Sports in the New York metropolitan area


The New York metropolitan area is one of only two in the United States with more than one team in each of the "Big Four" major professional sports leagues, along with two in Major League Soccer. New York metropolitan area sports teams have been crowned champions of their respective leagues on 69 occasions. American football, baseball and basketball are the city's most-followed sports.
New York City is the headquarters of Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, the National Women's Soccer League, and the Women's National Basketball Association.
It hosts the US Open, one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the New York City Marathon, the world's largest. The Millrose Games is an annual track and field meet whose featured event is the Wanamaker Mile. Boxing is also prominent, with events like the Amateur Boxing Golden Gloves being held at Madison Square Garden each year.
New York City hosted the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the 1998 Goodwill Games and the 1984 Summer Paralympics.

Major league sports

The following New York metropolitan area sports teams play in one of the highest level major professional sports leagues in the United States:
LeagueTeamVenueLocationFoundedTitlesLocal Cable Network
Major League BaseballNew York MetsCiti FieldQueens, New York19622SNY
Major League BaseballNew York YankeesYankee StadiumBronx, New York190127YES Network
Major League SoccerNew York City FCYankee StadiumBronx, New York20131Apple TV+
Major League SoccerNew York Red BullsSports Illustrated StadiumHarrison, New Jersey19950Apple TV+
National Basketball AssociationBrooklyn NetsBarclays CenterBrooklyn, New York19672YES Network
National Basketball AssociationNew York KnicksMadison Square GardenManhattan, New York19462MSG Network
National Football LeagueNew York GiantsMetLife StadiumEast Rutherford, New Jersey19258MSG Network
National Football LeagueNew York JetsMetLife StadiumEast Rutherford, New Jersey19601SNY
National Hockey LeagueNew Jersey DevilsPrudential CenterNewark, New Jersey19823MSG Sportsnet
National Hockey LeagueNew York IslandersUBS ArenaElmont, New York19724MSG Sportsnet
National Hockey LeagueNew York RangersMadison Square GardenManhattan, New York19264MSG Network
National Women's Soccer LeagueGotham FCSports Illustrated StadiumHarrison, New Jersey20063Paramount+
Professional Women's Hockey LeagueNew York SirensPrudential CenterNewark, New Jersey20230ESPN
USL Super LeagueBrooklyn FCMaimonides ParkBrooklyn, New York20230SNY
Women's National Basketball AssociationNew York LibertyBarclays CenterBrooklyn, New York19971YES Network

There have been 14 World Series baseball championship series between New York City teams, in matchups called Subway Series. New York is one of three metropolitan areas to have two baseball teams. The city's two current Major League Baseball teams are the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. The city also was once home to the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. There is also one Minor League Baseball team in the city, the Brooklyn Cyclones, with numerous independent minor league teams throughout the metro area.
Basketball is one of the most widely played recreation sports in the city, and professional basketball is also widely followed. The city's National Basketball Association teams are the long-established New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, who became the first sports team representing Brooklyn in over 50 years when they moved to the borough from New Jersey for the 2012–13 NBA season. The city's Women's National Basketball Association team is the New York Liberty, who won the 2024 WNBA Finals, the first college or pro basketball team from the New York City area to win a championship since 1973, when the Knicks won. The first national basketball championship for major colleges, the National Invitation Tournament, was held in New York in 1938, and its semifinal and final rounds remain in the city. Rucker Park in Harlem is a celebrated court where many professional athletes play in the summer league. Because of the city's strong historical connections with both professional and college basketball, the New York Knicks' home arena, Madison Square Garden, is often called the "Mecca of basketball."
Football is the city's second most followed sport, behind baseball. Football is actually the second most popular sport in the suburbs and the most popular when it includes upstate New York as well. The city is represented in the National Football League by the New York Giants and New York Jets. Both teams play at MetLife Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 2014, the stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVIII. The teams have an intra-city rivalry.
Ice hockey in New York is also widely popular and closely followed. There are three National Hockey League teams in the metro area. The New York Rangers play in Manhattan, calling Madison Square Garden home. The New York Islanders play in UBS Arena in Elmont. The New Jersey Devils also play in the New York metro area, playing in Newark, New Jersey. The Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, are based in southwest Connecticut. As of 2024, New York Sirens of the Professional Women's Hockey League share the New Jersey Devils' home arena.
In soccer, New York is represented by three teams in the top divisions for men and women, including the New York Red Bulls and New York City FC of Major League Soccer, and Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League. The Red Bulls play their home games at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, as does Gotham FC. New York City FC, a new team owned by Manchester City F.C. and the New York Yankees, joined MLS in 2015. NYCFC, which plays most home games at Yankee Stadium with a secondary home venue at Citi Field, has plans to build a soccer-specific stadium in Queens and instantly develop an intra-city rivalry with the Red Bulls.
Regardless of where they actually play their home games, most of these teams carry the name of and represent the entire city or state of New York, except for the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, who play in and specifically represent the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and the NHL's New Jersey Devils, who have played their home games in New Jersey since their founding. The New York Red Bulls – who have also always played in New Jersey – were the only major professional soccer team representing the metropolitan area during their first 19 seasons, and the region's second MLS club, New York City FC, deliberately staked its identity to actually playing in the city, drawing its colors from the city flag and even featuring the flag itself on its uniforms. The area's women's soccer club, Gotham FC, also uses the two sets of initials as the MetroStars once did, although listing New Jersey first.

