60 Fun Facts About Sports Teams

The Lakers' name refers to the many lakes of which state, where the team originally played?

They moved west in 1960 to become the NBA's first West Coast team, keeping a name that makes no sense in Southern California.

Which NBA team kept its music-themed name after relocating from New Orleans to Salt Lake City in 1979?

There simply was not enough time before the 1979–80 season to get league approval for a name change, so the name stuck.

Which team is the only non-profit, community-owned major league franchise in the United States?

The fans hold the shares, and the club has won 13 league championships, the most in NFL history.

The Packers were named after their first sponsor, the Indian Packing Company, which produced what?

The company put up $500 for uniforms and equipment in 1919 on the condition that the team carry its name.

The Cleveland Guardians are named after Art Deco statues on which city structure?

The eight 1932 sculptures by Henry Hering stand right beside Progressive Field, and the club's title drought dating to 1948 is the longest in baseball.

The Oklahoma City Thunder began life as which NBA franchise?

The move came in July 2008 after a lawsuit settlement, and the franchise won its first title in Oklahoma in 2025.

The Ravens' name was inspired by a poem by which writer, who is buried in their city?

The franchise was born in 1996 when Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns, though the Browns' name and history stayed behind.

The Toronto Raptors' name was influenced by the popularity of which 1993 film?

The dinosaur mascot has outlasted the fad, and the club won its first NBA title in 2019 as the league's only Canadian team.

The Dodgers' name originally referred to Brooklyn pedestrians dodging what?

The nickname coexisted with Superbas and Robins before it stuck; the club left Brooklyn after 68 seasons in 1958.

Which NFL team is the only one to put its logo on just one side of the helmet?

The logo sits on the right side only, and the team is tied with the Patriots for the most Super Bowl titles with six.

The Steelers first took the field in 1933 under what name, borrowed from the city's baseball team?

They lost that debut 23–2 to the New York Giants and did not become the Steelers until 1940.

Which franchise has won the Stanley Cup a record 24 times?

Founded in 1909, it is the oldest continuously operating pro hockey team in the world and the only NHL club older than the league itself.

The Cubs' 2016 World Series win ended a championship drought of how many years?

The same run also ended a 71-year wait just to win the National League pennant.

The Curse of the Billy Goat was supposedly placed on the Cubs during which World Series?

Tavern owner William Sianis and his goat were turned away from Game 4; the Cubs did not return to the Series for 71 years.

Manchester United were formed in 1878 under what name?

The LYR stood for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, whose workers formed the club; the modern name arrived in 1902.

In 1968 Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup, beating whom?

The win came ten years after the Munich air disaster killed eight of the club's players.

Which Spanish king granted the title 'Real' (Royal) to Madrid's football club in 1920?

The club is still owned and run by its members, and it was named the greatest club of the 20th century by FIFA.

How many European Cup / Champions League titles had Real Madrid won after 2024?

Six of those came in a span of just eleven seasons.

How many World Series championships have the New York Yankees won, an MLB record?

The team also holds the records for American League pennants (41) and did not reach a Series until 1921, the year after acquiring Babe Ruth.

Before officially becoming the Yankees in 1913, the New York club was known by what name?

The franchise had begun as an Orioles team in 1901 before moving north two years later.

The Colts fled which city overnight in Mayflower moving vans in March 1984?

The trucks left by midday so nothing could be seized, and Indianapolis received 143,000 season-ticket requests in two weeks.

In which Indiana city were the Pistons founded as a company team, before moving to Detroit in 1957?

Owner Fred Zollner's factory made pistons for engines, which explains the otherwise odd name for a Motor City team.

Which team reached the Stanley Cup Final in its first season, 2017–18?

The 'Knights' honours owner Bill Foley's alma mater, West Point, and the club won the Cup for real in 2023.

Before Vegas in 2018, which club last reached the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season, in 1968?

The only other team to do it was the Toronto Arenas in 1918, in the NHL's first season.

The Chicago Bears were founded in 1919 as a company team under what name?

The A. E. Staley food-starch company sponsored the club; George Halas renamed it in 1922 after moving into the Cubs' Wrigley Field.

For the 2020 and 2021 seasons, what placeholder name did the Commanders franchise use?

The previous name and logo drew decades of criticism before being retired in 2020.

George Preston Marshall founded the franchise now known as the Commanders in 1932 in which city?

It was named after that city's Braves baseball team and moved to Washington in 1937 after five poorly attended seasons.

Which current NBA franchise is the league's oldest, joining the NBL in 1945 as the Rochester Royals?

The team's only championship came in 1951 in Rochester; stops in Cincinnati, Kansas City and Omaha followed before California in 1985.

Which team, dating to 1898, is the oldest continuously run pro football franchise in the US?

It began in Chicago, moved to St. Louis in 1960 and to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe in 1988.

The Golden State Warriors were founded in 1946 in which city?

They won the league's inaugural 1946–47 title there, moved west in 1962 and adopted 'Golden State' in 1971 to claim all of California.

Under what name did the Astros enter the National League in 1962?

