Milwaukee, Wisconsin is home to a variety ofsports teams and events.

Milwaukee has a rich history of involvement in professional sports going back to the late 1960s. Currently, its major sports teams include:

Throughout the sports world, Milwaukee is perhaps best known for its tradition oftailgating beforeBrewers baseball games.^[1] The Brewers made their first post-season appearance in 1981 and won theAmerican League pennant in 1982. In 1998, they became the first Major League team in modern history to switch leagues, doing so to accommodate the expansion franchises of theArizona Diamondbacks andTampa Bay Devil Rays. They also have the distinction of being the only team to have played in four of the six current Major League divisions.

The Bucks won the1971 NBA Championship, a mere three years after joining the league. They made it back to the Finals in1974, but soon developed a reputation as "next year's champions," winning at least one playoff series for the next 15 years, but having yet to return to the Finals. In 2021 the Bucks won the2021 NBA Finals, their second championship in franchise history.^[2]

The Wave are the longest continuously running professional soccer operation in theUnited States. They have also been one of the most successful, having captured five league championships in the past nine years.

In addition to professional sports, Milwaukee is home to a number of competitive teams, clubs and leagues at the amateur, college, high school and semi-pro levels.

Under the leadership ofAl McGuire, Marquette's men's basketball team became a national powerhouse in the 1970s, capturing theNIT Championship in 1970, and theNCAA Championship in 1977. Not only was the '77 championship McGuire's last game, but Marquette remains the last independent school to win the title. It was also the last major sports championship won by a Milwaukee sports team until the 2021 title run by theBucks

Led by former NBA starDwyane Wade, Marquette returned to theFinal Four in 2003, but was ousted byKansas in the semi-finals.

UW–Milwaukee made its first post-season appearance in men's basketball that same year, under the tutelage of currentAuburn head coachBruce Pearl. Although they lost at the buzzer toNotre Dame in the first round, they would make their first NIT appearance the following year. In 2005, UWM had its most successful year ever, winning both theHorizon League regular season and tournament championships. They would go on to upsetAlabama in the first round of the NCAA tournament before shocking then Big East powerhouseBoston College on its way to the Sweet 16. So much of an impression had the team made that sportswriters shied away from calling their defeat of sixth-seededOklahoma in the2006 Tournament an "upset," believing UWM may have actually been the better team.

Starting with the 2007–08 season, the Marquette and UWM men'sbasketball teams will rekindle their annual rivalry game which has been dormant since 1998. The two schools have always shared annual and heated rivalries in all other common NCAA sports.

UWM's men's and women's soccer teams regularly attain national rankings, and the school is also home to the only Division I baseball team inWisconsin.

High School athletics in Milwaukee is dominated by theMilwaukee City Conference. However, it is also home to a number of athletically competitive private (mainlyCatholic) high schools such asMarquette University High School, which has the city's onlyWIAA sanctionedice hockey team.

While the City Conference schools are quite competitive inbasketball,track & field and other sports with low costs of maintenance, it has been noted that the schools' collective lack of funds and facilities puts it at a distinct disadvantage in sports such asfootball.[2][3] Problems such as only four of the schools having on-campus stadiums are believed to be a major reason why City Conference schools have been absent from the WIAA State Championship Game since 1986 (a 28-20Bradley Tech loss toManitowoc). As a result, many of the city's more talented prep football players either attend private schools on scholarships and vouchers, or suburban schools through school choice programs such as Chapter 220.

The City Conference is considered to be the toughest league inWisconsin for boys' basketball. Its teams have appeared in 21 of the past 24 WIAA Division 1 Championship Games, winning the title in 14 of them.

City Conference Alumni includeMichael Bennett (Football, Track & Field/Bradley Tech),"Downtown" Freddie Brown (Basketball/Lincoln),Terry Porter (Basketball/South Division) andLatrell Sprewell (Basketball/Washington).

TheMilwaukee Bavarians/Bavarian Soccer Club is one of the oldest and most successful amateur soccer clubs in theUnited States, having captured the National Amateur Cup on two occasions. They play at the fourth level of theAmerican Soccer Pyramid.

TheCroatian Eagles Soccer Club are the oldest soccer club inNorth America, founded in 1922.^[3]

The Milwaukee suburb ofWest Allis is home to theMilwaukee Mile auto racing facility, the world's oldest active auto race track, located on theWisconsin State Fair Grounds. The track has held events sanctioned by major sanctioning bodies, such as theAmerican Automobile Association,USAC,NASCAR,Champ Car World Series (or CART), and theIndyCar Series. AnARCA event was hosted in 2021 and has been a recurring event since 2023. In 2023, theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returned to the track with the2023 Clean Harbors 175. IndyCar hosted a double header weekend event in 2024

Milwaukee is also home to thePettit National Ice Center, a U.S. Olympic Team training facility, which has been the training site for gold medal-winningspeedskaters such asDan Jansen,Bonnie Blair andShani Davis.

