the LA Angels of Anaheim. The city of Anaheim took the team to court but it was ruled that the city’s name was still in the team name, so the change was legal.
So I guess you could say, only one of the cities was added as a marketing decision.
I recently commented on the Twins initiating this trend. Because animosity between Minneapolis and St. Paul is virtually non-existent now, it’s hard to visualize the situation from 50 years ago. There was a fair amount of bad blood dating from the founding of the cities in the mid-19th century. The Twin Cities aren’t large enough to have around half the population ignore a team out of pure spite. I would go so far as to say the essential elimination of the inter-city rivalry can be largely attributed to the Twins and Vikings.
The Twins lead was followed locally by the Vikings, North Stars, Kicks (NASL), Strikers (also NASL), Timberwolves, and now Wild as well. Many other teams in other leagues have also used the naming pattern. In fact, “Minnesota” is the only regional (as opposed to city) designation used in all four major US sports leagues.
It’s probably East Coast pissiness you should be feeling superior to. I’ll warrant that the editors of Newsday knew that Minnesota was a state. It’s not like it’s the Post.
There are some English football clubs named after neighborhoods (like the Queen’s Park Rangers). What’s the smallest area a major team has been named after?
In currently active major leagues, Brooklyn (which I know was it’s own city when the Dodgers were formed) is probably the smallest in area. Well, New York was (at that time, before the 5 boroughs merged into the current city of New York) smaller in area. But the area encompassed by the name “New York” eventually expanded, while the area encompassed by the name “Brooklyn” remained the same small size, while the team continued to use the name.
If you count the Negro Leagues, the Homestead Grays were named after a pretty small town just outside the city limits of Pittsburgh.
I think Green Bay is the most popular answer, but I don’t know for a fact that it’s the smallest. This question tends to get complicated when you go beyond the size of the actual cities to account for things like metropolitan areas.
Green Bay is complicated - because Milwaukee is still considered a home market even though they don’t play there anymore. And of couse the fanabase includes the whole state, the U.P., and lots of ex-pats in other states.
Brian
In area, maybe- but as noted earlier, even if Brooklyn seceded from New York City, it would NOT be a “small market.” It would have far more people than many cities with major league teams.