Atlanta,
Cleveland,
Kansas City,
St. Louis, and
Phoenix formerly hosted teams in all four major sports leagues simultaneously. Kansas City and St. Louis currently have two teams each, while the other cities have three. • Atlanta had teams from all four sports (MLB’s
Atlanta Braves, NFL’s
Atlanta Falcons, NBA’s
Atlanta Hawks, and NHL’s
Atlanta Flames) from 1972, when the expansion Flames began play, until 1980, when the Flames moved to
Calgary. The city regained its four sport status in 1999, when the city was granted the
Atlanta Thrashers as an NHL expansion team, but lost it again in 2011 when the Thrashers moved to
Winnipeg. Atlanta is the only city to have lost four-sport status, regained it, and then lost it a second time. • Cleveland briefly held four-sport status (MLB's
Indians, NFL's
Browns, NBA's
Cavaliers, and NHL's
Barons) from 1976 when the NHL's
California Golden Seals moved to the city to become the Barons, only to lose it when the Barons merged with the
Minnesota North Stars (where the combined team would continue to play) in 1978. The
Cleveland Browns relocation controversy left the city without an active NFL team from 1996 to 1999, with the NFL officially regarding the Browns as suspended. • Kansas City had teams from all four sports (MLB's
Royals, NFL's
Chiefs, NBA's
Kings, and NHL's
Scouts) from 1974, when the expansion Scouts began play, to 1976, when the Scouts moved to
Denver (and later to
New Jersey). The Kings moved to
Sacramento in 1985. • St. Louis was briefly a four-sport city (MLB's
Cardinals, NFL's
Cardinals, NBA's
Hawks, and NHL's
Blues) from October 1967, when the
NHL expanded to the city, until 1968, when the
Hawks moved to Atlanta. The NFL Cardinals moved to
Phoenix in 1988, and were renamed Arizona Cardinals in 1994. • The Phoenix metropolitan area had all four sports with (MLB's
Diamondbacks, NFL's
Cardinals, NBA's
Suns, and NHL's
Coyotes) from 1998, when the Diamondbacks began play, until 2024, when the Coyotes franchise was suspended and the team's hockey operations moved to
Salt Lake City. Only two cities have played each other in the championship series of all four major North American sports leagues: St. Louis and Boston. In baseball, the Cardinals met the Red Sox in the
1946,
1967,
2004, and
2013 World Series. In hockey, the Blues played the Bruins in the
1970 and
2019 Stanley Cup Finals. In basketball, the Hawks and Celtics met in the
1957,
1958,
1960, and
1961 NBA Finals. And in football, the Rams played the Patriots in
Super Bowl XXXVI. (Note that because each major sports league's final generally has the champion from one conference against the champion from another conference, and conferences are often aligned based on geography, it is often not possible for teams from cities in the same region of the country to play each other in the final.) Metropolitan areas that have lost, then regained four-sport status are Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Atlanta has lost, regained, and lost again its four-sport status. • Boston had the
Yanks of the NFL at the start of the four-major-sport era in 1946, along with the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, and
Braves. Four-sport status ended when the Yanks became the
New York Bulldogs in 1949, then resumed with the formation of the
Boston Patriots (now the New England Patriots) in 1960. • Chicago's
charter franchise of the
Basketball Association of America folded in 1950. The city attracted an
expansion franchise in 1961 only to see it move to Baltimore two years later. Chicago rejoined the four-sport club in 1966 with the expansion
Bulls. • Detroit's
charter franchise of the BBA existed from 1946 to 1947. Detroit rejoined the four-sport club in 1957 when the
Fort Wayne Pistons moved to Detroit. • Greater Los Angeles had all four sports from 1967 to 1995. In 1993, it joined New York in having two teams in each of the four major sports (MLB's
Dodgers and
Angels, NFL's
Rams and
Raiders, NBA's
Lakers and
Clippers, and NHL's
Kings and
Mighty Ducks), but lost both of its NFL teams in 1995. The Rams moved back to Los Angeles in 2016, restoring the city to four-sport status. A year later, the city once again joined New York in having two teams from each of the four leagues with the arrival of the former San Diego Chargers. • Minneapolis–St. Paul became a member with the arrival of the
Minnesota Timberwolves as an expansion NBA franchise in 1989, but the NHL's North Stars left for
Dallas in 1993. The Twin Cities regained their status with the NHL's expansion
Minnesota Wild in 2000. • The San Francisco Bay Area had teams in all four sports from the NHL expansion in 1967 until the Seals left for Cleveland in 1976. It regained four-sport status when the expansion
San Jose Sharks joined the NHL in 1991. (
Oakland itself had teams in all four leagues from 1971 to 1976 – the
Athletics, the
Raiders, the
Warriors, and the
Golden Seals. The planned A's
move to Las Vegas will leave the city with no major league sports teams.) If the
American Basketball Association (1967–1976) were considered a major professional sports league, three more cities would be former four-sport metropolises.
Pittsburgh—home to the MLB
Pirates, the NFL
Steelers, and the NHL
Penguins—also hosted the ABA's
Pittsburgh Condors, originally called the Pipers, in 1967 and from 1969 until the team's demise in 1972. St. Louis would have regained four-sport status between 1974 and 1976, when the city was home to the
Spirits of St. Louis. And Minneapolis–St. Paul would have been a four-sport city from 1967 to 1969, having hosted the ABA's
Minnesota Muskies in 1967–68 and the
Minnesota Pipers in 1968–69. If the
World Hockey Association (1972–1979) were considered a major league,
Houston would have made the list; the
Houston Aeros operated from 1972 to 1978, but were left out of the NHL-WHA merger negotiations and folded before the merger. Under the same assumption, Cleveland would have joined the four-sports club in 1972 with the arrival of the WHA
Cleveland Crusaders, which were displaced in 1976 by the NHL's Barons. If the ABA and WHA were
both considered major leagues, then
San Diego would have made the list from fall 1974 through fall 1975. Alongside the MLB
Padres (since 1969) and the AFL/NFL
Chargers (1961 to 2016), there were the ABA
Conquistadors/Sails (1972–1975) and the WHA
Mariners (1974–1977). ==Fifth major league: Major League Soccer==