How do Americans feel about sports teams just relocating to other cities far away?

[-]

_Nocte_@reddit

As someone who grew up watching English and German football, I've struggled to get into American sports because I feel like the teams aren't really connected to local communities much of the time.

I'm also from the Oakland area and every time I've tried to get into NFL/MLB lately, it's a sore reminder that I don't really have a 'local' team anymore since my teams moved to Las Vegas.

Sport culture in America is heavily commercialized, obviously, and feels very corporate to me.

[-]

NastyNate4@reddit

Depends. Usually the owners are trying to shake down the local municipalities to pay for a stadium. There are plenty of people that would rather the team leave than have the public pay for a stadium.

[-]

Read up on the Charlotte Hornets. They were a hugely successful NBA expansion team at the time - and owner George Shinn demanded the city build him a new stadium because the (7-year) old one didn’t have enough luxury skyboxes and was too far from uptown.

He threatened to take the team to another city, and when the council told him to get fucked, he did - they ended up in New Orleans. Where they withered.

Part of what made this crazy is the team name is based on a Revolutionary War battle, where the British felt that nearby Kings Mountain was a hornet’s nest. The badge that police officer wear is also in the shape of a hornet’s nest. Hornets in New Orleans made no sense.

[-]

Small_Collection_249@reddit

Billionaire owner needs “help” to build a new stadium. I don’t want the team to leave, but I’m not for that.

Or if taxpayer funds are used, the owner has to repay.

[-]

Then-Leadership9199@reddit

I get both sides of the argument, the owners definitely could being doing more in most cases, but at the same time, having a professional sports team in an area brings in a lot of revenue. I'm from Wisconsin and when the bucks won the championship a few years back, it brought like 500 million dollars into Milwaukee in one week. That doesn't count all the regular season and other playoff games, plus they also have a ton of concerts and other events there that bring in a lot of money too. I feel like this is one of those issues that doesn't have an easy answer cuz both sides make some valid points

[-]

JetPixi13@reddit

Wasn’t Oakland still paying? I think I recall that being part of the issue with the LV move.

[-]

TheLizardKing89@reddit

How do Germans feel about spending all year following the Bundesliga only for Bayern Munich to win every year? Do you just shrug it off? Does this feel normal?

[-]

AlmondSprite@reddit

I have just started watching Bundesliga and didn’t know it’s almost always Bayern Munich…

[-]

TheLizardKing89@reddit

lol. They’ve won 13 of the last 14 and in the 35 seasons since Germany reunified, they have won 23.

[-]

gl0000m_@reddit (OP)

No, it fucking enrages me.

Domestically, I'm a big bayern munich hater.

Only when they compete internationally, do I (somewhat) support them.

[-]

Guinnessron@reddit

First. It’s not common. But when it happens true fans/supporters are furious. That team that was theirs is now enemy#1.

[-]

eugenesbluegenes@reddit

Not great.

[-]

AToastedRavioli@reddit

Well here in St. Louis, still in 2026, cheers of “Fuck you, Kroenke” can be heard at Blues games (NHL) when we play the Colorado Avalanche. Stan Kroenke is owner of the Avalanche, and the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, who used to be here in St. Louis.

The Rams haven’t played here since 2015

[-]

Daddysheremyluv@reddit

You lost the Cardinals and the Rams

[-]

AToastedRavioli@reddit

Thank you I’m aware

[-]

gl0000m_@reddit (OP)

Damn, that sucks I feel for the people of St Louis

[-]

AToastedRavioli@reddit

It isn’t pleasant but that’s life and that’s business. Our baseball team has been here 140+ years anyway and our hockey team has a locally inspired name and logo. We still have fun!

[-]

HerrDrAngst@reddit

Many people, including Europeans take sporting too seriously, it's basically a Substitution for the old rivalries That resulted in wars and thousands upon thousands dead

[-]

gl0000m_@reddit (OP)

I agree with the latter part of your comment. Which is why it makes all the more sense to me for the rivalries to be tied to a locality/regional community...

[-]

Dingbatdingbat@reddit

Just wait until you learn the history of the Rams

[-]

gl0000m_@reddit (OP)

Care to enlighten me?

