Sports in St. Louis
The city of St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States is home to more than a dozen professional, semi-professional, and collegiate sports teams.
The St. Louis Cardinals, one of the oldest franchises in Major League Baseball (MLB), have won 11 World Series, second only to the New York Yankees' 27.
St. Louis has an extensive history in soccer, contributing at least one participant to each FIFA World Cup contested by the United States men's team.
The team plays at the 43,795-seat Busch Stadium (the third ground to bear that name), which has a view of the city's Gateway Arch.
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees James “Cool Papa” Bell, Willie “The Devil” Wells, and George “Mule” Suttles wore the St. Louis Stars uniform.
The franchise, St. Louis City SC, was initially expected to join in the 2022 season, but its debut was put off to 2023.
In its first season, City2 split its home schedule between Hermann Stadium at Saint Louis University and Ralph Korte Stadium at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, but all home games were moved to Energizer Arena (then CityPark) in 2023.
St. Louis has contributed at least one participant to each FIFA World Cup contested by the United States men's team.
Several recent American soccer players are from St. Louis, including Brad Davis, Chris Klein, Pat Noonan, Matt Pickens, Steve Ralston, Mike Sorber, Tim Ream, and Taylor Twellman.
Additionally, current Bosnia and Herzegovina player Vedad Ibišević attended high school in the city and played a season for SLU.
The Steamers averaged over 17,000 fans during their peak, outdrawing the St. Louis Blues NHL team.
Athletica played its home matches on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and later moved to Scott Gallagher Soccer Park in west county.
Club Atletico Saint Louis, a semi-professional soccer team, began play in 2018 after being founded as a youth clinic two years prior.
Following the Cup win in 1927 the team went on a sharp decline and in December 1933 rumors surfaced that the Senators would merge with the equally strapped New York Americans.
This information was denied by Ottawa club president Frank Ahearn, who had sought financial help from the league.
The Eagles would survive only one season, as the team continued to lose money due to high travel costs.
The American Division hosted the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks and the New York Rangers.
The team's first NFL game was on October 7, 1923, and it ended in a 0–0 tie as they played on the road against the Green Bay Packers.
St. Louis played at Sportsman's Park, a facility that also hosted both of the professional baseball teams in the city: the Cardinals and the Browns.
They won their first game against the Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers) 6–0, but lost the last two to the Detroit Lions (40–7) and the Green Bay Packers (21–14).
On January 13, 2016, it was announced that NFL owners voted 30–2 to allow Rams ownership to move the team back to Los Angeles for the 2016 season.
Cochems' star halfback, Bradbury Robinson, threw the first legal forward pass on September 5, 1906, in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College at Waukesha, Wisconsin.
[20] St. Louis was home to four prominent twentieth-century boxers: Sonny Liston, Henry Armstrong, and brothers Leon and Michael Spinks.
Saint Louis University (SLU) plays NCAA Division I sports as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
SLU men's soccer led the NCAA in average attendance in 1999, 2001, and 2003, drawing over 2,700 fans per match each season.
The Metro East region, across the Mississippi River in Illinois, is home to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), whose teams play as the SIU Edwardsville Cougars in the Division I Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
Men's soccer moved to the OVC when that conference began sponsoring the sport in 2023–24, while both swimming & diving programs were eliminated after that school year.
In April 2009, the Edward Jones Dome hosted the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship Final Four.
