The Toronto Toros started out as the Ottawa Nationals, a charter member of the World Hockey Association (WHA) in 1972. They moved to Toronto for their playoff games and were referred to as the Ontario Nationals. Less than a month later, the team was sold and permantely relocated to Toronto, where the became the Toros.
The Hawaiians pro football team was the first North American major pro sports franchise based outside the continental United States and Canada. The team was part of the rebel World Football League (1974-1975), formed to challenge the NFL in the mid-1970’s. Thanks to solid ownership and an alluring locale, the Hawaiians persuaded nearly a dozen NFL veterans to jump to the WFL, including All-Pros John Gilliam, Calvin Hill and Ted Kwalick. But only Hill would ever suit up for the team.
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 Denver Spurs started in the Western Hockey League in 1968. When that circuit folded, they joined the Central Hockey League in 1974. The following year, they joined the World Hockey Association, but moved to Ottawa halfway through the season.
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 Philadelphia Atoms won the North American Soccer League championship in the debut season of 1973. In doing so, they became the first American pro soccer club to earn the cover of Sports Illustrated. After that charmed first season, though, the Atoms’ fortunes fizzled out and the club was out of business by the end of 1976.
It seems that no pro football league (except the NFL) can resist the lure of San Antonio. With a modest 3-season run from 2012 to 2014, the Talons of the Arena Football League quietly outlasted the rest of the Alamo City’s extensive roster of pro football flops.
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.
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.
