Most Memorable Sports Franchise Moves
By: Josh Clark
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DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Moving a franchise may seem like a big deal, but it's happened many more times than you'd think.
Here are the top five most memorable times a franchise has moved from one city to another.
5. Minnesota North Stars To Dallas - It's a tough call between The Minnesota North Stars and the Quebec Nordiques, but we're gonna go with hockey moving to the lone star state. How can the NHL move from Minnesota of all places and go to Texas? Well, North Stars owner Norm Green was unsuccessful getting a new arena built. He didn't want to move to the Target Center because of an issue with them having an advertising deal with Coca-Cola (the North Stars had been sponsored by Pepsi at the Met Center where they previously played), and he had a sexual harassment lawsuit hanging over his head.
After the NHL told him he couldn't move to Anaheim because they were already in the process of placing The Mighty Ducks new franchise there, Green set his sights on Dallas and moved the team there in 1992. Green eventually sold the team to Tom Hicks in 1995.
Minnesota would be granted an expansion franchise in 1997, and began playing as the Minnesota Wild in the 2000-2001 season.
Dallas would go on to win a Stanley Cup in 1999, led by arguably the best American born player to ever play the game, Mike Modano.
4. Brooklyn Dodgers To Los Angeles/New York Giants To San Francisco - Two of baseball's historic franchises were moved by a vote on the same day nearly 59 years ago.
On May 28th, 1957, National League owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to Los Angeles and the New York Giants to move to San Francisco.
Both teams were having issues getting adequate stadiums built, so the two rivals headed west, where they continue their hatred for each other, today.
3. Seattle Supersonics Move To Oklahoma City - The most memorable move in NBA history is still on many people's minds in the Northwest.
The Seattle Supersonics were playing in Key Arena, which only had a seating capacity of 17,459, the lowest in the NBA. After failing in his attempt to get the state of Washington to help fund a new arena, owner Howard Schultz agreed to sell the team to a group led by businessman Clay Bennett. Bennett's group made assurances that they would do everything necessary to keep the team in Seattle, however, rumors of Bennett's true intentions became known. After another failed attempt by the team to get help from the state of Washington, Bennett decided to move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City. The city had just hosted the New Orleans Hornets for most of their home games due to Hurricane Katrina, and had sold out every single game played at the Ford Center.
After numerous lawsuits and controversy, the team finally moved to Oklahoma City for the 2008-20009 season.
Meanwhile, Seattle Supersonics' fans are still waiting for the NBA to return to the Emerald City.
2. Cleveland Browns Move To Baltimore - The city of Baltimore has been involved in two of the biggest franchise moves ever. After losing the Colts to Indianapolis in 1984, Baltimore saw a team move to their city in 1995. Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell moved his team to Baltimore after the city wouldn't approve financing needed to upgrade Cleveland Municipal Stadium. 'The move' out-raged Cleveland fans, leading to lawsuits and the city of Cleveland filing an injunction to keep the Browns.
An agreement was eventually reached between the NFL, Modell and the two cities. The result ended in the Browns being deactivated for three years. In 1999, the team returned as a reformed franchise. Their colors, records and history were all restored in Cleveland. The team also had a new stadium built when they returned to the field.
In turn, Baltimore finally was able to get an NFL franchise back in their city for the first time in 12 years, which leads us to number one on our list.
1. Baltimore Colts Move To Indianapolis - The move that took place in the middle of the night is one that will never be forgotten.
The Baltimore Colts owner at the time, Robert Irsay, moved the team to Indianapolis after numerous attempts to get a new stadium built in Baltimore to replace the out-dated Memorial Stadium.
In March of 1984, the Maryland Senate passed a bill giving the city of Baltimore the right to seize ownership of the Colts by eminent domain. Seeing that his team was going to be taken away from him, Irsay called the Mayor of Indianapolis, William Hudnut, the next day to see about moving the team there. Irsay and other Colts staff members had previously been asked to move to Indianapolis after the city built a new $77.5 million stadium, known as the Hoosier Dome. A deal was struck, and the team piled their things into 15 moving trucks and left overnight.
What was so stunning about the whole ordeal was that all 15 trucks took different routes to Indianapolis in order to not be caught by authorities. Reason being, had the bill been ratified, as it was the next morning, officers could have forced the trucks to return to Baltimore immediately. The trucks and the Colts, however, were already settled in Indianapolis by the time the bill came down.
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