Defunct Sports Magnets

The Denver Gold was a franchise in the United States Football League, an attempt to establish a second major professional football league in the United States, playing a springtime season, from 1983 to 1985. The Gold played their home games at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado; co-tenants in the spring with the Triple-A Denver Zephyrs baseball team (Denver Bears prior to 1984).

Defunct 80s Montreal Baseball All Star

RFK Stadium Defunct Washington Sports Arena

The Feather River Mudcats were a minor league baseball team located in Marysville, California. The team played in the independent Western Baseball League, and was not affiliated with any Major League Baseball team. Their home stadium was Bryant Field. The Mudcats were founded in 2000 and played only two seasons before ceasing operations after the 2001 season. They were replaced in 2002 by the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox, which played until the league folded after the season.

Defunct 80s Montreal Baseball All Star

The Colorado Rockies were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) that played in Denver from 1976 to 1982. They were founded as the Kansas City Scouts, an expansion team that began play in the NHL in the 1974–75 season. The Scouts moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to Denver for the 1976–77 season. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, for the 1982–83 season and was renamed as the New Jersey Devils. Denver went without an NHL team until the Quebec Nordiques relocated to become the Colorado Avalanche following the 1994–95 season. The Rockies name itself would be applied to the Major League Baseball expansion team that began play in 1993.

Defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints Hockey Team

The Baltimore Terrapins were one of the most successful teams in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team played its home games at Terrapin Park.

Defunct Minnesota Fighting Saints Hockey Team

The Virginia Squires was a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, an ABA charter franchise based in Oakland, California. They moved to Washington, D.C. as the Washington Caps in 1969 but moved to Norfolk the following year, becoming the Squires. A regional team, they played home games in Richmond, Hampton, and Roanoke as well as Norfolk. The team folded in 1976, just a month before the ABA–NBA merger.Show your hometown pride

The original Carolina Cobras were an Arena Football League franchise that split their time between Raleigh (2000-2002) and Charlotte (2003-2004). Notable players included quarterback Fred McNair (Cobras ’00-’01), the older brother of Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl signal caller Steve McNair, and former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Cory Fleming (Cobras ’02). The Cobras never finished better than .500 in five seasons of competition, but did manage to make the playoffs in 2001 and 2002. The hapless 0-16 Cobras squad of 2003 demands consideration as the worst in the 32-season history of the Arena Football League.

THE MURPH Defunct Jack Murphy Stadium

Minor league baseball’s future in Asheville, North Carolina was cast into some doubt when the Chicago White Sox shifted their Class AA farm club from the mountains of Western North Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee following the 1971 season. But Asheville’s Southern League franchise was saved when a restless attorney from Cincinnati partnered up with a group of local investors to bring the Baltimore Orioles to Asheville’s McCormick Field in 1972.

The Kenosha Twins began play in the Midwest League in 1984 when the Wisconsin Rapids Twins relocated. The team played their home games at Simmons Field in Kenosha. The Twins won two Midwest League Championships, in 1985 and 1987, and were Northern Division champions for the first half of the 1988 season. In 1992, the team was sold, and the following the 1992 season, they moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana and became the Fort Wayne Wizards.

The Vipers were originally formed as the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in 1969. In 1994, the franchise was purchased by Palace Sports and Entertainment (owners of the Detroit Pistons and the Palace of Auburn Hills) and relocated for the 1994–95 season. A sponsorship deal with the Chrysler Corporation led to the naming of the team after their Dodge Viper, although the team's logo primarily featured a common Viperidae (a venomous snake). A similar deal was in place with another Palace Sports-owned team, the Detroit Neon of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, which switched its sponsorship to GMC in its final year and renamed the team the Detroit Safari after yet another vehicle, the Safari.

The Columbus Wardogs were an arena football team in af2 that played their home games in the Columbus Civic Center in Columbus, Georgia, from 2001 through 2004. The franchise was relocated as the Mississippi Headhunters for the 2006 season, but did not play any games.

