Sports in the San Francisco Bay Area

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The San Francisco Bay Area, consisting of nine California counties bordering on the San Francisco Bay, and the major cities of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, currently hosts six major league sports franchises, as of 2012.

Contents

American football [edit]

The Raiders offense against the 49ers defense at McAfee Coliseum in 2008

The Bay Area is home to two National Football League teams, the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders, who play at Candlestick Park[1] and O.co Coliseum,[2] respectively. However, the 49ers expect to move into a new stadium in Santa Clara by 2014,[3] though some believe that the Raiders could also move into the stadium.[4] The 49ers have won five Super Bowls (XVI,[5] XIX,[6] XXIII,[7] XXIV,[8] XXIX[9]), while the Raiders have won three (XI,[10] XV,[11] XVIII[12]), while having lost two (II,[13] XXXVII[14])

The Bay Area had a United Football League team in 2009 named the California Redwoods, who played at AT&T Park[15] and Spartan Stadium, though the Redwoods would move to Sacramento in 2010.[16]

From 1995-2008, as well as since 2011, the Bay had the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League, who currently play at the HP Pavilion at San Jose.[17] The SaberCats have won 3 ArenaBowls (XVI,[18] XVIII,[19] XXI[20]), and have lost in another (XXII[21]).

Baseball [edit]

San Francisco is home to the San Francisco Giants, while Oakland has the Oakland Athletics. The Giants play at AT&T Park,[15] and the A's share O.co Coliseum with the Raiders.[22] The A's have considered relocating to San Jose, California,[23] and moving into Cisco Field by 2017.[24] The Giants have won seven World Series titles, while Oakland has won nine. The 1989 World Series was known as the "Earthquake Series", "Bay Bridge Series", "BART Series", and "Battle of the Bay," as both teams played against each other, and Oakland swept the Giants in a 4-game series.[25] However, the series is probably best known for what happened on the day of Game 3, when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck the area.[26][27]

In 2012 San Francisco was ranked #1 among America's Best Baseball cities. The study examined which U.S. metro areas have produced the most Major Leaguers since 1920.[28]

Basketball [edit]

Oakland is home of the Golden State Warriors, who currently play at the Oracle Arena.[29] The Warriors originally played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but relocated in 1971. The Warriors have only won one NBA Final since their relocation (1975[30]).

San Jose had a women's basketball team from 2005-2006 in the National Women's Basketball League called the San Jose Spiders.[31]

Hockey [edit]

San Jose currently hosts the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. The Sharks currently play at HP Pavilion at San Jose.[17] Since the Sharks inception in 1991, the Sharks have yet to win nor appear in a Stanley Cup.

Before the Sharks, the Bay Area had the California Golden Seals, who had been previously named the California Seals and the Oakland Seals. The Seals came into existence in the 1967 NHL expansion.[32] The Seals played at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena (now Oracle Arena). The Seals later became the Cleveland Barons in 1976 and then merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978 (who in turn later became the Dallas Stars).[33] The Golden Seals/Barons franchise is notable as the last franchise in North America's four major leagues to permanently cease operations.

However, the Sharks can be viewed as an effective successor of the Golden Seals/Barons. In the late 1980s, North Stars majority owners Gordon and George Gund tried to move the team to the Bay Area, but were rebuffed by the NHL. In the meantime, a group led by former Hartford Whalers owner Howard Baldwin sought to bring an expansion team to the Bay Area. The league then brokered a deal which effectively unwound the Barons–North Stars merger. The Gunds sold their share of the North Stars to Baldwin's group in exchange for an expansion team in the Bay Area. The Gunds would be allowed to take half of the North Stars' roster with them, and both the North Stars and the future Sharks would participate as equals in an expansion draft.

Also, for one season (1995-96), it was home to the San Francisco Spiders of the International Hockey League.[34]

On September 20th, 2011, the ECHL Board of Governors announced that a AA hockey team would appear in San Francisco for the 2012-2013 season. They would be called the San Francisco Bulls and would play at the Cow Palace.

Soccer [edit]

Before the existence of the current San Jose Earthquakes, a separate San Jose Earthquakes played for the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, and the Western Soccer Alliance.[35] After they folded, the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks played for the WSA. Eventually, the Blawkhawks became the San Jose Hawks, and folded in 1993.

San Jose Grizzlies were a professional indoor soccer team based in San Jose, California. The team was founded on November 24, 1993 as a member of the Continental Indoor Soccer League. After playing in the 1994 and 1995 CISL seasons, the Grizzlies folded following the 1995 season. The team played at San Jose Arena. [36]

From 1994-1999, the original Earthquakes, then known as the San Jose Clash, competed in Major League Soccer, and became the Earthquakes in 1999. The Quakes would win MLS Cup 2001 against the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1,[37] as well as MLS Cup 2003 against the Chicago Fire Soccer Club 4-2. The Quakes would then move to Houston in 2005, and became the Houston Dynamo,[38] but in a fashion similar to the Cleveland Browns move,[39] the Earthquakes name and history stayed in San Jose for a future team. In 2008, the current incarnation of the Earthquakes made its return,[40] and currently plays at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara. In 2014, the Earthquakes expect a new stadium next to the San Jose International Airport.[41]

FC Gold Pride was a charter member of Women's Professional Soccer, playing alongside the Earthquakes in the league's inaugural 2009 season before moving to Hayward for 2010. Led by iconic Brazilian superstar Marta, the team had a dominant championship season in 2010, but folded after the season.[42] WPS itself would play only one more season before folding.

Rugby Union/League [edit]

San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby is a rugby union team that competes in the Rugby Super League. They will also have a rugby league team in the WAMNRL which began play in summer 2011.[43]

College sports [edit]

The Bay Area is also well represented in college sports. Six area universities are members of NCAA Division I, the highest level of college sports in the country. Three have football teams and three do not.

