List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises


This is a list of metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada categorized by the number of major professional sports franchises in their metropolitan areas.

Major professional sports leagues

The major professional sports leagues, or simply major leagues, in the United States and Canada are the highest professional competitions of team sports in the two countries. Although individual sports such as golf, tennis, and auto racing are also very popular, the term is usually limited to team sports.
The term "major league" was first used in 1921 in reference to Major League Baseball, the top level of professional American baseball. Today, the major northern North America professional team sports leagues are Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League and the National Hockey League.
These four leagues are also commonly referred to as the Big Four. Each of these is the richest professional club competition in its sport worldwide. The best players can become cultural icons in both countries and elsewhere in the world, because the leagues enjoy a significant place in popular culture in the U.S. and Canada. The NFL has 32 teams, the NHL has 31 and MLB and the NBA each have 30. The most recent market to receive its first "Big Four" team is Las Vegas, Nevada, which saw the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights make their debut for the 2017–18 season.
Baseball, football and hockey have had professional leagues for over 100 years; early leagues such as the National Association, Ohio League and National Hockey Association formed the basis of the modern MLB, NFL and NHL respectively. Basketball is a relatively new development; the NBA evolved from the National Basketball League and its splinter group the Basketball Association of America, taking on its current form in 1949.
Other notable leagues include Major League Soccer and the Canadian Football League, both of which compare to the other four leagues in certain metrics but not in others. Every major league, including the CFL and MLS, draws 15,000 or more fans in attendance per game on average as of 2015. Therefore, this list includes a ranking by teams in the Big Four, and a separate ranking also including teams in the CFL and MLS, called the Big Six.

Metropolitan area

Though teams are listed here by metropolitan area, the distribution and support of teams within an area can reveal regional fractures below that level, whether by neighborhood, rival cities within a media market or separate markets entirely. Baseball teams provide illustrations for several of these models. In New York City, the Yankees are popularly dubbed the "Bronx Bombers" for their home borough and generally command the loyalties of fans from the Bronx, parts of Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, Long Island, parts of North Jersey and Westchester County, New York, while the Mets play in Queens and draw support from Queens, Brooklyn and parts of Long Island, revealing a split by neighborhood. The San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics represent rival cities within the Bay Area, a single media market. Though the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles share a metro area, their cities anchor separate media markets and hold distinctly separate cultural identities. In Los Angeles, the Lakers and Clippers share an arena and media coverage is split amongst different broadcasters in the metro area.
With the Vegas Golden Knights, based in the Las Vegas Valley, the 23rd largest market in North America, having joined the National Hockey League in 2017, the largest urban areas without a team in one of the big four leagues are the 32nd-ranked Austin region and the 37th-ranked Virginia Beach-Norfolk region. The smallest metropolitan area to have a Big Four team is Green Bay, which is the 146th largest metropolitan area, though much of its fan base is drawn from Milwaukee, which is 120 miles away and the 38th largest market. The smallest stand-alone metropolitan area to have a Big Four team is the 78th-largest market, Winnipeg, while the 54th-largest market, New Orleans, is the smallest metropolitan area to have more than one Big Four team.
Foxboro, Massachusetts, population 16,685 as of the 2010 Census, is a small town which hosts two major-league teams. Foxboro is considered part of the Boston metropolitan area, even though it is slightly closer to Providence, Rhode Island. In a comparable situation, the even smaller town of East Rutherford, New Jersey, population 8,913, hosts the New York Giants and New York Jets; the same city previously hosted the now-Brooklyn Nets, New Jersey Devils and now-New York Red Bulls. East Rutherford, although in a different state, is part of the New York City metropolitan area.

Teams by metropolitan area

The following list contains all metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada containing at least one team in any of the six major leagues. The number of teams in the big four leagues and the big six leagues, and the city's teams in the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and the Canadian Football League. No metropolitan area has teams in all six leagues, as NFL teams are exclusively in the United States and CFL teams are exclusively in Canada.
Metropolitan areaCountryPop.
rank		Population
B4NFLMLBNBANHLB6MLSCFL
New York CityUnited States120,153,634911
Los AngelesUnited States213,310,447810
ChicagoUnited States39,512,99956
San Francisco Bay AreaUnited States66,657,98256
Dallas–Fort WorthUnited States47,233,32345
Washington, D.C.United States76,131,97745
PhiladelphiaUnited States86,070,50045
Miami–Fort LauderdaleUnited States96,066,38745
BostonUnited States124,794,44745
Minneapolis–Saint PaulUnited States173,551,03645
DenverUnited States202,853,07745
PhoenixUnited States134,661,53744
DetroitUnited States144,297,61744
TorontoCanada105,928,04035
HoustonUnited States56,772,47034
AtlantaUnited States115,789,70034
Tampa BayUnited States193,032,17133
PittsburghUnited States282,342,29933
ClevelandUnited States332,055,61233
SeattleUnited States163,798,90223
CincinnatiUnited States302,165,13923
Kansas CityUnited States322,104,50923
NashvilleUnited States361,865,29823
United States212,807,00222
BaltimoreUnited States222,798,88622
CharlotteUnited States232,474,31422
Las VegasUnited States312,155,66422
IndianapolisUnited States352,004,23022
MilwaukeeUnited States371,572,48222
New OrleansUnited States451,268,88322
BuffaloUnited States471,132,80422
MontrealCanada154,098,92713
VancouverCanada242,463,43113
OrlandoUnited States252,441,25712
PortlandUnited States272,424,95512
ColumbusUnited States342,041,52012
CalgaryCanada391,392,60912
OttawaCanada421,323,78312
EdmontonCanada431,321,42612
Salt Lake CityUnited States461,186,18712
WinnipegCanada67778,48912
San DiegoUnited States183,317,74911
San AntonioUnited States262,429,60911
SacramentoUnited States292,296,41811
JacksonvilleUnited States381,478,21211
Oklahoma CityUnited States401,373,21111
MemphisUnited States411,342,84211
RaleighUnited States441,302,94611
Green BayUnited States318,23611
HamiltonCanada747,54501
ReginaCanada236,48101
Totals12332303031158269

;Notes

Teams by state/province/territory

The number of Big Six teams based on their home state is shown in the map below:
The number of Big Six teams based on their home state/province/territory is shown in the map below:
State
Province
Districts		Pop. rank
Big four
teams		NFLMLBNBANHLBig six
teams		MLSCFL
California11518
Florida3911
Texas2810
New York489
Pennsylvania778
Ohio868
Illinois656
Ontario548
Massachusetts1645
Colorado2445
Minnesota2345
Missouri2044
Arizona1744
Michigan1144
New Jersey1234
Washington, D.C.34
Georgia934
Tennessee1934
Maryland2133
North Carolina1033
Wisconsin2233
Alberta3024
Washington1523
Indiana1822
Louisiana2722
Nevada3522
Quebec1413
British Columbia2813
Oregon3112
Utah3712
Manitoba4712
Oklahoma3211
Kansas3801
Saskatchewan4801
34 states/provinces/districts12332303031158269

;Notes