I don't believe that simply stating the name of the city where a team is from shows a deep enough understanding to be deemed correct.
***** Both of these questions are publicly viewable on NAQT.com's Sample Questions page
2018 MSNCT Packet 23 wrote: Since 2013 this NBA team has been coached by a former head coach of the Australian menʹs national team. Brett Brown coaches this team, which lost an NBA‐record 28 consecutive games in 2015. “The (*) Process” resulted in Ben Simmons playing on—for 10 points—what Pennsylvania‐based team?
answer: Philadelphia 76ers [“seventy-six”-ers] (accept either underlined portion; accept Sixers)
In both of these cases, the final hint of the tossup mentions the geographical location of where each team plays. For the 76ers tossup, one could hear "Pennsylvania-based team" and logically guess "Philadelphia" (despite not knowing anything about the 76ers or the NBA) simply because they know that Philadelphia is a major city in Pennsylvania. Likewise, a player could hear "team from Texas" and guess "San Antonio" (despite not knowing anything about the Spurs or the NBA) as a 1/3 guess between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.2018 SSNCT Packet 24 wrote: In 2017 this NBA teamʹs ownership sold its WNBA [“W-N-B-A”] team, which became the Las Vegas Aces. R. C. Buford is the general manager of this team. In 2014 this team made Becky Hammon the first woman to be a full‐time NBA coach. This team un‐retired Bruce (*) Bowenʹs jersey number in 2015 for former Portland Trailblazer LaMarcus Aldridge. Kawhi [kuh-WYE] Leonard is coached by Gregg Popovich [“POP-uh”-vitch] on—for 10 points—what NBA team from Texas?
answer: San Antonio Spurs (accept either underlined portion)
In such cases, players are awarded 10 points not for sports knowledge, but for knowing major cities. While these situations are highly uncommon, I have seen them almost play out in real tournaments (I saw someone buzz "Buffalo" on a tossup whose last line was something like "name this New York baseball team") and have definitely seen them in intrasquad games.
Even when a team's geographical location is not mentioned during the tossup, I still don't think it's good to simply accept city names.
***** This highly-controversial tossup was copied from the HSNCT discussion thread: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... =2&t=21357.
Even though this tossup doesn't mention anything about where the Penguins play, one can still not know anything about them or the NHL and still convert it. Someone watching the news could see reports about "celebrations in Pittsburgh over second straight Stanley Cup" and register "Pittsburgh" in their minds. Again, a player would be awarded ten points not for sports knowledge, but for randomly coming across a news report.HSNCT Round 14 wrote:In December 2015 a player on this team was forced to retire due to persistent blood-clot issues. A player on this team is the only teenager to have won a scoring title in a North American sports league. In 2000 this team revived a familiar (*) logo, which shows an animal on skates. Goalie Matt Murray and center Sidney Crosby play on—for 10 points—what NHL team that won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017?
answer: Pittsburgh Penguins (accept either underlined portion) [Pascal Dupuis retired due to blood clots.]
Even though such situations are extremely rare, they still may happen. So I personally believe that city names should be prompted on for sports teams (i.e. prompt "Pittsburgh" for "Pittsburgh Penguins").