Sports team place names
Sep. 13th, 2020 10:44 am In North American major league sports, teams are usually named after the city where they play their home games (Boston Celtics, Philadelphia Flyers, Indianapolis Colts, etc.) or in whose metropolitan area they play their home games (New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Angels, etc.). There are some exceptions, however—teams whose names use something other than a city name to identify where they're from.
All of the 170 current teams in the NBA, WNBA, NHL, NFL, CFL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer are named after places. 135 of them are named after their home cities, using the city's full name. Of the remaining 35:
1 is named after a part of a city, rather than a whole city:
Brooklyn Nets
3 are named after an abbreviation of the city name, rather than the full city name:
LA Galaxy
Real Salt Lake
Vegas Golden Knights
3 are named after a broader region including the city, rather than the city itself:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lightning, and Rays
21 are named after their home state or province rather than city:
Arizona Cardinals, Coyotes, and Diamondbacks
Connecticut Suns
Colorado Avalanche, Rapids, and Rockies
Florida Panthers
Indiana Fever, Pacers
Minnesota Lynx, Timberwolves, Twins, United FC, Vikings, and Wild
New Jersey Devils
Saskatchewan Rough Riders
Tennessee Titans
Texas Rangers
Utah Jazz
(I'm counting "New York" as a city rather than a state name, since all such teams are in the city or its metropolitan area.)
2 are named after an abbreviation for a province or state-level unit:
BC Lions
D.C. United
1 is named after a nickname for a state:
Golden State Warriors
4 are named after a multi-state region:
Carolina Hurricanes and Panthers
New England Patriots and Revolution
By far the most common non-city name is Minnesota, used for six teams—in fact, all teams in these leagues located in the state of Minnesota use the state name; no other state with more than one team in it has that distinction. The league with the greatest number of non-city names, in both percentage and raw total, is the NHL, with 8 non-city names (Vegas; Tampa Bay; Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey; Carolina) out of 31 teams.
All of the 170 current teams in the NBA, WNBA, NHL, NFL, CFL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer are named after places. 135 of them are named after their home cities, using the city's full name. Of the remaining 35:
1 is named after a part of a city, rather than a whole city:
Brooklyn Nets
3 are named after an abbreviation of the city name, rather than the full city name:
LA Galaxy
Real Salt Lake
Vegas Golden Knights
3 are named after a broader region including the city, rather than the city itself:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lightning, and Rays
21 are named after their home state or province rather than city:
Arizona Cardinals, Coyotes, and Diamondbacks
Connecticut Suns
Colorado Avalanche, Rapids, and Rockies
Florida Panthers
Indiana Fever, Pacers
Minnesota Lynx, Timberwolves, Twins, United FC, Vikings, and Wild
New Jersey Devils
Saskatchewan Rough Riders
Tennessee Titans
Texas Rangers
Utah Jazz
(I'm counting "New York" as a city rather than a state name, since all such teams are in the city or its metropolitan area.)
2 are named after an abbreviation for a province or state-level unit:
BC Lions
D.C. United
1 is named after a nickname for a state:
Golden State Warriors
4 are named after a multi-state region:
Carolina Hurricanes and Panthers
New England Patriots and Revolution
By far the most common non-city name is Minnesota, used for six teams—in fact, all teams in these leagues located in the state of Minnesota use the state name; no other state with more than one team in it has that distinction. The league with the greatest number of non-city names, in both percentage and raw total, is the NHL, with 8 non-city names (Vegas; Tampa Bay; Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey; Carolina) out of 31 teams.