History Main / SwordOfDamocles

** International relations studies term this the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stability%E2%80%93instability_paradox stability-instability paradox.]] Both sides having the ability to utterly annihilate one other severely limits the plausible range of actions both sides can take in international diplomacy. On one hand, it means no WorldWarIII because the big powers won't make moves with the intent to go to war (it is assumed that both sides value their own survival more than they do the destruction of the other). On the other hand, this same system means both sides find less direct ways to fight the other side (i.e., via {{proxy war}}s with third and fourth parties), in addition to all the smaller pre-existing grudges that otherwise-irrelevant parties have with one another which neither superpower can fully stop because the amount of power needed to get one side or the other to heel cannot be used without threat from the other superpower, who by and large cannot risk letting the first have its way.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
%%* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E7And8MaidOfHonor Maid of Honor]]", Vandal Savage attempts to use a space-based rail gun to aid his world domination.
[[/folder]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' villain Kang the Conqueror travels from the future in his ship, which, in his bid to conquer present-day Earth, is referred to as Damocles Base, and is shaped like a giant sword. After the Avengers have Kang arrested, Damocles finds use as a base for the intergalactic peacekeeping organization, [[FunWithAcronyms SWORD]].
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E7And8MaidOfHonor Maid of Honor]]", Vandal Savage attempts to use a space-based rail gun to aid his world domination.
** Project Cadmus employs "Damocles Class Missiles", which were used to fire directly into the space-based Watchtower of the League to preemptively start a war between superhumans. The use of them is explicitly because Cadmus felt they could not trust the league to continue to protect the people of the world.[[note]]If you're wondering why Cadmus is cripplingly paranoid, they discovered the [[BewareTheSuperman Justice Lords]] and realized there was no defense against such a scenario.[[/note]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' episode "[[Recap/TransformersPrimeS2E19TheHumanFactor The Human Factor]]", Silas (who at the time is a cyborg called [[{{Pun}} CYLAS]]) and Megatron pull a VillainTeamUp. Their EvilPlan is to use a KillSat called ''Damocles'' to kill the {{Token Human}}s. Earlier, it is revealed that Silas was discharged from the military for creating Damocles.

* The {{Trope Namer|s}} is the myth of Damocles and King Dionysius from ancient Greece. Damocles, a low commoner, held King Dionysios in high regard and was very supportive of his rule and life, thinking his life as a king and ruler must be the grandest of all. Hearing about this, Dionysios [[ATasteOfPower invited Damocles to dine with him as an equal]]. But when Damocles arrived, Dionysios had installed a sword just above Damocles' place in the room, hanging by a hair of a horse's mane. Despite being with his idol as an equal and surrounded by opulence on all sides, Damocles couldn't enjoy any of it, being so nervous about the sword hanging above his head that he couldn't eat, drink, or talk. At the end of the night, Dionysios asked Damocles if he enjoyed their meal, and Damocles answered that, in truth, it had been horrible and paranoia-inducing. To that, the king had one answer: "[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility Now you know how a king and tyrant feels every second of his life. Go home, and cherish your freedom.]]" The [[AnAesop moral of the story]] was that [[TheChainsOfCommanding being a king isn't all glamour and prestige; it's hard work]], and you'll make many enemies on your way to the top. At any moment, it could all come to a bloody end. This was the last story in a set of them, intended to convey another Aesop that "having power doesn't make you happy; being virtuous does."

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** ''Literature/BetweenPlanets'': The Circum-Terra space station has hundreds of nuclear missiles, enough to destroy any military force that threatened Federation control of Earth.
** ''Literature/SpaceCadet'': One of the Patrol's routine tasks is to maintain the string of satellite nuclear weapons orbiting Earth. Unlike ''Between Planets'', which involves TheWarOfEarthlyAggression, this is presented as UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. The protagonist however has to address the issue of whether he might be called upon to nuke his own hometown someday.
* Referenced in ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'', when referring to Uriel. Considering what Uriel is capable of, even with tinfoil hats and cruise missiles to stop him, this is not surprising.

