United States cities with teams from four major league sports
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There are 12 United States cities (along with their corresponding metropolitan areas) with teams competing in each of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada: Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. These four leagues are sometimes referred to as the "Big Four",[1] in reference to their prominent position in North American sports.
Only the country's two largest metropolitan areas—New York and Los Angeles—have at least two teams in each major sports league.
Overview by metro area
[edit]
Italicized teams play outside the city limits of the metropolitan area's core city or cities; the specific location is given in parentheses. The core city or cities of a metropolitan area are identified in this reference.[2]
Cities formerly with teams in all four leagues
[edit]Atlanta, Cleveland, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Phoenix formerly hosted teams in all four major sports leagues simultaneously. Kansas City and St. Louis currently have two teams each, while the other cities have three.
- Atlanta had teams from all four sports (MLB’s Atlanta Braves, NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, and NHL’s Atlanta Flames) from 1972, when the expansion Flames began play, until 1980, when the Flames moved to Calgary. The city regained its four sport status in 1999, when the city was granted the Atlanta Thrashers as an NHL expansion team, but lost it again in 2011 when the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg. Atlanta is the only city to have lost four-sport status, regained it, and then lost it a second time.
- Cleveland briefly held four-sport status (MLB's Indians, NFL's Browns, NBA's Cavaliers, and NHL's Barons) from 1976 when the NHL's California Golden Seals moved to the city to become the Barons, only to lose it when the Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars (where the combined team would continue to play) in 1978. The Cleveland Browns relocation controversy left the city without an active NFL team from 1996 to 1999, with the NFL officially regarding the Browns as suspended.
- Kansas City had teams from all four sports (MLB's Royals, NFL's Chiefs, NBA's Kings, and NHL's Scouts) from 1974, when the expansion Scouts began play, to 1976, when the Scouts moved to Denver (and later to New Jersey). The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985.
- St. Louis was briefly a four-sport city (MLB's Cardinals, NFL's Cardinals, NBA's Hawks, and NHL's Blues) from October 1967, when the NHL expanded to the city, until 1968, when the Hawks moved to Atlanta.
- Phoenix was a four-sport city (MLB's Diamondbacks, NFL's Cardinals, NBA's Suns, and NHL's Coyotes) from 1998, when the Diamondbacks began play, until 2024, when the Coyotes franchise was suspended and the team's hockey operations moved to Salt Lake City.
Only two cities have played each other in the championship series of all four major North American sports leagues: St. Louis and Boston.[3] In baseball, the Cardinals met the Red Sox in the 1946, 1967, 2004, and 2013 World Series. In hockey, the Blues played the Bruins in the 1970 and 2019 Stanley Cup Finals. In basketball, the Hawks and Celtics met in the 1957, 1958, 1960, and 1961 NBA Finals. And in football, the Rams played the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI. (Note that because each major sports league's final generally has the champion from one conference against the champion from another conference, and conferences are often aligned based on geography, it is often not possible for teams from cities in the same region of the country to play each other in the final.)
Cities that have lost, then regained four-sport status are Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Per the above, Atlanta has also lost and regained four-sport status, but lost it again and does not currently have it.
- Boston had the Yanks of the NFL at the start of the four-major-sport era in 1946, along with the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and Braves. Four-sport status ended when the Yanks became the New York Bulldogs in 1949, and then resumed with the formation of the Boston Patriots (now the New England Patriots) in 1960.
- Chicago had a BAA/NBA team fold in 1950, then attracted an expansion franchise in 1961 only to see it move to Baltimore two years later. Chicago rejoined the four-sport club in 1966 with the expansion Bulls.
- Detroit had a charter franchise of the NBA (then called the Basketball Association of America) in 1946, but the Falcons folded after one season. Detroit rejoined the four-sport club when the Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit in 1957.
- Greater Los Angeles became a four-sport city in 1967 and remained so for 28 years. In 1993, it joined New York in having two teams in each of the four major sports (MLB's Dodgers and Angels, NFL's Rams and Raiders, NBA's Lakers and Clippers, and NHL's Kings and Mighty Ducks), but lost both of its NFL teams in 1995. The Rams moved back to Los Angeles in 2016, restoring the city to four-sport status. A year later, the city once again joined New York in having two teams from each of the four leagues with the arrival of the former San Diego Chargers.