[-]

AmericanNewt8@reddit

Honestly, idk if anyone was that concerned about the raiders. But as an occasional Baltimoron, by far the most infamous sports team move in US history was the Baltimore Colts decamping to Indianapolis. The move was done in complete secrecy, during the night, for fear that the state would seize the team or the police would attempt to stop them. The city was left traumatized/enraged for decades afterwards until they got the Ravens in what, the aughties? Idk. I'm not a big football person. But Marylanders have opinions on this event.

[-]

Phog_of_War@reddit

I clearly remember waking up before the sun, and getting breakfast ready for myself. Turn on the TV at 5:30 am and see a reporter talking about the Colts leaving and Bob Irsay, while in the background you can see Mayflower moving trucks leaving the stadium in an awful hurry.

The Irsay family can all get bent. Yes I'm a Marylander and even after 40+ years, I still have strong opinions.

[-]

Ok_Gas5386@reddit

I used to really dislike Jim Irsay, until I learned about Bob Irsay

[-]

Daddysheremyluv@reddit

Atleast you have the original Browns now. It should make your victimship a little more palatable

[-]

Phog_of_War@reddit

Moved away before the Ravens were a thing so I never got that payoff and now all I have is victimship. It's refined to a high quality now as I'm now a fan of a cursed franchise.

Skol Vikes. One Lombardi, just one before I die.

[-]

syncopatedchild@reddit

by far the most infamous sports team move in US history was the Baltimore Colts decamping to Indianapolis

Ahem... the Dodgers? This is the most football-brained thing I've ever heard.

[-]

apgtimbough@reddit

I mean I love You baseball, but the team moved in 1958. The people that really remember it are dead or 90 years old.

[-]

syncopatedchild@reddit

Exhibit A) Those people's kids and grandkids - they still care.

Exhibit B) Historical Cachet - The Dodgers' move, unlike Baltimore or most people's local grudge, is nationally known, and basically the benchmark against which other relocation are measured.

Exhibit C) The Colts don't count because their relocation was countered by the far more infamous relocation of the Browns to Baltimore.

[-]

AwarenessGreat282@reddit

Nah, we don't care. Never did really.

[-]

jrc5053@reddit

1996 I believe

[-]

No_Election_1123@reddit

The “European Mind” should refer to the UK’s Wimbledon who moved to Milton Keynes and became the “MK Dons” 😀

In Chicago, the Bears are moving either out of Chicago to the suburbs but also threatening to move to Indiana (about 30 mile away) where Indiana are offering them better tax breaks and a lot of land. But Chicago State senators (annoyed that the team is leaving Chicago either way) are blocking tax breaks to Billionaires

[-]

gl0000m_@reddit (OP)

Yeah the MK Dons move was rough, I know about it. Luckily, I don't care too much about English football/soccer.

[-]

pinniped90@reddit

It's especially tough for Raiders fans, since most of their fanbase has ankle bracelets and can't go to Nevada without permission from a parole officer.

[-]

AwarenessGreat282@reddit

There are only a few teams that are cemented in their respective cities and will never leave. Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Packers, Bears, Bills, Celtics, Lakers are some I can think of. And doesn't really matter about winning history either.

[-]

AlmondSprite@reddit

My childhood favorite MLB team has just left Oakland to eventually settle in Vegas. My college sweetheart was so offended he became a Dodgers fan. Other friends have stuck by the A’s, picked new teams or just shun baseball now.

My ECHL team played its last game last month and moved across the country. I was out there for the holidays and supposed to go to a couple games but then the team was on strike so I didn’t get to go to one last game.

I think we just accept how owners will sell and move teams and we don’t have any say in the matter.

[-]

Not_A_Crazed_Gunman@reddit

Utah? At least you guys have the Mammoth now eh lol.

[-]

Ok_Gas5386@reddit

We unfortunately give billionaire owners the ability to shop around, trying to extract the best possible deal from local governments. They always make sure to have a few major cities without a franchise, so that the other marginal cities feel the threat. It’s all very ugly and cynical.

[-]

Delicious-Ad5856@reddit

There are people in Philadelphia who cannot get over the Athletics moving. In fact, there are people who teach their children to be A's fans, not Phillies fans.

[-]

FunImprovement166@reddit

Locals don't like it but teams here are a business. In St. Louis and San Diego there's still a lot of resentment.

