Relocation of professional sports teams occurs when a team owner moves a team, generally from one
metropolitan area to another, but occasionally between municipalities in the same
conurbation. The practice is most common in
North America, where a
league franchise system is used and the teams are overwhelmingly privately owned. Owners who move a team generally do so seeking better profits, facilities, fan support, or a combination of these.
Unlike most professional sport systems worldwide, North America does not have comprehensive governing bodies whose authority extends from the amateur to the highest levels of a given sport. North American sports generally do not operate a system of
promotion and relegation in which poorly performing teams are replaced with teams that do well in lower-level leagues.
A city wishing to get a team in a
major professional sports league can wait for the league to expand and award new
franchises. However, such expansions are infrequent, and generally limited to a narrow window in time. Many current owners believe 32 is the optimal size for a major league due to playoff structure and ease of scheduling.[citation needed] As of 2021, each of the major leagues has between 30 and 32 franchises. The
National Hockey League (NHL) has expanded to 32 teams, with the
Vegas Golden Knights having become the league's 31st team in 2017 and the
Seattle Kraken becoming the 32nd team in 2021.[1][2]
In past decades, aspiring owners whose overtures had been rejected by the established leagues would respond by forming a rival league in hopes that the existing major league would eventually agree to a
merger; the new league would attain major league status in its own right; or the established league was compelled to expand. The 1960s
American Football League (AFL) is perhaps the most recent example of a successful rival league, having achieved each of the three goals listed above in reverse order. However, all major sports have had a rival league achieve at least some of these goals in the last half of the 20th century. Baseball's proposed
Continental League did not play a game, but only because
Major League Baseball (MLB) responded to the proposal by adding teams in some of the new league's proposed cities. The
American Basketball Association (ABA) and
World Hockey Association (WHA) each succeeded in getting some of their franchises accepted into the established leagues, which had both unsuccessfully attempted to cause their upstart rivals to fold outright by adding more teams.
However, the upstart leagues owed their success in large part to the reluctance of owners in the established leagues to devote the majority of their revenues to player salaries and also to sports leagues' former reliance primarily on
gate receipts for revenue.[citation needed] Under those conditions, an ambitious rival could often afford to lure away the sport's top players with promises of better pay, in hopes of giving the new league immediate respect and credibility from fans. Today, however, established leagues derive a large portion of their revenue from lucrative television contracts that would not be offered to an untested rival. Also, the activism of players' unions has resulted in the established leagues paying a majority of their revenues to players, thus the average salary in each of the big four leagues is now well in excess of $1 million per season.[citation needed]
Under present market and financial conditions, any serious attempt to form a rival league in the early 21st century would likely require hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars in investment and initial losses,[citation needed] and even if such resources were made available the upstart league's success would be far from guaranteed, as evidenced by the failure of the
WWF/
NBC-backed
XFL in 2001 and the
UFL from 2009 to 2012.[citation needed] The current major leagues have established lucrative relationships with all of the major media outlets in the United States, who subsidize the league's operations because their established fame ensures strong
ratings; the networks are far less willing to provide such coverage to an unproven upstart league, often requiring
the upstart league to pay the network for those leagues to be covered.
Therefore, as long as leagues choose not to expand and/or reject a city's application, the only realistic recourse is to convince the owner(s) of an existing team to move it (or convince a prospective owner to purchase a team with the intent of moving it). Owners usually[citation needed] move teams because of weak fan support or because the team organization is in debt and needs an adequate population for financial support or because another city offers a bigger local market or a more financially lucrative stadium/arena deal. Governments may offer lucrative deals to team owners to attract or retain a team. For example, to attract the NFL's
Cleveland Browns in 1995, the state of
Maryland agreed to build a new
stadium in
Baltimore and allow the team to use it rent-free and keep all parking, advertising and concession revenue. (This move proved so
unpopular in
Cleveland that the move was treated as the
Baltimore Ravens being awarded an expansion franchise, and the Browns name and their official lineage would remain in Cleveland for a "reactivated" team that rejoined the NFL
three years later.) A little more than a decade earlier, the
Baltimore Coltsleft for Indianapolis (NFL owners voted to give Colts owner
Robert Irsay permission to move his franchise to the city of his choosing after no satisfactory stadium would be built).
Moving sports teams is often controversial. Opponents criticize owners for leaving behind faithful fans and governments for spending millions of dollars of tax money on attracting teams. However, since sports teams in the United States are generally treated like any other business under
antitrust law, there is little sports leagues can do to prevent teams from flocking to the highest bidders (for instance, the
Los Angeles Rams filed suit when the other NFL owners initially blocked their move to St. Louis, which caused the NFL to back down and allow the move to proceed). Major League Baseball, unique among the major professional sports leagues, has
an exemption from antitrust laws won by a
Supreme Court decision but nonetheless has allowed several teams to change cities. Also recently, courts denied the attempted move of the team then known as the
Phoenix Coyotes by siding with the NHL, which claimed that it had final authority over franchise moves.
