The National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, based in Newark at the Prudential Center, is the only major league franchise to solely bear the state's name. Founded in 1974 in Kansas City, Missouri as the Kansas City Scouts, the team played in Denver, Colorado as the Colorado Rockies from 1976 until the spring of 1982 when naval architect, businessman, and Jersey City native John J. McMullen purchased and relocated the franchise to Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford'sMeadowlands Sports Complex under its current identity. While the organization was largely a failure on the ice in Kansas City, Denver, and its first years in New Jersey, the Devils would ultimately begin their rise to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s under the tenure of Hall of Fame president and general manager Lou Lamoriello, winning the Stanley Cup in 1995, 2000, and 2003, and act as an annual fixture in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the majority of two decades. The organization is the youngest out of all nine "Big Four" major league teams within the New York Metropolitan Area and media market dominated in terms of ice hockey by the New York Rangers and Islanders prior to the Devils' arrival, but has ultimately been successful in establishing a visible and dedicated following throughout the northern and central portions of the state. In 2018, one of the Devils' fiercest rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, renovated and expanded their training facility, the Flyers Training Center, in Voorhees Township in the southern portion of the state.[2][3][4]
The former Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation played at The Rink at the American Dream Meadowlands in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford.[5] While initially beginning in Brooklyn as the New York Riveters, they moved to New Jersey in their 2016 season playing out of the Barnabas Health Hockey House at the Prudential Center.[6] In 2016 the team formed an affiliation with the New Jersey Devils where the team renamed to the Metropolitan Riveters along with changing their uniform and team colors to match the Devils.[7] The Riveters won both the regular season title and the Isobel Cup in the 2017–18 season. In 2019, this affiliation was terminated between the Devils and the Riveters,[8][9] which caused the team to revert to their original colors along with finding a new home at the ProSkate Ice Arena in Monmouth Junction.[10][11] The Premier Hockey Federation ceased operations on June 29, 2023, along with the Riveters.
On September 13, 2024, the New York Sirens of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) announced they would move to the Prudential Center and play 13 of 15 home games of the 2024 season at their new home rink. The club also announced they would move their practice facility to the Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, the former Devil's practice facility from 1986 to 2007.[12]
The New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer play in Red Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium located in Harrison immediately across the Passaic River from downtown Newark. The team was founded in 1994 as the Empire Soccer Club, and renamed to New York/New Jersey Metrostars in 1995[19] and played under this name until the acquisition of the team by Red Bull GmbH in 2006, where the team was renamed to the New York Red Bulls and dropped their association with New Jersey in the team's name.[20][21][22] For the entire team's history, the team has always played in New Jersey, where Giants Stadium served as the team's home stadium, prior to the opening of Red Bull Arena in 2010.[23] On July 27, 2011, Red Bull Arena hosted the 2011 MLS All-Star Game.[24]
NJ/NY Gotham FC was founded in 2008 as Sky Blue FC and began playing in the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season. After the league was folded in 2012,[25] SkyBlue FC transferred to the National Women's Soccer League beginning in the 2013 season. In November 2019 it was announced that SkyBlue FC will move from Yurcack Field at Rutgers University to Red Bull Arena, for the 2020 NWSL season[26] In April 2021, Sky Blue officially rebranded itself as NJ/NY Gotham FC,[27] Along with the new name, the club introduced a new crest that features the Statue of Liberty’s crown as it was voted the most recognizable symbol of New Jersey and New York. The crest also displays three letters – an “N” and a hybrid “J/Y”, which acknowledges New Jersey as the club's birthplace while embracing the club's growing New York reach.[28]
Rutgers and Princeton athletics share an intense rivalry – stemming from the first intercollegiate football game in 1869 – though the two schools have not met on the football field since 1980. They continue to play each other annually in all other sports offered by the two universities.
Rutgers, which fields 24 teams in various sports, is nationally known for its excellent football and women's basketball programs, owning a 6-4 all-time bowl record and appearing in a National Final in 2007, respectively. In 2008 and 2009, Rutgers expanded their football home SHI Stadium on the Busch Campus, and the basketball teams play at Jersey Mike's Arena on the Livingston Campus. Both venues and campuses are located in Piscataway, immediately across the Raritan River from New Brunswick. The university also fields rising men's basketball and baseball programs. Rutgers' fan base is mostly derived from the western parts of the state and Middlesex County, not to mention its alumni base, which is the largest in the state.
Rutgers' satellite campuses in Camden and Newark each field their own athletic programs. The Rutgers–Camden athletic teams are called the Scarlet Raptors. The Rutgers–Newark athletic teams are called the Scarlet Raiders. The Scarlet Raiders and the Scarlet Raptors both compete within NCAA Division III.
Seton Hall, unlike Rutgers and Princeton, does not field a football team. Its men's basketball team, however, is one of the Big East's storied programs, New Jersey's most successful representative in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament by number of wins, the state's only men's basketball program to reach a modern National Final, and plays its home games at Prudential Center in downtown Newark approximately four miles from the university's South Orange campus. The Pirates, while lacking as large an alumni base as the state university, have a large well of support in the predominantly Roman Catholic areas of the northern part of the state and the Jersey Shore. The annual inter-conference rivalry game between Seton Hall and Rutgers which alternates between Newark and Piscataway, the Garden State Hardwood Classic, has been renewed through 2026.[33]
Fairleigh Dickinson University competes in both Division I and Division III. It has two campuses, each with its own sports teams. The teams at the Metropolitan Campus are known as the FDU Knights, and compete in the Northeast Conference and NCAA Division I. The College at Florham (FDU-Florham) teams are known as the FDU-Florham Devils and compete in NCAA Division III as a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference and its Freedom Conference.[a] The Metropolitan Campus reached its own national prominence in 2023 when its men's basketball team became the second 16-seed to defeat a top regional seed in the NCAA men's tournament, beating top overall seed Purdue.
Among the various Division III schools in the state, the Stevens Ducks, representing Stevens Institute of Technology, have fielded the longest continuously running collegiate men's lacrosse program in the country. 2009 marked the 125th season.
Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, originated and was developed in Maplewood in 1968 with the first sanctioned game at Columbia High School between the student council and student newspaper staff.[34]
High school sports
New Jersey high schools are divided into divisions under the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.(NJSIAA) [35]'[36] Founded in 1918, the NJSIAA currently represents 22,000 schools, 330,000 coaches, and almost 4.5 million athletes. Sports are divided between 3 seasons (fall, winter, and spring).
Academies and clubs
New Jersey also features a collection of sports leagues, clubs, and academies for athletic training. Like many suburban communities, most New Jersey towns have individual leagues for America's most popular sports - baseball, softball, football, cheerleading, basketball, soccer, etc.[37]
^The Middle Atlantic Conference is an umbrella organization of three conferences. Two of its components, the Freedom and Commonwealth Conferences (officially styled as "MAC Freedom" and "MAC Commonwealth"), sponsor competition in 14 NCAA sports, but not football. The overall MAC organizes competition among both Commonwealth and Freedom members in 13 other sports, including football.