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Syracuse, New York, United States, is a top-division, minor-league and college sports city. Teams include theSyracuse Mets ofAAA Baseball and theSyracuse Crunch of theAHL. The most attended sporting events in Syracuse are those of theNCAA Division ISyracuse UniversityOrange.
The Syracuse Mets, who play in theInternational League, are a AAAMinor League Baseball affiliate of theNew York Mets.
The Syracuse Crunch are anAmerican Hockey League affiliate of theTampa Bay Lightning.
Syracuse has had several top-level pro teams. Most notable are theSyracuse Nationals, anNBA team which played 17 seasons in Syracuse (1947–1963) before moving toPhiladelphia to become thePhiladelphia 76ers; and two differentMajor League Baseball teams: theSyracuse Stars of theNational League in 1879, which didn't finish their first season; and theSyracuse Stars of theAmerican Association in 1890.
Syracuse has been represented inprofessional baseball for all but four years since 1877, when theSyracuse Stars competed in theLeague Alliance, an early minor league. Syracuse fielded twomajor league versions of theStars: in the1879National League and the1890American Association. Apart from those seasons, however, the Stars were members of high minor leagues such as the Eastern League (forerunner to the International) and theNew York State League through 1917. From 1918 to 1927, the Stars competed in theInternational League and were an earlyfarm team of theSt. Louis Cardinals. In 1928 the IL franchise moved toMontreal and became theMontreal Royals. The Stars moved down one classification to theNew York–Penn League for 11⁄2 seasons before moving to nearbyUtica.[1]
Syracuse was from 1946 until 1963 home to theNBA'sSyracuse Nationals, which are now the Philadelphia 76ers. They played 17 seasons in Syracuse and won the NBA championship in 1955. The NBA's24-second clock was invented in and first came into use in Syracuse. In March 2005 the city dedicated a monument to this fact. It is a 125% scaled model of the original shot clock used.
TheSyracuse Stallions were founded in 2017, and played in theAmerican Basketball Association (ABA) andThe Basketball League (TBL) before folding in 2023.
The Syracuse Upstate Trojans played a single season in theAmerican Basketball Association (ABA) from 2023 to 2024. They rebranded as the Syracuse Monarchs for the 2025–26 ABA season.[2]
Syracuse had a professional football team from 1890 to 1900 known as theSyracuse Athletic Association,[3] the independent All-Syracuse team which was known in 1921 as theSyracuse Pros in theAmerican Professional Football Association before leaving the league and reverting to the All-Syracuse team, and briefly in the1936 American Football League season known as the Syracuse Braves.[4]
In 1902, the firstWorld Series of Football was played at New York's original Madison Square Garden. The five teams in the tournament were the New York Knickerbockers, Syracuse AC, Warlow AC, the Orange (New Jersey) AC, and New York. Syracuse won the tournament 6–0 withGlenn (Pop) Warner at guard.[5] The December 28, 1902, game where Syracuse defeated New York 5–0 at Madison Square Garden is credited as the first indoor pro football game.[6]
TheSyracuse Express were established in 1984, and were members of the Mid Continental Football League, before that league contracted into the Midwest. They joined the upstart New York Amateur Football League (NYAFL), where they became one of the league's premier teams, along with their rivals, the Buffalo Gladiators. After absorbing the Cortland Warriors, in 1999 the team became the Central New York Express, although they still played their games in suburban Syracuse. The Express won one NYAFL title in 2003. The NYAFL merged to become the Northeastern Football Alliance and with the change, the team changed and was replaced by a new team named the Syracuse Shock.
Syracuse had a team for one season in the American Indoor Football League called theSyracuse Soldiers.
Syracuse has a minor league football team,Syracuse Strong.
Syracuse has had severalAmerican Hockey League teams, which traditionally did not last longer than three seasons. TheSyracuse Blazers began play in theEastern Hockey League in 1973. The league disbanded in 1973; the team then affiliated with theNorth American Hockey League. 1994 marked the introduction of a new team, theSyracuse Crunch, which have been playing at theUpstate Medical University Arena since.
TheSyracuse Spirit was a member of theAmerican Lacrosse League, a short lived professional lacrosse league in 1988, based in Syracuse, New York. The Spirit played their home games at the Griffin Field in Liverpool, New York. The general manager of the Spirit was Tom Scofield and the head coach was Jim Booth. The Spirit had a 4–1 record when the league folded.
Syracuse had a team in theNational Lacrosse League (NLL) called theSyracuse Smash for three seasons from 1998 to 2000. They moved toOttawa in 2001 and became theOttawa Rebel.
The first professional team in the city were theSyracuse Scorpions, who played in theAmerican Soccer League in the 1970s. TheSyracuse Salty Dogs existed for two seasons (2002–2004) until folding due to financial problems. The game attendance had been among the highest in theA-League. TheSyracuse Silver Knights played in theMajor Arena Soccer League from 2010 before moving to Utica and becomingUtica City FC in 2018.[7]
Sports venues in and around Syracuse include the following:
Syracuse University's JMA Wireless Dome can hold over 33,000 and 50,000 people, forbasketball andfootball respectively, making it the largest domedstadium in theNortheastern United States and the largest on a college campus. Especially the Orange's basketball games have been making use of the Dome's capacity over the past few years. The third most attended college sporting events are lacrosse games, with the Orange at times drawing over 6,000 fans.
Syracuse University,NCAA Division I
Le Moyne College,NCAA Division I
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry,USCAA
Onondaga Community College, NJCAA Division III
Note: Until 2004, Syracuse University's teams were called the Orangemen and Orangewomen. Now they are known as the Orange.
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