Sports in New York City

Sports in the New York metropolitan area have a long and distinguished history. New York City is home to the headquarters of the National Football League, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the Women's National Basketball Association, National Women's Hockey League, and Major League Soccer.

The New York metropolitan area is one of only two metropolitan areas (along with Los Angeles) in the United States with more than one team in each of the country's four most popular major professional sports leagues, with nine such franchises. Counting these along with its two teams in Major League Soccer, the New York metropolitan area and media market is home to a total of 11 organizations competing in the five most prestigious professional sports leagues in the United States, and have been crowned champions of their respective leagues on a combined 54 occasions. As of 2019, five of the Metropolitan Area's nine "Big Four" franchises play their full schedules within the New York City limits. Baseball and football are the city's top sports followed.

In addition, Queens is host of tennis' US Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The New York City Marathon is the world's largest, and the 2004–2006 runnings hold the top three places in the marathons with the largest number of finishers, including 37,866 finishers in 2006. The Millrose Games is an annual track and field meet whose featured event is the Wanamaker Mile. Boxing is also a very prominent part of the city's sporting scene, with events like the Amateur Boxing Golden Gloves being held at Madison Square Garden each year.

New York City hosted portions of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 Goodwill Games. The 1984 Summer Paralympics were conducted in the city as well.

Major league sports

Current major league teams

The following New York metropolitan area sports teams play in one of the highest level major professional sports leagues in the United States:

There have been 14 World Series baseball championship series between New York City teams, in matchups called Subway Series. New York is one of four metropolitan areas to have two baseball teams (Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco being the others). 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 (now the San Francisco Giants) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (now the Los Angeles Dodgers). There are also two minor league baseball teams in the city, the Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones, with numerous independent minor league teams throughout the metro area.

Football is the city's most followed sport. The city is represented in the National Football League by the New York Giants and New York Jets. Both teams play in MetLife Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 2014, the stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVIII. The teams have an intra-city rivalry.

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. 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."

Ice hockey in New York is also widely popular and closely followed. The New York Rangers play in Manhattan in the National Hockey League, calling Madison Square Garden home. The New York Islanders, play in UBS Arena in Belmont Park. The New Jersey Devils also play in the New York metro area, playing in Newark, New Jersey affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, are based in southwest Connecticut.

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 NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League. The Red Bulls play their home games at Red Bull Arena 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 has plans to build a soccer-specific stadium within the five boroughs of the city and has developed 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 in the metropolitan area via relocation and have always been in direct competition with New York-based rivals, whereas the New York Red Bulls (MLS founding franchise once named New York/New Jersey MetroStars)–who have also always played in New Jersey–were the only major professional soccer team representing the metropolitan area during their first 19 seasons. The area's women's soccer club, NJ/NY Gotham FC, also uses the two sets of initials as the MetroStars once did, although listing New Jersey first (the governor of New Jersey is the club's primary owner).

Soccer

Professional soccer, as in the rest of the country, is rapidly growing in popularity in New York. The New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer (originally known as the "MetroStars" until the team's purchase by Austrian corporation Red Bull GmbH in 2006) have played in the metropolitan area since the league's founding in 1996. Since 2010 they have played at Red Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium in Harrison, New Jersey with a capacity of just over 25,000. The Red Bulls have won the Supporters' Shield, awarded to the MLS regular season champion, on three occasions, most recently in 2018.

On May 21, 2013, MLS announced that the league's 20th team would be New York City FC, jointly owned by the English club Manchester City F.C. and the baseball team, the New York Yankees. They began playing in MLS in 2015 at Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx. Its eventual home stadium is yet to be determined, although team and city officials have stressed that a location within the five boroughs of New York City will be identified for the construction of a soccer-specific stadium which would be the permanent home stadium for the team. They also became the first New York City area team to win the MLS Cup in 2021.

