Rank relocations by how much they offended your sensibilities

[The_Admiral]

10 hours ago, ZapRowsdower8 said:

The NBA in Vancouver seems like such a no brainer, it doesn't make sense that it didn't work out, until you read how poorly managed that team was. If the Canadian dollar was stronger, and if Vegas and Seattle weren't already shoe ins for the next round of expansion, then I could see it being given another shot. 

 

Vancouver in 1995 was still kind of in transition, I think: it was more than the scuzzy little port/resource-extraction city of the '70s, but not yet Hongcouver, land of Hallmark Channel movies and condos that exist solely for money laundering. Seattle on tape delay. It seems natural now, but it was still less cosmopolitan than Toronto, which itself was recently coming into its own as a city of Hallmark movies and condos that exist solely for money laundering. It was a reach, and the Canucks and Supersonics squeezed them too hard.

[Dynasty]

The Washington/Senators situation I believe was the one notable instance (after the 1901 expansions) where a city got three chances at a team in the same professional sports league. Of course, the Nationals have proven to be well valued by the locals, which completely put to bed many people's concerns of them being able to compete with the Orioles at the time. I don't know much about Montreal's situation, but I do know that MLB managed to finally put DC back on the baseball map.

[SFGiants58]

The first two were failures of management more than location. The AL Nats/Sens MK I moved largely because of the Griffiths’ cheapness and racism, while the Sens MK II suffered from severe financial mismanagement.

[Sport]

Tragic

Browns to Baltimore

Sonics to OKC

Jets to Phoenix

Chargers to LA*

Dodgers to LA**

Raiders to Las Vegas

A's to Las Vegas

Colts to Indianapolis

Rams to St. Louis

Oilers to Nashville

 

Probably for the best, but I feel bad the diehards

Whalers to Raleigh

Nordiques to Colorado

Raiders to LA

Royals to KC***

Expos to Washington

Giants to San Francisco

North Stars to Dallas

 

Good

Flames to Calgary

Thrashers to Winnipeg

Browns to Baltimore (lol****)

Lakers to LA

Jazz to Utah

Coyotes to Utah

Raiders back to Oakland

A's to Oakland

Braves to Atlanta

Senators to Minnesota

Senators to Texas*****

Rockies to New Jersey

Rams back to LA

 

Can't Care Either Way

Cardinals to Phoenix

Hornets to New Orleans

Grizzlies to Memphis

Kings to Sacramento

Buffalo Braves to San Diego

Scouts to Colorado 

 

 

*The Chargers were in San Diego longer than the Browns were in Cleveland before they moved. I feel like this is a Cleopatra/Pyramids kind of situation. 

 

**Not that the LA Dodgers haven't become a cultural institution of their own, but that team leaving Brooklyn feels like we lost something important with that relocation. In hindsight, it's the same kind of the short-sighted mid-century carelessness that led to the razing of historic architecture all over the country in order to build highways. LA would've eventually gotten the expansion slot that is now the Mets so they'd still be covered. Imagine if Fenway or Wrigley had been torn down in the late 50's - That's what we lost with the demolition of Ebbets Field (I know they were already trying to replace Ebbets in the 50's and the stadium was a big reason they moved to LA as it is, but still. Would've been cooler to stay put and make the same occasional updates that the Cubs and Red Sox applied to their historic stadiums.)

 

***Old-timers here don't seem to have much to say about the Royals, but the NBA in those days was small potatoes. I do believe if Cincinnati had held onto an NBA team for another 7 or 8 years they would've gotten to the Bird/Magic era when things started to cook and we'd probably still have a team today. 

 

****if I had a nickel for every time a team named the Browns relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice. 

 

*****Did they name the Nationals the Nationals because the name Senators was so cursed? 

 

[BBTV]

35 minutes ago, Sport said:

Tragic

Browns to Baltimore

Sonics to OKC

Jets to Phoenix

Chargers to LA*

Dodgers to LA**

Raiders to Las Vegas

A's to Las Vegas

Colts to Indianapolis

Rams to St. Louis

Oilers to Nashville

 

Probably for the best, but I feel bad the diehards

Whalers to Raleigh

Nordiques to Colorado

Raiders to LA

Royals to KC***

Expos to Washington

Giants to San Francisco

North Stars to Dallas

 

Good

Flames to Calgary

Thrashers to Winnipeg

Browns to Baltimore (lol****)

Lakers to LA

Jazz to Utah

Coyotes to Utah

Raiders back to Oakland

A's to Oakland

Braves to Atlanta

Senators to Minnesota

Senators to Texas*****

Rockies to New Jersey

Rams back to LA

 

Can't Care Either Way

Cardinals to Phoenix

Hornets to New Orleans

Grizzlies to Memphis

Kings to Sacramento

Buffalo Braves to San Diego

Scouts to Colorado 

 

 

*The Chargers were in San Diego longer than the Browns were in Cleveland before they moved. I feel like this is a Cleopatra/Pyramids kind of situation. 

