List of North American cities by number of major sports championships
This is a list of cities in the United States and Canada that field or have fielded teams in the four North American major professional sports leagues, showing the number of league championships each city has won. The championships won are recorded for the cities only, not the individual franchises. When a team relocates to a new city, the number of championships won in the prior city remain with that city.
Championships counted are only from the dominant league or leagues in each of the four major North American team sports — football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey.
Football championships include All-America Football Conference, American Football League (the one beginning play in 1960) and National Football League (the one beginning play in 1920) champions up to the first Super Bowl season, and then only Super Bowl champions since. Baseball championships include champions from the 1914 and 1915 Federal League (determined by Major League Baseball's Special Baseball Records Committee to be a "major" league)[1]; American League and National League champions from the start of baseball's modern era — defined as 1893 by the Society for American Baseball Research[2] — up to the first modern World Series season (in 1903); the 1903 World Series champion; the American League and National League champions in 1904 (when there was no World Series); and then only World Series champions since. Basketball championships include those from the National Basketball Association; its forerunner, the Basketball Association of America; and the American Basketball Association (the one beginning play in 1967). Ice hockey championships include World Hockey Association champions and all teams who won the Stanley Cup since the end of the Challenge Cup era (ended March 1914[3]).
Cities that can claim no titles have been excluded from these rankings unless they are currently represented in at least one of the four major leagues, in which case they have a zero total.
Cities all time
Current through Super Bowl LIV
| Rank | City | State/Province | Country | modern major baseball[4] | NBA/ABA[5] | AAFC/NFL/AFL[6] | Stanley Cup/WHA[7][8] | 4 Major Sports Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City, Long Island and East Rutherford, New Jersey | New York/New Jersey | USA | 38 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 59 |
| 2 | Boston/Foxborough/Chestnut Hill | Massachusetts | USA | 14 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 44 |
| 3 | Chicago | Illinois | USA | 8 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 31 |
| 4 | Montreal/Westmount | Quebec | Canada | 0 | - | - | 26 | 26 |
| 5 | Los Angeles/Anaheim | California | USA | 6 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 22 |
| 5 | Detroit/Pontiac | Michigan | USA | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 22 |
| 7 | San Francisco Bay Area | California | USA | 7 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 19 |
| 7 | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | USA | 8 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 19 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | USA | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 19 |
| 10 | Toronto | Ontario | Canada | 2 | 1 | - | 13 | 16 |
| 11 | St. Louis | Missouri | USA | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 12 | Cleveland | Ohio | USA | 2 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 13 |
| 12 | Green Bay | Wisconsin | USA | - | - | 13 | - | 13 |
| 14 | Baltimore | Maryland | USA | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 12 |
| 15 | Washington, D.C./Landover | Maryland | USA | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 16 | Dallas/Arlington | Texas | USA | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 17 | Minneapolis/St.Paul | Minnesota | USA | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 17 | Miami/Sunrise | Florida | USA | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| 17 | Houston | Texas | USA | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 20 | Indianapolis | Indiana | USA | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 21 | Cincinnati | Ohio | USA | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 21 | Edmonton | Alberta | Canada | - | - | - | 5 | 5 |
| 21 | San Antonio | Texas | USA | - | 5 | - | - | 5 |
| 21 | Denver | Colorado | USA | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 25 | Kansas City | Missouri | USA | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 25 | Ottawa | Ontario | Canada | - | - | - | 4 | 4 |
| 27 | Newark/Harrison | New Jersey | USA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 27 | Winnipeg | Manitoba | Canada | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
| 27 | Seattle | Washington | USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 30 | Buffalo/Orchard Park | New York | USA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 30 | Milwaukee | Wisconsin | USA | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 2 |
| 30 | Tampa/St. Petersburg | Florida | USA | 0 | - | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 30 | Canton | Ohio | USA | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| 34 | Atlanta | Georgia | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | New Orleans | Louisiana | USA | - | 0 | 1 | - | 1 |
| 34 | Phoenix/Glendale | Arizona | USA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | Portland | Oregon | USA | - | 1 | - | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | Raleigh | North Carolina | USA | - | 0 | - | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Rochester | New York | USA | - | 1 | 0 | - | 1 |
| 34 | Syracuse | New York | USA | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| 34 | Victoria/Oak Bay | British Columbia | Canada | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Calgary | Alberta | Canada | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Louisville | Kentucky | USA | - | 1 | 0 | - | 1 |
| 34 | Salt Lake City | Utah | USA | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| 34 | San Diego | California | USA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 | Providence | Rhode Island | USA | - | 0 | 1 | - | 1 |
| 34 | Quebec City | Quebec | Canada | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Akron | Ohio | USA | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 34 | Vancouver | British Columbia | Canada | - | 0 | - | 1 | 1 |
| NR | Columbus | Ohio | USA | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NR | Orlando | Florida | USA | - | 0 | - | - | 0 |
| NR | Charlotte | North Carolina | USA | - | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
| NR | Oklahoma City | Oklahoma | USA | - | 0 | - | - | 0 |
| NR | Sacramento | California | USA | - | 0 | - | - | 0 |
| NR | Memphis | Tennessee | USA | - | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
| NR | Nashville | Tennessee | USA | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NR | Jacksonville | Florida | USA | - | - | 0 | - | 0 |
| NR | Las Vegas/Henderson/Paradise | Nevada | USA | - | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cities if counting only teams they retained
Although a franchise winning a title in a city is a memorable event, counting titles for teams that have left towns could be seen as unfair in two ways. Firstly, it is unlikely that anyone in, say, present-day Baltimore would root for the Colts against the Ravens. Likewise, those in Boston wouldn't root for the Braves in a World Series with the Red Sox, Minnesota likewise with the Lakers versus the Timberwolves and New York City with the Giants and Dodgers versus the Mets or Yankees. So, to credit cities like New York, Boston or Baltimore with having fans that enjoy, remember and cherish championships from teams they no longer root for and may in fact despise can be counterproductive. Secondly, the above all-time methodology somewhat rewards a city for "losing" a team that was likely not supported well enough to keep it.
(References for championship counts same as above.)
References
- https://books.google.com/books?id=4yDtlquCJiYC&pg=PA338&lpg=PA338&dq=%22special+baseball+records+committee%22+%22federal+league%22&source=bl&ots=lnjCsXBaNH&sig=ACfU3U0PVwSGhwyDU7JhlnfhZcQt72f0UA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwixs9bz97jqAhUFGDQIHUO_D5AQ6AEwBXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22special%20baseball%20records%20committee%22%20%22federal%20league%22&f=false
- https://books.google.com/books?id=QLZCJcgKdY0C&pg=PA408&lpg=PA408&dq=1893+sabr&source=bl&ots=fXjq0XL3dq&sig=ACfU3U1RvOoYl9AbTWk_8Q_hfh-TU6WtMQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjCyZTlsbbqAhUKl3IEHcAFBucQ6AEwAnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=1893&f=false
- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/stanley-cup
- https://www.baseball-reference.com
- https://www.basketball-reference.com
- https://www.pro-football-reference.com
- https://www.hockey-reference.com
- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/stanley-cup