The New York City area was once home to the New York Cosmos (1970–1984), which was arguably the most popular American soccer team ever. Playing in the FIFA-backed, major professional North American Soccer League (NASL), the Cosmos were known for fielding some of the world's greatest players including Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto Torres, Johan Neeskens, and Giorgio Chinaglia. The acquisition of these foreign players, particularly Pelé, made the Cosmos into what Gavin Newsham called "the most glamorous team in world football", and contributed to the development of soccer across the United States. The club won the Soccer Bowl five times: 1972, 1977, 1978, 1980, and 1982. Soccer Bowl '78, which was held at Giants Stadium, saw a record crowd of 74,091 – the highest attendance to date for any club soccer championship in the United States. Cosmos road trips, described by traveling secretary Steve Marshall as "like traveling with the Rolling Stones", saw the team pack out each stadium it visited, while at home, the team attracted numerous high-profile celebrity supporters. While soccer had previously been largely ignored by the American press, the Cosmos and other NASL teams now became regular fixtures on the back pages. The NASL collapsed abruptly in late 1984, and was not replaced by a new professional soccer league until Major League Soccer's first season in 1996. A feature-length documentary about the New York club, called '' Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos'', was released in theaters in 2006. The film, narrated by Matt Dillon, featured interviews with many of the players and personalities involved with the team.

A second Cosmos club was founded in 2010, beginning play in a new second-division North American Soccer League, winning Soccer Bowl 2013 in the process. The team played its first four seasons at James M. Shuart Stadium at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York before moving to MCU Park in Coney Island in Brooklyn for 2017. The team moved back to Long Island, this time Mitchel Athletic Complex in suburban Uniondale, New York. The team most recently played in the third-division National Independent Soccer Association before going on hiatus in January 2021.

NJ/NY Gotham FC, known before 2021 as Sky Blue FC, is one of the eight charter teams and nine current members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the third women's professional league in the US. Since 2020, Gotham has shared Red Bull Arena with the New York Red Bulls after having played since 2009 in New Jersey at Yurcak Field on the main campus of Rutgers University. Its first NWSL season in 2013 ended in a playoff loss to the Western New York Flash. The organization had previously been charter members of NWSL's effective predecessor, Women's Professional Soccer. The league started play in 2009; Sky Blue became the league's inaugural champion despite finishing fourth in the league during the regular season, which meant that they had to play on the road in all three WPS playoff games. The defunct New York Power was the region's first professional women's soccer team, playing in the Women's United Soccer Association from 2000 to 2003.

Major League Soccer's headquarters are located in New York City, at 420 Fifth Avenue.

New York City was one of the host cities of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and will be one of eleven U.S. host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Baseball

In New York, baseball is still regarded as the most popular sport, despite being overtaken by football in terms of perceived popularity (but not attendance) throughout the country, as based on TV ratings and consistent fan following for the entire season. New York is home to two Major League Baseball franchises. The New York Yankees of the American League have played in New York since 1903. Known for iconic ballplayers such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and countless others, they play in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and have won the World Series 27 times, the most victories by any team in the four major North American professional sports leagues. The New York Mets have represented New York in the National League since 1962. The Mets play in Citi Field in Flushing, Queens and have won five NL pennants and two World Series, thus making them one of the most decorated expansion teams in Major League Baseball. The "Subway Series" is the name used for all regular season and World Series meetings between the two teams. Before interleague play was introduced in 1997, the only instance these two teams could have played each other would have been in the World Series. The Mets and Yankees played for the World Series in 2000, with the Yankees winning the series 4–1.

For many New York baseball fans, the most intense rivalry is between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, arguably the fiercest and most historic in North American professional sports. When the Mets beat the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series, many Yankee fans attended the parade celebrating the Mets' win, saying that "anyone who beats Boston is worth coming down for."

There have been 14 Subway Series World Series match-ups between the Yankees and their National League rivals; the Mets (once), and with the two teams that departed for California in the 1950s — the Brooklyn Dodgers (7 times) and New York Giants (6 times).

New York City is also home to one Minor League Baseball team, the Brooklyn Cyclones. They are the Mets High-A affiliate, playing in the High-A East. Two independent baseball league teams also play in the New York metropolitan area, with a third planned. The Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League have played in Bethpage Ballpark in Central Islip since 2000, and will be joined by a club playing in the city limits when the Staten Island FerryHawks begin play at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in 2022. In 2011, the New York Boulders, now of the independent Frontier League, began play at Clover Stadium in Pomona.