 

**Not that the LA Dodgers haven't become a cultural institution of their own, but that team leaving Brooklyn feels like we lost something important with that relocation. In hindsight, it's the same kind of the short-sighted mid-century carelessness that led to the razing of historic architecture all over the country in order to build highways. LA would've eventually gotten the expansion slot that is now the Mets so they'd still be covered. Imagine if Fenway or Wrigley had been torn down in the late 50's - That's what we lost with the demolition of Ebbets Field (I know they were already trying to replace Ebbets in the 50's and the stadium was a big reason they moved to LA as it is, but still. Would've been cooler to stay put and make the same occasional updates that the Cubs and Red Sox applied to their historic stadiums.)

 

***Old-timers here don't seem to have much to say about the Royals, but the NBA in those days was small potatoes. I do believe if Cincinnati had held onto an NBA team for another 7 or 8 years they would've gotten to the Bird/Magic era when things started to cook and we'd probably still have a team today. 

 

****if I had a nickel for every time a team named the Browns relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice. 

 

*****Did they name the Nationals the Nationals because the name Senators was so cursed? 

 

 

Where's A's to KC?

[Dynasty]

58 minutes ago, Sport said:

*****Did they name the Nationals the Nationals because the name Senators was so cursed? 

 

If I'm correct, it was primarily because the city doesn't even have any representation in the U.S. Senate (I don't know why they didn't consider that with the earlier Senators teams, but it was considered in 2004). I think many also wanted a fresh start from those two relocations and went with Nationals because of the city's deeper history with the name (I know we also had multiple iterations with "Nationals," but that was a different era of baseball).

 

Worth noting that during the Expos relocation, the D.C. mayor at the time suggested the name to be the Greys, which honored the Negro League Homestead Greys team from Pittsburgh which frequently came to play games in D.C..

[The_Admiral]

58 minutes ago, Sport said:

Did they name the Nationals the Nationals because the name Senators was so cursed? 

 

The mayor was being a little stinker about DC not having congressmen and Bud Selig said he liked Nationals better.

[The_Admiral]

S-tier

Jets to Phoenix

 

A-tier

Chargers to Los Angeles

Supersonics to Oklahoma City

Raiders to Las Vegas

Rams to St. Louis

Athletics to Las Vegas via Sacramento

Whalers to Raleigh via Greensboro

Oilers to Nashville via Memphis

North Stars to Dallas

Browns to Baltimore

 

B-tier

Nordiques to Denver

Expos to Washington

Senators to Dallas

Colts to Indianapolis

 

C-tier

Hornets to New Orleans

Raiders to Los Angeles

Jazz to Salt Lake City

Senators to Minneapolis

Braves to Atlanta

Dodgers to Los Angeles

Giants to San Francisco

 

D-tier

Kings to Sacramento

Grizzlies to Memphis

Cardinals to Phoenix

Flames to Calgary

Hockey Rockies to Jersey

Scouts to Denver

Pilots to Milwaukee

 

F-tier

Rams back to Los Angeles

Raiders back to Oakland

[SFGiants58]

10 minutes ago, The_Admiral said:

 

The mayor was being a little stinker about DC not having congressmen and Bud Selig said he liked Nationals better.

This is also why the cursive W got shoehorned into the original design, because the DC mayor and associates used the old red Sens hat to represent “Washington baseball.” Which led to a lot of terrible decisions with the team’s branding.

 

I’m salty that they weren't the Grays.

[GDAWG]

One wonders if Dallas gets an NHL team in the late 90's if the North Stars stay and how successful would they be?  

[BBTV]

Does nobody care about how the good citizens of Syracuse had their hearts literally ripped out of their collective chests and were then forced to literally eat their own still-beating hearts and wash it down with their own blood when the Basketball Nationals moved to become the Philadelphia 76ers?  You'd have to be heartless not to care about the literal heartless.

[Lights Out]

Jets to Phoenix sounds like the name of a pretentious slowcore band.

[infrared41]

3 hours ago, BBTV said:

Does nobody care about how the good citizens of Syracuse

 

Find me a good citizen of Syracuse and I'll care.

[The_Admiral]

5 hours ago, Lights Out said:

Jets to Phoenix sounds like the name of a pretentious slowcore band.

The Guess Who sucked, the Jets were lousy anyway

[neo_prankster]

Regarding the Chargers' departure to Los Angeles, my feelings are mixed.

 

On the one hand, I miss having a hometown team. On the other, I've moved on and adopted the Rams to fill my NFL void.

 

I was in first grade when the Rams moved from LA to St. Louis. I never understood why those guys would move to a smaller market with fewer tourist attractions.

