Sports in Brooklyn
Encyclopedia
Brooklyn
has a storied sports history
and has been a breeding place for many famous sports figures such as Joe Paterno
(The Pennsylvania State University), Joe Pepitone
(MLB), Joe Torre
(MLB), Al "Bummy" Davis (boxing), Larry Brown
(NBA), Mike Tyson
(boxing), Paul Lo Duca
(MLB), Vinny Testaverde
(NFL), and Vince Lombardi
(NFL). Parks throughout the borough including Prospect Park, Marine Park, and the community sports complex at Floyd Bennett Field
provide residents an opportunity to practice and hone their sports skills and talents.
going back to the sport's infancy. A box score from October 21, 1845, lists a game between the New York Base Ball Club and "Brooklyn Players". The New York Base Ball Club was one of the first to play under rules codified by the New York Knickerbockers
only one month earlier but no one knows the rules of that "first box score" game.
In the mid-1850s, dozens of ballclubs were formally constituted in greater New York City. When the fraternity convened for the first time to revise playing rules, 8 Brooklyn clubs were among the 16, traditionally considered the founding members of the National Association of Base Ball Players
. In summer 1858, the Fashion Race Course in Brooklyn hosted a series of three "all star" games between New York
and Brooklyn teams. That was a milestone in commercialization, the first baseball games with admission for sale.
Brooklyn teams dominated play in the NABBP during the early and mid-1860s, with the Atlantic
, Excelsior
, Eckford, and Atlantic clubs contending for championships in that order. (All three were among the 16 founding clubs. The Atlantics both preceded Excelsior and outlived Eckford as claimant to the very top spot.)
During the War, which curtailed the game greatly, William Cammeyer opened Union Grounds
in Williamsburg, the first enclosed field dedicated to baseball, which put the game on a commercial basis. (It was dedicated to baseball most of the year but flooded and used for ice sports in the winter.) The Eckfords played home games at Union Grounds and the New York Mutuals
relocated there in 1868, from Hoboken, New Jersey
, where several Manhattan
clubs were based. A second enclosed baseball park opened, the Capitoline Grounds
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, served as home to the Atlantics.
(NA), the first professional league was established in 1871. The three major clubs calling Brooklyn home all joined by its second season, so both grounds are in the record books if we count the NA as a major league. For 1873 the Eckfords went out of business and the Atlantics moved in as second team at the Union Grounds, sharing with the Mutuals for three seasons. The Mutuals continued as a charter member of the National League
in 1876 and the Hartfords of Brooklyn played there in 1877.
Brooklyn's most famous team, the Dodgers
, got its start as a minor league team in 1883, joining the American Association
in 1884, calling themselves the Bridegrooms and playing at the first of three venues called Washington Park. The team moved to the National League in 1890 and relocated to Ebbets Field
in 1913. In the years prior to 1932, they were also known as the Superbas and the Robins, the last an informal name taken from their manager, Wilbert Robinson
. The team name is short for "trolley dodgers," a reference to the many streetcar lines that once criss-crossed the borough.
Perennial losers, the Dodgers were called "bums" by their fans, first with derision, eventually with affection. The Dodgers greatest achievement came in 1947 when Jackie Robinson
took the field in a Dodgers uniform, the first Major League African American player of the modern era. The Brooklyn Dodgers won National League pennants in 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953, but lost the 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 & 1953 World Series to their longtime rival the New York Yankees. In 1955, the Dodgers won their first and only World Series in Brooklyn, beating the rival New York Yankees
, resulting in mass euphoria and celebrations all over Brooklyn. Just two years later, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, California
, after the 1957 season, causing widespread resentment and sorrow. Brooklyn's most beloved and cherished institution had left, and the move is cited by some historians as one of the catalysts for the decline of Brooklyn in the 1960s and 1970s.
In addition, the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders
of the Players League
in 1890 and the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
of the Federal League
in 1914 and 1915 called the borough home. The Players League team played in Eastern Park
, in what is now known as East New York
. The Tip-Tops played in the final incarnation of Washington Park.
