Editing Dayton Triangles (section)

==Decline==
In 1922, the other teams in the NFL were recruiting and signing top college players from around the country; however Dayton continued to use mainly local players. This marked a decline in the team's performance, and the Triangles ceased being competitive in the NFL. Because of their poor showing on the field, the Triangles were not able to draw crowds for home games: Triangle Park, with a seating capacity of 5,000, rarely saw that many fans. Soon, the combination of poor home gates and the lure of $2,500 guarantees to play at larger venues (like [[Wrigley Field]], [[Comiskey Park]] and the [[Polo Grounds]]), made the Triangles primarily a [[traveling team]].

By the late twenties, Dayton was one of the league's doormats, winning just five of their 51 NFL contests from 1923 through 1929. Only the revenues from playing on the road kept them afloat. Also around this time, the NFL began shaking off its roots in the mid-sized Midwestern cities that had been the heartland of pro football in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Triangles were one of only three original NFL teams (along with the Bears and Cardinals) to survive the 1920s, and the only team from the Ohio League to survive past 1926. Nevertheless, by then it was apparent that Dayton was no longer large enough to support a team in the burgeoning league. Finally, on July 12, 1930, a [[Brooklyn]]-based syndicate headed by [[Bill Dwyer (mobster)|Bill Dwyer]] and [[Jack Depler]] bought the Triangles and moved them to Brooklyn as the [[Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)|Brooklyn Dodgers]]. Depler became the Dodgers' head coach, and stocked the roster with players from the NFL's [[Orange/Newark Tornadoes|Orange Tornadoes]], where he had previously been player-coach. Although the Dodgers operated under the Triangles franchise, they were essentially an expansion team. The roster was dominated by former Tornadoes, with most of the 1929 Triangles relegated to the bench.