[[AC:By Author]]
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein:
** ''Literature/BetweenPlanets'': The Circum-Terra space station has hundreds of nuclear missiles, enough to destroy any military force that threatened Federation control of Earth.
** ''Literature/SpaceCadet'': One of the Patrol's routine tasks is to maintain the string of satellite nuclear weapons orbiting Earth. Unlike ''Between Planets'', which involves TheWarOfEarthlyAggression, this is presented as UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. The protagonist however has to address the issue of whether he might be called upon to nuke his own hometown someday.
[[AC:By Work]]

* The closed-shop structure of North American sports leagues (no promotion/relegation system, so generally the same teams compete year to year; mutually-recognized territorial rights, so most cities, save really big ones like New York, only have one team in the local market) means that the only way a city without a team can get one is either get the league to grant an expansion franchise or entice a currently-existing team to relocate. With the Big Four leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) already having at least 30 teams each, relocation is generally considered the more likely path. This means that team owners have a large bargaining advantage when it comes to negotiating with the host city regarding stadium leases and ''especially'' public funding for new ones -- the sword over the city's head is the chance that the team may pack up and move. A particularly prominent example is the NFL between 1995 and 2015, when there were no teams in Los Angeles after the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders moved back to Oakland -- this time period was marked by varying degrees of subtlety about [=SoCal=] in public funding negotiations for stadium renovations or even entire new ones.[[note]]True, San Diego had the Chargers, but they're three hours away in a city that pales on a national scale to LA.[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Dionysius had [[JustForPun a point]] [[TheChainsOfCommanding to make]].]]

* In ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'', Muska takes control of Laputa for just this reason.
* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Schneizel's ultimate plan is to scare the world into peace by hanging a KillSat fortress armed with [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo the Geassverse's equivalent of nukes]] over their heads. Appropriately enough, the fortress is actually named Damocles.
** Unfortunately, he also plans to nuke any city that is currently at war. In other words, all of civilization will go back to the dark ages. Also, his character flaw is that he gets bored easily and might do a certain something ''unnecessarily sadistic'' just to cheer himself up...

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': The premise is about a notebook that can kill anyone with a public identity in any physically possible way, which is used by the protagonist Light "Kira" Yagami to make criminals (and anyone opposing the VillainProtagonist) literally drop dead and/or spend the last moments of their life under the complete control of a shadow dictator. While this drops the crime rate to near-zero and ends ''all'' wars, civilization under Kira becomes shallow and hypocritical due to the constant fear of being accused by their friends, family, and neighbors of harboring criminal or rebellious thoughts and then being killed by an invisible, all-powerful entity, or being killed by the entity for no reason at all while the rest of the world villainizes them posthumously.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'', this is why Frieza's minions have him revived — his empire has fallen apart in his absence, and they see him as the only way they'll be top dog again. It's a bit of an own goal, since he's [[BadBoss back to killing people who disagree with him]] almost immediately.

* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', the Yotsuba clan accidentally brought a PhysicalGod into existence. He was too dangerous to let live, but so ''[[StupidEvil useful]]'' that they didn't want to murder him, so they took a third option: brainwashing him into a MoralityChain. Unfortunately, the holder of that chain is mortal, and there's no way [[spoiler:Tatsuya]] [[ItOnlyWorksOnce will let them repeat the process]]. So the vast majority of Yotsuba are not ''happy'', even though they have unimaginable wealth and power; they know that someday the BarrierMaiden will die, and all the Earth with her. Even while she's young they have no peace, because they see [[spoiler:Tatsuya]] lurking in every shadow, an eternal reminder of their failure and greed.
* Literal Swords hang over the Kings' heads in ''{{Anime/K}}'', referred to InUniverse as "Swords of Damocles". They are manifestations of a King's power, and if Kings overextend their power and the Sword falls, large areas around them will be destroyed as well. When it gets close to this, the only way to prevent it is for the King to be slain - but it is difficult for one who is not a King to slay a King, and the burden of killing a King puts a huge strain on a King's sword... leading to something of a cycle [[spoiler: that two generations of Red and Blue kings have found themselves in]]. Both seasons of the anime have the possibility of this situation as a plot point.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the protection or threat of one of the Three Great Powers is used to control specific locations. Whitebeard's protection kept people from attacking even the weakest of his territories, Boa Hancock's membership in the Seven Warlords of the Sea protected her home of Amazon Lily, and the threat of a Marine Admiral, Buster Call, etc., kept certain laws and policies in place for the marines.
** The Three Great Powers are more of a delicately balanced UsefulNotes/ColdWar. The deterrent is their respective strengths. The Buster Call would fit with this trope more, though there is no one weapon in the series yet that keeps any sort of peace. On a smaller scale, things ''are'' protected using the threat of powerful individuals.

