Philadelphia Blazers
January 29, 2015 1 Comment
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.
Spotlight
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Tampa Bay Bandits
November 29, 2015 2 Comments
The Tampa Bay Bandits were a popular entry in the United States Football League during the mid-1980’s. During a particularly grim era for the Hugh Culverhouse-owned Buccaneeers of the NFL, the Bandits played an exciting, high scoring brand of football and packed big crowds into Tampa Stadium in the springtime. The team had a high-wattage ownership group that included America’s #1 box office star of the early 80’s, Burt Reynolds. Read more…
Honoring the Negro Leagues
Seattle Steelheads
April 21, 2025 No Comments
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.
Retro Hockey
Detroit Cougars / Detroit Falcons (1926-1932)
February 6, 2026 No Comments
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).
baseball History
Baltimore Elite Giants (1938-1951)
February 17, 2026 No Comments
The Baltimore Elite Giants arrived in Maryland’s largest city in 1938, after stints in Washington, D.C., Columbus, OH, and Nashville, TN, where they were established in 1920.
Soccer Indoor and outdoor
Orlando Sundogs
March 26, 2021 No Comments
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
Toronto Phantoms
July 1, 2011 No Comments
The Toronto Phantoms were the only Arena Football League team ever placed outside of the United States. The team’s arrival in 2001 created strife and controversy with the Canadian Football League and its Toronto Argonauts franchise, with whom the Phantoms’ season partially overlapped. Those protectionist fears proved overblown as the Phantoms quietly evaporated in 2002 after completing just two seasons.
Virginia Squires
October 4, 2020 No Comments
The Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association (ABA) began as the Oakland Oaks. After two seasons they were sold and moved to Washington, D.C., for one year, before moving to the Tidewater region of Eastern Virginia. They folded in 1976, just a month shy of the NBA-ABA merger.
Montreal Concordes
January 14, 2018 5 Comments
In the spring of 1982, the Canadian Football League’s venerable Montreal Alouettes franchise collapsed under a mountain of debt. Seeking a clean slate for new ownership, league officials folded the Alouettes on May 13, 1982 and awarded a new Montreal expansion club to Seagram’s liquor baron and Montreal Expos founder Charles Bronfman the next day. The club embarked on a star-crossed four year voyage under the new name “Concordes”, drawing inspiration from the iconic supersonic transatlantic jets of the era.