Montana does not have a single major league professional sports team and is one of 24 U.S. states that does not have any teams in one of the professional sports leagues in football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer. But why are there no Montana Professional sports teams?
I wanted to learn more about why this was so, what minor league teams currently play here, and what has been the history of professional sports in Montana.
1. How do we define a professional sports team?
The four major U.S. professional sports leagues are the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. Major League Soccer could be added to this list as it secures more of a popular foothold in the U.S.
2. Why does Montana not have a professional sports team?
Montana’s size and population works against successfully obtaining a major sports franchise. Distances are far and the smaller size of the main cities is not sufficient to draw interest in establishing a franchise that would be considered economically feasible for the owners.
In looking at specific leagues, the NFL is not currently expanding and would look at larger cities first that don’t have a football team. Montana’s extended period of cold weather and short summers work against having a MLB franchise unless the cost of a domed stadium could be handled.
Then the hockey and basketball leagues have teams play multiple games weekly, and ticket prices could be an issue to fill a new stadium sufficiently to be economically viable.
3. What other “minor” league professional sports franchises are currently in Montana?
Although there are not any of the major league franchises, there are Montana professional sports teams in the form of minor leagues in several sports. Minor league players are paid a salary, so they are indeed professionals in their sport.
The Pioneer League is a baseball league covering the western states of Montana, Utah, Idaho, and Colorado that currently fields three teams from the state, the Billings Mustangs, the Great Falls Voyagers, and the Missoula PaddleHeads, previously known as the Ospreys through the 2019 season.
4. How well established are the Pioneer League Baseball franchises in Montana?
The immediate future of minor league baseball in Montana was preserved after a recent agreement between MLB and the Pioneer League took effect. In 2021 the Pioneer League became an independent professional partner league.
This replaced a 30-year agreement that expired in 2020 which provided the Pioneer League with MLB affiliate league status, whereby each team was directly associated with a Major League Club.
Prior to the new agreement, Billings was affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds from 1974-2020, Great Falls was a Rookie Affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and Missoula a Rookie Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Great Falls was previously associated with the Giants, Dodgers and White Sox, and changed their team’s name with each change of affiliation before becoming the Voyagers in 2008, named for the Mariana UFO incident from 1950.
MLB will provide initial funding for the league’s operational expenses, install scouting technology in the ballparks and have procedures for player transfers to MLB Clubs.
5. Are there plans for other professional sports teams?
Yes, there have been plans announced for Montana to field teams in both hockey and indoor football in 2022.
Billings will add a new professional hockey franchise next year. The as-yet-unnamed team is expected to begin play in the new Western Professional Hockey League in October of 2022. The league will consist of eight teams in its inaugural season.
The Billings Outlaws will be the city’s Champions Indoor Football team, which will begin play in March 2022. A team of the same name had previously played in several Indoor Football Leagues from 2000-2010.
6. Which professional sports teams have previously been based in Montana?
Basketball
The Montana Golden Nuggets played from 1980-1983 in the Continental Basketball Association, the top minor league for the NBA at the time. Ex-San Antonio Spurs guard George Karl coached the Golden Nuggets all three years, leading the team to the 1981 and 1983 CBA championship series and being named the league’s Coach-of-the-Year in both seasons.
The Billings Volcanos began play in 1980 and folded in the summer of 1983. The Volcanos relocated from Honolulu, Hawaii, hence the odd name for a team based in Montana!
The Butte Daredevils were a CBA team named after daredevil Butte native Evel Knievel. They folded in 2008.
The Great Falls Explorers were a CBA team named after the explorers Lewis and Clark. They also folded in 2008.
The Helena Phillies were formed in 1978 as part of a two-team expansion of the Pioneer League along with the Butte Copper Kings. They were a farm club of the Philadelphia Phillies but finished last in their division from 1981-83. The Phillies did not extend their agreement with the Helena franchise after the 1983 season.
