Former Professional Teams
| Club | Sport | League(s) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Gems | Basketball | National Basketball Association | Moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and became the Minneapolis Lakers, would move again to Los Angeles, California and are now the Los Angeles Lakers |
| Detroit (NFL) (Heralds/Tigers/Panthers/Wolverines) | Football | National Football League | Defunct |
| Detroit Wheels | Football | World Football League | Moved to Charlotte, North Carolina for one game, then disbanded in the middle of the 1974 season |
| Detroit Falcons | Basketball | Basketball Association of America | Defunct |
| Michigan Panthers | Football | USFL | Defunct |
| Detroit Stars | Baseball | Negro National League, 2nd Negro National League, Negro American League | The team ceased operations in 1960 |
| Detroit Wolverines | Baseball | National League | Disbanded, 1888 |
| Michigan Stags | Ice Hockey | World Hockey Association | Moved to Baltimore, Maryland and became the Baltimore Blades for the rest of the team's existence |
| Detroit Vipers | Ice Hockey | International Hockey League | Disbanded when IHL became AHL |
| Detroit Drive | Arena football | Arena Football League | Became the Massachusetts Marauders for the 1994 season, then was suspended for three years. |
| Detroit Fury | Arena football | Arena Football League | Franchise terminated September 20, 2004 |
| Grand Rapids Rampage | Arena football | Arena Football League | Franchise terminated March 5, 2010 |
| Michigan Mayhem | Basketball | Continental Basketball Association | Disbanded after 2005-2006 season |
| Detroit Shock | Basketball | WNBA | Moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
| Detroit Lightning | Indoor Soccer | Professional | Played at Cobo Arena during 80's-90's? |
| Michigan Hawks | Soccer | W-League | Folded after the 2008 season. |
Read more about this topic: Sports In Michigan
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or teams:
“The professional celebrity, male and female, is the crowning result of the star system of a society that makes a fetish of competition. In America, this system is carried to the point where a man who can knock a small white ball into a series of holes in the ground with more efficiency than anyone else thereby gains social access to the President of the United States.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always like a cat falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)