After a 43-year hiatus, baseball returned to the borough in the form of the Brooklyn Cyclones
, a minor league
team that began playing in Coney Island
in 2001. The Cyclones are a short season Class A New York - Penn League
affiliate of the New York Mets
professional
team. The Cyclones play at MCU Park, located in southern Brooklyn near the Coney Island boardwalk. During hot summer nights, fireworks are sometimes used to signify the commencement of the baseball games.
teams have called Brooklyn home, including two in 1926. The Brooklyn Horsemen
of the original American Football League
and the Brooklyn Lions of the National Football League
competed for a time before merging in November and folding at season's end.
In 1930, the Brooklyn Dodgers
began play at Ebbets Field. The team lasted until 1944, calling themselves the Brooklyn Tigers that last season but going winless. In 1945, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks
.
The second AFL also had a Brooklyn Tigers club in 1936; it played seven games before folding.
In 1946, the new All-America Football Conference
had yet another Brooklyn Dodgers
team. This club lasted until 1948, after which it merged with the New York Yankees
football team.
Finally, there was an independent minor league team called the Brooklyn Dodgers in the short-lived Continental Football League
in 1966. They played a 14-game schedule and then folded as well.
announced that he had purchased the New Jersey Nets
of the National Basketball Association
as part of a controversial large multi-use luxury apartment skyscraper development. He plans to move the Nets to a 18,000-seat Barclays Center as part of the Atlantic Yards
development at Flatbush
and Atlantic
Avenues. After years of delays caused by community opposition and financial difficulties, the arena broken ground in March 2009 and will open in September 2012. After the move, the Nets will take on the name of the borough and become the Brooklyn Nets.
The Brooklyn Kings
, a United States Basketball League
team, played in Downtown Brooklyn until 2007. The borough also had a franchise in the American Basketball Association
in 2006 called the Brooklyn Wonders
.
, formerly known as the New York Americans, were a National Hockey League
club in the 1941–42 season. Despite the name, the team played its home games at Madison Square Garden
and never played a game in Brooklyn. Brooklyn has two ice rink facilities, Aviator Sports and Recreation
(a twin NHL regulation ice sheet facility) in Floyd Bennett Field
in Southeast Brooklyn, and Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island. Brooklyn (specifically Barclays Center, which can host hockey games) has been a rumored new home for the New York Islanders
if Nassau Coliseum becomes an untenable venue for professional hockey.
The New York Aviators
are a single-A minor league professional hockey team in the newly formed Federal Hockey League
(FHL) which consists of six teams throughout New York State, Connecticut, and near Cornwall, Ontario. The Aviators' home arena is the Aviator Sports and Events Center located at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY.
, best known as The Brooklyn Brawler, as one of the sport's premier jobbers
. ECW
legend Tazz
is also proud of his Brooklyn roots, hailing from the Red Hook
area of the city.
Other well-known wrestlers from Brooklyn include:
plays at the Metropolitan Oval
, which is one of the oldest soccer venues in the US.
Brooklyn Currently Supports two adult club rugby teams. Brooklyn Rugby Football Club is a men's rugby team competing in Division III of the Metropolitan Rugby Football Union and Brooklyn Women's Rugby Football Club is a women's team currently in Division II of the same union.
The Public School Athletic League now supports rugby too, and flag (non-contact) rugby is played in numerous public elementary, middle and high schools across the borough.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
has a storied sports history
History of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
and has been a breeding place for many famous sports figures such as Joe Paterno
Joe Paterno
Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...
(The Pennsylvania State University), Joe Pepitone
Joe Pepitone
Joseph "Joe" Anthony Pepitone is a former Major League Baseball first baseman and outfielder who played the bulk of his career for the New York Yankees. He also played several seasons with the Chicago Cubs and had short stints with the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves...
(MLB), Joe Torre
Joe Torre
Joseph Paul Torre is a former American professional baseball player and manager who currently serves as Major League Baseball’s Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. A nine-time All-Star, he played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, first baseman and a third baseman for the...
(MLB), Al "Bummy" Davis (boxing), Larry Brown
Larry Brown (basketball)
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" Brown is an American basketball coach and former player. He most recently served as head coach of the National Basketball Association's Charlotte Bobcats....
