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Expansion team
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An expansion team is a term used for a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the fact that the league expands its presence into new cities. This sometimes results in the payment of an expansion fee to the league by the new team, and an expansion draft to populate the new roster.
In North America, expansion takes place in response to population growth and geographic shifts of population, driven by the resulting financial opportunity made possible by such demographic change.
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Encyclopedia
An expansion team is a term used for a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the fact that the league expands its presence into new cities. This sometimes results in the payment of an expansion fee to the league by the new team, and an expansion draft to populate the new roster.
In North America, expansion takes place in response to population growth and geographic shifts of population, driven by the resulting financial opportunity made possible by such demographic change. For example, Major League Baseball was limited to 16 teams located north and east of St. Louis, Missouri for the first half of the 20th century. During this time, the United States population doubled and expanded to the south and west. Rival interests explored the possibility of forming a rival league in these untapped markets. To forestall this possibility, one of the measures MLB took was to expand by four teams in 1961 and 1962. Over the past four decades, MLB expanded further to its current 30-team membership. In the context of MLB, the term "expansion team" is also used to refer to any of the 14 teams enfranchised in the second half of the 20th century.
When an expansion team begins play, they are generally stocked with less talented free agents and inexperienced staffs. Additionally, prospective owners must pay extremely steep fees to the league as well as expensive start-up costs such as stadiums and facilities. As a result, most expansion teams are known for their poor play during their inaugural season. However, with increasing parity (mainly due to first pick drafts) and experience, some are known to win championships only a few years after their first season.
Most teams are considered as an expansion team usually in their first season and sometimes in their second season. A team that moves to another location and/or changes its name is generally not considered an expansion team. They are known as relocated teams. If the name changed they are known as renamed teams. The three major exceptions to this rule are the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA and Houston Dynamo in the MLS.
Cities and/or regions with large populations that lack a team are generally regarded to be the best candidates for new teams. For example, the National Football League (NFL) has recently considered Los Angeles, CA to be the best possibility for a brand new NFL team and Toronto as a second choice. The European Super League has added teams from France and Wales to cover a great demographic spread.
List of expansion teams in history
1890s
1899
CC:
1900s
1905
CC:
1910s
1910
NSWRL
1920s
1920
NSWRL
1921
NSWRL
1922
- CC
1924
NHL
1925
NHL
1926
NHL
1930s
1933
NFL
1935
NSWRL
1940s
1947
NSWRL
1960s
1960
NFL:
1961
MLB:
NBA:
NFL:
1962
MLB:
1966
NBA:
NFL:
American Football League:
1967
NBA:
NFL:
NHL:
NSWRL
1968
NBA:
AFL:
1969
MLB:
1970s
1970
NBA:
NHL:
1972
ABA:
NHL:
1974
NBA:
NHL:
1976
NFL:
1977
MLB:
1978
PBA:
1979
PBA:
1980s
1980
NBA:
PBA:
1982
NSWRL
1983
PBA:
1984
PBA:
1985
PBA:
1986
PBA:
1987
Australian FL:
1988
NBA:
- Charlotte Hornets (now New Orleans Hornets)
- Miami Heat
NSWRL:
PBA:
1989
NBA:
NLL:
1990s
1990
PBA:
1991
NHL:
- San Jose Sharks - technically the product of a dissolved merger between the Oakland Seals/Cleveland Barons franchise and the Minnesota North Stars, which resulted in the re-activation of the Seals/Barons franchise in San Jose. Half of the 1991 North Stars moved to San Jose.
AFL:
1992
CC:
NHL:
NLL:
1993
MLB:
NHL:
PBA:
1995
NBA:
NFL:
NLL:
ARL
AFL:
1996
NFL:
PBA:
NLL:
1997
Super League:
WAFL:
1998
MLB:
NHL:
MLS:
NRL
VFL
1999
NHL:
NFL:
- Cleveland Browns - technically reactivated. As part of the deal which permitted former Browns owner Art Modell to move to Baltimore, the Browns name and colors remained with Cleveland.
PBA:
2000s
2000
NHL:
NLL:
PBA:
NRL:
2001
NLL:
VFL:
2002
CFL:
NLL:
PBA:
NFL:
2003
WHL:
2004
NBA:
2005
MLS:
NLL:
QMJHL:
2006
NTFL:
Super 14:
MLS:
- Houston Dynamo (though they maintained the roster of the San Jose Earthquakes)
NLL:
WHL:
Super League:
PBA:
- Welcoat Dragons (from the PBL, note that the promotion and relegation system was not used .)
MLL:
2007
New South Wales Cup:
A-League:
NRL:
NBL:
MLS:
NLL:
2008
Jim Beam Cup:
Queensland Cup:
MLS:
NBA:
WNBA:
2009
A-League:
- Gold Coast United
- North Queensland Fury
MLS:
Super League:
- Celtic Crusaders – An expansion team only in the sense that they were invited into Super League. The club have existed since 2005.
- Salford City Reds – Also technically not an expansion team; they have existed since 1873, and played in Super League as recently as the 2007 season.
2010
MLS:
CFL:
2011
AFL:
2012
AFL:
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