After the 1972 season, the
Minnesota Twins moved their
Southern League affiliate, the
Charlotte Hornets, to Orlando, calling them the
Orlando Twins. The Twins played at
Tinker Field in downtown Orlando, near the Florida
Citrus Bowl Stadium. In 1990, the team was renamed the
Orlando Sun Rays. In 1993, the
Chicago Cubs became the team's new major-league affiliate, and the team was renamed the
Orlando Cubs. While still a Chicago Cubs affiliate, the team renamed itself once again in 1997 and became the
Orlando Rays. The following year, for one season only, the
Seattle Mariners were the Rays' major-league affiliate. The
Tampa Bay Rays (then the Devil Rays), an
American League expansion team in 1998, assumed the Orlando Rays' major-league affiliation the following year. The Orlando Rays' last season at
Tinker Field was 1999. From 2000 to 2003, the Orlando Rays played in
Kissimmee, Florida, in
Champion Stadium at
Walt Disney World Resort. Despite the fact that the team played in a state-of-the-art stadium that was built in 1997 and used during spring training by the
Atlanta Braves, attendance did not meet expectations; after trailing the Southern League in attendance in multiple years, the Rays' owners announced the team would move to
Montgomery, Alabama in 2004 (terminating their 10-year lease with Disney after four seasons). The team is now known as the
Montgomery Biscuits. ==Post franchise events==