(NBA), Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
(boxing), Paul Lo Duca
Paul Lo Duca
Paul Anthony Lo Duca is a television personality and a former Major League Baseball catcher. Previously, Lo Duca played for the Los Angeles Dodgers , Florida Marlins , New York Mets , and Washington Nationals...
(MLB), Vinny Testaverde
Vinny Testaverde
Vincent Frank Testaverde is a former NFL quarterback. Testaverde last played for the Carolina Panthers and had previously played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. Testaverde holds the NFL record for having...
(NFL), and Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...
(NFL). Parks throughout the borough including Prospect Park, Marine Park, and the community sports complex at Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field is New York City's first municipal airport. While no longer used as an operational commercial, military or general aviation airfield, the New York Police Department still flies its helicopters from its heliport base there...
provide residents an opportunity to practice and hone their sports skills and talents.
Early baseball
Brooklyn has been a hotbed of baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
going back to the sport's infancy. A box score from October 21, 1845, lists a game between the New York Base Ball Club and "Brooklyn Players". The New York Base Ball Club was one of the first to play under rules codified by the New York Knickerbockers
New York Knickerbockers
The New York Knickerbockers were one of the first organized baseball teams which played under a set of rules similar to the game today. The team was founded by Alexander Cartwright, considered one of the original developers of modern baseball....
only one month earlier but no one knows the rules of that "first box score" game.
In the mid-1850s, dozens of ballclubs were formally constituted in greater New York City. When the fraternity convened for the first time to revise playing rules, 8 Brooklyn clubs were among the 16, traditionally considered the founding members of the National Association of Base Ball Players
National Association of Base Ball Players
The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...
. In summer 1858, the Fashion Race Course in Brooklyn hosted a series of three "all star" games between New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Brooklyn teams. That was a milestone in commercialization, the first baseball games with admission for sale.
Brooklyn teams dominated play in the NABBP during the early and mid-1860s, with the Atlantic
Brooklyn Atlantics
The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty.Established in 1855, Atlantic was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of...
, Excelsior
Excelsior of Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Excelsiors were an amateur baseball team that played in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1854, the Excelsior ballclub featured stars such as Jim Creighton, Asa Brainard, and Candy Cummings.-1860 Championship Season:...
, Eckford, and Atlantic clubs contending for championships in that order. (All three were among the 16 founding clubs. The Atlantics both preceded Excelsior and outlived Eckford as claimant to the very top spot.)
During the War, which curtailed the game greatly, William Cammeyer opened Union Grounds
Union Grounds
Union Grounds was a baseball park located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. The grounds opened in 1862 and was the first baseball park enclosed entirely by a fence, thereby allowing proprietor William Cammeyer or his tenant to charge admission, permitting only paying customers to...
in Williamsburg, the first enclosed field dedicated to baseball, which put the game on a commercial basis. (It was dedicated to baseball most of the year but flooded and used for ice sports in the winter.) The Eckfords played home games at Union Grounds and the New York Mutuals
New York Mutuals
The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter...
relocated there in 1868, from Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, where several Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
clubs were based. A second enclosed baseball park opened, the Capitoline Grounds
Capitoline Grounds
The Capitoline Grounds, also known as Capitoline Skating Lake and Base Ball Ground, was a baseball park in Brooklyn, New York from 1864 to 1880. It was built to rival nearby Union Grounds, also in Brooklyn...
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, served as home to the Atlantics.
League baseball
The National Association of Professional Base Ball PlayersNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...
(NA), the first professional league was established in 1871. The three major clubs calling Brooklyn home all joined by its second season, so both grounds are in the record books if we count the NA as a major league. For 1873 the Eckfords went out of business and the Atlantics moved in as second team at the Union Grounds, sharing with the Mutuals for three seasons. The Mutuals continued as a charter member of the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
in 1876 and the Hartfords of Brooklyn played there in 1877.
