Team relocations that sucked for all sports fans

[kab21]

While it isn't a done deal, it appears that the Chargers are on their way to LA.  This just seems wrong.  Some teams move and it elicits a shrug of the shoulders but it just seems to be wrong for the Chargers not to be in SD.

 

What are some of the other iconic teams that have moved?  The moves could have made sense financially or stadium wise but it sucks from a fan standpoint.

 

Football

Houston Oilers

Baltimore Colts

Cleveland Browns

 

NBA

Seattle Supersonics

Charlotte Hornets - not really comparable to the other teams but my peak interest in the NBA occurred during the Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning years. 

New Orleans Jazz

Lakers - had to include

 

MLB

Brooklyn Dodgers

Montreal Expos

Milwaukee Braves

 

NHL

Minnesota North Stars - I won't include other hockey teams since I have never followed the sport but I know that their are a few heartbreaking moves

[Vanimal46]

The relocation in the NFL that's official is the St. Louis Rams moving back to LA beginning next year. San Diego has 1 year to decide if they want to be tenants in the new Rams stadium, or remain in San Diego.

I'm a little too young to know the stories behind why the Minneapolis Lakers moved to LA, and why the North Stars relocated to Dallas. I do know it sucked not having an NHL team in the "State of Hockey" for 7 years until the Wild were created. Oh well, it's fun to be a fan of a team from the get-go, and the Xcel Energy Center is still one of the best arenas to watch a game in professional sports.   

[TheLeviathan]

The North Stars move took one of the best logos, names, and traditions in the sport and moved it.  It was inexcusably stupid.

[Shane Wahl]

I try to live in the "Fringe" universe where the North Stars never left.

[TheLeviathan]

The Browns were the only one I'd count as being a huge mistake, but even then they at least got to keep their name.

 

Part of the blow of the North Stars move was having to rename ourselves the freaking "Wild"

[gunnarthor]

I think the Browns move was probably the worst.  It was the most iconic of all the teams and it just crushed the fans.  Colts and North Stars are up there, too.

 

The Giants and Dodgers moves probably were actually very good for baseball but pretty big deals at the time.

[nicksaviking]

The Browns are a pretty recent move but people saw that coming as they were a bad team, run by bad owners and in a city that wouldn't build a new stadium and they had an agreement to get their team back even before the Ravens played a single game I believe. They also got to retain all the team history, records and name for the new franchise.

 

It seems to me the Colts move was the most iconic in the NFL as that was infamously done covertly in the dark hours of the night and they didn't get a new team for 15 years.

 

Also the Cardinals have moved twice, first from Chicago to St. Louis, then to AZ.

 

The Dodgers/Giants moves were probably good for the game as they finally expanded past the Mississippi (way past) but those have to be the most famous relocations. I mean aside from the Senators moving to Minnesota of course.

[Mike Sixel]

I'm losing interest in where they play, actually, to some extent. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

The North Stars move took one of the best logos, names, and traditions in the sport and moved it.  It was inexcusably stupid.

Yes, this.

 

As for the Chargers, as a former San Diego resident it's hard to describe how it infuriates me to see them move to LA.

 

It's also exactly what I expected from the Chargers and their terrible ownership.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

The Giants and Dodgers moves probably were actually very good for baseball but pretty big deals at the time.

The Giants and Dodgers also had a reason to move. NY had too many teams and baseball was suffering from down times in the 1950s as stadiums aged, surrounding neighborhoods deteriorated, and White Flight took hold.

 

I can see why Brooklyn was heart-broken but did anyone even care about the Giants?

[kab21]

 

The Browns were the only one I'd count as being a huge mistake, but even then they at least got to keep their name.

 

Part of the blow of the North Stars move was having to rename ourselves the freaking "Wild"

Many of the teams had valid reasons to move but many of the mentioned teams had so much history and a strong brand even if they didn't bring in fans (for example the Expos).

 

Also the Cardinals have moved twice, first from Chicago to St. Louis, then to AZ.

 

I thought about listing the Cardinals but I kind of shrugged my shoulders at how much out of state fans cared.  They were always kind of bad and afterthoughts in the NFL.  The Oilers were kind of fringy also.

 

More obvious examples of this are the Grizzlies, Clippers, Raiders (moving back and forth in CA) and the Rams (both moves).

[twinsnorth49]

The Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix still angers me, even though we have a team back and it's still called the Jets.

 

You try living in Winnipeg without NHL hockey for 16 years.

 

The Nordiques moving from Quebec City to Colorado must have been torture for Quebecers. the team won the Stanley Cup in it's first year in Denver...........ouch! 

 

Sadly, the relocation of teams means the end of some fine logos (like the aforementioned North Stars logo). Quebec was home to two of them.

 

       http://www.logoserver.com/hockey/QuebecNordiques.GIF  http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/logo-thumbnail/public/0024/4843/brand.gif?itok=Yc6iHTbE

 

 

Didn't the Vancouver Grizzlies move to Charlotte, who then moved to New Orleans? That franchise is a heart breaker.

[biggentleben]

 

The Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix still angers me, even though we have a team back and it's still called the Jets.

 

You try living in Winnipeg without NHL hockey for 16 years.

 

The Nordiques moving from Quebec City to Colorado must have been torture for Quebecers. the team won the Stanley Cup in it's first year in Denver...........ouch! 

 

Sadly, the relocation of teams means the end of some fine logos (like the aforementioned North Stars logo). Quebec was home to two of them.

