Sports in Philadelphia - Major-league Professional Teams

Major-league Professional Teams

See also: U.S. cities with teams from four major sports

Philadelphia has a long and proud history of professional sports teams. Of late, Philadelphia teams have been performing well, but have much more often than not missed championships by failing in the crucial stages. Some locals jokingly attributed this to the "Curse of Billy Penn." The city's teams have had recent success and saw its first major championship since the 76ers championship of 1983 when the Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series. Also, the city's teams have lost championships during presidential inaugural years, beginning with the 76ers' loss in the 1977 NBA Finals, and most recently in 2009, when the Phillies lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series. During the spring that followed the Phillies loss in the World Series, the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. The losses by the Phillies and the Flyers clearly made evident a main reason why Philadelphia went 25 years without a championship until the Phillies won in 2008: it continued an interesting coincidence of the only years the city's teams played for championships during that span were during presidential inauguration years. The loss by the Flyers was the first time since they themselves lost in 1987 that one of the city's teams lost championships in a non-presidential inauguration year.

The Flyers Cinderella run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals made the city of Philadelphia the first city to have all four of its major-professional-sports-league teams play in the league championship finals at least once since 2000.

On September 17, 2011, the Phillies became the first team in the city's major-professional-sports history to finish the regular season in first place in five consecutive seasons. Two other teams finished first during four consecutive seasons: 1973-77 Flyers and the 2001-04 Eagles. Five other teams finished first for three seasons in a row: the 1929-31 Athletics, 1947-49 Eagles, 1965-68 Sixers, 1976-78 Phillies, and 1984–87 Flyers.

The Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, 76ers and Wings all play their home games in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex section of the city. The Eagles currently play at Lincoln Financial Field (commonly referred to as "The Linc"), built in 2003. The Phillies play at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004. The Flyers, 76ers and Wings share the Wells Fargo Center, opened in 1996. The Philadelphia Union plays their home games at PPL Park in the suburb of Chester, about 13 miles south of Philadelphia. All three venues are within walking distance of AT&T Station on SEPTA's Broad Street Line. Philadelphia is one of a handful of cities, which include Chicago and Denver, where all of its teams from the four major sports play within the city limits.

In 1980, when Philadelphia had teams in only four major sports (baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey), it became the only North American city in which all four of those teams (Phillies, 76ers, Eagles, Flyers) played for their respective championships in one year. Only the Phillies, however, were able to win a championship, by defeating the Kansas City Royals in six games in the 1980 World Series. The Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27-10, in Super Bowl XV; the Flyers fell to the New York Islanders in six games in the Stanley Cup Finals; and the 76ers bowed to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals in six games.

Philadelphia has also been home to the Philadelphia Athletics (MLB, later the Kansas City Athletics and now the Oakland Athletics) and the Philadelphia Warriors (NBA, now the Golden State Warriors).