All three football-playing schools in the Bay Area are in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of NCAA college football. The California Golden Bears and Stanford Cardinal compete in the Pacific-12 Conference, and the San Jose State Spartans compete in the Western Athletic Conference, though the Spartans will join the Mountain West Conference in 2013.[44] The Cardinal and Golden Bears are intense rivals, with their football teams competing annually in the Big Game for the Stanford Axe.[45] One of the most famous games in the rivalry is the 1982 edition, when the Golden Bears defeated the Cardinal on a last-second return kickoff known as "The Play".[46]

The three non-football Division I programs in the Bay Area are the San Francisco Dons, located in the city of San Francisco, the Saint Mary's Gaels, from Moraga in the East Bay, and the Santa Clara Broncos, located in Santa Clara, California. All three are charter members of the West Coast Conference.

Other sports [edit]

The Bay Area is the host for the 2013 America's Cup.

Stadium gallery [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Price, Taylor. "Stadium Home". 49ers.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  2. ^ "Oakland Raiders". Coliseum.com. Retrieved 2012-8-20. 
  3. ^ "New Santa Clara Stadium". New Santa Clara Stadium. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  4. ^ Sherman, Freddy (2012-08-06). "Could Raiders Still Share 49ers New Santa Clara Stadium? Fan's Look - Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  5. ^ "Super Bowl XVI Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1982-01-25. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  6. ^ "Super Bowl XIX Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1985-01-21. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  7. ^ "Super Bowl 46 at NFL.com - Official Site of the National Football League". Nfl.com. 1989-01-23. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  8. ^ "Super Bowl XXIV Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1990-01-29. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  9. ^ "Super Bowl XXIX Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1995-01-30. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  10. ^ "Super Bowl XI Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1977-01-10. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  11. ^ "Super Bowl XV Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1981-01-26. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  12. ^ "Super Bowl XVIII Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1984-01-23. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  13. ^ "Super Bowl II Game Recap". Nfl.com. 1968-01-15. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  14. ^ "Super Bowl XXXVII Game Recap". Nfl.com. 2003-01-27. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  15. ^ a b "AT&T Park | SFGiants.com: Ballpark". Sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com. 2012-06-19. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  16. ^ "The California Redwoods are now the Sacramento Mountain Lions!". Mountainlionsfootball.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  17. ^ a b "HP Pavilion". Retrieved 2012-8-21. 
  18. ^ "ARENABOWL XVI / SaberCats leave no doubt in rout / WR Hundon calls it 'most fun I've ever had'". SFGate. 2002-08-19. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  19. ^ "AFL Box Score: ArenaBowl XVIII - San Jose SaberCats @ Arizona Rattlers (Jun 27, 2004)". ArenaFan.com. 2004-06-27. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  20. ^ "AFL Box Score: ArenaBowl XXI - Columbus Destroyers @ San Jose SaberCats (Jul 29, 2007)". ArenaFan.com. 2007-07-29. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  21. ^ "ESPN.com - AFL - Recap". Sports.espn.go.com. 2008-07-27. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  22. ^ "Oakland Athletics". Coliseum.com. Retrieved 2012-8-21. 
  23. ^ "MLB trying to speed up decision on Oakland Athletics' potential move to San Jose, sources say - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN". Msn.foxsports.com. 2011-11-19. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  24. ^ "Future Home of the Oakland A's in San Jose?". Cisco Field Stadium. 2011-05-10. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  25. ^ "1989 World Series - Oakland Athletics over San Francisco Giants (4-0)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  26. ^ "SportsCenter Archive 1989: Earthquake Stops the World Series - ESPN Video - ESPN". Espn.go.com. 2008-08-08. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  27. ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1989: Earthquake hits San Francisco". BBC News. 1989-10-17. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  28. ^ Sperling, Bert. "Best Baseball Cities". Retrieved 29 October 2012. 
  29. ^ "Golden State Warriors". Coliseum.com. Retrieved 2012-8-21. 
  30. ^ "1975 NBA Finals Composite Box Score". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  31. ^ http://www.oursportscentral.com/sports/?t_id=894
  32. ^ "NHL Hockey History NHL the Early Years 1967 NHL Expansion Livingstone". Hockeyhistorynews.com. 1974-05-19. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  33. ^ rjk. "California Golden Seals". Thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  34. ^ "San Francisco Spiders hockey team statistics and history at". Hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  35. ^ "NASL San Jose Earthquakes Rosters". Nasljerseys.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  36. ^ Template:Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San Jose Grizzlies
  37. ^ "October 21, 2001 | Sports Update | News | Yankees | Chris Osgood | MLS Cup". Kidzworld.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  38. ^ "San Jose's MLS team moving to Houston". Usatoday.Com. 2005-12-15. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  39. ^ "Browns Abandon Cleveland : Pro football: Art Modell signs a 30-year lease with Baltimore and expects his fellow NFL owners to approve team's move. - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1995-11-07. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  40. ^ Dure, Beau (2008-04-01). "Notes: Expansion 'Quakes have winning past". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  41. ^ "San Jose Earthquakes eyeing new stadium in 2012 | MLS News". tribalfootball.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  42. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/FC-Gold-Pride-to-fold-3166073.php
  43. ^ "Loading". Americanrugbynews.com. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
  44. ^ "San José State, Utah State to Join Mountain West - Mountain West Conference Official Athletic Site". Themwc.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  45. ^ "Cal, Stanford get pumped up for The Big Game | abc7news.com". Abclocal.go.com. 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  46. ^ "Scout.com: The Big Game: Cal vs. Stanford". California.scout.com. 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 

External links [edit]

Sports teams based in the San Francisco Bay Area
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