* There was a storyline in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', where Kang the Conqueror decides to invade Earth (again) in an attempt to train his son Marcus. His base of operations is a gigantic spacecraft shaped like a sword called Damocles.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Nite-Owl's Archimedes seemed to be intended to serve this purpose, and was used this way when there were riots in the streets. Though, as it was his ship, it wasn't exactly taken seriously.

[[folder:Fanfic]]
* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', [[spoiler:Captain T-Bone reorganizes the former [=CP9=] agents into "Jormungandr", which not only serve to assassinate the other Cipher Pol cells but also to kill a member of the New World Mason who chooses to stray from their morals and their original path of helping the world]].
* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. After WorldWarIII, Spacefleet has A-bomb platforms orbiting Earth to enforce peace. Agritech Keshari (an expy of Kes from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'') is slowly dying of radiation poisoning as she was CollateralDamage when Spacefleet nuked the palace of her ruling [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Khan]] to stop his genocidal intentions.

-->'''Alex:''' ''Not sure I can do that again. Burnt through my Biomass fast just keeping myself from collapsing under my own weight.''
-->'''Heller:''' ''But the idea alone you could wreck them by stepping on them should keep them at bay. Best weapon is the one you don't need to use, right?''

* In ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'', this is the intended effect of Preparation H.

* ''Film/InLikeFlint'': Gen. Carter schemes to load a space station with nuclear bombs instead of a weather laboratory (under the code name Project Damocles) and launch it into orbit around Earth.
* Tony Stark's exposition of his Jericho Missile in [[Film/IronMan Iron Man]] might be a variation of this; a weapon that only needs to be fired ''once''.
-->'''Tony Stark''': They say that the best weapon is the one that you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree! I prefer the weapon you only have to fire '''once'''. That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it... and it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves.

-->'''Rocky''': (Singing) The Sword Of Damocles is hanging over my head. And, I've got the feeling someone's gonna be cuttin' the thread.

** Referred to overall as the "Doom of Damocles." The "Doom" is applied to those wizards the White Council believes to be ''just'' shy of irredeemable, and can summed up as "One strike and you're out," or in other words, "do any BlackMagic at all whatsoever and you get beheaded by the Wardens." Note that this usage has little to do with this trope and is based on the original meaning of the term.

* ''[[Literature/HonorHarrington Mission of Honor]]'': When Honor shows up at [[spoiler:Haven to negotiate a peace treaty]], her fleet of superdreadnoughts in orbit are referred to as "an infinitely polite sword of Damocles".
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein
** ''Literature/BetweenPlanets''. The Circum-Terra space station has hundreds of nuclear missiles, enough to destroy any military force that threatened Federation control of Earth.
** ''Literature/SpaceCadet''. One of the Patrol's routine tasks is to maintain the string of satellite nuclear weapons orbiting Earth. Unlike ''Between Planets'' which involves TheWarOfEarthlyAggression, this is presented as UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. The protagonist however has to address the issue of whether he might be called upon to nuke his own hometown some day.