- Minneapolis–St. Paul became a member with the arrival of the Minnesota Timberwolves as an expansion NBA franchise in 1989, only to see the NHL's North Stars depart for Dallas in 1993. The Twin Cities regained their status with the NHL's expansion Minnesota Wild in 2000.
- The San Francisco Bay Area had teams in all four sports from the NHL expansion in 1967 until the Seals left for Cleveland in 1976. It regained four-sport status when the expansion San Jose Sharks joined the NHL in 1991. (Oakland itself had teams in all four leagues from 1971 to 1976 – the Athletics, the Raiders, the Warriors, and the Golden Seals. The A's plan to move from Oakland to Las Vegas would leave the city with no major league sports teams.[4])
If the American Basketball Association (1967–1976) were considered a major professional sports league, three more cities would be former four-sport metropolises. Pittsburgh—home to the MLB Pirates, the NFL Steelers, and the NHL Penguins—also hosted the ABA's Pittsburgh Condors, originally called the Pipers, in 1967 and from 1969 until the team's demise in 1972. St. Louis would have regained four-sport status between 1974 and 1976, when the city was home to the Spirits of St. Louis. And Minneapolis–St. Paul would have been a four-sport city from 1967 to 1969, having hosted the ABA's Minnesota Muskies in 1967–68 and the Minnesota Pipers in 1968–69.
If the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) were considered a major league, Houston would have made the list; the Houston Aeros operated from 1972 to 1978, but were left out of the NHL-WHA merger negotiations and folded before the merger. Under the same assumption, Cleveland would have joined the four-sports club in 1972 with the arrival of the WHA Cleveland Crusaders, which were displaced in 1976 by the NHL's Barons.
If the ABA and WHA were both considered major leagues, then San Diego would have made the list from fall 1974 through fall 1975. Alongside the MLB Padres (since 1969) and the AFL/NFL Chargers (1961 to 2016), there were the ABA Conquistadors/Sails (1972–1975) and the WHA Mariners (1974–1977).
Fifth major league: Major League Soccer
[edit]Major League Soccer in the United States was founded in 1993, and has been active since 1996. Of the 12 metro areas with all Big Four teams, only Detroit lacks an MLS team.
Media/television market rankings are based on the official government designation from the Code of Federal Regulations.[5]
Italicized teams play outside the city limits of the metropolitan area's core city or cities; the specific location is given in parentheses.
Miami and the San Francisco Bay Area have lost and regained five-sport status. The former lost it in 2002 when the Miami Fusion folded, and the latter in 2006 when the San Jose Earthquakes moved to Houston to become the Dynamo. The Bay Area resumed being a five-sport city in 2008 when the Earthquakes were reactivated, Miami in 2020 with the arrival of Inter Miami CF.
Of cities that formerly held four-sport status, only Atlanta, Kansas City, and St. Louis have current MLS franchises. If the WHA is counted, Houston is also included in the figure. San Diego will be included as well in 2025 if both the ABA and the WHA are counted.
No Ohio city can claim five-sport (or four-sport) status, but the state itself can via Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus sports teams with the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati.
The debut of MLS's Toronto FC in 2007 gave Toronto five major professional sports teams, although its football team plays in the Canadian Football League.
See also
[edit]
- Multiple major sports championship seasons
- List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises
- List of major professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
Notes and references
[edit]- ^ production (2023-12-07). "How the Big 4 Sports Leagues are Growing Internationally". STN Digital. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ a b AdeptPlus. "Nielsen DMA 2021 Rankings". MediaTracks Communications. Archived from the original on 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
- ^ "A History of Boston vs. St. Louis Championship Meetings". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on May 14, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
- ^ Kroichick, Ron (November 16, 2023). "Oakland Pro Sports Dead At 63 as A's Abandon East Bay, Ending Era of Titles and Fun". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 16, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
- ^ "47 CFR 76.51 -- Major television markets". www.ecfr.gov. Retrieved 2024-12-03.