Boston, Massachusetts, is home to several major professional sports franchises. They include the Red Sox (baseball), the Celtics (basketball, in the state where the sport was invented), and the Bruins (ice hockey). The New England Patriots (American football) and the New England Revolution (soccer) play at Gillette Stadium in the nearby suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Boston is one of eleven U.S. cities to have teams from the five major American professional team sports.
Several Boston-area colleges and universities are also active in college athletics including: Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard. The city is also home to prestigious sports events such as the Boston Marathon and the Head of the Charles Regatta.
Sports are a major part of the city's culture (as well as the culture of the Greater Boston area). Boston sports fans are known for their fanatical devotion to the Red Sox and knowledge of the team's history. 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. Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, is the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball (MLB) and holds a legendary status among baseball fans. Within the same era, what is now the world's oldest existing indoor multi-sports facility – today's Matthews Arena, primarily used by Northeastern University's college sports teams – first opened in 1910, only -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.
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. The Patriots and Revolution both own Gillette Stadium, the Red Sox own Fenway Park, and TD Garden is owned by Delaware North, owner of the Bruins. The Celtics rent TD Garden from Delaware North. This is not the case for teams in the most prominent women's leagues—Boston Fleet, the region's representative in the Professional Women's Hockey League, plays at the Tsongas Center, owned by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and the National Women's Soccer League's future Boston Legacy FC is set to start play in 2026 in White Stadium, owned by Boston's public school district.
Major league professional teams Current teams Club League Sport Venue Founded Championships New England Free Jacks MLR Rugby Union Veterans Memorial Stadium 2018 3 MLR titles Boston Red Sox MLB Baseball Fenway Park (37,500) 1901 9 World Series Boston Bruins NHL Ice hockey TD Garden 1924 6 Stanley Cups Boston Celtics NBA Basketball 1946 18 NBA titles New England Patriots NFL Football Gillette Stadium 1960 6 Super Bowls New England Revolution MLS Soccer 1995 0 MLS Cups; 1 Supporters' Shield Boston Legacy FC NWSL Soccer 2023 0 NWSL Challenge Cups; Boston Fleet PWHL Ice hockey Agganis Arena 2023 0 Walter Cups; Boston Hunters WPBL Baseball Robin Roberts Stadium 2023 0
Former teams Club League Sport Venue (capacity) Founded Dissolved Championships Boston Braves MLB Baseball Braves Field (40,000) 1871 1952 1 World Series Boston Bulldogs NFL Football 1929 1929 Boston Redskins Fenway Park (35,000) 1932 1936 Boston Yanks 1944 1948 Boston Rovers NASL Soccer Manning Bowl (21,000) 1967 1967 Boston Beacons Fenway Park (33,375) 1968 1968 Boston Minutemen Alumni Stadium (30,000)Nickerson Field (15,000) 1974 1976 New England Tea Men Foxboro Stadium (60,000) 1978 1980 New England Whalers WHA Ice Hockey Boston Garden (14,448) 1972 1974 1 Avco World Trophy
Major league professional championships
Boston Red Sox (MLB) 9 World Series titles 1903 1912 1915 1916 1918 2004 2007 2013 2018
Boston Braves (MLB)
1 World Series title
1914
New England Patriots (NFL) 6 Super Bowl titles 2001 (XXXVI) 2003 (XXXVIII) 2004 (XXXIX) 2014 (XLIX) 2016 (LI) 2018 (LIII)
Boston Celtics (NBA) 18 NBA Finals titles 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1968 1969 1974 1976 1981 1984 1986 2008 2024
Boston Bruins (NHL) 6 Stanley Cup titles 1929 1939 1941 1970 1972 2011
New England Whalers (WHA) 1 Avco World Trophy 1973
21st century success
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 (, , , and ), two by the Celtics ( and ), 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), four by the Patriots (Super Bowls XLII (2007), XLVI (2011), LII (2017), and LX (2026)), two by the Bruins (2013, and 2019) and two by the Celtics ( and ). The recent sporting success of their teams has given rise to the city's moniker as the "City of Champions",bostonsportsextra.com/new-england-patriots/2018/01/boston-city-champions and "Titletown".
