The Oldest Pro Sports Teams In America
Sport is one of America's favorite pastimes. Whether that's football, ice hockey, basketball—despite being invented by a Canadian—or baseball, we love it! But where did it all begin for some of the most famous sports teams? Let's examine the oldest sports teams in each state. We have omitted states that do not (or have never had) a professional sports team.
Arkansas: Arkansas Travelers
While Arkansas has no professional baseball teams, they do have a minor-league baseball team known as the Arkansas Travelers.
Arizona: Phoenix Suns
The oldest professional sports team in Arizona is the Phoenix Suns. The NBA basketball team was founded in 1968 and was the first major professional sports franchise in the entire state. They were spearheaded by founder and entrepreneur Karl Eller, who defied traditional logic at the time. Even the then-NBA commissioner said that Phoenix was "too hot, too far away and too small" to be considered a good location for a franchise.
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California: San Francisco 49ers
In California, the San Francisco 49ers were founded in 1944 as a founding member of the All-American Football Conference (AAFC). The 49ers are named after the thousands of people who came to California as part of the California gold rush of 1849. The team celebrated their 80th year in business this year.
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Colorado: Denver Broncos
Now playing in the NFL, the Denver Broncos were first established in Denver, Colorado in 1959 in the American Football League. Fun fact: The University of Colorado Boulder has an older team than the Broncos—the Buffaloes—established in 1890.
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Connecticut: Hartford Whalers
Now-defunct, the Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, CT. They played in the NHL from 1979 to 1997, when the team relocated to North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes.
Florida: Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins were founded in 1966 by actor and comedian Danny Thomas and Joe Robbie, an attorney and politician. The team originally played in the American Football League between 1966 and 1970, until it became the National Football League. The Dolphins have a non-professional rival for the "oldest sports team in Florida"—the Florida State Seminoles, founded in 1902.
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Georgia: Atlanta Braves & Falcons
Georgia founded not one, but two professional sports teams in 1966: the Atlanta Braves, playing baseball in the MLB, and the Atlanta Falcons, playing football in the NFL. The Atlanta Hawks, the other pro sports franchise in Atlanta, were founded in 1946, but in Buffalo, New York and played as the Buffalo Bisons in the National Basketball League.
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Idaho: Idaho Steelheads
The Idaho Steelheads are a professional ice hockey team, based in Boise, Idaho, that plays in the East Coast Hockey League as an ECHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The team were founded in 1997, after an expansion of the West Coast Hockey League was announced. The WCHL folded into the ECHL in 2003 and all teams were amalgamated into one league.
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Illinois: Chicago Cubs
Before they became the Chicago Cubs, they were known as the Chicago White Stockings and were a founding member of the National League—the first professional baseball league in the United States in 1876. They became the Chicago Cubs in 1903. In 2016, when the Cubs won the World Series, they ended a 108-year drought without a championship.
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Indiana: Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts were founded in 1944 under the name of the Baltimore Colts, in Baltimore, Maryland. But, when the NFL expanded in 1953, the team was relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana. They became the Indianapolis Colts and last won a Super Bowl Championship in 2007.
Iowa: Iowa State Cyclones
While Iowa has no professional sports teams to cheer for, the Iowa State Cyclones were founded in 1892 at Iowa State University and are the oldest college team in the state, second to the Iowa University Hawkeyes, which came to be in 1899.
Kansas: Kansas City Chiefs
Founded some 65 years ago in 1959, the Kansas City Chiefs were a charter member of the American Football League in 1959, then playing as the Dallas Texans. Moving to Kansas City in 1969, the team kept its original name (one of the few to do so), and then began playing in the National Football League after the NFL/AFL merger of 1970. On February 11, 2024, the Chiefs won back-to-back Super Bowl Championships on an overtime touchdown in the first Super Bowl to be held in Los Angeles.
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Louisiana: New Orleans Saints
Sponsored by the city of New Orleans, John W Mecom Jr, and David Dixon, two businessmen founded the New Orleans Saints on November 1, 1966, joining the NFL as an expansion team in 1967. Despite winning the Super Bowl in 2009, for the first 20 years of their time in the NFL, they were among the worst teams, never finishing with a winning record.
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Massachusetts: Boston Red Sox
Technically, the oldest sports team in Massachusetts is the Holy Cross Crusaders, playing for the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA—but for major professional sports, we'll go with the 1901-founded Boston Red Sox. Arch-rivals of the New York Yankees, the Red Sox were one of the MLB's eight founding franchises. They have played all of their home games at Fenway Park since 1912.
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Maryland: Baltimore Orioles
Established in 1894, the Baltimore Orioles were one of the founding members of the American League professional baseball league in the United States. Despite now being known as the Baltimore Orioles, they began life in Milwaukee as the Brewers, then moved to St Louis as the St Louis Browns. Only in 1953, after the team was purchased by Baltimore-based attorney and civic activist Clarence Miles, did the team become the Baltimore Orioles.