American football

Since 2010, both the New York Giants and the New York Jets play in MetLife Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 miles from New York City. In 2014, the stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVIII. The Giants and Jets were previously located in New York City; both teams played in the Polo Grounds and Shea Stadium, and the Giants played in Yankee Stadium. Neither team plays in the city itself presently, as both teams are located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, playing in Giants Stadium for many years before moving to MetLife Stadium. The Giants, a keystone NFL franchise, were founded in 1925, and exist today as one of the oldest presently active organizations in the NFL. Founded in 1960, the originally named New York Titans, later branded as the Jets in 1963, were a charter member of the American Football League, joining the NFL as part of the AFL/NFL merger in 1970.
New York City also had many historical professional teams. The first professional team in New York was called both the New York Giants and Brooklyn Giants, and played in the predecessor to the NFL, the American Professional Football Association, in 1921. In 1926, the New York Yankees, Newark Bears and Brooklyn Horsemen played in the American Football League, and on the same year, the Brooklyn Lions played in the National Football League before the Horsemen and Lions merged in November and folded at season's end. The Lions' NFL franchise rights were given to the Yankees, who competed in the NFL from 1927 to 1928. When the Yankees folded, its rights were given to the existing barnstorming team Staten Island Stapletons, who played in the NFL until 1932 when it stopped league play and later folded as well.
In 1930, the NFL Brooklyn Dodgers began play at Ebbets Field. The team lasted until 1944, calling themselves the Brooklyn Tigers that last season but going winless. In 1945, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks and played one more home game in Brooklyn that season as the Yanks.
Another team going by the name New York Yankees played in the second AFL in 1936 and 1937. The league also had a Brooklyn Tigers club in 1936, but the team never played in Brooklyn and folded after only seven games. A third incarnation of the Yankees played in the third AFL in 1940 under the Yankees name, and then in 1941 as the New York Americans. Another version of the New York Yankees was a short-lived member of the American Association
In 1946, the new All-America Football Conference had yet another set of Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees teams. These clubs lasted until 1948, after which they merged with each other. The renamed Brooklyn-New York Yankees folded after one season when the AAFC merged with the NFL.
The New York Bulldogs were founded in 1949, sharing the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants, and then being renamed as the New York Yanks and playing in the NFL in the 1950 and 1951 seasons. In 1952, the team was relocated to Texas and renamed as the Dallas Texans.
In 1974, New York briefly hosted a team known as the New York Stars for the short-lived World Football League, but in mid-season the team was relocated to Charlotte and became the Charlotte Hornets.
The short-lived United States Football League had a team in the New York area. The New Jersey Generals played at Giants Stadium in The Meadowlands from 1983 to 1985. At one point, the team was owned by future President Donald Trump. The team folded with the rest of the league.
In 1988, the New York Knights played for one season as part of the Arena Football League, and then ceased operations. In 1997, the AFL added two expansion franchises, the New York CityHawks, who played at Madison Square Garden, and the New Jersey Red Dogs, who played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The CityHawks moved to Hartford, Connecticut and were renamed the New England Sea Wolves in 1999, and then relocated to Toronto in 2001, and renamed the Toronto Phantoms. The Red Dogs were renamed the New Jersey Gladiators in 2001, then relocated and became the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2003, before relocating again and being renamed the Cleveland Gladiators. When the Sea Wolves, who were owned by the Madison Square Garden Company and had their games televised in New York City on MSG Network, relocated to Toronto, the AFL's Iowa Barnstormers relocated to Long Island and were renamed the New York Dragons. The Dragons played in New York until 2008, when the league suspended operations; no team from New York played in the league from its 2010 revival until the Albany Empire, based in the state's capital, joined the AFL in 2018.
The Jets are sometimes regarded as "Long Island's Team" supported by the fact that until 2008, the team trained in Hempstead at Hofstra University, and used to play at Shea Stadium which is close to Nassau County. Statistically, the largest percentage of the Jets fanbase derives from Long Island, hence, the Jets generally receive more media coverage in that part of New York. Fans of both the Giants and Jets traditionally root for both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets as well as both the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA and also both the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders of the NHL.
Two attempts by Vince McMahon at creating a competing football league, both named the XFL, have been attempted in the New York metropolitan area. The first XFL league was created as a joint venture between World Wrestling Entertainment and NBC in 2001, had the New York/New Jersey Hitmen playing at Giants Stadium for the only season they played before the league folded. The New York/New Jersey Hitmen finished in third for the XFL Eastern Division for the season they played. In 2020, the New York Guardians of the newly revived XFL began playing at MetLife Stadium. After the XFL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 13, 2020, citing the premature suspension of their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Guardians moved to Orlando, Florida and the league no longer has a New York team.
Along with New York's two NFL teams, the New York metropolitan area is home to the New York Sharks women's football team. The New York Sharks are NYC's premier professional women's tackle football team. Established in 1999 the Sharks are the longest-running and most decorated team in women's tackle football having won 3 conference titles, 6 division titles and two championship titles. The Sharks play at many fields and have no official home stadium. The season for women's football is from April to June with playoffs and the championship game occurring from June to July. As of 2011 the Sharks are now with the WFA along with the Bay Area Bandits, Boston Militia, Chicago Force, Dallas Diamonds, DC Divas, Kansas City Tribe, Pittsburgh Passion, and the San Diego Surge in an effort to bring together the best franchises of women's football.
The NFL's headquarters are located in New York City, at 345 Park Avenue in Manhattan.