The association of professional sports teams with their host cities and inevitable and unequivocal fact. Iconic teams will always be associated with their local fan base, arena, stadium, and much more. However, did you know that some of the most popular and successful teams were founded in different states and cities before relocating to where they are today? There are numerous factors that play into a decision to leave a fan base and a host city not least of which include, financial reasons, a new stadium or arena, lack of fan support, or other strange, yet controversial reasons.
These are 10 sports teams you didn’t know started in different cities:
Los Angeles Lakers
One of the most iconic teams in the NBA, the Lakers have had a rich tradition of winning in the city of Angels. However, many forgot or didn’t know that the Lakers didn’t start in Los Angeles. They were originally from Minneapolis and started as the Minneapolis Lakers in 1947. The team was named the Lakers from the state of Minnesota’s motto “Land of 10,000 lakes.” During the team’s time in the Midwest, they captured one NBL title and five NBA championships.
However, after the 1959-60 season, the Lakers moved out of the icy cold city of Minneapolis to the city of Los Angeles, due to financial struggles after the retirement of Lakers legend George Mikan, as attendance to games dropped. Once the Lakers moved to LA, the rivalry with the Boston Celtics heated up, as they squared off with Bill Russell in the NBA Finals seven times, in the 1960s. The Lakers won their first championship in Los Angeles in 1972 against the New York Knicks and captured 11 more championships throughout the years, becoming one of the most iconic teams in the NBA.
Minnesota Twins
Staying on the topic of Minnesota, the Minnesota Twins are a successful Major League Baseball team in the American League Central with 13 division titles, six American League pennants, and three World Series championships. However, three of those American League pennants weren’t even won in the state of Minnesota, as the team was known as the Washington Senators, and before that, a minor league team in Kansas City known as the Kansas City Ghosts- later named the Cowboys.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The team became the Washington Senators in 1901 when the American League was created. During the team’s time in the nation’s capital, the Senators captured one World Series championship, in 1924 against the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants). The Senators attempted to move to California in 1957 because of low attendance at games. The team ended up remaining in D.C. In 1958, both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants moved to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively and the Senators moved to Minnesota, after team president Calvin R. Griffith got the MLB to swap the new expansion team that was set for Minnesota to go to Washington D.C. thus giving us the Twins, while D.C. got a watered down version of the Washington Senators, who eventually left D.C. and became the Texas Rangers. D.C. would not have an MLB team until the Montreal Expos relocated and became the Washington Nationals.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs are one of the most successful NFL teams, thanks to the rise of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce taking the league by storm today, and having very competitive teams in the 1990s. Many people don’t know or remember that the Chiefs didn’t even have their start in Kanas City. In 1960, the team began as the American Football League’s Dallas Texans, who won the AFL Championship in 1962 against the Houston Oilers.
Immediately after winning that championship, the team moved to Kansas City due to the team not attracting too many fans because of competition with the Dallas Cowboys and the mayor of Kansas City at the time H. Roe Bartle who was nicknamed “the Chief” helped who convinced Lamar Hunt to move the team to western Missouri. The Texans relocated to Kansas City and were renamed the Chiefs in a naming contest. The Chiefs did pay tribute to their past when they wore Dallas Texans uniforms in the 2009 season three times against the Dallas Cowboys, San Diego Chargers, and Oakland Raiders that year.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers are known as the Los Angeles Lakers crosstown rivals, with limited success for the most part. Similar to the Lakers, the Clippers also didn’t get their start in Los Angeles. The Clippers were founded in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves. They played their basketball in western New York from 1970 until 1978, and moved to San Diego for the 1978-79 season.
The reason why the Braves relocated to California, despite having three playoff runs, was that owner John Y. Brown wanted a new arena, but wasn’t able to get it, as attendance started to decline. He was able to trade his team to then Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin, who helped the team move to California where they became the San Diego Clippers via a local naming contest. The Clippers struggled during their years in San Diego and failed to reach the playoffs.
In 1981, Levin sold the Clippers to the now disgraced Donald Sterling. Sterling wanted the team to move from San Diego to Los Angeles and had to deal with court battles and eventually moved the team to LA in 1984 without the NBA’s approval of the move. Sterling was ousted and banned from his role as Clippers owner and from anything NBA-related due to a racist conversation he had with his then-mistress, about her associations. The team is currently owned by Steve Ballmer.
Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers are one of the NBA’s iconic franchises having athletes who play with grit and true attitude on the court. Before they conquered the city of “Brotherly Love,” the team originally started in Syracuse, NY, as the Syracuse Nationals. The Nationals struggled in their first three seasons, yet made the playoffs due to the NBA being a small league, at the time. The team turned things around in the 1950s, won the NBA Championship in 1955, and would be an NBA playoff contender throughout the 50s and 60s.