[-]

Not_A_Crazed_Gunman@reddit

The Coyotes had the best logo in the NHL and I'm sad they're gone. If Florida can have two franchises then certainly there can be one in Arizona.

[-]

Adjective-Noun123456@reddit

The difference is that the cats and the bolts both actually have fans and turn a profit.

[-]

FunImprovement166@reddit

The NFL had to buy them and run them as an owner. It's the closest a sports team has even come to charity

[-]

FunImprovement166@reddit

If their Florida franchise had the history of thee Coyotes they would also be relocated. They never got their shit together in their entire history. The NHL had to buy it out of bankruptcy and run it for a few years. They couldn't find an arena to even play in and had to play in a college arena. Their attendance numbers were terrible and even worse than the Panthers. There's just no way to justify keeping them there aside from saying their logo was cool lol

[-]

omnipresent_sailfish@reddit

The owner really destroyed any goodwill by not paying bills. Team just couldn’t find an adequate place to play. If you’re only option is to play in a college arena, it’s time to go

[-]

mickeltee@reddit

I live near Cleveland, where the Browns are located, and they are using taxpayer money to build a new stadium. The argument was that if we don’t use the money to build the stadium then the team would move away. I say good riddance to them. They haven’t won anything, and to me that is a prerequisite for building a stadium.

[-]

OldRaj@reddit

My Browns left and went to Baltimore. I moved from Cleveland to Indianapolis and the Colts used to be in Baltimore. I am not very bothered by it.

[-]

Frito_Goodgulf@reddit

Do American sports fans just shrug this off?

Not exactly. But there is normally next to nothing the fans in the old city can do about it. And the fans in the new city generally support it.

Does this feel normal?

Define “normal.” It’s a long-established pattern because the professional American sports leagues have always operated on a franchise model. The league sells a right to establish a team in a specific location. The owner who bought the franchise rights then hires players, coaches, staff, etc. This is different than Germany, and most countries where soccer (association football) is the primary sport, where today’s professional teams grew out of various local clubs (scroll through this sub a few weeks ago, there was a long discussion about this, under “why aren’t there sectarian type rivalries in the USA?”)

Even in the late 1800s, not long after the National League was formed to establish itself as “Major League Baseball,” multiple teams moved to different cities for various reasons. Usually financial, if an owner wasn’t able to attract fans and either sold to a different owner in a new city, or moved the team themselves. So American sports fans are well used to it, whether they like it or not.

To wit, on this last point, when the NFL (National Football League) Baltimore Colts loaded everything in moving trucks in the middle of the night and the next morning became the Indianapolis Colts.

https://www.colts.com/news/baltimore-march-28-1984-middle-night-move-relocation-indianapolis-mayflower

“Before the Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in the middle of the night of March 28, 1984, the team came close to moving to Phoenix.”

Or are they upset when this happens?

See the linked article for an example. Yes, they often are upset. Whether they continue to support the team from afar, support a different team, or something else, all happens. For example, you mention the Raiders. They were always one of the rare teams with a large remote following (I was once waiting in an airport to fly to Oakland on a very early Sunday morning, and a few tens of Raiders fans were also waiting for the same flight.)

As a rule, the reason a team moves TO a city is because the owner (or new owner) has already committed significant resources to a stadium/arena (in the US, these are often paid for by governments), and building up a fan base. For example, in the NHL (National (Ice) Hockey League) a couple of years ago, the Arizona Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City, to become the Utah Mammoth, after significant effort by a group in Utah who’d been trying to either get an NHL expansion team or to acquire a team via relocation.

[-]

No-Mouse4800@reddit

I don't care about sports at all. I would not miss any sports teams if they all disappeared tomorrow.

[-]

Not_A_Crazed_Gunman@reddit

Thanks for your valuable input

[-]

Potential-Use-1565@reddit

Rules are made up and the points don't matter. This is entertainment who cares

[-]

isnoice@reddit

San Francisco resident here.

A lot of cities in the USA will gladly open their pocketbooks for public financing of sports areas - but not the Bay Area. We have better uses for public money, the owners tried to shakedown the City of Oakland and the elected officials didn’t give either of those teams what they wanted from the taxpayers, so they left.