Newer sports leagues tend to have more transient franchises than more established, "major" leagues, but in the mid-1990s, several NFL and NHL teams moved to other cities, and the threat of a move pushed cities with major-league teams in any sport to build new stadiums and arenas using taxpayer money. The trend continued in the 2000s, when three
National Basketball Association (NBA) teams moved in a seven-year span after there were no moves at all in the 16 years before it. Critics referred to the movement of teams to the highest-bidding city as "franchise free agency."
The two major professional sporting leagues in Australia are the
Australian Football League (AFL) and
National Rugby League (NRL). Both competitions were originally based in one city (
Melbourne and
Sydney respectively) and expanded to a national level, and through that process, there have been team moves, mergers and closures in both leagues. The clubs are owned by members, not privately, but the North American franchise model exists, which means entry to the league is restricted. The hybrid model has meant that the leading promoter of moving is the league itself, trying to grow the football code by encouraging poorly performing clubs to move interstate.
Team moves in Latin America occur very rarely for the established teams with established bases. Smaller teams, either small team from large agglomerations or provincial teams with little or no fan base frequently move in search of a larger market and/or more affordable facilities, as frequently, there are only large complexes available with a necessity to groundshare with a larger club. The practice is considered
anathema.[3]
C.D. Green Cross, founded on June 27, 1916, were a sports club based in the city of
Santiago until 1965, when they moved to
Temuco and merged with the local football team
Deportes Temuco. The combined team were known as Green Cross Temuco until 1985 when the club adopted its current name.
Colombia
In
Colombia historic teams from
first division are rarely moved, but newer teams created in
second division are often moved from city to city looking for a responding fan base.
Atlético Juventud, founded in 2007, moved from
Soacha to
Girardot in 2010, however the club dissolved later that same year, and its affiliation rights were bought by
Fortaleza F.C.
Bajo Cauca F.C. moved to
Itagüí in 2008. As a result, the local
Itagüí F.C. was refounded.[7] The team was expelled from
Itagüí in May 2014, following a dispute between the club's chairman and the city's mayor regarding the financial support received by the club from Itagüí's government. The decision to expel the club from the city was made by the mayor after being publicly criticized by the club's chairman for the scarce support provided to the club. This incident meant the team would change its name to
Águilas Pereira, moving to the city of
Pereira and playing its home matches at
Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium, change approved by
DIMAYOR's Assembly in an extraordinary meeting on July 14, 2014.[8][9] In March 2015, the club moved to
Rionegro, changing its name to
Águilas Doradas and then Rionegro Águilas.[10]
Dépor F.C. was founded in 2005 in
Cartago, Valle del Cauca. For the following year, the club moved to
Jamundí, in the same department. During the 2006 and 2008 seasons its home was the
Estadio Cacique Jamundí. Due to financial difficulties and the support from
Cali's public utilities company
Emcali, the club was renamed in 2009 and moved from Jamundí to the Aguablanca District in the city of Cali, now playing their home games at the
Estadio Pascual Guerrero.
Univalle F.C. was founded in 1998, playing the first half in
Jamundí and the second in
Palmira. They were renamed
Expreso Palmira in 1991. In 2002,
Expreso Palmira was purchased by businessmen who renamed the club
Expreso Rojo de Cartegena moving to
Cartagena. In 2005
Expreso Rojo moved to
Sincelejo, which only lasted a year, and in 2006 returned to
Cartagena. In the 2007 season the team moved to the city of
Fusagasugá,
Cundinamarca. In 2009, the team moved to
Zipaquirá due to economic problems. For the 2011 season
Expreso Rojo decided to move back to the city of Fusagasugá, however, due to the poor performance the club moved to
Soacha. In 2015, the team move back to Zipaquirá. The following season in 2016, the club was renamed as
Tigres F.C.
Real Maya were founded on April 7, 1985. They played in
first division for many season under many different names, Real Maya being the most used. In the 2002/2003 season they took the place of
Real Comayagua.[16] They were named
Real Patepluma and moved to
Santa Bárbara for their final two seasons in the top tier of Honduran football before being excluded from the league.[17]
Jamaica
Hazard United, founded in 1985 in
May Pen, moved in 2001 to
Clarendon and renamed itself
Clarendon United.
JFF regulations stipulated that each club have stands to seat at least 1,500, which
Clarendon lacked. So the team moved again, to
St. Catherine and began to use the
Ferdi Neita Sports Complex. Initially, Clarendon and the St. Catherine football club agreed to share the stadium. In 2002, St. Catherine suggested Clarendon change its affiliation to become a St. Catherine team, as the club's name was not locally identifiable and the club itself was only slowly gaining followers. Instead, Clarendon moved in 2003 to Portmore and renamed itself
Portmore United.[18] The club has since won four Premier League titles.
Mexico
Liga MX has a relegation system but its teams have some territorial rights recognized, perhaps due to U.S. influence as many league matches are aired in the U.S., where only traditional top-flight teams are perceived to most effectively reach the immigrant fan-base.
