60 Fun Facts About Sports Teams

The Lakers' name refers to the many lakes of which state, where they played until 1960?

Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes; the team kept the name after moving to lake-scarce Southern California.

John Stockton and Karl Malone led which team to back-to-back NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998?

Utah Jazz: both Finals ended in defeat by Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, with Jordan named Finals MVP each time.

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

Green Bay Packers: shareholders get no dividends, and league rules now bar any other non-profit from owning an NFL team.

Which product did the Indian Packing Company, Curly Lambeau's employer and his team's first sponsor, produce?

Canned meat: the company paid for the team's first uniforms and let it practise on a field beside its plant.

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

Hope Memorial Bridge: a local roller derby team already called the Cleveland Guardians sued over the name, and a settlement let both teams keep using it.

The Oklahoma City Thunder began life as which NBA franchise?

Seattle SuperSonics: the owners paid the city $45 million to break the arena lease, and the SuperSonics name and colours stayed in Seattle.

After Art Modell relocated his Cleveland team in 1996, fans picked a new name inspired by which writer's poem?

Edgar Allan Poe: 'Ravens' beat 'Marauders' and 'Americans' in a newspaper phone poll, honouring a poet who had lived in the team's new city.

Which Raptors star's buzzer-beater bounced on the rim four times before dropping to win a 2019 playoff Game 7?

Kawhi Leonard: the Raptors had traded for him the summer before, and they went on to win the 2019 NBA title with him as Finals MVP.

The Dodgers' name comes from 'trolley dodgers', a nickname for residents of which borough?

Brooklyn: streetcar lines then crisscrossed the borough, and residents had to dodge the trolleys when crossing the tracks.

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

Pittsburgh Steelers: the logo went on one side as a trial of how it looked on gold helmets, and interest in the look made it permanent.

Pittsburgh's NFL team first took the field in 1933 under what name?

Pittsburgh Pirates: the name nodded to the baseball club whose Forbes Field the team rented, until a 1940 newspaper contest replaced it.

Which NHL franchise won its record 24th Stanley Cup in 1993?

Montreal Canadiens: the H on their crest stands for 'Hockey', from Club de Hockey Canadien, not 'Habitants' as many fans believe.

Which team's 2016 World Series win ended a 108-year championship drought?

Chicago Cubs: during a 17-minute rain delay before the 10th inning of Game 7, Jason Heyward rallied his teammates in a weight room, and they won 8–7.

Which animal did William Sianis bring to a 1945 World Series game, supposedly sparking a curse?

A goat: it was not allowed to stay, and the team Sianis supposedly cursed did not return to the World Series for 71 years.

Manchester United were formed in 1878 under what name?

Newton Heath LYR: Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway workers formed the club, and local businessmen who took it over renamed it Manchester United in 1902.

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

Benfica: Bobby Charlton, a survivor of the Munich air disaster, scored twice and lifted the trophy as captain in the 4–1 win at Wembley.

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

Alfonso XIII: in 1902 the club had proposed Spain's first national football tournament, held in honour of his coronation.

Real Madrid won their 15th European Cup in 2024 by beating which club in the final?

Borussia Dortmund: defender Dani Carvajal headed in a corner in the 74th minute, and Vinícius Júnior added a second for a 2–0 win.

Which star did Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sell to the Yankees in 1919?

Babe Ruth: the Red Sox had won the 1918 World Series with him but did not win another until 2004, a drought fans blamed on the 'Curse of the Bambino'.

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

Highlanders: the renamed club became tenants of the rival Giants at the Polo Grounds, until the Giants tried to evict them and Yankee Stadium opened in 1923.

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

Baltimore: Maryland lawmakers were passing a bill to let the city seize the team by eminent domain, and the governor signed it only after the vans had gone.

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

Fort Wayne: owner Fred Zollner's company there made engine pistons for carmakers, so a name that seems made for the Motor City actually began in Indiana.

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.

Which NHL team was last in the league in January 2019 but won the Stanley Cup that June?

St. Louis Blues: rookie goalie Jordan Binnington, who made his first start for them only on January 7, led the franchise to its first Stanley Cup.

Which NFL franchise began as the Decatur Staleys, a team sponsored by a starch company?

Chicago Bears: in 1921 the company gave George Halas $5,000 to take the team to Chicago, on condition that he kept the Staleys name for that season.

What name did the Commanders franchise play under in the 2020 and 2021 seasons?

Washington Football Team: the stopgap followed a July 2020 request from FedEx, which held the stadium's naming rights, that the team change its name.

In which city did George Preston Marshall found the Commanders franchise in 1932?

Boston: over poor support there, the owner moved the team's 1936 title game to New York's Polo Grounds, then took the team to Washington, where it won the 1937 NFL title.

Which current NBA franchise won the 1951 NBA title while based in Rochester, New York?

Sacramento Kings: as the Rochester Royals they won the first three games of that Final, lost the next three to the New York Knicks, then won Game 7 79–75.

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

Arizona Cardinals: owner Chris O'Brien once bought used college jerseys for the team and called their faded maroon 'Cardinal red'.