** "Countdown". When Albian legally demanded their independence, the Terran Federation placed a DoomsdayDevice on the planet and threatened to detonate it if they rebelled. The rebels try to seize the control room in a ''coup de main'', but it turns out the bomb itself is hidden elsewhere, and there's a RaceAgainstTheClock to find its location before it detonates.
** "Volcano". A race of pacifists threaten to detonate another DoomsdayDevice if any aggressor lands on their planet. The Federation decides to call their bluff. [[spoiler:It's not a bluff.]]
** Subverted in "Death Watch". President Servalan is serving as neutral arbiter between two systems, and has her battlefleet on 'routine maneuvers' near the border, "...a small demonstration of concern for my personal safety, which both sides understand and accept." However Avon realises that Servalan is plotting to have the two systems go to war, and it's actually an invasion fleet waiting to mop up the survivors.
* In Season 5 of ''Series/The100'' the Eligius prisoners are revealed to have a missile retrofitted with the [[{{Unobtainium}} Hythylodium]] they were send to mine for on asteroids which is even called the Damocles. The original plan was for Colonel Diyoza to hold the Earth hostage with the Damocles and demand for the prisoners to be pardoned for their crimes and allowed to return to their lives, a plan that became useless since, in the hundred years it took for the prisoners to return home, the Earth had suffered from the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. [[spoiler:In the season finale Paxton [=McCreary=] spitefully fires the Damocyles after it becomes clear that his forces can't win the war for Eden destroying the last habitable place on Earth and turning the planet into an irradiated husk.]]

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Assignment Earth". The U.S. is about to launch an orbital nuclear warhead platform. Gary Seven's mission is to make it malfunction to scare other nations into not using them.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': In the distant past, MadGod Sheogorath hurled a rogue moon at the newly built {{Egopolis}} of the Dunmeri [[PhysicalGod Tribunal Deity]] Vivec. Vivec saved the city by freezing the moon high above it, but then invoked this trope. He told his followers that the moon was held in place by their love for him, and that if they should stop loving him, it would fall. [[spoiler: He's not actually lying. Due in no small part to the player's actions in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', Vivec disappears early in the 4th era. Some temporary measures are enacted to keep the moon in place, including the use of [[PoweredByAForsakenChild a soul-burning machine]]. However, those attempts prove futile, and the moon falls with all ''of its original momentum'', causing [[ColonyDrop province-wrecking]] results. Years later, the waters where the city once stood are still boiling]].

* In ''VideoGame/FrontMissionEvolved'', [[spoiler: the main enemy is revealed to be a terrorist group known as The Sword of Damocles and they plan to use an orbital laser to keep the nations of the world under their thumb.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': In ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'', it turns out this is the exact purpose of the titular [[AntagonistTitle Guardians]], massive Forerunner war machines. A single Guardian has enough firepower to keep an entire solar system under control. At the end of the game, we see one of their weapons is an EMP burst strong enough to overwhelm an entire planet.
* At the end of the Imperial China chapter in ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', Ou Di Wan Lee reveals he always has a pair of assassins living behind his throne, with standing orders to attack ''him'' whenever they see fit. They're strong enough to kill him, and thus he must always remain on guard - this is how he stays strong enough to be a powerful martial artist. They also serve as a last line of defense when the Earthen Heart master wipes out Lee's inner circle.
* The infamous Spiny Shell (also known as the Blue Shell) in the ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' series serves this purpose, or rather, the threat of one. It is a weapon that seeks out the racer in 1st place and slams into them, causing an explosion that stops them cold for several seconds and, with a few exceptions, [[UnblockableAttack cannot be avoided]]. Everyone who has played ''Mario Kart'' games for long enough will feel on edge whenever they're ahead in case someone obtains a Spiny Shell. And in the games where other players' items are visible, such as ''Mario Kart DS'' and ''Mario Kart 8'', you can sometimes see people in the lead slam on the brakes and let people overtake them when they see someone get one, or spot the notification that one is barreling up the course to them. And this mechanic works very well--so well that most other kart racers [[FollowTheLeader have adopted similar weapons]]: the Ghost in ''VideoGame/SnowboardKids'', the Swarm in ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed]]'', the Blue Pac-Bomb in ''VideoGame/PacManWorldRally'', the Warp Orb in ''VideoGame/CrashTeamRacing'', etc.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' pretty much runs on this trope; set during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, the game's villain creates a series of bi-pedal nuclear tanks that, following an initial nuclear attack to prove its capabilities, grants the closest thing to peace through [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction mutually assured destruction.]] [[spoiler:It turns out that while the average human cannot bring themselves launch a nuclear weapon, an ''assembly'' can convince its members to push the button on someone else's orders, especially if the sword of damocles becomes actively visible.]]
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' creates a pair of Damocles swords on ''language'', which would effectively prevent war ''and'' peace; Skull Face created MiniMecha Metal Gears that can equip nuclear missiles, which he'd sell to anyone displaying cult behavior, while remote-disabling any of their nukes if they were used by an OmnicidalManiac. The other sword, the [[spoiler:vocal cord parasites]], can kill off anyone who tries to talk it out with their neighbors, and then spreads to kill their local friends and family. The end result would be that the entire world would fragment into independent states which are technically a united humanity, because they're unable to war against each other and are all similar by design; [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans they would]] ''[[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans all]]'' [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans be]] {{Cult}}s [[CrapsackWorld who internationally speak Nuclear, cannot speak anything else, and cannot invade or cooperate with other cults]].

* ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries Soul Calibur IV]]'' features "Critical Finishes", OneHitKill {{Finishing Move}}s that can only be used when your opponent's Soul meter is empty and yours is full. Since the Soul meter empties through blocking, they are clearly meant to discourage excessive blocking and are not meant to be seriously used.
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsRebellion'' has the Death Star act as this, as per the "Tarkin Doctrine." A Death Star's mere presence in a system causes a sector-wide boost to Imperial loyalty, and can quell uprisings just by [[ShameIfSomethingHappened orbiting the unruly planet in question.]] Actually [[EarthShatteringKaboom blowing up a planet with it]], however, is treated as crossing the MoralEventHorizon in-universe, costing the Empire support across the galaxy.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Xykon discusses this in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' prequel ''Recap/StartOfDarkness''; he would only have to unleash [[EldritchAbomination the Snarl]] once or twice as part of his bid for [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]], and fear of the Snarl would keep anyone from opposing him ever again.
* In [[http://unlevelednate.deviantart.com/art/Damocles-502680870 this]] comic, the Sword of Damocles is a talking ArtifactOfDoom which hangs over adventurers that find it, someday to fall and kill them, but first to drive them into despair and loneliness by its menace. [[spoiler:The girl who finds it is TooDumbToFool, and uses the Sword to fight evil and become a great hero. Will the Sword kill her? Yes, but [[CursedWithAwesome she will wield it for good until then]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' Villain Kang the Conqueror travels from the future in his ship, which, in his bid to conquer present-day Earth, is referred to as Damocles Base, and is shaped like a giant sword. After the Avengers have Kang arrested, Damocles finds use as a base for the intergalactic peacekeeping organization, [[FunWithAcronyms SWORD]].

** In "Maid of Honor", Vandal Savage attempted to use a space-based rail gun to aid his world domination.
** Project Cadmus employs "Damocles Class Missiles", which were used to fire directly into the space-based Watchtower of the League to preemptively start a war between superhumans. The use of them is explicitly because Cadmus felt they could not trust the league to continue to protect the people of the world[[note]]if you're wondering why Cadmus is cripplingly paranoid, they discovered the [[BewareTheSuperman Justice Lords]] and realized there was no defense against such a scenario[[/note]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', the Crime Syndicate has one they intended to use to control their alternate earth. It was even named Project Damocles.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' episode ''[[Recap/TransformersPrimeS2E19TheHumanFactor The Human Factor]]'', Silas (who at the time became a cyborg called [[IncrediblyLamePun CYLAS]]) and Megatron pull a VillainTeamUp. Their EvilPlan was to use a KillSat called ''Damocles'' to kill the {{Token Human}}s.
** Earlier, it is revealed that Silas was discharged from the military for creating Damocles.