This is a small market of about 9.5 million people, over saturated with sports teams. Because there was simply not enough public will to give the team’s owners a mandate for the government to finance their new stadium projects, they walked away in a temper tantrum. Oakland Coliseum - the stadium that both the Raiders and A’s shared is indeed dated, going back to the early 70’s.

We still have the 49ers and Giants.

I say good riddance and good luck with their future in Vegas.

[-]

Coldfyre_Dusty@reddit

In the 90s the Minnesota North Stars in the NHL moved to Dallas to become the Dallas Stars. Even though Minnesota got a new team (the Wild) less than a decade later, there's still some feelings of betrayal. Still hear "Fuck Norm Green" every now and then from diehard hockey fans (he was the owner of the North Stars at the time)

[-]

Darryl_Lict@reddit

It is entirely tragic for a beloved long term team to leave. But, it's been happening forever. I think the trend started when jet travel became possible so teams could travel the breadth of the US to play. Formerly, you had to be within train travel distance of a day or so. The owners of the NY Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers agreed to move their teams to California in 1959 or so. I guess the Lakers and the Warriors left in the same time frame.

We are very bummed when a storied local team leaves. I would have been saddened when the Rams left, but that idiot Georgia Frontiere already ruined my home team, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Glad they came back though!

[-]

adultdaycare81@reddit

We get super mad.

[-]

AKA-Pseudonym@reddit

Sports works a little differently in the States. Local connections aren't non-existent but they aren't quite as deep as they are in other countries. A team moving will upset local fans, but most won't lose their minds over it and the new place will usually take them in. A few teams, and the Raiders are one of them, have a nationwide fanbase that is attracted to them for their perceived character more than where they're from. The Raiders have a rough and tumble outlaw image and their fanbase just likes that regardless of where they're playing.

[-]

FunImprovement166@reddit

I always heard Vegas was a Raiders town before they even thought about moving there. Totally anecdotal though.

[-]

forestinpark@reddit

European here, at first it was hard for me to understand it too. Clubs in Europe were born with modern cities, neighborhoods formed around a stadium etc. Clubs/stadiums are the integral part of community, the true grassroots movement.

In the US, think of sports as Red Bull franchise. It is a business, same as a grocery store. Grocery stores will move 10 miles to better location due to accessibility, parking spaces etc. If team owners feel they can increase their profits 5 towns away, they will move their business. While US does not have pro/rel, moving teams is US way of doing relegation.

In US, college sports are what we are used to. College is integral part of city, cant move university (yet), so that is where you see the true grassroots sport support.

[-]

KartFacedThaoDien@reddit

What the hell are sports fans going to do about it? Hell with the St. Louis Rams the owner was willing to pay $6 billion of his own money to build a new stadium in Inglewood California. What can NFL fans in St. Louis do about it?

And the same thing happened in Seattle when the Supersonics left after the owner of Starbucks sold the team to people he had to have known would sell the team.

Seattle still doesnt have an NBA team to this day. Its possible they'll get an expansion team in 2028 a full 20 years after their team left. The fans just get fucked over and thats it.

The same shit happened in Vancouver, Montreal, San Diego, Oakland (2 and kinda 3 different teams). Sometimes cities get teams again like Houston, Cleveland and obviously LA got NFL teams again.

The end game is those cities just dont have major league team in that sport anymore. Keep in mind that NFL and NHL has 32 teams, NBA and MLB 30 teams. So plenty of people are missing out on having a major league team in their city.

[-]

TheBimpo@reddit

Really depends on the situation.

There have been cases where ownership moved a team under the cloak of darkness, like the Baltimore Colts leaving for Indianapolis, practically unannounced.

The Seattle Supersonics were practically forced to be sold to an ownership group that was openly lying about their intentions for moving the team.

There’s always going to be some fans that are disappointed, but overall local reaction really depends on the history of the situation.

[-]

Effective_Coach7334@reddit

You have to remember these are corporations. They only care about making money and that often includes strong-arming their host community for sweetheart deals that includes public funding and subsidies for their business and substantial tax breaks and waivers for local regulation. When the community and local official put their foot down and say no more, that's when they move. Everyone wants to have them so they openly take advantage of their new host city. And they end up making even more money than before and everyone loves them.

[-]