The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from May to September, with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July and the WNBA Finals at the end of September until the beginning of October.
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The club was founded as the Kansas City Scouts in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1974. The Scouts moved to Denver in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, they moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, and took their current name. For their first 25 seasons in New Jersey, the Devils were based at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford and played their home games at Brendan Byrne Arena. Before the 2007–08 season, the Devils moved to Prudential Center in Newark.
The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, and play their home games at PNC Arena.
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at State Farm Arena.
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first established in 1967 as a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and became a member of the NBA in 1976 as a result of the ABA–NBA merger. They play their home games at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The team is named after the state of Indiana's history with the Indianapolis 500's pace cars and with the harness racing industry.
The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators, the franchise was one of the original four that launched the Arena Football League for its inaugural, 1987 season. The club was relocated to Tampa for the 1991 season, being the last of the original teams to either fold or leave its market. After 26 years in the Tampa market, the team ceased operations in December, 2017.
The Philadelphia Soul were a professional arena football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and competed in the Arena Football League (AFL). The Soul made five ArenaBowl appearances, winning their first appearance and losing their next two appearances. The Soul won in their fourth appearance, against the Rattlers in 2016, winning 56–42. They also won in their fifth appearance in 2017 against the Tampa Bay Storm, winning 44–40.
The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. The franchise was originally based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and then later in Las Vegas, Nevada, before relocating to Cleveland for the 2008 AFL season. The Gladiators qualified for the playoffs eight times in their history, reaching the ArenaBowl in 2014.
The Toronto Phantoms were a professional arena football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The team was a member of the Eastern Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team also previously operated in New York City and Hartford, Connecticut.
The Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry was a professional basketball team based in Lawton, Oklahoma. They played in the Premier Basketball League after having been in the Continental Basketball Association. They have one PBL championship and also were the two time champions of the CBA. The original team was known as the Oklahoma City Cavalry, which competed in the CBA in Oklahoma City from 1990 to 1997 – when they were league champions.
The American Basketball Association (ABA) is an American semi-professional men's basketball minor league that was founded in 1999.
The 1998–99 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Due to a lockout, the season did not start until February 5, 1999, after a new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. All 29 teams played a shortened 50-game regular season schedule and the 16 teams who qualified for the playoffs played a full post-season schedule. That season's All-Star Game, which would have been held in Philadelphia, was also canceled. The season ended with the San Antonio Spurs winning the franchise's first NBA championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the 1999 NBA Finals. This was the 50th season since the BAA and NBL had merged into the NBA.
The Rochester RazorSharks are an inactive professional basketball team based in Rochester, New York. The RazorSharks were founded in 2005 as a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). They remained in the ABA until 2007, leaving the league to become founding members of the Premier Basketball League (PBL). The RazorSharks have won eight championships to date – the 2006 ABA championship and PBL titles in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The team joined the new North American Premier Basketball for the 2018 season and planned to play in The Basketball League in 2019 before the team decided to sit out the season.
The Rochester Zeniths were a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association. 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.
The Halifax Rainmen were a professional basketball team based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. They played in the Atlantic Division of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL) and their home games took place at the Scotiabank Centre, formerly known as the Halifax Metro Centre. Andre Levingston was the owner of the Rainmen since he helped establish the team in 2006. The team played their first season in the American Basketball Association (ABA). However, after becoming unhappy with the ABA, they moved to the Premier Basketball League (PBL) for the next three seasons. In 2011, they joined the NBL Canada as one of the original seven teams. Despite showing success in the four seasons they spent in the Canadian league, making two Finals appearances, the Rainmen filed for bankruptcy in July 2015. The team was coming off a controversial loss in the 2015 NBL Canada Finals against the Windsor Express and forfeited Game 7 after taking part in a pre-game brawl. The Halifax Hurricanes, with a larger ownership group than the Rainmen's single owner, replaced the Rainmen in NBL Canada for the 2015–16 season.
The Atlanta Dream is an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real estate investors Larry Gottesdiener, Suzanne Abair and former Dream player Renee Montgomery. Although the Dream share the Atlanta market with the National Basketball Association's Hawks, the Dream is not affiliated with its NBA counterpart. The Dream play at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference Pacific and Northwest divisions from 1967 until 2008. After the 2007–08 season ended, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, where they now play as Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 2011 WNBA season was the 15th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began on June 3 with the Los Angeles Sparks hosting the Minnesota Lynx, featuring 2011 WNBA Draft top pick Maya Moore, in a game televised on NBA TV. Four games followed the next day, with the marquee matchup, televised on ABC, featuring the defending champion Seattle Storm and the Phoenix Mercury in Seattle.
The 2011–12 Atlanta Hawks season was the 62nd season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the 44th in Atlanta. The Hawks finished the lockout-shortened season in 5th place in the Eastern Conference with a 40–26 record and reached the 2012 NBA Playoffs where they lost in the first round against the Boston Celtics in six games.
The history of the New Jersey Devils National Hockey League team dates back to 1982, when the Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey and became the Devils. Since 1995, the franchise has played in the Stanley Cup Finals five times, winning the Cup in 1995, 2000 and 2003.
