In professional team sports, a traveling team (also called a road team) is a member of a professional league that never or rarely competes in its home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team in that the latter does not compete within a league or association framework. While leagues may designate a traveling team prior to the start of competition, some teams become road teams by simply not scheduling any home games.
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While the use of traveling teams has been sparing on the upper levels of professional sports, the National Football League had such road teams (such as the Hammond Pros, Oorang Indians, and Columbus Panhandles) in the formative years of the league. Other professional sports leagues on the major league level have employed traveling teams, the most recent being World Team Tennis, with "The Soviets" nominally being based in Philadelphia.
Traveling teams in major professional American football
Below is a list of the traveling teams that were members of the National Football League, the first American Football League, or the second American Football League. No other major professional league of American football had such road teams, the last of which was the 1952 Dallas Texans of the National Football League. To qualify for the list, the team must have played a complete season of at least four games on the road. Teams that had the traveling team status imposed upon them in midseason are noted.
There have been no NFL traveling teams since 1952, owing to the increased stability of the league. Even in cases when an NFL team's home stadium has been rendered unusable due to damages or renovations, the teams have arranged and designated temporary home stadiums in each case and no NFL team has had to play more than two designated home games (out of eight in a season) outside their home stadium.
The Canadian Football League has had one road team. The first was the Las Vegas Posse (a CFL USA team), which was converted into "road team" status for the last few weeks of the 1994 season. The team had drawn very poorly in Las Vegas (its last game drew less than 2,500 fans) and folded at the end of the season.
Traveling teams in baseball
Traveling teams have existed at many times in baseball history, even into the 21st century. Traveling teams are periodically used by independent baseball leagues to maintain an even number of teams for scheduling purposes. Examples include the Road Warriors of the Atlantic League, the Frontier Greys of the Frontier League, and The Grays of the Can-Am League.
In 1994, after a roof collapse occurred at the Kingdome, Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners were forced to play the remainder of the season on the road after the player's union rejected a number of proposed temporary homes. However, the season was cut short due to a player's strike, which resulted in the Mariners playing only 20 games as a road team.