Statistically Speaking

Every week we take a bunch of random stats and make a random chart. This week, we look at the number of relocations and expansions in the four major American sports leagues since 1990. The proposed moves of the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL to Winnipeg, Manitoba and the Sacramento Kings to Anaheim inspired this week's graph. The most recent relocation/expansion in any of these leagues was the move of the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA to Oklahoma City. The NHL experienced the most growth in these 20 years, but also sacrificed three of the four franchises absorbed in the merger with the WHL (Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets). The always conservative MLB only witnessed one relocation - the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington. Half of the NFL's relocation woes came from Los Angeles, the same city that gives NFL officials headaches these days because they don't have a team in the second largest media market. Both the Raiders and the Rams moved from Los Angeles in the 90s. 

If we have to pick a winner, we go with MLB because they added teams and only lost one market - likely the victim of the 1994 strike.