The New England Whalers, later known as the Hartford Whalers, were one of the last two teams to join the brand-new World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1971, but they ended up being one of the most successful clubs in the league, on the ice and at the gate.
The Denver Gold were – at first – a hugely popular spring football entry in the United States Football League. Debuting in 1983 with ex-Broncos head coach Red Miller at the helm, the Gold led the USFL in attendance, regularly drawing crowds of over 40,000 to Mile High Stadium. The team’s popularity waned during the next two seasons thanks to mediocre performance on the field and an ill-advised effort orchestrated by New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump to shift the USFL schedule to a fall season that would compete head-to-head with the NFL. Read more…
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 original Winnipeg Jets were charter members of the WHA in 1972. They moved to the NHL in 1979, along with three other WHA squads. In 1995, they were sold and moved to Phoenix for the 1996-97 hockey season. The name was revived when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba in 2011 and assumed the Jets name but not their history.
The Atlantic City Surf were one of the six original franchises in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Atlantic League was (and remains) the most ambitious league to arise out of the independent baseball boom of the 1990’s. The Surf played at the Sandcastle, a 5,900-seat ballpark built on the grounds of Atlantic City’s municipal airport, Bader Field. The stadium was built with $11.5 million in Casino Reinvestment Development Authority funds and $3 million in taxpayer bonds.
The sport of indoor soccer spread across the country during the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s. Thanks to organizations like the Major Indoor Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League and the Continental Indoor Soccer League, practically every Major League city in the country had seen one or more indoor soccer teams come through town by 1999. Salt Lake City, Utah was an exception until the upstart World Indoor Soccer League (WISL) rolled into town at the E Center in West Valley in 1999.
The Greensboro Prowlers were a misbegotten indoor football team that competed in the minor league Arena Football 2 (AF2) during the early 2000’s. The Prowlers’ misadventures included a 103-3 home loss at the hands of the league’s best team, the Quad City Steamwheelers, during the 2000 season.
A detailed history of the New Orleans Buccaneers (1967-1970) a founding member of the ABA that played three seasons in the Big Easy and later moved to Memphis.
Canadian Football League (1994) Born: July 26, 1993 – CFL expansion franchise Folded: April 1995 First Game: July 8, 1994 (W 32-26 @ Sacramento Gold Miners) Last Game: November 5, 1994 (L 51-10 @ Edmonton Eskimos) Grey Cup Championships: None Sam Boyd Stadium (31,000) Opened: 1971 Team Colors: Desert Sand, Black & White Owner: Nick