 

       http://www.logoserver.com/hockey/QuebecNordiques.GIF  http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/logo-thumbnail/public/0024/4843/brand.gif?itok=Yc6iHTbE

 

 

Didn't the Vancouver Grizzlies move to Charlotte, who then moved to New Orleans? That franchise is a heart breaker.

 

 

No, Vancouver moved to Memphis and is still there. Charlotte moved to New Orleans, but then the NBA gave an expansion team to Charlotte. New Orleans was the Jazz from 1974-1979 before moving to Utah. One of the more traveled ones was the Clippers franchise, which started in Buffalo as the Braves, then moved to San Diego as the Clippers, then up to LA. The Houston Rockets started in San Diego from 1967-1971 before moving to Houston. It's crazy the movement in the NBA.

 

Of course, I cheer for a team that's moved significantly twice, once from Boston to Milwaukee, and then from Milwaukee to Atlanta, with each move signifying big jumps for baseball, being the northern-most team when moving to Milwaukee and then the first team in the deep south when moving to Atlanta.

[twinsnorth49]

Ah, thanks. My NBA history isn't quite up to snuff. I didn't know Utah moved from New Orleans, always wondered why a team in Salt Lake City was called the Jazz. Now I know.

[Vanimal46]

 

The Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix still angers me, even though we have a team back and it's still called the Jets.

 

You try living in Winnipeg without NHL hockey for 16 years.

 

The Nordiques moving from Quebec City to Colorado must have been torture for Quebecers. the team won the Stanley Cup in it's first year in Denver...........ouch! 

 

Sadly, the relocation of teams means the end of some fine logos (like the aforementioned North Stars logo). Quebec was home to two of them.

 

       http://www.logoserver.com/hockey/QuebecNordiques.GIF  http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/logo-thumbnail/public/0024/4843/brand.gif?itok=Yc6iHTbE

 

 

Didn't the Vancouver Grizzlies move to Charlotte, who then moved to New Orleans? That franchise is a heart breaker.

The old NHL had some great logos. The North Stars is an all-time classic. And who doesn't love 

http://www.brassbonanza.com/hcc/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/1992-WhalersLogo.jpg

 

Or.....

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/66/f2/68/66f2686d847ad90b420952188fcd428f.jpg

[nicksaviking]

 

 And who doesn't love 

http://www.brassbonanza.com/hcc/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/1992-WhalersLogo.jpg

 

 

 

These guys I think

 

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/WhaleWars2.png

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

I think the Browns move was probably the worst.  It was the most iconic of all the teams and it just crushed the fans.  Colts and North Stars are up there, too.

 

The Giants and Dodgers moves probably were actually very good for baseball but pretty big deals at the time.

 

I lived in Cleveland during all of this. Art Model basically engineered the whole thing in a way that as far as I'm concerned was pretty shady.  Cleveland was a pretty good team in the late 80s, but the hired some guy who's now a HOF coach for the Patriots and had him dismantle that team in a way that really angered the fans. In the mean time, he was given the opportunity to join the Indians in a new stadium that is now Progressive Field. He declined, being happy with his current stadium, but only a year or two after Gateway started, he changed his mind.  If I remember right, he bought the group that owned his lease and high-tailed it out of town.

 

What I find more ironic is that all the fans in Baltimore that were angered about waking up one day and finding the Colts in Indy were right behind him on it...  It seemed very hypocritical in my eyes.

 

Regardless, the biggest issue with the Cleveland move is the NFL's inability to find a competent owner to manage the Browns.  Model, like him or not, was a competent football owner, even if he was a scumbag as a person.

[nicksaviking]

 

Regardless, the biggest issue with the Cleveland move is the NFL's inability to find a competent owner to manage the Browns.  Model, like him or not, was a competent football owner, even if he was a scumbag as a person.

 

Yeah, Jimmy Haslem appears to be extraordinarily unethical and evil AND incompetent. NFL had a golden opportunity to kick him out during his Flying J criminal fraud accusations too.

[DaveW]

The North Stars move was so much worse because Norm Green literally moved the team because he couldn't keep his dick in his pants.

 

His wife threatened to leave him unless he left Minnesota, so he moved the team to Dallas. That is just so freaking sad and pathetic, then of course Dallas eventually wins a cup.GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[DaveW]

 

 

The Winnipeg Jets move to Phoenix still angers me, even though we have a team back and it's still called the Jets.

 

You try living in Winnipeg without NHL hockey for 16 years.

 

The Nordiques moving from Quebec City to Colorado must have been torture for Quebecers. the team won the Stanley Cup in it's first year in Denver...........ouch! 

 

Sadly, the relocation of teams means the end of some fine logos (like the aforementioned North Stars logo). Quebec was home to two of them.

 

       http://www.logoserver.com/hockey/QuebecNordiques.GIF  http://www.brandsoftheworld.com/sites/default/files/styles/logo-thumbnail/public/0024/4843/brand.gif?itok=Yc6iHTbE

 

 

Didn't the Vancouver Grizzlies move to Charlotte, who then moved to New Orleans? That franchise is a heart breaker.

The Grizzlies are in Memphis currently, which isn't a bad place to have a sports team to be honest.

 

The Jets moving to Phoenix never made sense to me.

[lecroy24fan]

I saw the Lakers mentioned somewhere in the thread. They left because they couldn't get a permanent home. They were playing games at various places around the Twin Cities, including the Minneapolis Armory. 

[nicksaviking]

I saw the Lakers mentioned somewhere in the thread. They left because they couldn't get a permanent home. They were playing games at various places around the Twin Cities, including the Minneapolis Armory.

 

Not sure what was wrong with the armory, it's a pretty nice parking garage.