The Nationals relocated to Philadelphia after the team was bought by investors Irv Kosloff and Ike Richman from then-owner Danny Biasone, just one year after the Philadelphia Warriors relocated to San Francisco. The Nationals were renamed the 76ers, in a local naming contest. The Nationals were also the last NBA team to play in a medium-sized city, as the city of Syracuse was not large enough to support the Nats economically, as smaller cities just couldn’t keep up with larger cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, at the time. The 76ers last paid tribute to the Nationals when they wore throwback Nationals uniforms in five games during the 2004-05 season.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers are a team that has had some moderate success in recent years. Before the Brewers called Milwaukee their home, they originally were the Seattle Pilots. The Pilots only played one season in the Pacific Northwest, and struggled as they finished their lone season in Seattle, in last place, with a 64-98 record. The Pilots had trouble attracting fans to their home stadium, Sick’s Stadium, which was in poor condition.
The team’s ticket prices were very expensive, at the time, and the team was forced into bankruptcy. Pilots’ owner, Dewey Soriano, struck a deal with a Milwaukee-group led by Bud Selig to get the team to Milwaukee, where they became the Brewers. After the move, the city of Seattle, Kings County, and the state of Washington filed a lawsuit against the American League for a breach of contract that lasted for six years, until the MLB gave Seattle the Mariners as a new expansion team, for the 1977 season.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies are a young and gritty NBA team, that saw some success in the 2010s and some recent success, with the rise of Ja Morant. For some who don’t remember or forgot, the Grizzlies originally got their start in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1995, as one of two NBA Expansion teams north of the border, the other being the Toronto Raptors. Unlike the Raptors, which saw some mild success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Grizzlies struggled in Vancouver, and never made the playoffs. Attendance also shrunk for the Grizzlies and the team’s ownership was losing money.
The team was sold to Michael Heisley, who filed relocation papers with the NBA, and relocated the team to Memphis, TN where the team found a stronger fan base and more success- to this day. Will the NBA ever explore returning to Vancouver in the future? Who knows?
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche is one of the NHL’s model organizations of success, having won three Stanley Cups in 1996, 2001, and 2022. Before they became a powerhouse, the team started as the Quebec Nordiques, in 1972, when they were in the World Hockey Association.
That league was brought down, due to financial woes, and merged with the NHL in 1979. The Nordiques had some success in the 1980s, but were knocked out of the playoffs by stronger competition. The 1990s weren’t kind to the Nordiques as free agency, NHL players wanting stronger salaries, financial troubles, and Quebec City being a very small market, further pushed the team to relocate.
The team was sold to COMSAT Entertainment Group, who also owned the Denver Nuggets, at the time. COMSAT relocated the Nordiques to Denver and renamed them the Avalanche, where they became a much stronger and more successful team- to this day. Oh, and they also won the Stanley Cup in their first season in Denver, as icing on the cake.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes were a hit-or-miss team that saw some success in the early 2000s, when they made two Stanley Cup Final appearances and won the Stanley Cup in 2006. They also are in playoff contention, each year. However, the Hurricanes got their start back in 1972 in the World Hockey Association, as the New England Whalers in Boston, then relocated to Hartford, CT in 1975.
In 1979 after the WHA and NHL merged, the team changed their name to the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers didn’t have much success in the NHL, but did qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs eight times in their existence. In the Whalers’ final years in Connecticut, the team faced lackluster fan attendance and had almost no corporate support.
The state of Connecticut wasn’t willing to build a new arena for the team, at the time, and the team played in Hartford until the conclusion of the 1996-97 season. In 1998, the team relocated to North Carolina and changed their name to the Hurricanes, where they became more successful.
Sacramento Kings
The Kings are a very interesting team. They’re starting to see more success in recent years. However, not many people know that the Kings originally got their start in Rochester, NY, as a semi-professional team, as the Rochester Seagrams. Then in 1945, the team changed their name to the Royals and competed in the NBL, before transitioning to the NBA, three years later. The Royals won the NBA Championship in 1951, and had some success in the 1950s, until they moved to Cincinnati in 1957.
The Royals spent 15 seasons in southwestern Ohio, before they split their time between Kansas City, MO, and Omaha, NE, as the Kansas City-Omaha Kings from 1972 until 1975. Then the team became the Kanas City Kings, where they made the Western Conference Finals, once in 1981. The team then moved to Sacramento, CA after years of mediocrity, lack of attendance, and sponsorships after being sold to an investment group led by Joseph Benvenuti.
The Kings saw better success in the late 1990s and early 2000s before the team experienced missing the playoffs, for years on end. The Kings were also rumored to move to Seattle. The deal was killed off by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson with the help of local businesses and an enthusiastic fan base, as the team slowly returned to success in the 2020s.
