Can you name the most recent expansion teams in the four major U.S. sports? - sporcle

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Can you name the most recent expansion teams in the four major U.S. sports?

Enter a team (last names acceptable) in the box below
Correctly named teams will show up in the table below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
This game was contributed by Sporcle user: dldove77
* - This was a re-instatement, but the team had an expansion draft and a new roster of players.

You have 4 minutes to guess after you click the button below.

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Ready? Click to Start

NFL
1995
1995
1999*
2002

MLB
1993
1993
1998
1998

NBA
1989
1989
1995
1995
2004

NHL
1998
1999
2000
2000

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There are 67 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

	rockgolf:	Aug 12th, 2009 at 20:49 GMT	5 points
	I'm no sports nut, but this is a good quiz. I like that you accept the team name without the city and allow for team renames (Devil Rays/Rays) and city relocations (Memphis/Vancouver).

	bmo1616:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:17 GMT	31 points
	It's amazing how all 4 of the MLB teams here have already been to the World Series, winning 3 of them

	Mr_Negative:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:19 GMT	3 points
	I probably would have misses 1999 NFL team if it were not for the foot note.

	pat19:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:27 GMT	7 points
	@Bryant: That, combined with Soriano's godawful contract, makes this Cubs fan want to cry.

	j66:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:29 GMT	8 points
	Is there a reason the Hornets and Heat were left off? They were added in 1988.

	maniacalclown:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:31 GMT	7 points
	The Ravens were not an expansion franchise. They were a relocation from Cleveland.

	TeganX7:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:31 GMT	8 points
	Great quiz, but I wonder why the arbitrary cut off for "recent" .... I was guessing Hornets and Heat as relatively recent expansion teams, but didn't come up.

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	DerKomissar:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:42 GMT	0 points
	The Ravens kept the roster from the '95 Browns and didn't have an expansion draft, so they shouldn't be on this list. I should know. They're the most important thing in my life. @jj2332: The heat were an expansion team in 1988, one year earlier than the cutoff line for this quiz.

	Biggtone23:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:44 GMT	2 points
	Good quiz, just seems kinda random to stop it at these 17 teams, why not do all expansion teams since the 60s? before that the leagues were pretty stable after the early years of teams only lasting a year or two.

	cmkeller:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:44 GMT	3 points
	Nice quiz, but would have been nice to quiz for ALL expansion teams. The expansion of the NFL and NBA in their earliest days was somewhat chaotic, but you could probably pick a specific point in time where the leagues were in a recognizable alignment, from which all additional teams would be "expansions".

	Luke Pontorno:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:45 GMT	2 points
	Matt Stover is the last member of the Ravens to be on the old Browns.

	Luke Pontorno:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:47 GMT	1 point
	For NHL the start of expansion was 1967. Baseball's first expansion was probably 1962 with the Angels and Mets. Teams like the Orioles and Twins came about from relocations, not expansion. NFL I would consider expansion from after the merger, so maybe 1976 with the Bucs and Seahawks.

	brewcrew09:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:47 GMT	14 points
	@moegoldberg - He meant 3 World Series overall won by expansion teams...the Marlins have won twice.

	mjenks:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:49 GMT	4 points
	Why didn't you roll the NBA back a year to pick up the other Charlotte team and the Heat?

	motrain24:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:50 GMT	3 points
	@ moegoldberg-- he didn't say 2 "teams" won, he said out of the 4 WS appearances there were 3 championships

	cmkeller:	Aug 13th, 2009 at 23:58 GMT	1 point
	@Luke Pontorno: Baseball expansion started in 1961 with the Angels and the second Washington Senators (now Rangers), the Mets and Houston Colt .45s (now Astros) came the following year.

	modestmouse:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 00:05 GMT	27 points
	The NHL added the Sharks, Lightning, Senators, Ducks and Panthers in the early 90s. How were they missing yet a couple nba expansion teams from the 80s were included?

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	Morby:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 00:16 GMT	3 points
	Agree with modestmouse. The definition of "recent" seems to vary from sport to sport.

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	notsobaldbull:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 00:28 GMT	-4 points
	I wonder what made David Stern think basketball in Canada would work?