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Michigan: Detroit Tigers
Another founding member of the American League was the Detroit Tigers. First established in 1894 as a minor-league Western League team, the Detroit Tigers are the only Western League team still based in their original city. They're the oldest continuous one-name, one-city team in the American League and the oldest sports team in Michigan.
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Minnesota: Minnesota Vikings
First established in 1960 as an expansion team in the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings began playing in their first NFL season in 1961. They've enjoyed fantastic success over the last 64 years, but despite being the team with the most conference championship appearances, the Vikings have never made it to a Super Bowl.
Missouri: St Louis Cardinals
Founded in St Louis, Missouri in 1882, the Cardinals are among the oldest professional baseball teams in the United States. The Cardinals began life as the Brown Stockings in 1875, playing in the now-defunct National Association. In 1876, Cardinals' player George Bradley pitched the first ever no-hitter in league history. In 1877, the Cardinals were expelled from the National League after a game-fixing scandal. They returned in 1882 as the St Louis Cardinals.
Nevada: Las Vegas Golden Knights
One of the most recent professional sports teams to come to fruition in the United States is the Las Vegas Golden Knights, an NHL team who began playing professional in 2017 as an expansion franchise within the NHL. They were rivalled in their bid to become a team within the NHL by the Quebec Nordiques, a revived professional team out of Quebec City, Canada. The Golden Knights were ultimately successful and reached the Stanley Cup Finals in their first-ever season in the NHL—one of the most successful first seasons for a new team in history.
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New Jersey: New York Giants
Despite being based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Giants still play as the New York Giants—founded in 1925. With almost a 100-year history, the New York Giants are the only team in a group of five that joined the NFL in 1925 that are still existing. The team is among those who've won the NFL Championships the most, with eight wins since their inception.
Nashville: Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a National Hockey League team and one of the first professional sports franchises to be based in Tennessee. Beginning play in the NHL in 1998 after their founding in 1997, the Predators have won a conference championship (2016-17) and two division championships.
New York: New York Yankees
The New York Yankees were a team born out of the defunct Baltimore Orioles, a former MLB team that played in Baltimore between 1901 and 1902, and are not related to the current Orioles team. Founded in 1903, the Yankees were originally called the New York Highlanders until 1913, when they were renamed the New York Yankees. The Yankees are one of the oldest and most successful MLB teams in history and share a storied rivalry with the Boston Red Sox. Fun Fact: Baseball's greatest ever player, Babe Ruth, played for both teams!
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Ohio: Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds were one of the founding members of the American Association in 1881, before migrating to the new National League in 1890. In the 1970s, the Reds were considered the most dominant baseball team in the world and won the 1975 and 1976 World Series. Their famous players have included Pete Rose and Tony Perez.
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Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder were founded in 1967 as the Seattle Supersonics, but relocated to Oklahoma City and rebranded as the Thunder in 2008. The Thunder haven't enjoyed as much success as they did when they were Supersonics, winning one NBA title and a host of conference titles. They also drafted Kevin Durant in their final year as a franchise, setting up the newly-minted Thunder for success.
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Oregon: Portland Beavers
The Portland Beavers were a minor-league baseball team established in 1903 and the oldest professional sports team in Portland and in Oregon. The Beavers used to play in the Pacific Coast League, of which they were a founding member. Unfortunately, due to financial difficulties, the Portland Beavers became defunct as of 2010.
Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are Pennsylvania's oldest baseball team. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881, under the name the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, the club joined the National League in 1887 and even took part in the inaugural World Series.
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Texas: Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys joined the NFL in 1960 as an expansion team, making them the third professional sports team in Texas, founded alongside the Texas Rangers baseball team that same year—although, at a university level, Baylor University's Baylor Bears baseball team was founded in 1902. The Cowboys were recently valued at $4 billion, making them the most valuable sports team in the world.
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Utah: Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are the oldest surviving professional sports team in Utah, playing in the NBA. They were founded in 1997 after moving from New Orleans, Louisiana as the New Orleans Jazz, which was originally founded in 1904.
Washington: Seattle Seahawks
Established more than 50 years ago in 1974, the Seattle Seahawks entered the NFL as an expansion team, hot on the heels of the successful Seattle Supersonics. They played their first season in the NFL in 1976 and have a huge fanbase as they're the only NFL team is the Pacific Northwest. The fanbase stretches across five PNW states and even into the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Wisconsin: Green Bay Packers
The infamous Green Bay Packers are Wisconsin's oldest professional sports team. With over 100 years of history, the team was first established in Green Bay in 1919. They are the only non-profit, community-owned, major league sports franchise in the United States. They've played in their original city longer than any other team in NFL history and have a unique ownership structure, where no individual can own more than 200,000 shares—the team is owned by more than 537,000 individual stockholders.
The Greatest Sporting Scandal In American History
One of America's oldest baseball teams, the Chicago Black Sox, were embroiled in the greatest scandal in the history of American baseball in 1919. At the World Series, eight members of the Black Sox team were accused of throwing the games in the series against the Cincinnati Reds to receive a pay-out from a gambling syndicate. In 1921, all eight were acquitted in public trials, but were banned from playing pro baseball for life.
