Relocation of professional sports teams

Relocation of professional sports teams is a practice which involves a sporting club moving from one metropolitan area to another, although occasionally moves between municipalities in the same conurbation are also included. In North America a league franchise system is used and, as the teams are generally privately owned and operate according to the wishes of their owners, the practice much more common there than it is in other areas of the world where sporting teams are often identified with a specific location. Moving of teams is more commonplace among less established teams with small or non-existent fan-bases. Reasons for relocations are commonly motivated by either problems with finances, problems with inadequate facilities, lack of support or due to the wishes of the owner or owners; in most cases it is a combination of some or all of those problems.