The switch to Astros in 1965 reflected the city's role in the space programme, and the club moved to the American League in 2013.

Arsenal was founded in 1886 by munitions workers in which part of London?

The club was first called Dial Square after a workshop at the Royal Arsenal, and moved north across the river in 1913.

What nickname did Arsenal's 2003–04 side earn by winning the Premier League without losing a match?

The club left Highbury for the Emirates Stadium two years later after 93 years at the old ground.

Which is the only MLB franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities?

The wins came in 1914, 1957, 1995 and 2021, and the club traces its roots all the way back to 1871.

Which NFL franchise was dubbed 'America's Team' by an NFL Films editor?

They are also the only NFL team to post 20 straight winning seasons (1966–85), and in 2015 became the first team valued at $4 billion.

Which franchise holds the record for the most NBA championships, with 18?

Eight of them came in a row from 1959 to 1966, built around a draft-day trade for Bill Russell.

The Tennessee Titans began life in 1960 as which AFL charter franchise?

Oil tycoon Bud Adams moved them in 1997; they played two seasons as the Tennessee Oilers before the new name arrived in 1999.

What is FC Barcelona's famous motto?

It means 'More than a club', and like Real Madrid the club is owned and operated by its supporters.

As of 2025, which was the only MLB team based outside the United States?

They remain the only non-US team to win a World Series, doing it back to back in 1992 and 1993.

Which company founded the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1993 and named them after its own film?

New owners dropped 'Mighty' in 2006, and the club won the Stanley Cup in 2007 as the first California team to do so.

'Knicks' is short for a term that came to describe the descendants of which settlers of New York?

The word comes from Washington Irving's pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker; along with the Celtics they are one of two original NBA teams still in their first city.

Which is the only NFL team to complete a perfect season including the Super Bowl?

New England went 16–0 in the 2007 regular season but lost the Super Bowl to the Giants.

The Memphis Grizzlies spent their first six seasons in which Canadian city?

The team joined the NBA as an expansion club for 1995–96 and left after the 2000–01 season.

The Raiders left Oakland to play in which city from 1982 to 1994 before returning?

Al Davis owned the team from 1972 until his death in 2011; the second departure from Oakland, to Nevada, came in 2020.

Celtic's 1967 European Cup-winning 'Lisbon Lions' were all born within 30 miles of which city?

The club was founded in 1887 by Brother Walfrid to relieve poverty in the city's East End, and beat Inter Milan 2–1 that day.

The San Antonio Spurs began as which ABA franchise?

A group of 35 businessmen brought the club to San Antonio in 1973, and it joined the NBA in the 1976 merger alongside the Nuggets, Pacers and Nets.

The Colorado Avalanche were which franchise before moving to Denver in 1995?

They won the Stanley Cup in their very first Denver season, the first title for any Denver team in the four major leagues.

How many German national titles had Bayern Munich won by the end of the 2024–25 season?

The club was founded in 1900 by eleven footballers who walked out of a gymnastics club meeting the same evening; the 2025 title was its 35th German championship.

The Milwaukee Brewers played their single first season, 1969, as which team?

The name honours the city's brewing industry; the club switched from the American to the National League in 1998.

The current Winnipeg Jets were which NHL franchise before relocating in 2011?

The original Jets had left Winnipeg in 1996 to become the Coyotes, so the city took the old name back.

The 76ers began in 1946 as the Nationals of which New York city?

The 76ers name, chosen in a fan contest, nods to the Declaration of Independence signed in the team's current city in 1776.

The Patriots' Gillette Stadium sits in which Massachusetts town?

The team has played there since 2002 and won six Super Bowls, tied for the most with the Steelers.

Which team began play in 2021–22 as an NHL expansion franchise named after a legendary sea monster?

The name and colours were unveiled in July 2020, and the team plays at Climate Pledge Arena, the rebuilt KeyArena.

Which team's 11 World Series titles are the most of any National League club?

Only the Yankees have more; the club was briefly called the Perfectos in 1899 before settling on its bird name in 1900.

The Detroit Pistons won back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990 under what nickname?

The 1989 title was a four-game sweep of the Lakers, and they repeated in 1990 despite losing Rick Mahorn to the expansion draft.

The Philadelphia Eagles took their name from the Blue Eagle logo of which New Deal agency?

Bert Bell's group founded the franchise in 1933 to replace the bankrupt Frankford Yellow Jackets.

The NFL announced New Orleans's expansion franchise on November 1, 1966, to coincide with which feast?

Local promoter David Dixon had urged Commissioner Pete Rozelle to delay the announcement by a week for exactly that reason.

The Los Angeles Clippers began life in 1970 as which NBA expansion franchise?

They moved to San Diego in 1978, took the name from the clipper ships in the bay, and were controversially shifted to Los Angeles by Donald Sterling in 1984.

Juventus copied their black-and-white striped shirts from which English club?

The Turin students who founded the club in 1897 had originally played in pink and black.

Which MLB franchise had never appeared in a World Series as of the end of the 2025 season?

Even their 116-win 2001 season, which tied the all-time record, ended short of the Fall Classic.