NFL franchise moves and mergers

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Throughout the years, a number of teams in the National Football League (NFL) have either moved or merged.

In the early years, the NFL was not stable and teams moved frequently to survive, or were folded only to be resurrected in a different city with the same players and owners. The Great Depression era saw the movement of most surviving small-town NFL teams to the large cities to ensure survival. Franchise mergers were popular during World War II in response to the scarcity of players. Few of these relocations and mergers were accompanied with widespread controversy.

Franchise moves became far more controversial in the late twentieth century when a vastly more popular NFL, free from financial instability, allowed many franchises to abandon long-held strongholds for perceived financially greener pastures. While owners invariably cited financial difficulties as the primary factor in such moves, many fans bitterly disputed these contentions, especially in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Cleveland, each of which eventually received teams some years after their original franchises left. However, Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the United States, has not had an NFL team since 1994 and is currently pursuing an expansion there. [1] Another city that is often mentioned as a potential site for a moved franchise is Toronto, Ontario, the site of frequent speculation regarding a future franchise.

Despite a promise to Congress not to relocate franchises in return for a law exempting the league from certain aspects of antitrust laws, making possible the AFL-NFL merger, several franchises relocated in the years since the merger.

Additionally, with the increasing suburbanization of the U.S., the building of new stadiums and other team facilities in the suburbs instead of the central city became popular from the 1970s on, though at the turn of the millennium a reverse shift back to the central city became somewhat evident.

Teams making more significant moves, in chronological order

Quasi-moves: movement of more or less intact teams from one city to another

The NFL considers these separate franchises but there is significant continuity from one to the other

  • Canton Bulldogs: mothballed for the 1924 season when the owner of the Cleveland Bulldogs bought it and took the players and nickname to Cleveland. Franchise resurrected in 1925
  • Duluth Eskimos: to Orange, NJ as the Orange Tornadoes in 1929 (separate franchises but same players)
  • Newark Tornadoes: The Newark franchise was forfeited to the league and ordered to be disposed of to the highest bidder after the 1930 season. The next franchise granted was the Boston Braves (now Washington Redskins franchise) in 1932. So, while it is possible that Newark franchise was sold to the Boston group in 1932, there is no documentation available. Neither Newark or Boston played in 1931.
  • Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers corporate entities and players (but not franchises) swap cities after the 1940 season after complex ownership deal.
  • Boston Yanks franchise to New York City as the New York Bulldogs in 1949 (separate franchise but same owner and players)
  • New York Yanks (formerly New York Bulldogs) folded after the 1951 season; players transferred to new Dallas Texans franchise for the 1952 season
  • Dallas Texans: operated out of Hershey, PA for the last five games of the 1952 season, playing their last three games in Akron, OH. Franchise folded after season's end and players awarded to new Baltimore Colts franchise in 1953
  • Cleveland Browns: to Baltimore as the Ravens in 1996. In 1995 Browns owner Art Modell announced plans to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore for the 1996 season. The NFL, the city of Cleveland and Modell reach an agreement whereby the Browns franchise and history would remain in Cleveland to be resurrected by 1999. Modell was given a new franchise for Baltimore, made up of players from the 1995 Cleveland Browns

Franchise mergers

Two "quasi-mergers" took place with the absorption of the All-America Football Conference in 1950; the AAFC Buffalo Bills' owner and three players joined into the Cleveland Browns organization while several of the New York Yankees players were absorbed into the New York Bulldogs along with the team name to become the New York Yanks (now the Indianapolis Colts).

Another quasi-merger had resulted with the dissolution of the first American Football League of 1926: the Brooklyn Lions of the NFL and Brooklyn Horsemen of the AFL merged halfway through the 1926 season; after that season, it merged with the AFL New York Yankees in 1927.

Teams moving between cities/boroughs within their metropolitan area, chronologically by team's first such move

Temporary moves, in chronological order

The following are not actually relocations, but temporary moves because these teams' home stadiums were either under construction or otherwise adversely affected:

Ultimate disposition of the 14 charter franchises

By the start of the 1920 APFA season, the nascent National Football League was composed of 14 franchises. Of those teams, only two are still in operation as of 2008 (denoted in bold):

The case of the Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts have perhaps the most sordid histories of any football team in the NFL. The Colts can trace their history as far back as 1913, with the founding of the Dayton Triangles. The team then went through the following changes:

  • Franchise became a road team in 1924, although it retained the "Dayton Triangles" name.
  • Franchise established a permanent home base in Brooklyn, New York and renamed Brooklyn Dodgers in 1930.
  • Changed name to Brooklyn Tigers in 1944. In the same year, the Boston Yanks are founded.
  • Merged with Boston Yanks in 1945 as the wartime "The Yanks."
  • Franchise canceled in 1945 by league and the team's temporary merger with the Boston Yanks is made permanent, as a parallel team (AAFC New York Yankees) is founded by the Tigers' former owner.
  • Boston Yanks moved to New York in 1949 and become New York Yanks, absorbing much of the Yankees' roster the next year.
  • Team dissolved in 1951 and replaced by the Dallas Texans.
  • Texans, in turn, became a road team halfway through the 1952 season and were dissolved shortly thereafter; they are replaced by the second incarnation of the Baltimore Colts in 1953, which absorbed the team name of a previous Baltimore Colts franchise.
  • Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1982 to become the Indianapolis Colts, which still play to this day.

Officially, all of these teams are considered separate franchises (although the second Baltimore Colts and the Indianapolis Colts are considered the same).

See also

References

  1. ^ Canadian expansion not on NFL radar
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