Milwaukee was a stronghold of theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) duringpro wrestling's territorial days. Shows run fromThe MECCA (Auditorium and Arena) drew large crowds of people who came to see the tag team of formerGreen Bay Packers linemanDick "The Bruiser" Afflis andSouth Milwaukee nativeReggie "The Crusher" Lisowski.

Vince McMahon's WWF (later known as World Wrestling Entertainment; now known asWWE) began running shows from The MECCA in the late 1980s leading to Milwaukee being home to some important moments in that promotion's history. Most famously, it is the birthplace ofStone Cold Steve Austin's "Austin 3:16" catchphrase.[4] WWE continues to run shows (including pay-per-views) in Milwaukee at theBMO Harris Bradley Center and will likely run future shows at the newFiserv Forum once it opens.

Insane Championship Wrestling, a member of theNational Wrestling Alliance, also runs shows at smaller venues in the city, usually once a month.

A recent addition to Milwaukee's sports scene is Women'sRoller Derby. Since 2005 Milwaukee has been home to theBrew City Bruisers,^[4] aWomen's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Roller Derby league. The league has four skater-owned and operated teams: Crazy Eights, Maiden Milwaukee, Rushin' Rollettes, and Shevil Knevils. The teams compete in events locally at the US Cellular Arena, and the BCB's Travel Team competes in national league events throughout the United States.

Milwaukee is home to a variety of competitiveroad running events. The largest is Al's Run, an annual fund-raiser for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin run in honor ofAl McGuire. The race draws large numbers of the participants, regularly exceeding 15,000.[5]

The city is also the finishing point for the LakefrontMarathon, which begins inGrafton, Wisconsin and is run alongLake Michigan until the finish at Milwaukee'sVeterans Park. The Guinness World Record for “most people linked together to complete a marathon” with 62 roped-together runners, was set at Milwaukee's 2011 Lakefront Marathon. Team Jennipede competed on behalf of elite marathonerJenny Crain, raising over $116,000 for Crain's rehabilitation from injuries suffered when a car hit her during a training run in Milwaukee street on Aug. 27, 2007.^[5]

In addition, many paths have been paved in recent years for runners and joggers in thecity's parks along Lake Michigan as well as theHank Aaron State Trail, adjacent toAmerican Family Field in theMenomonee Valley.

Previously, numerous other teams have played in Milwaukee, including:

The early 20th centuryMilwaukee Brewers's time in theAmerican League predates the league's evolution into a major league, going back to the 19th century to its predecessors, theWestern Association andWestern League. The minor leagueMilwaukee Brewers was not directly connected to the older team. In fact, there was concern at the time about the prospect of both teams simultaneously playing in 1901 or 1902. The 19th century baseball teams in Milwaukee were interchangeably referred to as the Cream Citys, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Greys or Milwaukee Unions.[6] This was common during the time as most teams did not have official names and rather adopted names which reporters assigned to them. The table lists the most common name used for each particular team.

The Milwaukee Braves won theNational League pennant in 1957 and 1958, and won theWorld Series in 1957.

Milwaukee is the only major-league city that was never home to aNorth American Soccer League franchise. However,Milwaukee County Stadium was host to a number of exhibition games of theChicago Sting, which had planned a permanent move (that never materialized) to the ballpark.[7]. The city has since proven itself to be a viable soccer market, as the Wave were founded in 1984 (the same year the NASL folded) and have been active ever since.

TheGreen Bay Packers played a portion of their home schedule in Milwaukee on a regular basis from the 1930s until 1994 in the following locations:

• Borchert Field, 1933
• Wisconsin State Fair Park, 1934–51
• Marquette Stadium, 1952
• Milwaukee County Stadium, 1953–1994

The first Milwaukee game was played on December 3, 1922, against theRacine Legion. The 1939 Championship between the Packers and theNew York Giants was played at State Fair Park in what is currently known as the Milwaukee Mile. The Packers won, 27–0. A 1931 championship against thePortsmouth Spartans was also scheduled for Milwaukee, but was called off. The Packers final post-season game in Milwaukee was a 1967 divisional playoff against theLos Angeles Rams which the Packers won convincingly 28–7.[8] They went on to capture their last NFL Championship andSuper Bowl victory underVince Lombardi.

The Packers played their final game at County Stadium on December 18, 1994, against theAtlanta Falcons. Although the Packers no longer play in Milwaukee, many residents still consider them a Milwaukee team, held in higher regard than the Bucks and Brewers. In spite of no longer playing games in the city, the Packers flagship newspaper and radio have remained theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel and Milwaukee-basedWTMJ-AM, respectively.

The Packers maintain two separate season ticket plans, reflecting their time spent in Milwaukee:Gold package holders, made up largely of former Milwaukee season ticket holders, have a three-game package consisting of the annual Midwest Shrine preseason contest plus the second and fifth regular-season home games each year;Green package holders (made up of original Green Bay ticket holders) attend the annual Bishop's Charities preseason game and the remaining six regular-season contests.

• List of baseball parks in Milwaukee

• Sports in Milwaukee

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