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There are 13 U.S. cities with teams from four major sports, where "city" is defined as the entire metropolitan area, and "major professional sports leagues" as:
- Major League Baseball (MLB), in existence de facto since 1903
- National Football League (NFL), founded in 1920
- National Basketball Association (NBA), founded in 1946
- National Hockey League (NHL), founded in 1917
These principal cities are often said to have the "Grand Slam." New York, the largest metropolis in the country, is the only one with at least two teams in each major sports league in its metro area; see discussion below.
Overview by city
Teams that play outside the city limits of the metropolitan area's core city or cities are indicated in italics, followed by their locations of play. The year of the most recent championship that each franchise won while in its current metropolitan area is indicated in parentheses. The year since the metro area began its current spell of hosting four teams is also indicated under the "Since" column.
* = moving to Arlington, Texas in 2009
Analysis
Principal city versus metropolitan areas
Of these metropolitan areas, the only ones with a team in each sport that plays within the city limits of its principal city are Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, and Philadelphia. In the Twin Cities area, three of the teams play in Minneapolis and one plays in St. Paul, although all four teams are named after the state of Minnesota, not the individual cities. In the San Francisco Bay Area, all teams play in one of the region's three major cities (San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose). All other areas have at least one sport represented solely by teams that play in a city's suburbs.
Smallest population with all four
The metropolitan area with the smallest population to have at least one team in each of the four major sports is the Denver area, the 22nd largest in population, with 2,196,028 people as of 2000. Additionally, Colorado is the least populous state to have a team in each major sport. However, as Denver is the hub for a vast area of the Rocky Mountain region, the city's influence far exceeds its population ranking and therefore supports franchises in all four major professional sports.
Largest population without a team
The metropolitan area with the largest population to have no teams in any of the four major sports is Austin, Texas; the 16th most populated city in the country.
Largest population without all four
The metropolitan area with the greatest population not to have at least one team in each of the four major sports is the Greater Los Angeles Area, the 2nd largest in population, with 17,545,623 people. This area has two baseball teams (the Dodgers and Angels), two basketball teams (the Lakers and Clippers), two hockey teams (the Kings and Ducks), but has not had an NFL franchise since 1995, when both of its franchises relocated (the Raiders to Oakland and the Rams to St. Louis). Like New York, the Greater Los Angeles Area had 2 teams in each sport between the time the NHL awarded the expansion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (now the Anaheim Ducks) and the time of the departure of the Rams to St. Louis and the Raiders to Oakland. In 1999, the NFL wanted to grant its 32nd franchise to Los Angeles, but a workable ownership and stadium plan did not materialize, while Houston (which had lost its NFL franchise in a controversial relocation as well) did present such a plan and was awarded the Houston Texans franchise. Houston is the second-largest metropolitan area to not have a franchise in all four major professional sports; it lacks an NHL franchise.
Two of one of the four sports
The most common sport to have two separate teams within one metropolitan area is baseball, with multiple teams in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Boston, St. Louis and Philadelphia also had two baseball franchises, but one franchise from each city relocated in the 1950s. As of 2006, Philadelphia is the largest TV market not to share two baseball teams. Of all the cities with all four sports franchises, Philadelphia has waited the longest since their teams previous championship (76ers in 1983--see the Curse of Billy Penn).
Two of each of the four sports
The only area with at least two franchises in all four sports is New York, which is both the largest city and the largest metropolitan area in the United States. Five of the metro area's nine major-sports franchises play outside the city limits: the NFL's Jets and Giants, the NBA's Nets, and the NHL's Devils all play in New Jersey; the NHL's Islanders play on Long Island. However, all teams retain "New York" in their name except the Devils and Nets. See List of New York metropolitan area sports teams. New York is also the only city to host at least one team in each sport throughout the entire period MLB, the NHL, the NFL and the NBA have coexisted (1946 to the present).
Most recent with four sports
The most recent city to be added to this list is Washington, D.C., which, from the start of the 2005 baseball season, hosts the Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos. Washington had not had an MLB team since 1972, when the Senators moved to Texas (however, it could be argued that the Baltimore Orioles previously served as Washington's baseball team, since the cities of Baltimore and Washington are less than 40 miles apart. In fact, the Orioles' dependence on the Washington market was great enough that Orioles owner Peter Angelos received concessions from MLB in exchange for his permitting a new team in Washington).
States with all four but not in one metro area
Among those states that do not have any metropolitan areas with a "Grand Slam", only Ohio has teams in all four major sports, including 2 NFL and 2 MLB teams. New Jersey is the most populous state without representatives in all four major leagues operating within its territory, although North Carolina is the most populous state having none of its territory within a metropolitan area hosting teams in all four major leagues (it has three major league teams). While Northern Virginia residents have access to both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. sports teams, and southern Virginia residents have access to the Carolina Hurricanes, the one major-league team in the Raleigh-Durham area, Virginia remains the most populous state without a single big league team in any sport.
Canadian exception
Three of the four major leagues (MLB, the NBA and the NHL), have at least one team in Canada. Thus, although it is not a U.S. city, Toronto is notable because it has MLB, NBA, and NHL teams, plus a professional football team, the Toronto Argonauts. The Argonauts play in the Canadian Football League, which is currently an all-Canadian circuit, although the CFL had teams in the United States from 1993 until 1995. Calling the CFL a major league would be problematic since its lack of a U.S.-based team leaves it with a much smaller revenue base than the NFL. The possibility of an NFL team in Toronto, which is larger than many NFL cities, has been discussed [1], but since early 1997 an agreement between the NFL and CFL has precluded either league from placing a team within the borders of the other nation. Still, the Buffalo Bills are considering playing one or more regular-season games in Toronto's Rogers Centre in 2008, as the Bills' profits depend on a considerable Southern Ontario fan base [2].