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

Philadelphia: the team moved west to San Francisco in 1962, left for Oakland in 1971, then returned to San Francisco in 2019.

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

Colt .45s: they endured three seasons of heat and mosquitoes at makeshift Colt Stadium before moving into the air-conditioned Astrodome as the Astros.

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

Woolwich: in 1913 owner Henry Norris moved the club across London to Highbury, on a lease of college playing fields signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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

The Invincibles: their unbeaten season nearly ended in September 2003, when Ruud van Nistelrooy hit the crossbar with an injury-time penalty in a 0–0 draw at Old Trafford.

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

Atlanta Braves: as the 1914 'Miracle Braves' they were last in the league on July 4, then won the pennant and swept the Athletics in the World Series.

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

Dallas Cowboys: Bob Ryan wrote the line into the team's 1978 highlight film after seeing so many Cowboys fans in the stands at away stadiums.

Which franchise won a record 18th NBA championship in 2024?

Boston Celtics: in 1956 they gave up star center Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan to get Bill Russell, who then won 11 titles in his 13 seasons.

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

Houston Oilers: with their Nashville stadium still being built, they spent their first Tennessee season playing home games in Memphis, to small crowds.

What is FC Barcelona's famous motto?

Més que un club: Narcís de Carreras coined the phrase in his 1968 speech on becoming club president, and it was later adopted as the club's motto.

Joe Carter's walk-off home run won the 1993 World Series for which team?

Toronto Blue Jays: Carter hit it off Mitch Williams with his team trailing 6–5 in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6, clinching a second straight title.

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

Walt Disney: the company sold the team in 2005, and under new owners who dropped 'Mighty' from the name, the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007.

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

Dutch: the word comes from Diedrich Knickerbocker, Washington Irving's pen name, and Irving promoted his 1809 history with fake newspaper notices that its author had gone missing.

Through 2025, which is the only NFL team to finish a perfect season with a Super Bowl win?

1972 Miami Dolphins: starting quarterback Bob Griese was hurt in Week 5, and 38-year-old backup Earl Morrall won all nine of his regular-season starts.

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

Vancouver: the team was nearly called the Mounties, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police objected, so a new name had to be found.

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

Los Angeles: after the other owners voted 22–0 against the move, Al Davis sued the NFL and won an antitrust case that cleared the way.

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

Glasgow: Inter Milan led from an early penalty, but full-back Tommy Gemmell equalised in the second half and Stevie Chalmers scored the winner.

Which NBA team began in the ABA as the Dallas Chaparrals?

San Antonio Spurs: in 1970–71 the team renamed itself the Texas Chaparrals to widen its regional following, but dropped the experiment after one season.

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

Quebec Nordiques: the players they received for 1991 top pick Eric Lindros included Peter Forsberg, who helped win the 1996 Stanley Cup in their first Denver season.

Which club won the 2023–24 Bundesliga without losing a league match?

Bayer Leverkusen: long mocked as 'Neverkusen', they won their first Bundesliga title, ending Bayern Munich's run of 11 straight.

Before moving to Milwaukee in 1970, the Brewers played one season as which team?

Seattle Pilots: after one season the team went bankrupt, and a bankruptcy referee's ruling sent it to Bud Selig's Milwaukee group a week before the next season opened.

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

Atlanta Thrashers: to prove Winnipeg could support the team, the new owners set a goal of 13,000 season tickets, and the public sale sold out in 17 minutes.

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

Syracuse: owner Danny Biasone pushed the NBA to adopt the 24-second shot clock in 1954, and his Nationals won the title in that first season.

The Patriots' Gillette Stadium sits in which Massachusetts town?

Foxborough: in 1999 the Patriots called off a signed deal to move to Hartford, Connecticut, because a new stadium there could not be built fast enough.

Which NHL team played its first season in 2021–22?

Seattle Kraken: their arena is a new building dug out beneath the landmarked roof of a coliseum built for the 1962 World's Fair.

Through 2025, which team's 11 World Series titles were the most of any National League club?

St. Louis Cardinals: in 2011 they were twice one strike from elimination in Game 6, won it on David Freese's 11th-inning homer, then took Game 7.

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

The Bad Boys: they repeated as champions in 1990 even after losing Rick Mahorn from their 1989 title team in the expansion draft.

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

The National Recovery Administration lent the team its Blue Eagle, yet the Supreme Court struck down the agency's program in 1935 and the Eagles kept the name.

On which feast day in 1966 did the NFL award New Orleans its expansion franchise?

All Saints' Day fell on 1 November 1966, and the team's name, Saints, was cleared with Archbishop Philip Hannan, who liked the idea.

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

The Buffalo Braves' owner swapped franchises with Irv Levin in 1978, and Levin moved the team to San Diego, where it became the Clippers.

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

Notts County were invited to open Juventus's new stadium in 2011 because of the shirt link, and spoiled the party with a late equaliser in a 1–1 draw.

Through the 2025 MLB season, which franchise had never appeared in a World Series?

The Seattle Mariners lost ALCS Game 7 in 2025, one win from the Series, and even their record-tying 116-win 2001 team fell short.