The Best Sports City in North America? - It's Boston!
When considering which city can rightfully lay claim to being the best sports city in North America, New York City almost immediately pops into everyone's mind. New York sports teams have won the most championships of any city in North America (47 in all).
When you look at it a little bit closer, however, New York may not be able to rightfully claim the title "Best Sports City in North America". New York currently has, and has had throughout its history, the most sports teams of any North American city. One would expect a city with that many teams to have won a few championships over the years. When you remove the New York Yankees from the equation - yes, I know that they are the most successful sports franchise in the history of professional sports - but, for the sake of argument let's look at New York without the Yankees. Without the Yankees' 26 championships, New York's sports accomplishments look much more modest (the 21 remaining championships would rank them third on the list of most championships).
So if we were to rule out New York, who else then, could lay claim to the "Best Sports City in North America"? A case could be made for Montreal, third on the list of most championships with 26. Even more impressive is that all of their championships have been garnered in a single sport - hockey (24 by the Canadiens, and 2 more by the Montreal Maroons). But it is the one dimensional nature of their championship accomplishment, impressive though it may be, that should eliminate them from consideration.
Where, then, does that leave us? It leaves us in the Bay State in the City of Boston. Boston is second on the list of cities with the most championships with 31. More impressive is that Boston's teams have won numerous championships in all four of the major North American sports (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey). Boston's major sports teams rank at or near the top of each of their respective sports for the most championships (see below).
- Boston Red Sox - 3rd with 7 World Series Championships
- Boston Celtics 1st with 16 NBA Championships
- New England Patriots - 4th (tie) with 3 Super Bowl Championships
- Boston Bruins - 4th (tie) with 5 Stanley Cup Championships
When you compare this to New York:
| Sport | Boston | New York |
|---|---|---|
| Baseball | Boston Red Sox - 3rd | New York Yankees - 1st New York Mets - 13th (tie with 6 other teams) |
| Basketball | Boston Celtics - 1st | New York Knicks - 7th (tie with 4 other teams) |
| Football | New England Patriots - 4th (tie with 4 other teams) | New York Giants - 8th (tie with 3 other teams) New York Jets - 11th (tie with 7 other teams) |
| Hockey | Boston Bruins - 4th (tie with 1 other team) | New York Rangers - 6th (tie with 3 other teams) New York Islanders - 6th (tie with 3 other teams) |
The Boston team rankings range from 1st through 4th, while the New York team rankings range from 1st through 13th. Each city has a team that has the most championships in their respective sport (the Celtics and the Yankees). After that, Boston ranks 4th in football versus 8th and 11th for the Giants and Jets, and 4th in Hockey versus a tie for 6th for the Islanders and the Rangers. The average championship rank for New York's teams is over 7 while the average rank for Boston's teams is 3rd.
One final way of looking at this issue is the average number of championships per team. Boston's 4 current teams* have a collective 30 championships, or an average of 7.5 per team. New York's 7 current teams collectively have 41 championships for an average of 5.8 per team.
Clearly, both are great sports cities, but when it comes who is the "Best Sports City in North America", the answer is (drum roll please) - Boston, Massachusetts.
* Current teams refers to the number of teams in the four major sports - baseball, basketball, football, and hockey.
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