The Pittsburgh Pipers were charter members of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967 and won the league’s first championship. Then promptly moved to Minnesota, only to move back to Pittsburgh after one season. When that didn’t improve their situation, the team changed its name to the Pittsburgh Condors.
Charlotte’s football Hornets were members of the World Football League for parts of two seasons in 1974 and 1975. The team began play in July 1974 as the New York Stars, but bombed in the Big Apple, lost its owner, and fled to Charlotte in October. The Hornets’ second season in 1975 was also abbreviated, as the entire WFL folded in October 1975 before completing its regular season schedule.
The Baltimore Elite Giants got their start in Nashville, before moving to Columbus, Ohio for one year, then to Washington, D.C. They moved down the road in Baltimore in 1938 and played there until 1950, before spending their final season back in Tennessee.
The Philadelphia Blazers were charter members of the World Hockey Association (WHA). However, after one season in the City of Brotherly Love, they moved to Vancouver.
The second incarnation of the Seattle Rainiers played in the Northwest League from 1972 through 1976. They were displaced when MLB’s Seattle Mainers arrived in 1977.
The Orlando Sundogs were a pro soccer team that endured a single grim campaign in the USISL A-League during the summer of 1997. The A-League was the 2nd Division of men’s pro soccer in the U.S. at the time, one level below Major League Soccer. The Sundogs’ troubles were many, but a big one was their choice of stadium: the 64,000 Citrus Bowl, a former World Cup (1994) and Olympic (1996) stadium. The ‘Dogs averaged an invisible 1,278 fans per match in the gargantuan bowl.
Arena Football 2 (2001-2004) Born: 2000 – AF2 expansion franchise Ceased Operations: October 2004 Moved: Summer 2005 (Mississippi Headhunters) First Game: April 7, 2001 (L 43-20 vs. Baton Rouge Blaze) Last Game: July 31, 2004 (L 65-62 vs. Memphis Xplorers) Arena Cup Championships: None Columbus Civic Center (7,600) Opened: 1996 Team Colors: Red, Navy
The Spirits of St. Louis played just two losing seasons in the defunct American Basketball Association during the mid-1970’s. The team was never particularly successful in the standings or popular at the box office. Nevertheless, the Spirits retain a dedicated cult following thanks to a fantastically talented collection of players and an outrageous deathbed settlement with the NBA that may just be the greatest financial deal in the history of professional sports.
The Sacramento Gold Miners were the first U.S.-based franchise admitted into the Canadian Football League during the CFL’s short-lived American expansion adventure from 1993 to 1995. The Gold Miners weren’t a brand new operation though. Owner Fred Anderson’s team previously played in the NFL-sponsored World League of American Football (WLAF) as the Sacramento Surge in 1991 and 1992. After NFL owners pulled the plug on the WLAF in September 1992, Anderson applied for entry to the CFL. The team retained its color scheme, Head Coach Kay Stephenson and a number of players from the WLAF era, but changed its name upon joining the CFL.
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