* The TropeNamer is the myth of Damocles and King Dionysius from ancient Greece. Damocles, a low commoner, held King Dionysios in high regard and was very supportive of his rule and life, thinking his life as a king and ruler must be the grandest of all. Hearing about this, Dionysios [[ATasteOfPower invited Damocles to dine with him as an equal]]. But when Damocles arrived, Dionysios had installed a sword just above Damocles' place in the room, hanging by a hair of a horse's mane. Despite being with his idol as an equal and surrounded by opulence on all sides, Damocles couldn't enjoy any of it, being so nervous about the sword hanging above his head that he couldn't eat, drink, or talk. At the end of the night, Dionysios asked Damocles if he enjoyed their meal, and Damocles answered that, in truth, it had been horrible and paranoia-inducing. To that, the king had one answer: "[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility Now you know how a king and tyrant feels every second of his life. Go home, and cherish your freedom.]]" The [[AnAesop moral of the story]] was that being a king isn't all glamour and prestige; it's hard work, and you'll make many enemies on your way to the top. At any moment, it could all come to a bloody end. This was the last story in a set of them, intended to convey another Aesop that "having power doesn't make you happy; being virtuous does."
* The trope is also deployed in a more metaphorical sense during the annual state opening of Parliament in the United Kingdom. At Westminster, the British Monarch puts on his/her royal regalia in a room where the execution warrant of Charles I is prominently displayed-- just to remind His or Her Majesty who's the boss around here.
* This trope is the reason why the phrase of "MutuallyAssuredDestruction" exists. Advances in weapons technology, such as nuclear weapons, were ''supposed'' to bring about an end to armed conflict in the traditional sense. It.... well... KINDA worked....
** International relations studies term this the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stability%E2%80%93instability_paradox stability–instability paradox.]] Both sides having the ability to utterly annihilate one other severely limits the plausible range of actions both sides can take in international diplomacy. On one hand, it means no WorldWarIII because the big powers won't make moves with the intent to go to war (it is assumed that both sides value their own survival more than they do the destruction of the other). On the other hand, this same system means both sides find less direct ways to fight the other side (i.e., via proxy wars with third and fourth parties), in addition to all the smaller pre-existing grudges that otherwise-irrelevant parties have with one another which neither superpower can fully stop because the amount of power needed to get one side or the other to heel cannot be used without threat from the other superpower, who by and large cannot risk letting the first have its way.

* The inventor of the [[GatlingGood Gatling gun]], Richard Gatling, thought his invention would serve this purpose, hoping that such a terrible weapon would prevent wars. Or at least end them quicker; in those days, soldiers in prolonged conflicts tended to die from disease.
** He partially succeeded. [[GallowsHumor A smaller percentage of soldiers died from disease.]]
* The closed-shop structure of North American sports leagues (no promotion/relegation system, so generally the same teams compete year to year; mutually-recognized territorial rights, so most cities, save really big ones like New York, only have one team in the local market) means that the only way a city without a team can get one is either get the league to grant an expansion franchise or entice a currently-existing team to relocate. With the Big Four leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) already having at least 30 teams each, relocation is generally considered the more likely path. This means that team owners have a large bargaining advantage when it comes to negotiating with the host city regarding stadium leases and ''especially'' public funding for new ones-- the sword over the city's head is the chance that the team may pack up and move. A particularly prominent example is the NFL between 1995 and 2015, when there were no teams in Los Angeles after the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Raiders moved back to Oakland-- this time period was marked by varying degrees of subtlety about [=SoCal=] in public funding negotiations for stadium renovations or even entire new ones[[note]]True, San Diego had the Chargers, but they're three hours away in a city that pales on a national scale to LA[[/note]].

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/damocles_9992.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Dionysius had [[JustForPun a point]] [[TheChainsOfCommanding to make]].]]