The Only Team In Town

Here in New York, we have nine teams in the four major sports counting the Devils.  So, there's always multiple teams in season at all times.  Which makes it really hard to fathom a team having a city entirely to themselves!  Yet there's at least one in each of the four major sports. as well as few in MLS (Austin FC) and the WNBA (Connecticut Sun).

Not including MLS, there are 13 major league franchises that are the only team in town.  If you include MLS, that number drops to seven.  Also, all seven NHL teams based in Canada play in the same city as a CFL franchise, so they're not included.  In fact, the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders are the only Canadian-based franchise that can make that claim.

Incredibly, more than half of the one-team cities are in the NBA (although, three of those seven have an MLS franchise, as well).  Three are in the NHL (two of which have an MLS team), and the Jacksonville Jaguars are the only one in the NFL.  Thanks to the Chargers and Raiders, as well as the Warriors, Baseball has gone from zero to two in recent years, as San Diego and Oakland are now one-team major-league cities.

It's also worth noting here that Oakland and San Jose are both part of the San Francisco media market, so the A's and Sharks can technically be considered "San Francisco" teams.  And, since I'm counting the Devils as "New York," I guess I should probably include them as "San Francisco," too.  Which drops us to these 11 franchises:

Carolina Hurricanes: The Panthers and Hornets both play in Charlotte, while the Hurricanes play in Raleigh.  What's interesting about that is they moved from Hartford, where they were also the only major league show in town.  Although, they share Raleigh with NC State, Duke and North Carolina, so they're far from the ONLY show.

Columbus Blue Jackets: When the NHL gave Ohio an expansion team, they picked Columbus on purpose.  They picked it BECAUSE it didn't have a major league team.  Just the Buckeyes.  And the Crew, a charter member of MLS.  They also strategically set it up so that Columbus would have the NHL and AAA baseball teams (the Clippers), while Cleveland had the MLB and AAA hockey teams (the Monsters), with each serving as the Minor League affiliate of the other.

Jacksonville Jaguars: I still have absolutely no idea why there's an NFL team in Jacksonville!  Does Florida really need three teams?  Anyway, the Jaguars exist and, as such, they're the only NFL team that doesn't share its home market with anybody else.  The Marlins' AAA team just moved to Jacksonville, so at least they've got that over the summer.

Memphis Grizzlies: They had options when they left Vancouver.  It originally looked like St. Louis would be the destination, but it eventually came down to Memphis and Louisville, neither of which had a professional team at the time.  They picked Memphis.

Oklahoma City Thunder: We all know how things in Oklahoma City went down.  The Hornets needed somewhere to play after Hurricane Katrina, and Oklahoma City was both close enough to New Orleans and available.  After the Hornets moved back to New Orleans full-time, Oklahoma City still wanted a team, so they poached the Sonics from Seattle.  Fortunately, it looks like that situation will be rectified relatively soon.

Orlando Magic: Unlike the Jaguars' existence, I completely get the Orlando Magic.  I also think it was a clever (and brilliant) move by the NBA to put their second Florida-based franchise in Orlando rather than Tampa, which already had the Bucs and Lightning when the Magic were born and would eventually get the Rays, too.  The Magic, instead, are the only pro team in central Florida rather than one of four in the saturated Tampa Bay area.

Portland Trail Blazers: There was an interesting article about the Blazers about a week ago.  It said how, among NBA teams, they're incredibly isolated since they aren't just the only pro team in Oregon, they're the only NBA team in the Pacific Northwest.  That'll obviously change when and if Seattle rejoins the NBA, but it was an interesting (and correct) take.

Sacramento Kings: Sacramento is the capital of California, but also nowhere near its largest city, which partially explains why the Kings are the only pro team in the city.  They were supposed to get an MLS expansion team, too, but that doesn't look like it's happening anymore.  Like a number of the other NBA relocations, the Kings chose Sacramento when they left Kansas City BECAUSE it didn't have any pro teams.

San Antonio Spurs: Of all the single-team cities, San Antonio is probably the one that's enjoyed the most success.  The Spurs have had a great run under Gregg Popovich and have such an incredible following.  In fact, they're the model NBA franchise.  And, outside of when the Saints had to temporarily join them after Katrina, they've got San Antonio all to themselves!

San Diego Padres: After the Chargers moved north to LA, the Padres became unique among MLB teams in that San Diego is now the only city that has an MLB team and nobody else.  Of course, there's also Oakland, which I mentioned earlier, but there's also a very good chance the A's could end up moving to Las Vegas.  The Padres, however, aren't going anywhere.  (And the fact that the Padres got a new stadium but the city wouldn't give them one is a big reason why the Chargers left.)

Utah Jazz: Finally, we've got the Utah Jazz.  Yet another NBA franchise that relocated to a city that didn't have another major league team specifically for that reason.  And Salt Lake City has certainly worked out much better for them than New Orleans.  They aren't isolated like the Blazers, either.

As I look at this list of teams, it makes me wonder what that must be like.  Because some of them aren't just the only pro team in their town.  The Jazz, Blazers and Thunder are the only pro team in their entire state!  No split fandom there.  No local rival.  Just you and your fans.  It must be nice!