Throughout the years, a number of teams in the National Football League (NFL) have either moved or merged.
In the early years, the NFL was not stable and teams moved frequently to survive, or folded only to be resurrected in a different city with the same players and owners, while the Great Depression era saw the movement of most surviving small-town NFL teams to larger cities to ensure survival, and franchise mergers were also popular during World War II in response to the exodus of players to war service. Few, if any, of these relocations and mergers were accompanied with widespread controversy.
Franchise moves became far more controversial in the late 20th century when a vastly more popular NFL, free from financial instability, allowed many franchises to abandon long-held strongholds for perceived financially greener pastures.
Despite a Pete Rozelle promise to Congress not to relocate franchises in return for a law exempting the league from certain aspects of antitrust laws, thus making possible the AFL–NFL merger, several franchises have relocated since the merger and the passage of the law (Public Law 89-800) which sanctioned it. While owners invariably cited financial difficulties as the primary factor in such moves, many fans bitterly disputed these contentions, especially in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Cleveland, each of which eventually received teams some years after their original franchises moved.
However, Los Angeles, the second-largest media market in the United States, did not have an NFL team from 1995 to 2015. The league had started actively promoting a return to Los Angeles no later than 2006,[1] and in January 2016, the NFL gave the St. Louis Rams approval to move back to Los Angeles. A year later, the Chargers also relocated to the city, while the Raiders relocated to Las Vegas in 2020.
Within the United States, the San Diego–Tijuana market is currently the largest metropolitan area (and only one with over 3 million residents) without an NFL franchise. The only other city to be seriously considered in the country in recent times was San Antonio, Texas, which the Raiders seriously considered as a relocation candidate in 2014 before choosing Las Vegas.
Speculation on future relocation has mainly been centered around two larger cities outside the United States: Toronto, Canada (q.v. National Football League in Toronto) and London, England, United Kingdom (q.v. Potential London NFL franchise), the latter of which would be the first attempt by one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada to place a team outside North America.
Additionally, with the increasing suburbanization of the U.S., the building of new stadiums and other team facilities in the suburbs instead of the central city became popular in the 1970s.
See main article: National Football League franchise timeline.
The NFL considers these continuous franchises that relocated to different metropolitan areas.
The list also includes franchises from the 1960s American Football League that moved during that league's existence. The NFL and AFL agreed to merge in 1966, with the merger taking effect in 1970. All AFL franchises were accepted into the NFL, and the NFL incorporated the AFL's history, records, and statistics.
to Chicago in 1921 (renamed the Chicago Bears in 1922)
to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1924
to Detroit as the Wolverines in 1928
to Boston as the Bulldogs in 1929
to Brooklyn as the Dodgers in 1930 (renamed Brooklyn Tigers in 1944)
to Detroit as the Lions in 1934[2] [3] [4]
to Washington, D.C. in 1937 (renamed Washington Football Team in 2020, Washington Commanders in 2022)
to Los Angeles in 1946
to St. Louis in 1960
to San Diego in 1961 (AFL)
to Kansas City as the Chiefs in 1963 (AFL)
to Los Angeles in 1982
to Indianapolis in 1984
to Phoenix as the Phoenix Cardinals in 1988 (renamed Arizona Cardinals in 1994)
to St. Louis in 1995
back to Oakland in 1995
temporarily to Memphis in 1997 as the Tennessee Oilers and permanently to Nashville in 1998 (renamed Tennessee Titans in 1999)
back to Los Angeles in 2016[5]
back to Los Angeles in 2017[6]
to Las Vegas in 2020[7]
The NFL considers these separate franchises but there is significant continuity from one to the other
mothballed for the 1924 NFL season when the owner of the Cleveland Bulldogs bought it and took the players and nickname to Cleveland. Franchise resurrected in 1925
to Detroit, Michigan in 1928 as the Detroit Wolverines
to Orange, New Jersey as the Orange Tornadoes in 1929 (separate franchises but same players)
The Newark franchise was forfeited to the league and ordered to be disposed of to the highest bidder after the 1930 season. With no takers, the league owned-and-operated Cleveland Indians of 1931 took the Tornadoes' place, which in turn was filled by the Boston Braves (now Washington Commanders franchise) in 1932. So, while it is possible that Newark or Cleveland franchise was sold to the Boston group in 1932, there is no documentation available. The Tornadoes themselves joined the minor-league American Association later in the 1930s and adopted the name Newark Bears.