 

Even as a San Diegan, it didn't feel right for Los Angeles to be without an NFL team for so many years because of the league's inescapable stranglehold on American culture. But the thing that really bothered me during my childhood was that the Rams and Raiders leaving LA opened up the City of Angels for Dean Spanos to use as a weapon to bully the taxpayers in my town.

 

Year after year, as Deano allowed AJ Smith to tear the team down only to see former Bolts like Drew Brees thrive elsewhere, coupled wih Eli Manning refusing to suit up for the Bolts at the 2004 draft, my fandom started to sag. In the years when the Chargers would post double-digit losing seasons, I secretly hopped on the bandwagon for better clubs, like the Greatest Show on Turf Rams, the 2000 Ravens and the 2002 Bucs.

 

When Vince McMahon first announced he was starting the original XFL, I was initially excited because that was a few months before the Chargers went 1-15 in 2000. I wanted that first XFL to succeed. At the time of XFL 1.0's lone season, I was thirteen. By that stage, the XFL became a coping mechanism for the combined futility of both the Padres and Chargers up to that point. 

 

Another strike against my Charger fandom was my own father. His toddler-like temper tantrums about how much he hated the Raiders became more obnoxious and infantile during Jon Gruden's first tenure as the Raiders' coach. The extreme way he generalized Raider fans as this or that started to rub off on me, which made sportsmanship difficult sometimes when I was younger on those rare occasions when the Raiders beat the Bolts.

 

And on one occassion, my paternal grandparents threw a huge fit when one of my younger cousins brought home a Pop Warner jersey given to her by a classmate just because it had a logo that was similar to that of the Raiders.

 

Again, I wanted the XFL to succeed, and wanted NFL Europe to stick around longer, the CFL to have more TV coverage in the States and Arena Football to gain more mainstream respect, because Dad's insufferable animosity toward the Raiders sometimes made the NFL tough to engage with.

 

Now, with those pesky Chargers out of the way, I'm much more at ease around kind, decent, genuine, humble people whose favorite football team happens to be the Raiders. I also feel more comfortable around fans of all the other teams in the league.

 

The way my dad moaned and complained about the Commanders refusing the change their then-current slur name was also source of embarrassment. That was before I was old enough to understand why the old name was rightly condemned as offensive. I had a classmate in high school who was a Commander fan, but I never told my dad because I didn't want to deal with him accusing said classmate of condoning the racial slur nickname.

 

My point, is that as a San Diego resident, I'm glad the Chargers left and I look forward to the UFL expanding here.

[The_Admiral]

6 hours ago, GDAWG said:

One wonders if Dallas gets an NHL team in the late 90's if the North Stars stay and how successful would they be?  

They'd be the Predators, a halfway-decent team for precious suburbanites with hick anxiety. That's more or less what the Stars are anyway after the Best Team Money Could Buy and the bankruptcy cross-cancelled.

 

  

1 minute ago, neo_prankster said:

Now, with those pesky Chargers out of the way, I'm much more at ease around kind, decent, genuine, humble people whose favorite football team happens to be the Raiders.

I might be the kindest and most decent Raiders fan in America and I'm a piece of filth.

[Sport]

17 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

Where's A's to KC?

 

That one might be tragic considering the history of the club. Always feels to me like the wrong team moved. Sort of like if the Browns had stayed in St. Louis and the Cardinals had moved to Baltimore. 

[rams80]

On 8/10/2024 at 11:39 PM, PrimalCookie said:

I think Phoenix gets Jacksonville's expansion slot and the Rams might've beat the Oilers to Tennessee (I'm not sure on Nashville or Memphis). Raiders still go back to Oakland, Browns to Baltimore. The Oilers maybe end up in Jacksonville if they still leave Houston, but if they stay the 2002 expansion goes to LA and the only relocation from the 2016-20 wave that still happens is the Raiders to Vegas.

 

Rams have no reason to move to Tennessee.  The only reason they moved to St. Louis is because the owner was from there.

[rams80]

On 8/11/2024 at 11:09 PM, neo_prankster said:

 

Again, why did it take baseball so long to wake up and realize some cities (Philly, STL, Boston) weren't really able to support two teams each?

It didn't.

 

The cartel simply chose to spread some of the product out to other markets to preclude another league starting up/the Pacific Coast League doing The Thing. (Baltimore, Minnesota, KC, Milwaukee,  LA, SF Bay, one or two others like Atlanta, baby you've got a stew going.)

[SFGiants58]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

 

That one might be tragic considering the history of the club. Always feels to me like the wrong team moved. Sort of like if the Browns had stayed in St. Louis and the Cardinals had moved to Baltimore. 

Meanwhile, I’d put A’s to Oakland in the good category, despite the move being a failure of ownership (Charlie O.) and indirectly dooming Seattle’s first MLB club.