Most Successful Professional Sports Teams That No Longer Exist

Professional sports teams always run the risk of failure, but that doesn’t stop them from trying to reach success. It’s not easy to make an ever-lasting sports franchise, although the teams we know and love nowadays have managed to pull it off. While some sports teams have disintegrated over the last few decades, new ones rose from the ashes in their place only to better the sport as a whole. In this article, we’ll outline several of the most successful pro teams that used to exist, but no longer do, including where the team was located and what sport they were involved in.

5. Canton Bulldogs – NFL

Getting things going as one of the most successful pro sports teams that no longer exists is an ancient Ohio-based team known as the Canton Bulldogs. Playing in the NFL starting in 1920, the Bulldogs would go on to win two championships back-to-back in 1922 and 1923 before being dissolved in 1927. You may have heard of Jim Thorpe or Guy Chamberlain, as players such as these came from the 1920s Bulldogs team, making for an iconic squad that managed to fall apart completely within a decade of joining the most popular professional league in all of America. These days, Canton is most famous as the location of the Football Hall of Fame, where you can see the trophy awarded to the team for winning the 1924 NFL Championship.

4. Kentucky Colonels – ABA

Up next is the Kentucky Colonels, a team participating in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. In their nine-season existence, the Kentucky Colonels managed to win one championship in 1975, coming out of the ABA second to only the Indiana Pacers, who would soon join the NBA while their Kentucky counterparts would falter due to the Chicago Bulls wanting Colonels center Artis Gilmore to join their team in the NBA. Of course, the team would showcase numerous Hall of Famers, including the likes of Dan Issel, Gilmore, Louie Dampier, Frank Ramsey and Hubie Brown.

3. Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars – USFL

The second pro football team on this list that no longer exists, the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars, used to play in the USFL for just three years before dissolving completely after winning back-to-back championships in 1984 and 1985. Starting in Philadelphia before moving to Baltimore, Maryland, there was no other team in the United States Football League as dominant as the Stars. While no Hall-of-Famers are credited with gracing this team during its existence, during their regular and postseasons, they’d achieve a record of 48 wins and 14 losses, an incredible feat for any team to boast.

2. Houston Comets – WNBA

When it comes to extremely dominant teams to vanish into thin air, you won’t find a better case than WNBA franchise the Houston Comets. Founded in 1997 with known Hall-of-Famers Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson on the roster, the legendary basketball team would win four championships all back-to-back in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, making them one of the greatest WNBA dynasties of all time. Unfortunately for the Comets, they’d suffer significant economic problems (along with many other WNBA teams) before ultimately collapsing in 2008 from failing to find a buyer of the franchise for a $10 million asking price.

1. Montreal Maroons – NHL

With so many hockey Hall-of-Famers on this team, it’s truly a surprise that the 1924-berthed Montreal Maroons no longer exist, especially considering Montreal has one of the most successful teams currently playing in the NHL. If you’ve heard of Clint Benedict, Toe Blake, Georges Boucher, Punch Broadbent and King Clancley, then you may know the story of the two-time NHL champion Maroons back in 1926 and 1935. Specifically, the fall of the Maroons can be pinpointed back to a cultural divide between the English and French populations within Canada, most of whom supported the French-based Montreal Canadiens. It would take a nationwide great depression to finally trigger the collapse of the championship team, with their last NHL season being played in 1938.