operated out of Hershey, Pennsylvania for the last five games of the 1952 NFL season, playing their last three games in Akron, Ohio. Franchise folded after season's end and players awarded to new Baltimore Colts franchise in 1953
to Baltimore as the Ravens in 1996. In 1995 Browns owner Art Modell announced plans to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore for the 1996 NFL season. The NFL, the city of Cleveland and Modell reached an agreement whereby the Browns franchise and history would remain in Cleveland to be resurrected by 1999. Modell was given a new franchise for Baltimore, made up of players from the 1995 Cleveland Browns. For more information on this particular move, see Cleveland Browns relocation controversy.
from San Francisco to Oakland (Frank Youell Field, and later the Oakland Coliseum) in 1962
from the JeffVanderLou neighborhood (Busch Stadium I) to Downtown St. Louis (Busch Memorial Stadium) in 1966
from Manhattan (Polo Grounds) to The Bronx (Yankee Stadium) in 1956, temporarily relocated to New Haven, Connecticut (Yale Bowl) for the second half of the 1973 and the entire 1974 season, then temporarily relocated to Queens (Shea Stadium) for the 1975 season, then permanently to East Rutherford, New Jersey (Giants Stadium/MetLife Stadium) in 1976
from the Lake View community area (Wrigley Field) to the Near South Side community area (Soldier Field) in 1971
between three Philadelphia neighborhoods—North Philadelphia (Shibe Park) to University City (Franklin Field) in 1958, and then on to South Philadelphia (Veterans Stadium/Lincoln Financial Field) in 1971
from Manhattan (Polo Grounds) to Queens (Shea Stadium) in 1964 and to East Rutherford, New Jersey (Giants Stadium/MetLife Stadium) in 1984
from the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland (Forbes Field/Pitt Stadium) to the city's North Shore (Three Rivers Stadium/Heinz Field) in 1970
from Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (Kezar Stadium) to the Hunters Point, San Francisco neighborhood (Candlestick Park) in 1971, and south to Santa Clara, California (Levi's Stadium) in 2014
from Dallas (Cotton Bowl) to Irving, Texas (Texas Stadium) in 1971, to Arlington, Texas (AT&T Stadium) in 2009
from the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston (Nickerson Field and Fenway Park) to Chestnut Hill (Alumni Stadium) in 1969, to the Allston neighborhood of Boston (Harvard Stadium) in 1970, then to Foxborough, Massachusetts in 1971 (Foxboro Stadium/Gillette Stadium) and renamed New England Patriots
to Orchard Park, New York (Highmark Stadium) in 1973
to Pontiac, Michigan (Pontiac Silverdome) in 1975 and back to Detroit (Ford Field) in 2002
from Uptown New Orleans (Tulane Stadium) to the Central Business District (Superdome) in 1975
to Anaheim, California (Anaheim Stadium) in 1980; after returning to Los Angeles in 2016, from Los Angeles proper (Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum) to Inglewood (SoFi Stadium) in 2020
from suburban Bloomington (Metropolitan Stadium) to downtown Minneapolis (Metrodome) in 1982. Temporarily moved within Minneapolis to the University of Minnesota campus (TCF Bank Stadium) starting in 2014 before returning to the Metrodome site at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016.
from the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami (Orange Bowl) to unincorporated northern Dade County (now the city of Miami Gardens) in 1987 (Hard Rock Stadium)
from Washington, D.C. (RFK Stadium) to Landover, Maryland (FedExField) in 1997 (stadium's postal address was Raljon, Maryland until Redskins purchased by Daniel Snyder in 1999)
from the eastern Phoenix suburb of Tempe (Sun Devil Stadium) to the western suburb of Glendale (State Farm Stadium) in 2006
after returning to the Los Angeles area in 2017, from the suburb of Carson (Dignity Health Sports Park) to join the Rams in Inglewood (SoFi Stadium) in 2020
The following are not actually relocations, but temporary moves because these teams' home stadiums were either under construction or otherwise adversely affected:
On October 12, 1964, the Cardinals' scheduled home game vs. the Baltimore Colts was moved to Baltimore's Memorial Stadium as the baseball Cardinals were using Busch Stadium for the World Series.