New York has historically had many short-lived baseball clubs including the New York Mutuals, Brooklyn Atlantics, Brooklyn Enterprise, Excelsior of Brooklyn and Brooklyn Eckfords of the National Association of Baseball Players; the New York Knickerbockers, one of the first baseball teams; the New York Metropolitans and Brooklyn Gladiators of the American Association (19th century); the New York Giants (PL) and Brooklyn Ward's Wonders of the Players' League; the Brooklyn Tip-Tops of the Federal League; the Brooklyn Bushwicks, Springfield Greys, Barton's Nighthawks, Glendale Farmers, Mount Vernon Scarlets, Union City Reds, Carlton's of the Bronx, and Bay Parkway, Bay Ridge, Cedarhurst, West New York, and Queens Club of The Metropolitan Baseball Association; and the New York Highlanders and Brooklyn Bridegrooms, precursors to the Yankees and Dodgers. There were also two Newark Bears teams Newark Bears and Newark Bears (International League). Negro league baseball teams also were present in New York, including the Brooklyn Royal Giants, Newark Stars, Lincoln Giants, Newark Browns, New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans, and the Newark Eagles.

In 1858 in Corona, Queens, at the Fashion Race Course, the first games of baseball to charge admission took place. The games, which took place between the all-stars of Brooklyn, including players from the Brooklyn Atlantics, Excelsior of Brooklyn, Putnams and Eckford of Brooklyn, and the All Stars of New York (Manhattan), including players from the New York Knickerbockers, Gothams (predecessors of the New York Giants), Eagles and Empire, are commonly believed to the first all-star baseball games.

Two historical clubs, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants, were among the most storied clubs in professional baseball, and were home to such players as Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. The two teams left for California—the Dodgers for Los Angeles and the Giants for San Francisco—in 1957. The city currently has two Major League Baseball teams, the Mets (who were formed in 1962 to replace the Dodgers and, to a lesser extent, the Giants), and the Yankees.

Major League Baseball's headquarters are located in New York City, at 245 Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Basketball

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 at Madison Square Garden. The NIT has spawned a major early-season tournament known as the NIT Season Tip-Off; the semifinal and final rounds of that event are also held at the Garden.

At Madison Square Garden, New Yorkers can watch the New York Knicks play NBA basketball. Through the 2017 WNBA season, the New York Liberty also played at the Garden, but that team's main home has changed twice since then. First, the team moved to Westchester County Center in White Plains in 2018. Then, after the team's 2019 purchase by the owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, the Liberty have moved to the Nets' home of Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2020.

The Nets began playing in Brooklyn in 2012, the first major professional sports team to play in the historic borough in half a century. Before the merger of the defunct American Basketball Association with the NBA during the 1976–77 season, the New York Nets, who shared the same home arena (Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum) on Long Island with the NHL's New York Islanders, were a two-time champion in the ABA and starred the famous Hall of Fame forward Julius Erving. During the first season of the merger (1976–77), the Nets continued to play on Long Island, although Erving's contract had by then been sold to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets transferred to New Jersey then next season and became known as the New Jersey Nets, and later moved to Brooklyn prior to the 2012–13 NBA season.

The Long Island Nets, an NBA G League team, started playing at the Barclays Center in 2016 before moving to Nassau Coliseum in 2017. The Westchester Knicks started in 2014 at the Westchester County Center.

Rucker Park in Harlem is a celebrated court where many NBA athletes play in the summer league.

The NBA's headquarters are located in New York City, at Fifth Avenue's Olympic Tower.

The New York Liberty are one of the original teams of the WNBA, which was formed in 1997. The team's main venue moved from Madison Square Garden to Westchester County Center after the 2017 season, and then to Barclays Center after the 2019 season. During a massive renovation project at the Garden between 2011 and 2013, the Liberty temporarily played their home games at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

From 1933 to 1935, the Newark Bears team played. They changed their name to the Newark Mules.

There was briefly a Long Island Ducks basketball team at the Long Island Arena in 1977–1978.

Long Island PrimeTime played at Louis Armstrong Gymnasium in Flushing from 2006 to 2007. They were part of the United States Basketball League.

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 (Manhattan) and Shea Stadium (Queens), and the Giants played in Yankee Stadium (the Bronx)). 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 (AFL), 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 (unrelated to the current New York Giants), and played in the predecessor to the NFL, the American Professional Football Association, in 1921. In 1926, the New York Yankees, Newark Bears (AFL) 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 (either the city or the state) 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 (former home of the New York Mets baseball team) 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 New York Guardians no longer play in the state.