Cities formerly with teams in all four leagues
Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta, St. Louis and Kansas City are the only metropolitan areas that hosted teams in all four major sports leagues, only to later drop out of the four-sport club.
- Detroit had a charter franchise of the NBA when it was called the Basketball Association of America at the start of the four-major-sport era in 1946. It folded after only one season; Detroit rejoined the 4-sport club permanently when the Fort Wayne Pistons relocated to Detroit in 1957.
- Chicago had one 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 4-sport club for good in 1966 with the expansion Bulls.
- The San Francisco Bay Area had teams in all four sports from the NHL expansion in 1967 until the Oakland Seals departed for Cleveland in 1976. It regained four-sport status when the expansion San Jose Sharks joined the NHL in 1991.
- Cleveland briefly held four-sport status when the Seals moved there in 1976 as the Cleveland Barons, only to lose it when the Barons merged with the Minnesota North Stars (currently the Dallas Stars) in 1978.
- St. Louis was briefly a four-sport city from the 1967 NHL expansion until the departure of the NBA Hawks to Atlanta the following year.
- Minneapolis-St. Paul became a member with the arrival of an NBA franchise in 1989, only to see the NHL's North Stars depart for Dallas in 1993, putting that city in the club. The Twin Cities regained their status with NHL expansion in 2000.
- Atlanta had all four sports from 1972-1980, only to see its NHL team move to Calgary, Alberta. Atlanta rejoined in 1999 with the expansion Thrashers.
- Kansas City had all four sports from 1974-1976, with the MLB's Royals, the NFL's Chiefs, the NBA's Kings, and the NHL's Scouts. After two unsuccessful years in Kansas City, the Scouts relocated to Denver (and later to New Jersey). The Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985.
As of 2007, Cleveland, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and St. Louis are the only cities to lose four-sport status without regaining it; of them, Kansas City is the only city to retain franchises in just two of the four leagues. If the American Basketball Association (1967-76) were considered a major professional sports league, an additional city would have made the list: Pittsburgh. In addition to the MLB Pirates, the NFL Steelers and the NHL Penguins; Pittsburgh also hosted the ABA's Pittsburgh Condors, originally called the Pipers, from 1967 until the team's demise in 1972. Similarly, if the ABA is counted, St. Louis would have regained four-sport status between 1974 and 1976, as the city was home to the Spirits of St. Louis. If the World Hockey Association (1971-78) were considered a major league, Houston would have made the list; the Houston Aeros operated throughout the WHA's existence from 1971 but were ultimately left out of the NHL-WHA merger negotiations and folded before the merger in 1978.
Soccer (MLS)
Major League Soccer is the fifth-largest professional club sports league in the United States by revenue and attendance. Of the 13 metro areas with teams in the four larger leagues, seven host MLS franchises as well. MLS teams that play outside city limits are indicated in italics, followed by their locations of play.
| Metropolitan Area | Population Ranking |
Since | MLB Team(s) | NFL Team(s) | NBA Team(s) | NHL Team(s) | MLS Team(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston, Massachusetts | 11 | 1996 | Red Sox (2007) | Patriots (2004) | Celtics (1986) | Bruins (1972) | Revolution (Foxborough, MA) |
| Chicago, Illinois | 3 | 1998 | White Sox (2005), Cubs (1908) |
Bears (1985) | Bulls (1998) | Blackhawks (1961) | Fire (1998; Bridgeview, IL) |
| Dallas, Texas | 7 | 1996 | Rangers | Cowboys (1995) | Mavericks | Stars (1999) | FC Dallas (Frisco, TX) |
| Denver, Colorado | 22 | 1996 | Rockies | Broncos (1998) | Nuggets | Avalanche (2001) | Rapids (Commerce City, CO) |
| New York, New York | 1 | 1996 | Yankees (2000), Mets (1986) |
Giants (1990), Jets (1968) |
Knicks (1973), Nets |
Rangers (1994), Devils (2003), Islanders (1983) |
Red Bulls (East Rutherford, NJ) |
| San Francisco Bay Area, California | 5 | 1991 | Athletics (1989), Giants† |
49ers (1994), Raiders (1980)‡ |
Warriors (1975) | Sharks | Earthquakes (2003; Santa Clara, CA) |
| Washington, D.C. | 8 | 2005 | Nationals | Redskins (1991) | Wizards (1978) | Capitals | DC United (2004) |
Chicago is the only metro area whose current teams have won championships in all five leagues. Los Angeles, which does not currently have 5-league status, has won championships in all five leagues: Anaheim Ducks (2007), LA Galaxy (2005), LA Angels (2002), LA Lakers (2002), and LA (now Oakland) Raiders (1983). One other metropolitan area with teams in the four larger leagues also previously held five-sport status: Miami (Miami Fusion). Of cities that once held four-sport status, only Los Angeles and Kansas City have current MLS franchises; none has had four-sport status since MLS operations began. Both of Los Angeles's MLS franchises play outside of city limits, in Carson. No Ohio city can claim five-sport (or four-sport) status, but the state itself can via Cleveland & Columbus (as well as Cincinnati) sports teams with the Columbus Crew. The debut of MLS's Toronto FC in 2007 gives Toronto five professional sports teams, although its football team plays in the Canadian Football League.
