The Birmingham Squadron are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, and are affiliated with the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their home ...

. The team plays their home games at

Legacy Arena Legacy Arena (formerly known as the BJCC Coliseum and the BJCC Arena) is an arena located at the Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama. The arena seats 17,654 for sporting events, 19,000 for concerts and 8,000 in a thea ...

. The team began play in 2019 in

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

, as the Erie BayHawks with home games at the Erie Insurance Arena, while the New Orleans Pelicans were planning to relocate their G League franchise to Birmingham to play at the renovated

beginning with the 2021–22 season. This was the third incarnation of the BayHawks team with the same name, which had been playing in the city continuously since

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

History

On March 30, 2017, the

announced their intentions to have an owned-and-operated development team by the 2018–19 season located in the Gulf South region. The organization then announced they were looking at 11 different locations:

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

in Alabama;

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe,

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

, St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana; Gulfport-Biloxi and Jackson in Mississippi; and

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principa ...

. The list was narrowed when the Pelicans' received six proposals their April 25 deadline: Baton Rouge, Jackson, Mobile, Pensacola, Shreveport, and St. Tammany Parish. By August 2017, the only two cities still in contention were Pensacola and Shreveport. On September 12, the city council in Shreveport unanimously voted against building a new arena for the G League. By March 7, 2018, the Pelicans' general manager Dell Demps stated they had put their efforts in creating a G League team on hold after Pensacola was the only remaining candidate from the submissions. The possibility of expansion was further complicated by the death of Pelicans' owner

Tom Benson Thomas Milton Benson (July 12, 1927 – March 15, 2018) was an American businessman, philanthropist and sports franchise owner. He was the owner of several automobile dealerships before buying the New Orleans Saints of the National Football Leagu ...

on March 15. On October 24, 2018, the Pelicans announced plans to place their G League team in

, by 2022 and play at

located in the

Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex The Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex (formerly known as Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center) is a sports, convention and entertainment complex located in Birmingham, Alabama. The Sheraton Birmingham and Westin Birmingham are located on t ...

. As the arena needs to be renovated, the Pelicans' affiliate began play for the 2019–20 season as the Erie BayHawks after the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

' affiliate, which had previously been playing as the BayHawks, was relocated to

College Park, Georgia College Park is a city in Fulton and Clayton counties, Georgia, United States, adjacent to the southern boundary of the city of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,930. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is par ...

. On December 9, 2020, the

announced a name-the-team contest. In March 2021, the Pelicans hired David Lane as the team's general manager with the intent on relocating the team in time for the 2021–22 season. On April 8, 2021, Erie Basketball Management, LLC, the local management company that has operated all three franchises as the Erie BayHawks teams, announced that the organization was unable to find another NBA partner team for 2021–22 and ceased operations. On July 26, 2021, the Birmingham Squadron name, logo, and colors were revealed, with the name "Squadron" being chosen as both a reference to a

collective noun In linguistics, a collective noun is a word referring to a collection of things taken as a whole. Most collective nouns in everyday speech are not specific to one kind of thing. For example, the collective noun "group" can be applied to people (" ...

used for a group of

pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents befor ...

and to Alabama's history in military aviation such as the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army ...

of the

99th Pursuit Squadron The 99th Flying Training Squadron (99 FTS) flies Raytheon T-1 Jayhawks and they have painted the tails of their aircraft red in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame, known as the "Red Tails," whose lineage the 99 FTS inherited. The ...

Season by season

Head coaches

Current roster

References

External links