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 (2002, 2003, 2004 IWFL East), 6 division titles (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 IWFL) and two championship titles (2002 IWFL, 2018 WFA). 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 (Women's Football Allianc

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.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey has a storied history and large following in the New York metropolitan area, which is unique in being the only metropolitan area and media market in the United States and Canada to feature three major league professional teams participating in the same sport. New York City is represented by the New York Rangers, playing at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The New York Islanders play at UBS Arena in the Nassau County community of Elmont. The New Jersey Devils play at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey franchises have won the Stanley Cup a combined eleven times, and they are historically division rivals, having played in the same division every season since the Devils relocated to the New Jersey Meadowlands from Denver in 1982. Currently, they play in the East Division (known as the MassMutual East Division for sponsorship reasons) after the NHL temporarily realigned the league to minimize travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rangers, established in 1926, are one of the Original Six — a term given to the six NHL teams in existence before the league doubled its size in 1967. The primary fan base for the Rangers is in the city's five boroughs, Westchester County, much of Upstate New York, and parts of Connecticut, however they maintain a sizable following within parts of the market claimed by their two local rivals.

The Islanders, established in 1972, opened the new UBS Arena, adjacent to Belmont Park and immediately across the Cross Island Parkway from Queens, for the 2021–22 season. The Islanders provide their fans with an intense rivalry with the Rangers, most of whom are based in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. The chosen location of their new home will also include a new full-time Long Island Rail Road station at Elmont, providing direct access from Penn Station and other points both in New York City and out east on Long Island. This will have the effect of connecting all three area NHL franchises with a single transfer at Manhattan's Penn Station (located beneath Madison Square Garden) necessary to reach Newark Penn Station (two blocks from the Devils' Prudential Center) from Elmont.

The Devils, established in 1982, provide area hockey fans with yet another intense rivalry involving the Rangers largely stemming from geographic proximity, a manifestation of a long-standing rivalry between the states of New York and New Jersey, and six playoff meetings in which the Rangers won the first three and the Devils have won two of the last three. Both teams have achieved famous results for their respective fan bases in these meetings, including the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, ending in a dramatic double-overtime goal by the Rangers' Stéphane Matteau during the 7th and deciding game. The Devils took a 3–2 series lead into Game 6 in New Jersey and jumped out to a 2–0 lead in the game. However, Mark Messier's famous guarantee and hat-trick led the Rangers to victory and a seventh game. As time wound down in Game 7, the Rangers were clinging to a 1–0 lead when New Jersey's Valeri Zelepukin tied the game with 7.7 seconds left in regulation to silence the Garden crowd and send the game into overtime, where Matteau won it for the Rangers. Most recently, in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers would be in a very similar scenario, but would ultimately fail to overcome the 3–2 series deficit after trailing 2-0 and forcing overtime in Game 6 across the Hudson River at Prudential Center in Newark on a series-winning goal only 1:03 into overtime by Adam Henrique. The Devils' primary fan base resides throughout Northern and Central New Jersey.

The Islanders and Rangers had a bitter rivalry in the 1970s and the 1980s, as the Islanders won four consecutive Stanley Cup titles; the Rangers won their most recent NHL championship in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, the fourth Cup victory in that team's history. The two teams have met eight times in the playoffs, with the Islanders winning five of those matchups. Incidentally, as the Islanders and Devils have had little success simultaneously (the Devils’ Stanley Cup success occurred in the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s) throughout their respective histories and have faced off in the playoffs only once in the 1987-88 season in a series won by the Devils, this rivalry is perceived as an afterthought in the area particularly when compared to the Rangers’ rivalries with the Islanders and Devils.

The Metropolitan Riveters, established in 2015, are one of the four charter members of the National Women's Hockey League. They play their homes games in the Barnabas Health Hockey House, at the Prudential Center in Newark beginning with the 2016–17 NWHL season. In 2017, the Riveters announced they were partnering with the New Jersey Devils becoming the first NWHL team to officially partner with an NHL team. In 2018, the Riveters won their first Isobel Cup title.

