Relocation of Professional Sports Teams - Team Relocation in Europe

Team Relocation in Europe

In Europe, this sort of move is very rare. This is due to the different relationship between clubs and their league in the European system of professional sports league organization. In most sports, teams can be relegated from their current league down to a lower one, or promoted up a league to the one above. Membership of the national top division is gained and held through excellent performance — and lost when performance slips. This arrangement is equally true for every level in the Football pyramid. The pyramid system inevitably leads to nearly every sizable city or town having at least a semi-pro team (or teams) that will have likely have secured the loyalty of the town's fanbase, thus making the town unattractive to anyone looking to move a team there even if it plays in a higher division. Thus, any person or city wanting a top-league team can invest in the already-existing lower-level team that will likely be there and hope the team can advance to the top division. Wigan Athletic in England, Gretna in Scotland, and 1899 Hoffenheim in Germany are examples of teams that have risen up the pyramid dramatically due to investment. Gretna also illustrates the danger of relying on a single large investor—after its owner, Brooks Mileson, withdrew his support in February 2008 due to what eventually proved to be a fatal illness, the club went bankrupt and was liquidated within six months.

Additionally, the background of many clubs in these leagues is of social and community organisations rather than a commercial venture by an owner or owners which is why teams are usually referred to as clubs regardless of their current ownership structure. Whilst teams are now commonly privatised and often associated heavily with high profile owners, this historical basis may be why even private concerns are reluctant to move.