Brooklyn's most famous team, the Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
, got its start as a minor league team in 1883, joining the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
in 1884, calling themselves the Bridegrooms and playing at the first of three venues called Washington Park. The team moved to the National League in 1890 and relocated to Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
in 1913. In the years prior to 1932, they were also known as the Superbas and the Robins, the last an informal name taken from their manager, Wilbert Robinson
Wilbert Robinson
Wilbert Robinson , nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball...
. The team name is short for "trolley dodgers," a reference to the many streetcar lines that once criss-crossed the borough.
Perennial losers, the Dodgers were called "bums" by their fans, first with derision, eventually with affection. The Dodgers greatest achievement came in 1947 when Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
took the field in a Dodgers uniform, the first Major League African American player of the modern era. The Brooklyn Dodgers won National League pennants in 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953, but lost the 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 & 1953 World Series to their longtime rival the New York Yankees. In 1955, the Dodgers won their first and only World Series in Brooklyn, beating the rival New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, resulting in mass euphoria and celebrations all over Brooklyn. Just two years later, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, after the 1957 season, causing widespread resentment and sorrow. Brooklyn's most beloved and cherished institution had left, and the move is cited by some historians as one of the catalysts for the decline of Brooklyn in the 1960s and 1970s.
In addition, the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders
Brooklyn Ward's Wonders
The Brooklyn Ward's Wonders was a team who played in the Players' League in 1890. The team's nickname derived from its superstar shortstop, hall of famer John Montgomery Ward. The team finished with a 76-56 record, good enough to finish in second place. Other notable players for Brooklyn that...
of the Players League
Players League
The Players' National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, popularly known as the Players' League , was a short-lived but star-studded professional American baseball league of the 19th century...
in 1890 and the Brooklyn Tip-Tops
Brooklyn Tip-Tops
The Brooklyn Tip-Tops were a team in the short-lived Federal League of professional baseball from 1914 to 1915. The team was named by owner Robert Ward, who owned the Tip Top Bakery. They were sometimes informally called the Brooklyn Feds or BrookFeds due to being the Brooklyn team of the Federal...
of the Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
in 1914 and 1915 called the borough home. The Players League team played in Eastern Park
Eastern Park
Eastern Park was a baseball park in Brooklyn, New York in the 1890s. It was bounded by Eastern Parkway to the north ; the Long Island Railroad and Vesta Avenue to the east ; Sutter Avenue to the south ; and Powell Street to the west...
, in what is now known as East New York
East New York, Brooklyn
East New York is a residential neighborhood located in the Eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5...
. The Tip-Tops played in the final incarnation of Washington Park.
After a 43-year hiatus, baseball returned to the borough in the form of the Brooklyn Cyclones
Brooklyn Cyclones
The Brooklyn Cyclones is a minor league baseball team in the Short-Season A classification New York - Penn League, affiliated with the New York Mets. The Cyclones play at MCU Park just off the Coney Island boardwalk in the New York City borough of Brooklyn....
, a minor league
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
team that began playing in Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
in 2001. The Cyclones are a short season Class A New York - Penn League
New York - Penn League
The New York – Penn League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the northeastern United States. It is classified as a "Short-Season A" league; its season starts in June, after major-league teams have signed their amateur draft picks to professional contracts, and ends in early...
affiliate of the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
professional
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
team. The Cyclones play at MCU Park, located in southern Brooklyn near the Coney Island boardwalk. During hot summer nights, fireworks are sometimes used to signify the commencement of the baseball games.
Football
Several professional footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
teams have called Brooklyn home, including two in 1926. The Brooklyn Horsemen
Brooklyn Horsemen
The Brooklyn Horsemen was a professional football team that competed in the American Football League during the 1926 season.On November 12, 1926, the team withdrew from the AFL and merged with Brooklyn Lions of the National Football League. The new team created by the merger was initially called...
of the original American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
and the Brooklyn Lions of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
competed for a time before merging in November and folding at season's end.
In 1930, the Brooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)
The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks...
began play at Ebbets Field. The team lasted until 1944, calling themselves the Brooklyn Tigers that last season but going winless. In 1945, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks
Boston Yanks
The Boston Yanks were a National Football League team based in Boston, Massachusetts that played from 1944 to 1948. The team played its home games at Fenway Park. Games that conflicted with the Boston Red Sox schedule were held at the Manning Bowl in Lynn, Massachusetts...