New York City also had a historical NHL team, the New York Americans (also known as the Amerks, and in 1941–42, the Brooklyn Americans), who played between 1925 and 1942. They were the first hockey team to play in the city, and for most of the life of the franchise shared Madison Square Garden with the Rangers. The franchise was never a big winner, and disbanded during World War II due to financial problems and a depleted roster. The World Hockey Association team called the New York Raiders and later the New York Golden Blades played at Madison Square Garden and Cherry Hill, New Jersey from 1972 until 1974 when they moved to San Diego. A few historical minor league hockey teams played in the New York area in the Eastern Hockey League. The New York Rovers started as a farm team of the Rangers in 1935 playing at Madison Square Garden. They moved to the Long Island Arena in 1959 and became the Long Island Ducks (ice hockey) until 1973. The New York Bobcats are a USA Hockey-Sanctioned Tier III Junior Ice Hockey Team at Twin Rinks in Eisenhower Park from 2000 to the present. The New York Apple Core are a Tier III Junior A Ice Hockey Team in Brewster, New York.

The NHL's headquarters are also located in New York City, at the Exxon Building in Sixth Avenue.

Major league professional championships

New York Yankees (MLB)

27 World Series titles
* 1923
* 1927
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1937
* 1938
* 1939
* 1941
* 1943
* 1947
* 1949
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1956
* 1958
* 1961
* 1962
* 1977
* 1978
* 1996
* 1998
* 1999
* 2000
* 2009

New York Mets (MLB)

2 World Series titles
* 1969
* 1986

New York Giants (MLB)

5 World Series titles
* 1905
* 1921
* 1922
* 1933
* 1954

Brooklyn Dodgers (MLB)

1 World Series title
* 1955

New York Cubans (NNL)

1 Negro World Series title
* 1947

New York Cosmos (NASL)

5 Soccer Bowl titles
* 1972
* 1977
* 1978
* 1980
* 1982

New York City F.C. (MLS)

1 MLS Cup title
* 2021

NJ/NY Gotham F.C. (NWSL)

1 Women's Professional Soccer title
* 2009

New York Giants (NFL)

4 NFL championships (pre–Super Bowl)
* 1927
* 1934
* 1938
* 1956

4 Super Bowl titles
* 1986 ( XXI)
* 1990 ( XXV)
* 2007 ( XLII)
* 2011 ( XLVI)

New York Jets (NFL)

1 Super Bowl title
* 1968 ( III)

New York Knicks (NBA)

2 NBA Finals titles
* 1970
* 1973

New York / Brooklyn Nets (NBA)

2 ABA Finals titles
* 1974
* 1976

New York Rangers (NHL)

4 Stanley Cup titles
* 1928
* 1933
* 1940
* 1994

New York Islanders (NHL)

4 Stanley Cup titles
* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983

Stadiums

Throughout the 20th century, the city has had several historic sports venues: the original Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 2008, before the team moved into their new stadium in 2009; Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1913 until 1957, which was torn down in 1960; and the Polo Grounds in northern Harlem, which was the home of the New York Giants of Major League Baseball from 1911 to 1957 (and the first home of the New York Mets) before being demolished in 1964. The Mets, who previously played at Shea Stadium, moved into the newly constructed Citi Field in 2009. Also the current Madison Square Garden, atop Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan, is actually the ''fourth'' separate building to use that name; the first two were near Madison Square, hence the name, and the third was at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.

The 2000s have seen almost a complete revamping of the area's major sporting venues. This began in 2007, when the Devils moved to Newark, New Jersey. In 2009, both the Mets and Yankees opened new baseball stadiums adjacent to their old homes, with the Mets replacing Shea Stadium with Citi Field and the Yankees building a new Yankee Stadium. In 2010, the Jets and Giants moved to a new shared facility called New Meadowlands Stadium (now MetLife Stadium) and the Red Bulls opened their own soccer-specific stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, called Red Bull Arena (the three had previously shared Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey). In 2012, the Nets moved from New Jersey to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and became the Brooklyn Nets. The Islanders left Nassau County, and followed the Nets into Brooklyn in 2015.

