Sports in the New York metropolitan area
[16] 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.
[21] The team most recently played at Mitchel Athletic Complex in suburban Uniondale, New York, in the third-division National Independent Soccer Association before going on hiatus in January 2021.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
[38] After the XFL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 13, 2020,[39] 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.
The primary fan base for the Rangers is in the city's five boroughs, Westchester County, lower Hudson Valley New York, western Connecticut, and Northern New Jersey.
Both teams have achieved famous results for their respective fan bases in playoff 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 NWHL, which rebranded as the Premier Hockey Federation in 2021, was purchased and dissolved in 2023 as part of an effort to create a new, unified North American women's professional league.
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.
[61] In 2018, Newsday selected the 10 most notable fights that took place in New York: Other fights of note include: 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.
[79] 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.
In 2006 over $1 million was spent to temporarily restore green complexes abandoned in 1996 and an 18-hole course was routed for a charity event that also promoted the island's opportunities.
Salisbury was a section of what is now known as Hempstead Plains, near Greater Westbury and East Garden City in Nassau County on Long Island.
[82][83] In 1824, as regional rivalries in the country were growing, the Union Course in Woodhaven, Queens offered a $24,000 prize for a race between top thoroughbreds American Eclipse, from the North, and Sir Henry, from the South.
Some tracks shut down permanently, but later a court ruled that oral betting was legal as the law only covered bookmakers, so activity continued.
Belmont Park's mile-and-a-half main track is the longest dirt Thoroughbred race course in North America,[87] and it has the sport's largest grandstand.
In the 1960s, there was a large migration to Long Island which resulted in high schools hiring a sizable number of teachers and coaches that coincidentally had college lacrosse backgrounds and the desire to build powerful programs.
Legendary driver Ralph DePalma served as the honorary starter for the race where the starting signal came from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Hyde Park home via Western Union Telegraph.
Amateurs also proliferated the area, and remain successful and influential in the sport, though professional rowing has been banned nationally for over a century because of corruption.
The Millrose Games is an indoor track and field meet that has been held on the first Friday in February at Madison Square Garden since the current site of the arena opened in 1968.
Van Cortlandt is the venue for the annual IC4A or Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (ICAAAA) cross country championships.
The franchise won the league championship in 1976 and 1977, and featured star players Billie Jean King, Virginia Wade, Sandy Mayer and Phil Dent.
[108] There is a thriving field hockey competition in New York City,[citation needed] played predominantly by European and Commonwealth expats.
[109] The New York Rangers have been longtime rivals with the Boston Bruins also due to the fact that both teams are members of the National Hockey League's Original Six franchises, but this has been eclipsed by the Metropolitan Division rivalries in recent years.
The rivalry has also spread to other teams not in the same league, The 1986 World Series between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox is considered a classic especially the 6th game and the famous Bill Buckner error.
Excelsior was a strong team throughout the season, bringing home two of the four stage titles and entering the post-season playoffs at the highest seed.