The Camden Riversharks were an American professional baseball team based in Camden, New Jersey, from 2001 to 2015. They were a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not at that time affiliated with Major League Baseball. The Riversharks played their home games at Campbell's Field, which was situated at the base of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Due to its location on the Delaware River, the ballpark offered a clear view of the Philadelphia skyline. The "Riversharks" name referred to the location of Camden on the Delaware River, and the primary logo incorporated the Benjamin Franklin Bridge that links Camden to Philadelphia.

The Calgary 88's was a professional basketball franchise based in Calgary, Alberta, from 1988 to 1992. The team played in the World Basketball League. The 1992 season saw the league fold before the season was completed.

The San Jose Tigers were a semi-pro football juggernaut of the late 1970’s. The team formed in 1977 and immediately steamrolled the rest of the rag-tag California Football League. With former San Jose State quarterback Craig Kimball at the controls of the offense, as he would be throughout the team’s existence, enjoyed a perfect 13-0 run en route the league title. The only blemish on San Jose’s record was a 28-27 home loss to the Pierce County Bengals from Tacoma, Washington in a postseason regional championship game dubbed “Holiday Bowl I”. Pro Football Weekly ranked the Tigers #2 in its national ranking of minor league football teams for 1977.

Defunct New England Whalers Hockey Team

Columbia, South Carolina hosted a New York Mets Class A farm club in the South Atlantic League for 22 seasons from 1983 until 2004. The team was initially known as the Columbia Mets (1983-1992). In 1992 the club adopted the Capital City Bombers identity, while maintaining the long-time Mets partnership.

Defunct California Golden Seals Hockey Team

The San Francisco Seals were a minor league baseball team in San Francisco, California, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 until 1957 before transferring to Phoenix, Arizona. The organization was named for the abundant California sea lion and harbor seal populations in the Bay Area. The 1909, 1922, 1925, and 1928 Seals were recognized as being among the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.

Defunct Chicago Cougars Hockey Team

Defunct Kentucky Colonels Basketball Team

Defunct Virginia Squires Basketball

The Milwaukee Does were a team in the short-lived Women's Professional Basketball League. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, their name was a play on that of the NBA Milwaukee Bucks. The Does played in the first two of the WPBL's three seasons, 1978–1979 and 1979–1980, before disbanding. The team played its home games at the Milwaukee Arena and were coached for part of the 1979–1980 season by Larry Costello, who had coached the Bucks from their inception, including an NBA championship in 1971.

Defunct Cleveland Crusaders Hockey Team

Defunct Salem Witches Baseball Team

The Charlotte Orioles were the long-time Class AA Southern League farm club of the Baltimore Orioles. Promoted locally as “The O’s”, the ball club was owned by famed Southern wrestling promoter Jim Crockett Jr. The Crocketts ran the O’s in true mom & pop style. Charlotte’s ballpark, formerly known as Clark Griffith Park, was renamed Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Park in 1976 in honor of the family patriarch, “Big Jim” Crockett, who passed away in 1973. While Jim Jr. and his brothers focused on the wrestling promotion inherited from their late father, sister Frances Crockett managed the O’s business operations as one of the rare female General Managers of the era. A retired wrestler named Klondike Bill handled the groundskeeping duties.

Defunct Miami Beach Flamingos Baseball Team

Defunct Springfield Indians Hockey Team

The Class A Columbia Reds of 1960-1961 marked a brief return to South Carolina’s capital city by the Cincinnati Reds, who previously sponsored a South Atlantic League farm club in Columbia from 1938 to 1955. The Cincinnati Reds owned the Columbia ball club directly. The Columbia Reds won the 1960 South Atlantic League pennant, topping the 8-team loop with an 83-56 record.

Defunct Madison Monsters Hockey Team

Defunct Indianapolis Racers Hockey Team