.
The second AFL also had a Brooklyn Tigers club in 1936; it played seven games before folding.
In 1946, the new All-America Football Conference
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...
had yet another Brooklyn Dodgers
Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC)
The Brooklyn Dodgers was an American Football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1948. The team is unrelated to the Brooklyn Dodgers that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943...
team. This club lasted until 1948, after which it merged with the New York Yankees
New York Yankees (AAFC)
The New York Yankees were a professional American football team that played in the All-America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949. The team played in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and often played in front of sold-out crowds . They were owned by Dan Topping, who brought many of his Brooklyn...
football team.
Finally, there was an independent minor league team called the Brooklyn Dodgers in the short-lived Continental Football League
Continental Football League
The Continental Football League was a professional minor American football league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to become the major force in professional football outside of the...
in 1966. They played a 14-game schedule and then folded as well.
Basketball
On January 23, 2004, developer Bruce RatnerBruce Ratner
Bruce Ratner is an American real estate developer and is a current minority owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets...
announced that he had purchased the New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
as part of a controversial large multi-use luxury apartment skyscraper development. He plans to move the Nets to a 18,000-seat Barclays Center as part of the Atlantic Yards
Atlantic Yards
The Atlantic Yards is a mixed-use commercial and residential development project of 16 high-rise buildings, under construction in Prospect Heights, adjacent to Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene in Brooklyn, New York City...
development at Flatbush
Flatbush Avenue (Brooklyn)
Flatbush Avenue is one of the major avenues in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn. It runs from the Manhattan Bridge south-southeastward to Jamaica Bay, where it joins the Marine Parkway Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens...
and Atlantic
Atlantic Avenue (New York City)
Atlantic Avenue is an important street in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It stretches from the Brooklyn waterfront on the East River all the way to Jamaica, Queens...
Avenues. After years of delays caused by community opposition and financial difficulties, the arena broken ground in March 2009 and will open in September 2012. After the move, the Nets will take on the name of the borough and become the Brooklyn Nets.
The Brooklyn Kings
Brooklyn Kings
The Brooklyn Kings are a United States Basketball League franchise in Brooklyn, New York. They play in Downtown Brooklyn, on the main campus of Long Island University. They started play in 1999. The league suspended operations after the 2007 season and the team has been inactive since then.-...
, a United States Basketball League
United States Basketball League
The United States Basketball League , often abbreviated to the USBL, was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985. The final champions are the Kansas Cagerz, who won the title game on July 1, 2007.-History:...
team, played in Downtown Brooklyn until 2007. The borough also had a franchise in the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association (21st century)
The American Basketball Association, often abbreviated as ABA, is a semi-professional men's basketball league that was founded in 1999. The current ABA has no affiliation with the original American Basketball Association that merged with the National Basketball Association in 1976...
in 2006 called the Brooklyn Wonders
Brooklyn Wonders
The Westchester Phantoms are a professional basketball team in the Blue Conference of the American Basketball Association based in Westchester County, New York...
.
Hockey
The Brooklyn AmericansNew York Americans
The New York Americans were a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League and the second to play in the United States. The team never won the Stanley Cup, but reached the semifinals...
, formerly known as the New York Americans, were a National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
club in the 1941–42 season. Despite the name, the team played its home games at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
and never played a game in Brooklyn. Brooklyn has two ice rink facilities, Aviator Sports and Recreation
Aviator Sports and Recreation
Aviator Sports and Events Center is a concession for the National Park Service operating in New York City’s historic first municipal airport, Floyd Bennett Field, which opened its hangars in 1931 and was decommissioned in 1972. Floyd Bennett Field in Southeast Brooklyn is now part of the 4th most...