A new Helena franchise, known as the Gold Sox, replaced the Phillies for the 1984 season. The team’s name referred to gold miners who often stuffed gold in their socks while prospecting. In late 1984, the team became affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers, and renamed themselves the Helena Brewers before the start of the 1987 season. In 2019, the team moved to Colorado Springs and became the Rocky Mountain Vibes.
The Butte Copper Kings were also a Pioneer League team, finishing their days as the Rookie affiliate of the Anaheim Angels. In 2001 the team moved to Wyoming and became the Casper Rockies.
Hockey
The Billings Marlboros of the semi-pro Continental Hockey League played one season in 1985-86.
The Montana Magic were a Billings-based minor league hockey team that played only one season before folding in 1984 along with the rest of the Central Hockey League.
Billings has also been home to other hockey teams — the Billings Blazers of the minor league Southwest Hockey League (1975-77) and the Billings Bighorns of the major junior Western Hockey League (1977-82).
The Billings Bulls were a junior ice hockey organization also based in Billings. It joined the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) as part of the Frontier Division. At the beginning of the 2017–18 NA3HL season, the Bulls franchise folded due to lack of players.
The Butte Irish were a U.S. Junior A hockey team playing in the America West Hockey League from 1996-2002. The Butte Roughriders were a junior hockey team playing in the Northern Pacific Hockey League from 2003-2010.
Indoor Football
The Billings Wolves were a team in the Indoor Football League, the city’s first team since the Billings Outlaws went out of business in 2010. The Wolves franchise folded in 2016 after two seasons.
Final Thoughts
Although there are no current Montana professional sports teams in the major sports leagues, they do provide minor league sports in the Pioneer baseball league for fans in Billings, Great Falls and Missoula, and minor league hockey teams in Great Falls and Bozeman.
Plans have been announced for a new hockey franchise in Billings, and indoor football will be returning to Billings in 2022.
Are there plans for other professional sports teams? Yes, there have been plans announced for Montana to field teams in both hockey and indoor football in 2022. Billings will add a new professional hockey franchise next year.
Within the continental United States, the Mariners are the top team in much of the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Behind the Mariners are the Rockies, with fandom that covers nearly 400,000 square miles across Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Montana.
Football and basketball are the two most popular sports at the high school level. Montana is one of the few states where the smallest high schools participate in six-man football leagues. Numerous other sports are played at the club and amateur level, including softball, rugby, and soccer.
Only three of the 50 states currently don't sponsor high school baseball — Montana and neighbors Wyoming and South Dakota. All three states share common traits such as relatively poor spring weather, relatively few schools and relatively large travel distances.
Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", Montana is widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. After winning a national championship at Notre Dame, Montana began his NFL career in 1979 at San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons.
There's a little patch in Eastern Montana that cheer for the Minnesota Vikings, this according to the "experts". We all know that there are other fans of other teams that live here. There are fans of "Da Raiders" sporting the Silver and Black.
So, which NFL team is the most popular here in Montana? According to sportskeeda, the most popular NFL team in Montana is the Minnesota Vikings. To be honest, I didn't see that one coming at all.
Montana is not home to any top professional sports teams. A state with only 1 million residents simply doesn't offer enough of a draw for NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams. However, there are still some teams that serve as the favorites for many Montana fans.
Many people prefer moving to Montana because it is one of the least densely-populated states. In fact, according to the data provided by American Moving and Storage Association, Montana takes fifth place among the states where the number of inbound moves is more than twice higher than the number of outbound ones.
Montana is known for its diverse natural beauty, from its alpine scenery, forests, and lakes and down to the great plains where bison graze. In between, there are bizarre places filled with history and even spots that are both amazing and deadly at the same time.
—The original entrance to Yellowstone National Park—the world's first national park—is in Gardiner, Montana, and was erected in 1903. —Montana is the only state with river systems that empty into the Hudson Bay, Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Extreme weather and extreme wildlife. There is not much of a night life. The people don't have the same rules to fighting that there is in the rest of the country.