Other sports-related renovations and construction work is as follows:
* Madison Square Garden, the home of the Knicks and Rangers, underwent a massive renovation from 2010 to 2013 which finished in time for the 2013–14 NHL and NBA seasons. The $850 million transformation included a rebuilding of the seating bowl and concourses, new luxury suites, new LED scoreboard and ribbon boards, and two new spectator bridges that span above the arena on each side of the playing surface.
* On August 15, 2013, the Nassau County government announced that Forest City Ratner had won the bid for the renovation of the Nassau Coliseum, which was vacated by the Islanders in 2015, pending approval from the Nassau legislature and the Hempstead town government. Ratner's proposal called for a reduction of the Coliseum's seating capacity to 13,000 and an aesthetic revamp of the arena's interior and concrete facade designed by SHoP Architects, the firm which designed the Barclays Center, which would cost the group approximately $89 million. As part of his bid, the Islanders would play 6 games per season in the arena, the Brooklyn Nets would play one exhibition game, and a minor league hockey team would call the arena home.
* Previously Major League Soccer was spearheading the search for a new soccer-specific stadium within city limits for use by the 20th MLS expansion team. After narrowing the locations down to six, amongst them being Pier 40 in Manhattan, Greenpoint in Brooklyn and the area near Citi Field in Queens, the league zeroed in on the dilapidated Fountain of Industry site in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens in June 2012.https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303640804577491090757743910 Pro Soccer Nearing Net in Flushing The site was also previously discussed as a possible location for the New York Jets to build a stadium after their West Side Stadium project fell through, but the Jets opted to remain in New Jersey instead. However, the Flushing site faced opposition from local communities regarding the usage of park space, as well as the New York Mets, who play nearby, and the project is possibly dead. The New York City FC expansion team has since taken over the stadium search, with the Bronx as a possible location for a stadium.
* The Islanders eventually returned to Nassau County in 2021 with the opening of UBS Arena adjacent to the Belmont Park horse racing track in Elmont.

Other sports

Boxing

The sport of boxing came to the United States from England in the late 1700s and took root in the 1800s mainly in large urban areas such as Boston, New York City, and New Orleans. Initially boxing was viewed as illegal and many fights and fighters operated in secrecy to avoid arrest. The New York state legislature passed “An act to prevent Prize Fighting” in 1859. With the law, the act of boxing was not illegal in itself, but fighting for prize money was against public decency.

Most boxing matches of the early 1800s were conducted under the London Prize Ring Rules, which were based on a set of rules documented by English boxer Jack Broughton in 1743. A change in the rules occurred in the 1860s when Welsh sportsman John Graham Chambers wrote rules based on the use of padded gloves and got aristocrat and sportsman John Douglas, who held the title of the Marquess of Queensberry, to promote the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. The new rules came into use in the United States in the 1880s.

John L. Sullivan became the first American heavyweight champion in 1882 under the bare-knuckle rules and again in 1892 he became the first heavyweight champion of the gloved era. Sullivan trained for his initial heavyweight championship in Belfast, New York. By the end of the 19th century America was becoming the center of professional boxing. The sports economic incentive rose as popularity brought larger purses and commercial success. Sullivan's championships initiated a period of over 100 years of American dominance in the heavyweight class.

Boxing was again being banned in America in the early 1900s, and was mostly outlawed in New York state. A loophole allowed fights to take place in athletic clubs, so many bars became on-the-fly athletic clubs in order to host matches. The Walker Law, passed in 1920, regulated boxing in the state of New York. The law reestablished legal boxing following the three-year ban created by the repeal of the Frawley Law. On December 14, 1920, Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion, appeared at Madison Square Garden, knocking out Bill Brennam in the 12th round. The fight drew one of the largest crowds the arena had experienced in that period.

