Teams switching cities in USA sports

[Icy]

I have just read that the Marlins are going to leave Miami in 2008. I i guess that it's all about bussines. If for any reason you don't make money in a city, you take your team and move it to another one. It could be usual for you, but for me it's really weird.

In European sports (soccer) each team belongs to a city, and even being private properties, they won't ever think about moving to another city as nobody would support them in the new city. Here teams are really tied to the cities, in fact their names are the cities names without any nickname, so Real Madrid team can't move to Barcelona as then it wouldn't be Real Madrid.

How do you guys keep rooting for a team after they switch to another city? Don't you feel really dissapointed? I will for sure if the Marlins move out finally, even not liking them playing in the same stadium than the Dolphins as the field is so ugly in football games with the sand diamond.

[Maple Leafs]

I'm not sure that many people do keep rooting for the team. The idea is that the fans in the new city become the new fanbase -- screw the old ones.

(Of course, then you get into really bizarre situations like the NFL where a team leaves, then the league awards an expansion team in the same city with the same name, and pretends it's the same franchise.)

[Bubba Wheels]

Marlins don't draw fans, period. No point in keeping a team in a city if the fans won't come out to see them. I have also heard that some businessman wants to buy the team and move them to Puerto Rico. Might be interesting, given that baseball desperately wants to increase its international flavor and expand into new markets.

[riz]

I think this relocation of franchises is unique to the North American sports because there is no promotion/relegation in the leagues. In Europe however, if a team does not draw enough fans, they will lose more money, lose their better players and eventually fall down the league ladder because of that. Which means a team that is a bigger draw can get bigger and move up the ladder somewhere else. True fans stick with the team through tough times as its "their team" and some day the team will climb back to glory hopefully.

Relocations do sometimes happen in Europe as well though. The Wimbledon soccer team was relocated to Milton Keynes (near where I live, north of London). I'm not sure what was the basic reason for the move, bu I think they got to move to a bigger and better stadium in MK. The local Wimbledon fans took matters in their own hands and formed AFC Wimbledon and the team has started climbing from the bottom of the ladder. And the old Wimbledon, or "MK Dons" as they are now called, are one of the most hated/ridiculed teams in the UK. MV can prolly fill out the details I got wrong :D