Maine, Vermont, Kansas, Alabama, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nebraska, Hawaii, Alaska, Mississippi, Iowa, Idaho, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina do not have NFL teams.
The people of Oregon tend to focus most on University of Oregon and Oregon State University football, rather than pro football. But much of the state tends to support the Seahawks, while some of Southern Oregon prefer the 49ers.
The Billings Mustangs are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Billings, Montana, and have played their home games at Dehler Park since 2008. The team previously played at Cobb Field.
Montana has no professional sports teams due its small and scattered population, but international visitors can watch American sports at college games or minor league sporting events.
With 14 cities producing at least four players on Kickoff Weekend rosters, Texas surpassed Florida to lead the league in home states. More NFL players (199) graduated from Texas than any other state. Florida (185), California (166) and Georgia (151) each produced over 100 NFL players.
In terms of the raw number of fans in the US, two things stayed consistent throughout the past five years: the Dallas Cowboys have the largest fanbase in the NFL, and the Jacksonville Jaguars have the smallest.
WWE legend and Hollywood superstar Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has shared that he is a Liverpool supporter. Johnson has previously shared his support for Macclesfield FC and changing it to the Reds has left fans confused.
The Yankees now top the list at number one, followed by the Dodgers, and then the Astros. For the last several years, those three teams have taken turns in the top spot as the league's most hated team. Rounding out the top 10 is the Phillies, Cubs, Red Sox, and Giants.
Story Ideas and Statistics. The 2021 Population Estimates of the 25 metro areas with MLB teams found the largest is New York with 19,768,458 and the smallest is Milwaukee with 1,566,487.
The largest stadium is Dodger Stadium with a capacity of 56,000 and the smallest stadium is Tropicana Stadium with a capacity of 31,042, which means MLB's largest stadium is 80% larger than the smallest one in terms of capacity. The oldest MLB stadium still in use is Boston's Fenway Park, which opened in 1912.
There are 13 U.S. metropolitan areas with sports teams competing in the four major leagues: Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, National Football League and National Basketball Association.
Baseball has never been a sanction sport in Wyoming, a combination of cold spring weather and small school enrollment. The Wyoming native's closest game site was an hour-and-a-half drive from his hometown, demanding plenty of out-of-state travel.
The next step will be up to individual school boards to determine if they wish to field a baseball program or not. The MHSA will also take steps to form rules, schedules and figure out other logistics. However, the plan is to have high school baseball available for the 2022-23 school year.
For many locals, the city of Bozeman and cities such as Billings and Missoula are unrecognizable. The tremendous growth over the past two decades has changed their tiny mountain towns to thriving cities filled with newcomers from across the country.
Montana is not home to any top professional sports teams. A state with only 1 million residents simply doesn't offer enough of a draw for NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL teams. However, there are still some teams that serve as the favorites for many Montana fans.
Montana: The Seattle Seahawks, or the Denver Broncos (kind of far away). Nebraska: The Denver Broncos, or the Kansas City Chiefs. Nevada: The Arizona Cardinals, the Oakland Raiders, or the San Francisco 49ers. New Mexico: The Arizona Cardinals, the Houston Texans, or the Dallas Cowboys.
But when Montana was asked a similar question last March following Brady's seventh Super Bowl win, Montana said he did consider Brady the greatest of all time. “I think Tom has taken his place on the top up there a long time ago,” Montana said. "He's had a tremendous career, he's fun to watch.
The nearest NFL team to Alaska is the Seattle Seahawks. Three CFL teams, the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos, are just as close if not closer.
Maine, Vermont, Kansas, Alabama, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nebraska, Hawaii, Alaska, Mississippi, Iowa, Idaho, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina do not have NFL teams.
Introduction: My name is Aracelis Kilback, I am a nice, gentle, agreeable, joyous, attractive, combative, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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