The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Kings are the oldest team in the NBA, and the first team in the major professional North American sports leagues located in Sacramento. The team plays its home games at the Golden 1 Center. Their best seasons to date in the city were in the early 2000s, including a very successful 2001–02 season when they had the best record in the NBA at 61–21.
The Rochester Americans are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. The Americans are the fourth oldest franchise in the AHL, and have the second longest continuous tenure among AHL teams in their current locations after the Hershey Bears.
The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. In 1978, owner John Y. Brown Jr. swapped franchises with then-Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin, who then moved the team to San Diego, where it was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The franchise relocated to Los Angeles in 1984, becoming the Los Angeles Clippers.
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, colloquially known as The Aud, was a multipurpose indoor arena in downtown Buffalo, New York. Opened on October 14, 1940, it was home to the Canisius Golden Griffins (NCAA), the Buffalo Bisons (AHL), the Buffalo Bisons (NBL), the Buffalo Braves (NBA), the Buffalo Sabres (NHL), the Toronto-Buffalo Royals (WTT), the Buffalo Stallions (MSL), the Buffalo Bandits (MILL), the Buffalo Blizzard (NPSL) and the Buffalo Stampede (RHI). It also hosted events such as college basketball, concerts, professional wrestling and boxing. The venue was closed in 1996 after the construction of the venue now known as KeyBank Center, and remained vacant until being demolished in 2009.
The Cow Palace is an indoor arena located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through the property, a portion of the upper parking lot is in San Francisco.
The Veterans Memorial Coliseum is an indoor arena located in the oldest part of the Rose Quarter area in Portland, Oregon. The arena is the home of the Portland Winterhawks, a major junior ice hockey team, and was the original home of the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. It has been included on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural significance.
St. Louis Arena was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchises. The Arena sat across U.S.40 from Forest Park's Aviation Field.
Syracuse, New York, United States, is a top-division, minor-league and college sports city. Teams include the Syracuse Mets of AAA Baseball and the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The most attended sporting events in Syracuse are those of the NCAA Division I Syracuse University Orange.
Blue Cross Arena, also known as the War Memorial, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Rochester, New York. For hockey and lacrosse, its seating capacity is 10,662. The arena opened on October 18, 1955, as the Rochester Community War Memorial. It was renovated in the mid-1990s and reopened as The Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, on September 18, 1998. It is home to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League and the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League.
Coca-Cola Coliseum is an arena at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, used for agricultural displays, ice hockey, and trade shows. It was built for the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in 1921. Since 1997 it has been part of the Enercare Centre exhibition complex. It serves as the home arena of the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women's Hockey League and the American Hockey League's Toronto Marlies, the farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It will also serve as the home arena of the Toronto WNBA team when it debuts in 2026.
Alfred Nicholas Cervi was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball League (NBL) and National Basketball Association (NBA). One of the strongest backcourt players of the 1940s and 1950s, he was always assigned to defend against the opposing team's best scoring threat. He earned the nickname "Digger" because of his hard-nosed style of defense. He added coaching to his duties in 1948 before retiring as a player in 1953. As a coach, he went to the NBA Finals three times, winning once.
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, located at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. It hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992, as well as indoor soccer, professional roller hockey, multiple professional minor league ice hockey teams, and roller derby.
The Duquesne Gardens was the main sports arena located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the first half of the 20th century. Built in 1890, the building originally served as a trolley barn, before becoming a multi-purpose arena. The Gardens opened three years after a fire destroyed the city's prior sports arena, the Schenley Park Casino, in 1896. Over the years, the Gardens was the home arena of several of Pittsburgh's historic sports teams, such as ice hockey's Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Hornets. The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which was the first ice hockey league to openly hire and trade players, played all of its games at the Gardens. The arena was also the first hockey rink to ever use glass above the dasher boards. Developed locally by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Herculite glass was first tested in Pittsburgh. Most rinks were using wire mesh before the shatterproof glass was invented. Finally, the Pittsburgh Ironmen, a charter member of the Basketball Association of America, played at the Gardens from 1946 to 1947.
The Rochester Zeniths were a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). They played in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester at the Dome Arena and in downtown Rochester, New York, at the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. They existed for six basketball seasons, winning two league titles and generally had great success on the basketball court before they disbanded after the 1982/83 season.
Lester J. Harrison was an American professional basketball player, coach, and team owner and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Cincinnati is the home of three major league teams, one women's major league team, three minor league teams, five college institutions with sports teams, and numerous top level amateur teams.
The Main Street Armory is a multi-purpose arena located at 900 East Main Street in Rochester, New York. The Armory was built between 1904 and 1907 by the United States Army and was used for the training and processing of soldiers. Its main arena also hosted several non-military events, including high school basketball, circuses, and auto shows prior to the mid-1950s. In 1990, the New York National Guard left the facility, leaving it vacant and allowing it to fall into disrepair. It was purchased and renovated in the mid-2000s with the intention of refurbishing the Armory's main arena to hold events once again. The building opened for this purpose on February 3, 2007.
Richard James Ricketts Jr. was an American professional basketball and baseball player. Ricketts was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1955 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks out of Duquesne University. Ricketts played professional basketball and baseball simultaneously and retired from basketball to play baseball. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1959 and had a 10-season pitching career. He is one of 13 athletes to play in both the NBA and MLB.
The Rochester Cardinals were a professional ice hockey team that was a member of the International Hockey League. The Cardinals, who played at Edgerton Park Arena, lasted only the 1935–36 season, compiling a 15–29–3 record and a host of financial difficulties.
The National Basketball Association has undergone several rounds of expansion in the league's history, since it began play in 1946, to reach 30 teams. The most recent examples are the additions of the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat in 1988; the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic in 1989; the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies in 1995 ; and the Charlotte Bobcats in 2004. In September 2024, Commissioner Adam Silver stated that the NBA would have discussions about a potential expansion of the league sometime during the 2024–25 season though not during the league's 2024 fall meetings, with an ESPN article stating that a number of factors including the potential sale of the Boston Celtics has led the league to go slower with the expansion process. In addition, the article stated that the potential expansion teams may begin play in the 2027–28 season should one occur.
