Tweet
No city has ever won titles in all four sports in any ten year period. I'm including all the teams in city's metropolitan area: e.g. New Jersey belongs to NYC.
New York came very close by winning the Super Bowl in 1969 and the New York Islanders winning the Stanley Cup in 1980. After the Giants won the Super Bowl for the 86-87 season, the last Knicks championship was over ten years old. Even if you count the ABA, the New York Nets won the last ABA title in 1976.
This fact kind of surprised me. Then I thought about it and it has some explanations:
1. Los Angeles hasn't had a football team in 15 years. LA and NYC would normally be the two prime candidates to win all four championships within a ten year period because they have so many teams. By the mid 90s and before the Rams and Raiders left, LA had eight teams. NYC has nine teams. If the Rams had stayed in LA and still had the same success they've had over the past 15 years, LA would have pulled it off.
2. The NHL only had six teams until the late 60s. This alone limits this achievement to only New York, Chicago, Boston and Detroit prior to the late 60s. The Bulls didn't come into being until 1966 and the NBA's history in Chicago before the Bulls was pretty spotty. Two other teams existed there prior to the Bulls but one folded and the other moved. For all practical purposes, there was no NBA presence in Chicago prior to the Bulls. Prior to the Patriots and the AFL-NFL merger/Super Bowl, Boston had virtually no NFL presence. The Redskins moved to Washington in the 30s after a couple seasons and some other team called the Boston Yanks hung around for a few years then moved to Dallas, folded and its players and other assets were sold to a group in Baltimore and the Colts were born. So, prior to the late 60s, only New York and Detroit could have pulled off the feat.
3. The NBA didn't start until the latter half of the 40s.
4. Every city with at least four teams has had a prolonged title drought (35 years or longer) in one or more sports with one exception: LA. A couple very long droughts have ended this past decade: Boston (baseball and football), Chicago (baseball), Los Angeles (Hockey).
5. Two dynasties have played a large part in preventing the four titles in ten years from happening: the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Celtics.
New York came very close by winning the Super Bowl in 1969 and the New York Islanders winning the Stanley Cup in 1980. After the Giants won the Super Bowl for the 86-87 season, the last Knicks championship was over ten years old. Even if you count the ABA, the New York Nets won the last ABA title in 1976.
This fact kind of surprised me. Then I thought about it and it has some explanations:
1. Los Angeles hasn't had a football team in 15 years. LA and NYC would normally be the two prime candidates to win all four championships within a ten year period because they have so many teams. By the mid 90s and before the Rams and Raiders left, LA had eight teams. NYC has nine teams. If the Rams had stayed in LA and still had the same success they've had over the past 15 years, LA would have pulled it off.
2. The NHL only had six teams until the late 60s. This alone limits this achievement to only New York, Chicago, Boston and Detroit prior to the late 60s. The Bulls didn't come into being until 1966 and the NBA's history in Chicago before the Bulls was pretty spotty. Two other teams existed there prior to the Bulls but one folded and the other moved. For all practical purposes, there was no NBA presence in Chicago prior to the Bulls. Prior to the Patriots and the AFL-NFL merger/Super Bowl, Boston had virtually no NFL presence. The Redskins moved to Washington in the 30s after a couple seasons and some other team called the Boston Yanks hung around for a few years then moved to Dallas, folded and its players and other assets were sold to a group in Baltimore and the Colts were born. So, prior to the late 60s, only New York and Detroit could have pulled off the feat.
3. The NBA didn't start until the latter half of the 40s.
4. Every city with at least four teams has had a prolonged title drought (35 years or longer) in one or more sports with one exception: LA. A couple very long droughts have ended this past decade: Boston (baseball and football), Chicago (baseball), Los Angeles (Hockey).
5. Two dynasties have played a large part in preventing the four titles in ten years from happening: the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Celtics.
Comment