In the 2000s, Boston's professional teams had what was argued to be the most successful decade in sports history, winning six championships (three by the Patriots: 2001, 2003, 2004; two by the Red Sox: 2004, 2007; and one by the Celtics: 2007–08), while also appearing an additional five times as league finalists (4x by the Revolution, 1x by the Patriots). Additionally, their teams have completed their regular seasons with the best record five times in their respective leagues (3x by the Patriots: 14–2 in 2003, 14–2 in 2004, 16–0 in 2007; 2x by the Celtics: 66–16 in 2007–08, 62–20 in 2008–09).
In the 2010s, their professional teams rivaled their 2000s achievements, winning six additional championships (three by the Patriots: 2014, 2016, 2018; two by the Red Sox: 2013, 2018; and one by the Bruins: 2010–11), while also appearing an additional six times as league finalists (2x by the Patriots, 2x by the Bruins, 1x by the Celtics, and 1x by the Revolution). 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).
In the 2020s, the Celtics won a championship in 2024, while also appearing an additional time as a league finalist in 2022. Additionally, Boston's professional teams have completed their regular seasons with the best record four times in their respective leagues (two presidents' Trophies by the Bruins: 100 PTS in 2019–20, 135 PTS in 2022–23; one Supporters' Shield by the Revolution: 22–5–7 in 2021; 1x by the Celtics: 64–18 in 2023–24).
When the Bruins won the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, the city of Boston became the first city in the 21st century to have at least four of its major professional league teams win a league championship, and became the first city to have championships in four major professional leagues within a ten-year span, accomplishing this feat in a span of six years, four months, and nine days (from the Patriots' championship win on February 6, 2005, to the Bruins' championship win on June 15, 2011). Los Angeles would accomplish this same feat in 2022. The New York metropolitan area would also have championships in each of the four sports, accomplishing that in 2026, albeit over a span of 23 years. This sporting achievement was what Dan Shaughnessy of Sports Illustrated dubbed as Boston completing the "Grand Slam of North American sports." From 2010-2024, at least one of Boston's five major pro sports teams has played in the final four of their respective sports playoffs, MLB's ALCS, NFL's AFC Championship Game, or the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA, NHL, and MLS in every year. Since 2002, duck boats provided by Boston Duck Tours have been used as Boston's championship parade vehicles, starting with the New England Patriots after the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI over the St. Louis Rams. 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. While much of the parade routes over the years consisted of the duck boats staying on land, some featured them traversing both the land and across the Charles River.
Soccer
According to American folklore, Pilgrim fathers observed a form of soccer called pasuckuakohowog that was played by Native Americans along the Massachusetts coast as early as 1620, the earliest observance of soccer of any form in what is currently the United States.
In 1862, The Oneida Football Club in Boston was the first organized team to play any kind of "football/soccer" in the United States. It was founded by Gerrit Smith "Gat" Miller, a graduate of the Latin School of Epes Sargent Dixwell, a private college preparatory school in Boston, who grew tired of the chaotic, disorganized, and very violent games that arose from different schools, as well as the rule variations of soccer that existed as a by-product of no formal rules for the game during that era. Miller organized other recent preparatory school graduates from relatively elite public (state) schools in the area, such as Boston Latin School and the English High School of Boston to join this team that played their games at Boston Common. Between 1862 and 1865, playing against other pickup teams within Boston's collegiate community, the Oneidas never lost a match. Like American football historians, soccer historians trace the origins of their sport in the region to the Oneida Football Club and their brand of football that they played called the "Boston Game", which was a hybrid of both sports today that featured a rounded ball that could be kicked, carried, and thrown. The Boston game would go on to be introduced to Yale University, Columbia University, Cornell University, and Boston's Harvard University. 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.
In 1924, the Boston Soccer Club was formed and played in the professional American Soccer League, which comprised teams based in the northeastern U.S. region. 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.
Bert Patenaude and Billy Gonsalves, both inductees of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and natives of Fall River, Massachusetts, played for the U.S. men's national team at the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 (hosted in Uruguay). Patenaude scored the first hat-trick in World Cup history. The USMNT finished in third place.