Art, obsession, and identity
The Cleveland Rams won the NFL championship in 1945. How did they follow that? They moved to Los Angeles in 1946 to become the first of only two professional football champions to play the following season in another city.
In 1953 after 81 seasons and one World Series title, the Boston Braves left Massachusetts and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where, as the Milwaukee Braves, they won the World Series in 1957.
The Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants broke the hearts of New Yorkers in 1957 when both teams relocated west—the Dodgers to Los Angeles, the Giants to San Francisco.
In 1960, the Minneapolis Lakers, winners of five of the first six NBA championships, also headed west to California, where they became the Los Angeles Lakers.
Founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, the Warriors moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1962 and took the city's name. They later became known as the Golden State Warriors.
In 1966, the Braves moved for a second time, the club's owners relocating the team to Atlanta, Georgia, where they still play as the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in North America.
Originally based in Milwaukee in 1951 as the Milwaukee Hawks, then moving in 1955 to St. Louis, the St. Louis Hawks finally left Wisconsin in 1968 for Georgia, where they became the Atlanta Hawks.
In 1971, the Washington Senators left the nation's capital and headed southwest to Arlington, Texas, where the team was renamed the Texas Rangers.
The Cincinnati Royals relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1972, where the team became the Kansas City–Omaha Kings, because it initially split its home games between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska.
The move in 1978 by the Buffalo Braves from Buffalo, New York, to San Diego saw the franchise renamed as the San Diego Clippers.
The Utah Jazz were founded in 1974 as the New Orleans Jazz (as a tribute to New Orleans' history of originating jazz music). In 1979, however, the team began playing a different tune as the Utah Jazz after relocating from New Orleans to Salt Lake City.
The Los Angeles Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then again from 1995 to 2019.
The relocation by the Colorado Rockies out of Denver to East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1982 prompted a name change: the team is now known as the New Jersey Devils.
The controversial move by the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis was done in secret one night in March 1984. Football fans were up in arms. Not only had they lost their team, they also lost the team name, with the players from Maryland now known as the Indianapolis Colts.
New ownership in 1985 saw the Kansas City Kings exit Missouri and relocate west to California and become the Sacramento Kings.
The St. Louis Cardinals bade farewell to their home in Missouri in 1988 for a new lease on life in Arizona as the Phoenix Cardinals. The team changed their name to the Arizona Cardinals in 1994.
The Minnesota North Stars were known as such for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993, after which the team moved to Dallas to be renamed the Dallas Stars.
In 1995, the Los Angeles Rams decamped to St. Louis, Missouri, ending a 49-year stay in LA for the team. There they played from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to the City of Angels.
The only major professional sports team based in Quebec City in the modern era, the Nordiques traveled south across the border to reconvene in Denver in 1995 as the Colorado Avalanche.
In another move that caused considerable consternation among football fans, the Cleveland Browns moved from Ohio to Baltimore in 1996 to create an expansion franchise called the Baltimore Ravens. A reactivated Browns returned to the field in Cleveland in 1999.
Ice hockey's Winnipeg Jets skated southwards in 1996 to be rebranded as the Phoenix (later Arizona) Coyotes. The Jets returned to their spiritual home in 2011.
The Houston Oilers played in Houston from their founding in 1960 to 1996. In 1997, the Oilers moved to Nashville for the 1998 season, eventually becoming the Tennessee Titans.
The Hartford Whalers based out of Hartford, Connecticut, became the Carolina Hurricanes after relocating to North Carolina in 1997.
The Vancouver Grizzlies lasted just six seasons in Western Canada before heading for warmer climes south of the border to become the Memphis Grizzlies.
Canadian baseball team the Montreal Expos were renamed the Washington Nationals after setting up a new home in the District of Columbia. Pictured is a general view of the Olympic Stadium prior to the Montreal Expos' final home game against the Florida Marlins on September 29, 2004.
After the 2007–08 season ended, the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City, where the team began playing as the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers were sold to a Canadian company, which prompted the team's move to Winnipeg, spawning the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.
In 2016 after 21 seasons in St. Louis, the Los Angeles Rams moved for a third time, playing their home games at LA's SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
A year later, the Chargers said goodbye to San Diego and also returned to Los Angeles. The team play their home games at SoFi Stadium, which they share with the Los Angeles Chargers.
In 2020, for the third time in 35 years, the Oakland Raiders relocated, this time for the Sin City, where they play as the Las Vegas Raiders.
Sources: (Associated Press) (USA Today)
Originally based in Washington, the Seattle Pilots moved to the Midwest in 1970 to become the Milwaukee Brewers.
Fans of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes are still hurting after the team they followed with dedication for nearly three decades was relocated to Salt Lake City for the 2024-2025 season. The newly named Utah Hockey Club made a successful debut at the opening of the season on October 8, beating the Chicago Blackhawks at the Delta Center in Utah. The sale of the team to tech billionaire Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz NBA team, was approved by the NHL in April.
Of course, it's not the first time sports fans have had to deal with the news that their favorite team is no longer to be based in their home city. In fact, since the 1940s, dozens of sports franchises across North America have made the decision to relocate, usually to be rebranded as a result. But what are some of the more high-profile and controversial moves that have taken place over the last several decades or so?
Click through and discover the cities that lost sports franchises.
North American cities and the teams they lost
Arizona says goodbye to their Coyotes as team becomes the Utah Hockey Club
LIFESTYLE Teams
Fans of the NHL's Arizona Coyotes are still hurting after the team they followed with dedication for nearly three decades was relocated to Salt Lake City for the 2024-2025 season. The newly named Utah Hockey Club made a successful debut at the opening of the season on October 8, beating the Chicago Blackhawks at the Delta Center in Utah. The sale of the team to tech billionaire Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz NBA team, was approved by the NHL in April.
Of course, it's not the first time sports fans have had to deal with the news that their favorite team is no longer to be based in their home city. In fact, since the 1940s, dozens of sports franchises across North America have made the decision to relocate, usually to be rebranded as a result. But what are some of the more high-profile and controversial moves that have taken place over the last several decades or so?
Click through and discover the cities that lost sports franchises.