In 2018, ''Newsday'' selected the 10 most notable fights that took place in New York:
*Jack Dempsey KO 2 Luis Ángel Firpo, Sept. 14, 1923, Polo Grounds. Dempsey's fifth title defense; over 80,000 watched him defeat the Argentinian.
*James J. Braddock W 15 Max Baer, June 13, 1935, Madison Square Garden Bowl. Braddock, a 10-1 underdog, defeated the heavyweight champion.
*Joe Louis KO 1 Max Schmeling, June 22, 1938, Yankee Stadium. World War II on the horizon, the second fight between Louis and the German Schmeling is remembered as one of the major sports events of the 20th century.
*Joe Louis KO 13 Billy Conn, June 18, 1941, Polo Grounds. Behind after 12 rounds, Louis rallied to win.
*Rocky Marciano TKO 8 Joe Louis, Oct. 26, 1951, Madison Square Garden. Marciano, who was 27, defeated Louis, who was 37.
*Floyd Patterson KO 5 Ingemar Johansson, June 20, 1960, Polo Grounds. Patterson became the first former heavyweight champion in history to regain his title.
*Joe Frazier W 15 Muhammad Ali, March 8, 1971, Madison Square Garden. The fight was billed as “The Fight of the Century”.
*Muhammad Ali W 15 Ken Norton, Sept. 28, 1976, Yankee Stadium. The third fight of their trilogy.
*Lennox Lewis draws with Evander Holyfield, March 13, 1999, Madison Square Garden. A heavyweight title unification bout between WBA-IBF champion Holyfield and WBC champion Lewis.
*Deontay Wilder KO 9 Artur Szpilka, Jan. 16, 2016, Barclays Center. Brooklyn had not hosted a heavyweight title fight in 115 years.

Other fights of note include:
*Sugar Ray Robinson unanimous decision over Jake LaMotta, October 2, 1942, Madison Square Garden
*Joey Maxim KO of Sugar Ray Robinson, June 24, 1952, Yankee Stadium
*Marciano's Last Fight (vs. Archie Moore), September 21, 1955
*Muhammad Ali's First MSG Fight ( Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Banks), February 10, 1962, Madison Square Garden
*Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier, January 28, 1974, Madison Square Garden
*Mike Tyson's First MSG Fight (vs. Mitch Green), May 20, 1986, Madison Square Garden
*Bernard “The Exeuctioner” Hopkins defeated Félix Trinidad for the Undisputed Middleweight Championship, September 29, 2001, Madison Square Garden.

The Daily News Golden Gloves Tournament started in 1927 when The New York Daily News took title and ownership of a citywide amateur boxing tournament with matches taking place at Madison Square Garden.

The first film ever made outdoors in New York was produced in 1895. Woodville Latham and his sons Otway and Gray Latham had invented the Eidoloscope projector, running very crudely like a film projector today. The Latham brothers had debuted test images to the press. But their real test of this device was to film something live and then display it a short time later. So on May 4, 1895, the brothers filmed a boxing match on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden, then on 27rd Street and Madison Avenue. The competitors were ‘Battling’ Charles Barnett and Young Griffo, a legendary Australian boxer.

Cricket

The Staten Island Cricket Club, established in 1872, is the longest continuously operating cricket club in the United States. The New York Metropolitan Cricket League (MCL), established in 1890, is one of the oldest cricket leagues in the country. The MCL conducts matches in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Nassau County.

Fencing

The New York area is home to many competitive fencing clubs. Fencers Club offers all three weapons (épée, foil and saber), Manhattan Fencing Center offers foil and saber, and New York Athletic Club offers épée and saber.

National Fencing Club Rankings (NFCR) is an independent organization that provides the fencing community with objective, accurate and in-depth rankings of fencing club performance in the U.S. New York metropolitan clubs in their Top 100 ranking include: 5T Fencers Club, Atlantic Fencing Academy, Bergen Fencing Club, Brooklyn Bridge Fencing Club, Brooklyn Fencing Center, Cobra Fencing Club, Escrimeur Fencers Club, Fencers Club, Fencing Academy of Westchester, Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy.

Carl Borack, a fencer from Staten Island, participated in the 1972 Summer Olympic Games. The Fencers Club claims to have trained or included more National Champions and Olympic Medalists than any other club in the United States.

Golf

The Saint Andrews Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, organized in 1888, is a founding member of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is considered the oldest continuously operating golf club in the United States. Opening in 1895, Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course is America's oldest public golf course. Richmond County Country Club on Staten Island along with North Shore Towers and Country Club in the borough of Queens are the only private country clubs in New York City. Golfing greats Bobby Jones (1921 and 1930) and Ben Hogan (1953) were honored with ticker-tape parades down the Canyon of Heroes, after their British Open triumphs.

With its headquarters in Far Hills, New Jersey

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