In
Peru several teams have had to use already built large stadiums, including ones in the interior of the country, to be able to participate in
Peruvian Primera División; this includes several teams from the capital,
Lima, who have not been able to establish fanbases in their districts due to the required moves.
Binacional is originally from
Desaguadero on the border with
Bolivia but as it rose in the ranks it moved to
Paucarpata Ward in
Arequipa in 2016, and then back to its home region of
Puno but at
Juliaca, 102 miles away from its original base; this was the place from where their successful campaign for the
Peruvian championship took place in 2019.
Team moves in Asia are done according to the type of sport played and/or the predominant style of league organization, as well as individual economic circumstances. For instance, in Japan there is a difference between
Nippon Professional Baseball which is run like
MLB, and the
J.League which is run like European football leagues.
Club moves are also common when an amateur or semiprofessional club tries to acquire its own facilities to become a professional club, and no money and/or space is available to build their own in a long-established location.
Team moves in China are very common. Although China has a European-style
promotion and relegation league system, the teams themselves are
North American-style franchises, which means the teams are overwhelmingly privately owned and therefore more prone to moving. Owners who move a team generally do so seeking better profits, facilities, fan support, or a combination of these. There are neither rules regarding moves nor many established fan bases, outside a handful of top teams.
In late May 2007 rumours of the dissolution of
Pas Tehran's football team began to emerge. It was said that because the city of
Tehran has many football teams that have low attendance figures, it would be best for a number of teams to be moved to other cities. On 9 June 2007, Pas Tehran was dissolved. Their right to participate in the Persian Gulf Cup was given to a newly formed team called
Pas Hamedan. The staff and players of the football team were move to Hamedan in order to form the team. Additionally the multisport Pas Cultural and Sport Club is only participate in amateur and youth sporting events. It is not clear if the management of Pas Sports Club will restart the football team in future years.[20]
Payam Khorasan F.C. is currently based in
Mashhad,
Razavi Khorasan. The club is more commonly known as
Payam Mashhad after when it was based in
Mashhad from 1976 to May 2011. The club was moved to
Nishapur from May to November 2011, however due to lack of support in Nishapur, the club moved back to
Mashhad.
The
J.League is run similarly to European football leagues. In contrast to the
baseball league it has allowed only a few teams to move out of crowded or unprofitable markets:
Thespa Kusatsu actually plays in the nearby larger city of
Maebashi, Gunma because
Kusatsu does not have a large stadium. In 2024 they renamed themselves
Thespa Gunma to reflect their status as the top team in their prefecture.
Tokyo Verdy,
FC Tokyo,
Gamba Osaka and
V-Varen Nagasaki play outside their city limits but in due to the specific nature of these large cities the circumstances are for practical reasons. (Nagasaki, which currently plays in nearby
Isahaya, is in the process of building a new stadium in Nagasaki city proper.)
A.C. Nagano Parceiro played in
Saku from 2014 to 2015 due to their stadium in
Nagano not being fit for J.League football.
Kyoto Sanga F.C. moved to a football-specific stadium in
Kameoka, outside the city of Kyoto, in 2020.
Baseball
Nippon Professional Baseball is run in similar fashion to
MLB and has moved several franchises out of crowded markets. Moves also happened when the teams changed ownership (which also sometimes involved changing the team name).
Football club moves were frequent in the 1980s and 1990s. South Korea has three national tiers, but as in the North American system, there was initially no promotion or relegation between them.
There were three professional football clubs
Ilhwa Chunma (currently
Seongnam FC),
LG Cheetahs (currently
FC Seoul),
Yukong Elephants (currently
Jeju United) in
Seoul by 1995. However, due to
K League's decentralization policy, these three clubs were forced to move to other cities in 1996, changing their name in the process. These moves are done under the accord that if any of these teams build a football specific stadium in Seoul, they can return there, of which two clubs took advantage of. As a result, the following moves occurred:
In South Africa most football clubs are privately owned, and club moves are relatively common. Several clubs, including top division
Premier Soccer League clubs have moved and taken on new identities. There are many other cases of
South African moves. The ease of selling and buying of club licences make moves common and sometimes difficult to determine what determines whether a new club represents an existing one that has moved or an entirely separate new entity.
Hellenic F.C.'s franchise was sold by the Greek owners in early 2004 to the Ndlovu family, who renamed it
Premier United and moved it to
Benoni, Gauteng. In 2011, the Hellenic franchise took over the former Blaauwberg City FC, under the management of Mark Byrne. Byrne is looking to revive the quality of the 1970s, to become one of the best youth developments in the country. In 2013, the club acquired a SAB League franchise (South African 4th Division). In August 2016, the club announced that they had sold their
SAFA Second Division franchise license to "ensure that we grow from strength to strength in achieving our aim to be the number one youth structure in Cape Town."[27]
^Alejandro Fonseca Hidalgo (January 12, 2010).
"Otro nombre y mismas deudas" (in Spanish). diarioextra.com. Archived from
the original on August 28, 2010. Retrieved September 13, 2011.