Played the 1969 season at Boston College's Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill and the 1970 season at Harvard Stadium before Schaefer Stadium opened in 1971.
The Falcons' October 5, 1969, home game vs. the Colts was shifted from Atlanta Stadium to Grant Field at Georgia Tech due to the Atlanta Braves hosting the New York Mets in the 1969 National League Championship Series.
The same day the Colts-Falcons game was moved, the Vikings' matchup with the Green Bay Packers was moved from Metropolitan Stadium to Memorial Stadium at the University of Minnesota due to a 1969 American League Championship Series game between the Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles.
Played September 27, 1970, game vs. Philadelphia Eagles at Dyche Stadium at Northwestern University due to a new league requirement following the AFL–NFL merger that all stadiums seat at least 50,000. After the city of Evanston, Illinois and Big Ten Conference rejected the Bears request to playing further games at Northwestern, they returned to Wrigley Field, which seated 47,000, for the remainder of 1970. The Bears moved to Soldier Field in 1971.
On September 23, 1973, the Raiders' game vs. the Miami Dolphins was moved to California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, home of the University of California Golden Bears, due to a scheduling conflict with the Oakland Athletics baseball team, who were scheduled to host the Minnesota Twins at the Oakland Coliseum the evening of Monday, September 24.
The Jets' October 21, 1973, home game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers was moved to Three Rivers Stadium due to the New York Mets' participation in that season's World Series. Even though the Mets' last home game in the World Series was on Thursday, October 18 (Game 5), the contract between New York City, the Mets and Jets required the stadium be available for the Mets until the conclusion of their season. Game 7 of the World Series, on October 21, was at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
The Giants played their home games at the Yale Bowl for most of 1973 and all of 1974, and in Shea Stadium in 1975 while Giants Stadium was under construction. The Giants were left Yankee Stadium following week two of the 1973 season when the stadium in The Bronx was closed for renovations which lasted over two years.
On October 22, 1989, the 49ers' home game vs. the New England Patriots was played at Stanford Stadium, home of the Stanford University Cardinal (and the site of Super Bowl XIX five years earlier), due to the Loma Prieta earthquake in northern California.
played the first half of their inaugural 1995 season in St. Louis at Busch Memorial Stadium while construction of Trans World Dome was completed.
The Panthers began play in 1995 but spent their first season at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina as their new stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina was still under construction.
Played three games in 1994 at Husky Stadium as the Kingdome was undergoing emergency repairs, and returned there for the entire 2000 and 2001 seasons before Seahawks Stadium (now Lumen Field) was completed.
Spent the 2002 season at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois while Soldier Field was being renovated.
On October 27, 2003, the Chargers' home game vs. the Miami Dolphins was played at Sun Devil Stadium, then the home of the Arizona Cardinals, due to the Cedar Fire in southern California.
Due to extensive damage to the Louisiana Superdome, their home stadium, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, the Saints played three home games of the 2005 season in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, where the team set up temporary operations, as well as four home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (and, officially, one at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey). The Saints returned to New Orleans in 2006. See also Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the New Orleans Saints. The Saints later returned to Giants Stadium in 2005, defeating the Jets 19–17 on November 27.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Santa Clara County banned contact sports from November 30, 2020, to January 8, 2021. As such, the 49ers played their final 3 home games of the 2020 season at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
due to Hurricane Ida the saints played their week 1 home game at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, they beat the Green Bay Packers 38-3.
By the start of the 1920 APFA season, the nascent National Football League was composed of 15 franchises. Of those teams, only two are still in operation (denoted in bold):
Merged with Pittsburgh Steelers for one year in 1944, returned as an independent team in 1945. Moved to St. Louis in 1960, and to Phoenix in 1988. Changed name to Arizona Cardinals in 1994.
Moved to Chicago in 1921, changed name to Chicago Bears in 1922.