There are so many NYC professional sports teams, and they’ve got a lot of spirit. The Knicks recently ended a 53-year championship drought, and the city’s sports pride is louder and more exciting than ever.
If you’re new to the city, the sheer number of teams and where they play can be a lot to sort out. This guide breaks down who’s who, how to catch a game without spending a paycheck and how to find your place.
The Knicks and Nets are the city’s two NBA teams. The Knicks play at Madison Square Garden, one of the most recognizable venues in the sport. Tickets are consistently among the hardest to find of any team in the city. The Nets play at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. These are usually easier and cheaper tickets to score, with a young roster that’s building strength and gaining fans.
Barclays Center also hosts the WNBA’s New York Liberty, which has a following that now rivals the Nets. A roster anchored by Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu won the franchise’s first championship in 2024 and has kept the team near the top of the league since.
The Yankees play in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium and hold more World Series titles than any team in Major League Baseball, 27 in total. The Mets play in Queens at Citi Field, and the two fan bases don’t mix much. Most New Yorkers pick one team as kids and stay loyal for life, and it’s rare to meet someone who roots for both.
Each season, the two teams meet for two three-game series known as the Subway Series, named for the subway lines that connect their stadiums. The Subway Series has been one of the most-watched events on the city’s sports calendar ever since it began.
The Giants and Jets share MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a straight shot from Penn Station on NJ Transit. Because the teams are in separate conferences, they rarely play each other, and plenty of New Yorkers root for both.
The Giants have won four Super Bowl titles, most recently in 2012. The Jets have won one, back in 1969, in what’s still considered one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.
The Rangers play at Madison Square Garden, the Islanders play on Long Island, and the Devils play in Newark. All three have loyal, longtime fan bases, and the rivalry between them runs deep.
Hockey doesn’t require much background to enjoy live. The puck is easier to follow in person than it is on TV. Periods run about 20 minutes each with two intermissions, and the checks (players hitting each other with their bodies or sticks) along the boards can happen close enough to feel.
New York City FC, founded in 2013, currently plays its home matches at Yankee Stadium while its own stadium, Etihad Park, is being built in Queens. It’s set to open for the 2027-28 season as the city’s first stadium built specifically for soccer.
The New York Red Bulls play at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, a short PATH train ride from Lower Manhattan, and the two clubs meet each season in one of MLS’s most heated local derbies.
Full-price seats at Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium add up fast, but there are cheap tickets if you know where to look.
Prices for NYC professional sports teams vary greatly by sport. Baseball, hockey and soccer tend to be cheaper than basketball and football, since those seasons have far more games to sell and seats to fill. MLS tickets are usually the most affordable in the city, with general admission running around $15 to $25 for most matchups. Football is the opposite: a typical Giants or Jets ticket starts around $30 to $50, and increases sharply for anything against a division rival.
A few specific deals are worth knowing about:
The general rule is that weeknight games against non-headline opponents are always cheaper than weekend games or anything against a rival, so build your schedule around that if you want more games for less.
You don’t need a ticket to feel the city’s sports energy. Sports bars are the obvious option. Hell’s Kitchen, just blocks from Madison Square Garden, is packed with them, and the Upper West Side and East Village both have no-frills spots built for fans. Plenty of restaurants and diners keep a game on in the background, too, especially during a big matchup.
For the biggest moments, the city sometimes opens up public viewing parties on outdoor screens. Bryant Park has hosted free watch parties for Knicks playoff games, and Battery Park City has done the same for World Cup matches.
Nobody expects you to move to the city with a team already picked out. Base your first choice on your neighborhood, your roommate or whichever arena you can reach fastest on the subway and let it grow from there.
The one question worth having an answer to, even a half-formed one, is Yankees or Mets. It comes up more often than you’d expect, but “still deciding” is a perfectly fine answer for your first few months in the city.
Following a team here isn’t really about the sport. It’s a shortcut into conversations with strangers, a reason to leave your apartment on a Tuesday night and one of the fastest ways to stop feeling like a visitor and start feeling like you live here.
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There’s no wrong answer. Pick based on which mascot you like the most, which is closest to you or what your friends like, and let your loyalty build from there.
No. Both play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, about a 30-minute ride from Penn Station on NJ Transit. They keep the New York name, but the stadium is in New Jersey.
MLS games are generally the cheapest tickets in the city, often starting around $15 to $25. Standing-room options help too: the Yankees’ Pinstripe Pass starts around $15 to $25 for weekday games, and the Mets and Red Bulls both offer discounted pricing for verified students on select dates.
No. Baseball and basketball are easy to pick up after watching a crowd react. Hockey moves fast, but most first-timers catch on by the second period.
Any neighborhood sports bar will have the Yankees, Mets, Knicks or Rangers on during their seasons.
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Emma is a writer, translator, linguist and editor from Washington, DC, USA. Her career has taken her from social media management to copywriting, inventory buying for a major retail chain, events management and even teaching.
Emma received a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in French from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. During that time, she studied abroad in York, England and Rennes, France, where she developed an interest in cross-cultural communication and linguistics. After relocating to Madrid, Spain, she began specializing in writing, focusing on topics like travel, marketing and culture.
Currently, Emma works full-time for IE University’s narrative team. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking and exploring the city.