(a twin NHL regulation ice sheet facility) in Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field is New York City's first municipal airport. While no longer used as an operational commercial, military or general aviation airfield, the New York Police Department still flies its helicopters from its heliport base there...
in Southeast Brooklyn, and Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island. Brooklyn (specifically Barclays Center, which can host hockey games) has been a rumored new home for the New York Islanders
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
if Nassau Coliseum becomes an untenable venue for professional hockey.
The New York Aviators
New York Aviators
The Brooklyn Aviators are a single-A professional ice hockey team based in Brooklyn, New York. The Team is a member of the Federal Hockey League and affiliated with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers. The franchise was founded in 2009 and began play in the former North East Professional Hockey League...
are a single-A minor league professional hockey team in the newly formed Federal Hockey League
Federal Hockey League
The Federal Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league with teams in the Northeastern United States and Ontario. The FHL began operations in November 2010. Don Kirnan serves as the league's first commissioner....
(FHL) which consists of six teams throughout New York State, Connecticut, and near Cornwall, Ontario. The Aviators' home arena is the Aviator Sports and Events Center located at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY.
Wrestling
Fans of professional wrestling have long admired Steve LombardiSteve Lombardi
Steve Lombardi is an Italian American professional wrestler, and road agent. He is also known by his ring name Brooklyn Brawler...
, best known as The Brooklyn Brawler, as one of the sport's premier jobbers
Job (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling slang, the term job describes a losing performance in a wrestling match. It is derived from the euphemism "doing one's job", which was employed to protect kayfabe. As professional wrestling is scripted, inevitably a wrestler will be required to lose to an opponent.The term...
. ECW
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
legend Tazz
Tazz
Peter Senerchia is a retired American professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz...
is also proud of his Brooklyn roots, hailing from the Red Hook
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. It is also the location where the transatlantic liner, the , docks in New York City.- History :...
area of the city.
Other well-known wrestlers from Brooklyn include:
- Nelson ErazoNelson ErazoNelson Rodriguez Erazo is an American professional wrestler of Puerto Rican descent, better known by his ring name, Homicide...
, best known as Homicide in TNATotal Nonstop Action WrestlingTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling is a privately held professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. The company broadcasts its events on television and the Internet fifty two weeks a year with over a million weekly viewers on its primary television program, Impact...
. - Brandon Silvestry, best known as Low Ki in the independent ranks, also a TNA alumnus, and now signed with the WWEWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
and wrestling in its Florida Championship WrestlingFlorida Championship WrestlingChampionship Wrestling from Florida was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as Florida Championship Wrestling...
developmental territory as Kaval. - WWE wrestlers Shad GaspardShad GaspardShad Chad Javier Romane Chittick Gaspard is an American professional wrestler of Haitian and Curaçaon descent, currently signed with Inoki Genome Federation...
& JTGJayson PaulJayson Anthony Paul is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name JTG...
, also known collectively as Cryme TymeCryme TymeFor animated series named Crime Time, visit Crime TimeCryme Tyme was a professional wrestling tag team that was signed to WWE.The team consisted of JTG and Shad , an over-the-top parody of stereotypical street thugs.-Early lives:Of Haitian and...
.
Soccer
A minor league soccer team called Brooklyn KnightsBrooklyn Knights
Brooklyn Knights is an American soccer team based in New York, New York, United States. Founded in 1999, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Mid Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.The team plays its home games at the...
plays at the Metropolitan Oval
Metropolitan Oval
The Metropolitan Oval, also known as Met Oval, is a soccer complex located in Maspeth, Queens in New York City. Village Voice named the complex, which takes up , the "Best full soccer field in the middle of a residential neighborhood" in 2004, for its "pristine" playing surface and the view of the...
, which is one of the oldest soccer venues in the US.
Rugby
There are successful men's, women's and youth rugby teams in Brooklyn. Metropolitan New York Rugby lists clubs and current contact information.Brooklyn Currently Supports two adult club rugby teams. Brooklyn Rugby Football Club is a men's rugby team competing in Division III of the Metropolitan Rugby Football Union and Brooklyn Women's Rugby Football Club is a women's team currently in Division II of the same union.
The Public School Athletic League now supports rugby too, and flag (non-contact) rugby is played in numerous public elementary, middle and high schools across the borough.