
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).

The Seattle Rangers were a three-year entry in the Continental Football League (1965-1969), a sprawling late ’60’s attempt at creating a “triple-A” level of professional football, a cut below the NFL and the AFL. The Rangers were the highest level of pro football played in the state of Washington until the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks arrived in 1977.

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.

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 Fresno Frenzy were a One-Year Wonder in the small market indoor football league known as Arena Football 2. The Frenzy were an expansion team during AF2’s third season of play in 2002. They joined the 34-franchise league’s West Division, which also included teams in Bakersfield, Hawaii and San Diego. The Frenzy went out of business after one last-place season at Selland Arena. Arena Football 2 returned to Selland Arena two years later in 2004 with a new franchise, the Central Valley Coyotes.

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.

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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