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Professional Football Teams in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Bulldogs, Cleveland Rams, Gilmore Stadium, Los Angeles, 1938

Football game between the Los Angeles Bulldogs (darker jerseys) and (then) Cleveland Rams at Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles, 1938. Bulldogs won 28-7.
From the LA Times Photographic Collection at UCLA Library.


Team Period of Play
in/for Los Angeles
League
Los Angeles Buccaneers (1) 1926 National Football League
Los Angeles Wildcats {1} 1926 American Football League I*
California Shamrocks 1935 American Legion Football League
Hollywood Braves 1935 American Legion Football League
Los Angeles (Southern California) Maroons 1935 American Legion Football League
Westwood Cubs 1935 American Legion Football League
Long Beach Eagles 1936 No League Affiliation?
Hollywood Stars 1936-1938 California Pro Football League
Los Angeles Cardinals 1936 No League Affiliation?
San Pedro Longshoremen 1936 No League Affiliation?
Los Angeles Bulldogs 1937 American Football League II*
Los Angeles Bulldogs 1938 No League Affiliation (2)
Los Angeles Bulldogs 1939 American Professional Football Association
Los Angeles Bulldogs 1940-1945 Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Hollywood Bears 1940-1942, 1946-1947 Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Los Angeles Mustangs 1943-1944 Pacific Coast Professional Football League,
American Football League lll*
Hollywood Rangers 1944 American Football League lll*
Los Angeles Wildcats (3) 1944 American Football League lll*
Hollywood Wolves 1944 Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Los Angeles Dons 1946-1949 All American Football Conference
Los Angeles Rams (4) 1947-1995 National Football League
Los Angeles Chargers (5) 1960 American Football League lV*
Long Beach Admirals 1967 Continental Football League
Los Angeles Express 1983-1985 United States Football League
Los Angeles Raiders (6) 1982-1995 National Football League
Los Angeles Cobras 1988 Arena Football League
Los Angeles Dragons (7) 2000 Spring Football League
Los Angeles Avengers 2000-2009 Arena Football League
Los Angeles Xtreme 2001 X Football League (8)
Los Angeles Lynx (9) 2007 National Indoor Football League
Los Angeles Dragons (10) 2010 United States Australian Football League
Los Angeles Kiss (11) 2014-2016 Arena Football League
Los Angeles Rams (4) 2016-present National Football League
Los Angeles Chargers (4) 2017-present National Football League
Los Angeles Wildcats (12) 2019-2022 X Football League

* There were four unrelated leagues over history named "American Football League."
1) See comment box below.
2) Team's American Football League II league had disbanded, allowing Bulldogs to play National Football League teams.
3) No relationship to 1926 team.
4) Founded in Cleveland in 1936, the team moved to Los Angeles and L.A. Memorial Coliseum in 1946. It moved to Anaheim Stadium in Orange County in 1980 and to St. Louis in 1995. The team returned to Los Angeles in 2016.
5) In 1960, team moved to San Diego and the NFL after only one season in Los Angeles, then returned to Los Angeles in 2017 after 57 years.
6) Founded in Oakland in 1960, the team moved to Los Angeles in 1982. It returned to Oakland in 1995.
7) No affiliation with the L.A. Dragons of 2010.
8) League active in 2001. Thereafter disbanded, but relaunched in 2019.
9) Team was dissolved midseason during its inaugural season.
10) Australian Rules football team. No affiliation with the L.A. Dragons of 2000.
11) Team actually played at Honda Center in Anaheim, California (Orange County).
12) No relationship to Los Angeles Wildcats of 1926. The Wildcats played only half of one season in 2020, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the team announced it would not return for the XFL 2023 seaoson, giving its place in the XFL to the San Antonio Brahmas.


Also see: Women's Professional Football in Los Angeles County


Neither the Los Angeles Buccaneers nor the Los Angeles Wildcats from 1926 ever played any games in Los Angeles. Both teams were considered "road teams." The Buccaneers played out of Chicago and the Wildcats out of Moline, Illinois. The teams were named for Los Angeles only to showcase football talent from California and west coast colleges. According to historian Michael McCambridge, in his 2005 book "America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation," the Buccaneers actually did want to play in their namesake city, but could not do so because the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission, at the time, prohibited professional games in its stadium.