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	popkiller:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 00:41 GMT	3 points
	@notsobaldbull: probably basball's success. The franchises were awarded a year after the Blue Jays won the Series and had (then) record attendance of over 4 million. It's been fairly successful for the Raptors, but the Grizzlies are the most miserable franchise in sports. Just take that team away.

	bmo1616:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:00 GMT	9 points
	@motrain24, there were actually 5 WS appearances, the Marlins winning in 1997 and 2003, the D-Backs winning in 2001, the Rockies losing in 2007, and the Rays losing last year. You would think with 2 titles in 15 years, Marlins fans would actually go to games.

	cmkeller:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:09 GMT	3 points
	notsobaldbull: If it could succeed in Sacramento, Portland and Salt Lake City, why not the larger Canadian cities? Basketball has always had decent success getting into sports markets considered to small by the other major sports. Between a small roster, not having to maintain a minor league system, small arenas to fill, and the parity afforded by the NBA's labor/TV agreements, there's no inherent reason to think a Canadian city couldn't support an NBA team.

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	drn211:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:16 GMT	-3 points
	In response to previous posts. All though they came into existence via Modell moving the Browns to Baltimore the NFL officially considers the Ravens an expansion team meaning they belong on this quiz. That said I would have no problem if they, like the Browns, got an * or were added as a bonus. @DerKomisser An expansion team is a team that is new to a league. It is not required that they have an expansion draft.

	bfg1118:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:22 GMT	8 points
	If I had a dollar for every person who bitched about the lack of non-American sports quizzes, I could pay off my student loans. Keep the complaints coming, college is expensive!

	drn211:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:23 GMT	0 points
	@Luke The first expansion for the NHL was in 1924 with the Montreal Maroons (now defunct) and the Boston Bruins. 1967 was the first expansion after the "original six" years. That said I would have no issues ignoring all the expansion from the earlier years and just starting with '67. Also for reference the first NFL expansion was 1933 with the Cincinnati Reds (defunct), Philly Eagles, and Pittsburgh Pirates (now the Steelers) and the first expansion post merger was 1976 (The Bucs and S'Hawks). The first expansion for MLB was '61 (Senators (now the Rangers) and the Angels). The first expansion for the NBA was 1961 with the Chicago Packers (now the Washington Wizards).

	Brent:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:38 GMT	-3 points
	The Ravens should be listed, as the NFL considers them an expansion team. How they acquired their initial roster is irrelevant. The Browns, on the other hand, were a continuation of an at-the-time defunct franchise. In other words, not an expansion team, although they utilized an expansion draft to fill their roster. NFL should have final call on this matter.

	InsertCleverName:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:42 GMT	0 points
	I agree with drn211. Even though DerKomissar is right about the fact that the players were from the Browns and there was no expansion draft--hence, an old franchise--from the perspective of the record books the team has no pre-1995 history. It's the strangest of all the cases on the quiz, but I would put both the Browns and the Ravens as answers with asterisks, with some disclaimer about one team being new to the NFL and the other being a reactivated franchise (although that would be a dead giveaway to anyone who follows football).

	y2jdilemma:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:43 GMT	1 point
	Good quiz, and harder than I thought it would be. I actually like the random cutoff, makes you think a little harder.

	Kicking222:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:45 GMT	-2 points
	Drn211 is completely correct- the quiz should include the Ravens, not the Browns. Yes, the Ravens had the same players, same ownership, etc. But as drn says, they are considered the expansion team, whereas the Browns are the same franchise that had been there previously (even if they held an "expansion" draft). For example, the Browns' site has their year-by-year records going back to '46 (http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/team/history/results.php), while the Ravens' site contains their entire draft history, which goes back to '96 (http://www.baltimoreravens.com/News/History/All-Time_Draft_Choices.aspx). Hell, if you want an even more formal source, check out when the Encyclopaedia Britannica mentions the Ravens as an expansion team: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/763623/Baltimore-Ravens

	Jon:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:53 GMT	2 points
	ravens are not an expansion team, regardless of what the record book says...browns part two started from scratch...tougher quiz than I thought...was certain the hornets and heat were the 89 teams, 87 I guess

	raisingfear101:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:55 GMT	5 points
	If they include the ravens, they'd have to include the nationals too. But neither of those are real expansion teams.

	zwieblekopf:	Aug 14th, 2009 at 01:55 GMT	2 points
	the ravens were a relocation, from cleveland. so they weren't an expansion team no matter what retarded way you try to justify it. Same owners same players same team. not an expansion. The browns got a new team, new owners with a history of the same team name in the same city.