
Detroit Cougars / Detroit Falcons (1926-1932)
The Detroit Cougars were established when the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL) relocated to Michigan and joined the National Hockey League (NHL).

The Detroit Cougars were established when the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL) relocated to Michigan and joined the National Hockey League (NHL).

American Football Association (1977-1983) Born: May 1977 – AFA founding franchise Folded: 1983 First Game: July 2, 1977 (W 77-0 vs. Fort Worth Stars) Last Game: July 23, 1983 (L 39-0 @ Charlotte Storm) AFA Champions: None 1977-1978: Harlandale Stadium 1977: South San Antonio Stadium 1977: Northside Stadium 1977-1983: Alamo Stadium Opened: 1940 Team Colors:

The Seattle Steelheads were members of the West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA) in that circuit’s only season, 1946. The team was actually the Harlem Globetrotters baseball club and returned to barnstorming when the WCNBA ceased operations.

Hockey’s San Francisco Seals were a popular entry in the minor Western Hockey League (WHL) in the 1960s. The team won two championships before being “promoted” to the NHL in 1966 for the 1967-68 season.

Omaha, Nebraska has hosted the top farm club of the Kansas City Royals since the Major League club’s inception in 1969. Initially known as the Omaha Royals, the Class AAA club won four league championships of the American Association, including back-to-back titles in their first two seasons in 1969 and 1970. The Royals survived the closure of the American Association, joining the Pacific Coast League in 1998. From 1999 until 2001, the team was briefly known as the “Golden Spikes” before returning to the Royals nickname. In 2011, the club re-branded as the Omaha Storm Chasers while simultaneously moving into the new $36M Werner Park.

For a remarkable three-year period between 2004 and 2006 this amateur women’s soccer club that played in a 1,500-seat community college field in the Trenton suburbs managed to sign up a jaw-dropping roster of top players from all over the world. The Wildcats ran roughshod over the USL’s W-League during these years with only one North American women’s club – the Vancouver Whitecaps – able to stay on the field with them.

Arena Football League (1987, 1989-1990) Maryland Commandos Born: 1987 – Arena Football founding franchise Folded: Postseason 1990 First Game: June 19, 1987 (L 48-46 @ Pittsburgh Gladiators) Last Game: July 28, 1990 (L 37-28 @ Dallas Texans) Arena Bowl Championships: None 1987 & 1989: Capital Centre (17,000) Opened: 1973 Demolished: 2002 1989: Baltimore Arena

The Los Angeles Stars basketball team was a short-lived effort by the American Basketball Association to plant its flag in L.A. during the early years of its rivalry with the National Basketball Association. The Stars labored in the shadows of the NBA’s Lakers and never established a substantial following. Coached by Hall-of-Famer (and future Lakers coach) Bill Sharman, the Stars did enjoy a thrilling Cinderella playoff run at the end of their second and final season in L.A.

Yes, strange as it sounds, but the small, poverty-stricken city of Shreveport, Louisiana once had its very own Canadian Football League franchise: the Shreveport Pirates. The Pirates’ shambolic leadership made a series of head-scratching personnel moves, including the signings of troubled over-the-hill NFL stars Dexter Manley and Mark Duper, and fired the team’s first head coach before taking a regular season snap. Meanwhile the team staggered to a two-year record of 8-28 in the CFL before going out of business at the end of the 1995 season.
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