Sports in Massachusetts have a long history with both amateur athletics and professional teams. Most of the major professional teams have won multiple championships in their respective leagues. Massachusetts teams have won 6Stanley Cups (Boston Bruins),^[1] 18NBA Championships (Boston Celtics),^[2] 6Super Bowls (New England Patriots),^[3] and 10World Series (9Boston Red Sox, 1Boston Braves).^[4] TheNew England Revolution won theMLS Supporter's Shield in 2021 (the club's only major trophy to date).^[5] Early basketball and volleyball was created in Massachusetts, which homes theBasketball Hall of Fame (Springfield),^[6] and theVolleyball Hall of Fame (Holyoke).^[6] Massachusetts also houses theCape Cod Baseball League. It is also home to prestigious sports events such as theBoston Marathon and theHead of the Charles Regatta. TheFalmouth Road Race in running and theFitchburg Longsjo Classic in bicycle racing are also very popular events with long histories.

TheGreater Boston region is the only city/surrounding area in American professional sports in which all facilities are privately owned and operated. The Patriots and Revolution both ownGillette Stadium inFoxborough, Massachusetts, the Red Sox own Fenway Park, andTD Garden is owned byDelaware North, owner of the Bruins. The Celtics rent TD Garden from Delaware North.

ThePGA TourDeutsche Bank Championship is a regular professional golf tour stop in the state. Massachusetts has played host to nineU.S. Opens, fourU.S. Women's Opens, twoRyder Cups, and oneU.S. Senior Open.

Many colleges and universities in Massachusetts are active in college athletics. There are a number ofNCAA Division I members in the state for multiple sports:Boston College,Boston University,Northeastern University,Harvard University,College of the Holy Cross, theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst, theUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell,Merrimack College, andStonehill College.

Massachusetts has produced several successful Olympians includingThomas Burke,James Connolly, andJohn Thomas (track & field);Butch Johnson (archery);Nancy Kerrigan (figure skating);Todd Richards (snowboarding);Albina Osipowich (swimming);Aly Raisman (gymnastics);Patrick Ewing (basketball); as well asJim Craig,Mike Eruzione,Bill Cleary, andKeith Tkachuk (ice hockey).^[7][8]

Notablesoccer (or association football) players from Massachusetts includeBert Patenaude,Billy Gonsalves,Geoff Cameron,Miles Robinson,Sam Mewis, andKristie Mewis. Patenaude and Gonsalves, both inductees of theNational Soccer Hall of Fame and natives ofFall River, Massachusetts,^[9][10] played for theU.S. men's national team at the inauguralFIFA World Cup in 1930 (hosted in Uruguay). Patenaude scored the firsthat-trick in World Cup history.^[11] The USMNT finished inthird place.^[12]

In 1999,Sports Illustrated published the fifty (50) greatest 19th and 20th century sports figures from each U.S. state. The criteria used was "not necessarily to where [the athletes] were born, but to where they first showed flashes of the greatness to come." The ten highest ranked Massachusetts athletes were as follows:^[13]

• 
  Rocky Marciano
  (Boxer)
• 
  Doug Flutie
  (American football)
• 
  Patrick Ewing
  (Basketball Hall of Famer)
• 
  Aly Raisman
  (Olympic gymnast)

In addition to the schools listed here,Franklin Pierce University, a full Division II member located near the state border inRindge, New Hampshire, plays its men's and women's ice hockey home games in Massachusetts on the campus ofThe Winchendon School. FPU plays men's hockey in the Northeast-10 and women's hockey as a D-I program in theNew England Women's Hockey Alliance.

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) is an organization that sponsors activities in thirty-three sports, comprising 374 public and private high schools in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The MIAA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which writes the rules for most U.S. high school sports and activities. The MIAA was founded in 1978, and was preceded by both the Massachusetts Secondary School Principals' Association (MSSPA) (1942–78) and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Council (MIAC) (1950–78).

Rugby is the MIAA's 35th sport in 2016, following a 2015 MIAA vote that passed by a wide majority.^[15] As of 2015, there are 19 boys’ teams and 5 girls’ teams across the state, with the majority of the Catholic Conference schools fielding rugby teams.^[15]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSports in Massachusetts.

• Massachusetts Sports Teams List 2023

• Sports in Massachusetts

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