Sports in Boston

However, in recent memory Boston is now known as an American football town, as the Patriots have long seized the title as the most popular team in New England, according to surveys.

[3][4][5] Within the same era, what is now the world's oldest existing indoor multi-sports facility[6] – today's Matthews Arena, primarily used by Northeastern University's college sports teams – first opened in 1910, only 1⁄4-mile (400m) away from the original home field of the Red Sox – and is where on December 1, 1924, the Boston Bruins played their first NHL regular season game.

[7] The Greater Boston region is the only city/surrounding area in American professional sports in which all facilities for men's teams are privately owned and operated.

Since the turn of the century, Boston's professional sports teams have won 13 championships: six by the Patriots (Super Bowls XXXVI (2001), XXXVIII (2003), XXXIX (2004), XLIX (2014), LI (2016), and LIII (2018)), four by the Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018), two by the Celtics (2008 and 2024), and one by the Bruins (2011).

Their sports teams have also appeared an additional 12 times as league finalists: five by the Revolution (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2014), three by the Patriots (Super Bowls XLII (2007), XLVI (2011), and LII (2017)), two by the Bruins (2013, and 2019) and two by the Celtics (2010 and 2022).

Additionally, their teams have completed their regular seasons with the best record four times in their respective leagues (2x by the Patriots: 14–2 in 2010, 14–2 in 2016; one Presidents' Trophy by the Bruins: 117 PTS in 2013–14; 1x by the Red Sox: 108–54 in 2018).

As a result of this recent practice, the catch phrase "cue the duck boats" has been used whenever a Boston sports team has won a championship in advance of its celebratory parade.

This hybrid form of football, that would evolve into what is now American football, would eventually adopt codified rules based primarily on those established for English rugby, gained prominence and acceptance within the college circles, and upper-class status, relegating the uncodified "soccer" variety of the game to working-class status, that was adopted by the immigrant communities that brought along their soccer customs and traditions with them to the region.

In 1923, the world's first indoor soccer league with 11-a-side teams on a full-sized field opened the winter season at the Commonwealth Cavalry Armory in Boston.

The team was later renamed the Boston Bears in 1929 and played for an additional few seasons before the league folded in 1933 due to the Great Depression in the United States.

The club's nickname "Revolution" refers to the New England region's significant involvement in the American Revolutionary War that took place from 1775 to 1783.

[29] Notable footballers who played in Boston include Portuguese legend Eusébio, and U.S. national team members: Taylor Twellman, Clint Dempsey, Alexi Lalas, and Billy Gonsalves (a native of Fall River, Massachusetts and was nicknamed the "Babe Ruth of American Soccer" during his career).

The list of Celtics who are members of the Basketball Hall of Fame include, among others, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, Sam Jones, Nate Archibald, original owner Walter Brown, and longtime coach and team president Red Auerbach, who worked for the team until his death in 2006 at age 89.

Longtime announcer Johnny Most was also honored by the Basketball Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award.

After finishing with a record of 24–58 in 2006–07, the team acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett from the Seattle SuperSonics and Minnesota Timberwolves, respectively, to aid longtime Celtics star Paul Pierce make up one of the best defensive and offensive lineups in NBA history.

With help of up-and-coming Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and head coach Doc Rivers the team once again made history by winning the 2008 NBA Finals and their 17th championship against long-time rivals the Lakers.

The Bruins, founded in 1924, were the first American member of the NHL and an Original Six franchise, and have won six Stanley Cups, most recently in 2011, when they defeated the Vancouver Canucks in seven games.

The Boston Pride were a charter franchise of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and its most successful team, winning three Isobel Cup titles.

The NWHL, which rebranded as the Premier Hockey Federation in 2021, was purchased and ultimately dissolved in 2023 as part of an effort to create a new, unified North American women's professional league.

[40] In the inaugural season, Boston Fleet made it to the finals competing for the Walter Cup, but lost to Minnesota Frost in Game 5.

There have been many legendary players on the team including Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs, Jim Rice, Pedro Martínez, Roger Clemens, and David Ortiz.

The Boston Braves, operated in the National League from 1871 to 1952 before relocating to Milwaukee, and finally moving to their current home, Atlanta.

[43] The first professional National Football League (NFL) franchise in the city was the Boston Bulldogs, who only played a single season (in 1929) since relocating from Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

To round out the change, Marshall hired William "Lone Star" Dietz, who was thought to be part Sioux, as the team's head coach.

In fact, the 1936 NFL Championship Game was moved to the Polo Grounds in New York City due to apathy and low support in Boston.

Both times they selected a quarterback from the University of Notre Dame: Angelo Bertelli (1944) and Frank Dancewicz (1946), both Massachusetts natives.

From 1971 to 2002, the team played at Foxboro Stadium in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts which is located 22 miles (45 km)[44][45] southwest of downtown Boston.

Largely due to the stadium issue, the Patriots are the only football team in the Boston area's sporting history to survive more than five years.

The Boston 13s founded in 2009, play in the North Conference of the USA Rugby League, they won the USARL National Championship in 2015.

The Bruins have also been longtime rivals with the New York Rangers due to the fact that both teams are members of the NHL's Original Six franchises, a group that also includes the Maple Leafs and Canadiens.