Sports in Montreal have played a major role in the city's history. Montreal is best known for being home to the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, which are currently the city's only team in the Big Four sports leagues.
Other professional teams in Montreal include the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, CF Montréal of Major League Soccer, and PWHL Montréal of the Professional Women's Hockey League.
Montreal is also well known for hosting the annual Formula One Canadian Grand Prix.
In the past, Montreal has also hosted many world-renowned sporting events, namely the 1976 Summer Olympics. It was also home to the Montreal Expos of Major League Baseball from 1969 to the 2004 season.
The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL play at Molson Stadium and have been one of the most successful CFL teams in terms of championships won and sellout crowds. The Alouettes have won 8 Grey Cup championships in their history. In women's football, the Montreal Blitz currently represent the city in the Central Canadian Women's Football League.
Although university football has long been popular with Anglo Montrealers, who support the McGill Redbirds and Concordia Stingers, enthusiastic Francophone crowds also enjoy the Université de Montréal's Carabins. [1]
The development of modern ice hockey occurred in Montreal. The city is famous for its enthusiastic, if not obsessed, ice hockey fans. The Montreal Canadiens is the most successful and one of the highest valued franchises in the NHL. Montreal was home to the Montreal Canadiennes, a professional women's team that won the Clarkson Cup in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2017 before the Canadian Women's Hockey League folded in 2019. In 2024, a new professional women's team debuted, with PWHL Montréal representing the city in the PWHL. The Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League play at Place Bell.
Montreal's off-island suburb of Boisbriand is home to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
The Montréal Mission compete in the National Ringette League. In 2023, they won silver at the Canadian Ringette Championships.
The city's current soccer team is the CF Montréal (known as the Montreal Impact until 2021), who joined Major League Soccer in 2012, the top tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, and play home games at Saputo Stadium. Montreal's WSL affiliate, FC Montreal, play at the Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard. Also at the Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne plays the Laval Comets of the W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada.
AFL Quebec is the governing body of Australian Rules Football in Quebec. Based primarily out of Montreal and surrounding areas, it includes both a Men's and a Women's League. AFL Quebec prides itself on been one of the fastest growing and best runs leagues in Canada and North America.
AFL Quebec Men's League consists of four clubs, the West Island Wooders, Laval Bombers, Montreal Demons, and Old Montreal Dockers while the newly expanded Women's League also consists of four clubs, the NDG Devils and the Plateau Eagles from Montreal and the Carleton Warriors and Rideau Shamrocks from Ottawa.
Like most leagues outside of Australia, AFL Quebec is a nine a side league in both the men and the women. This is for numerous reasons, including but not limited to local player development and field availability. AFL Quebec plays the vast majority of its regular and final series games at Vanier College.
The AFL Quebec Regular Season runs over nine rounds from mid-May until early September. This is followed by finals in mid to late September, with three rounds of finals for the men and two rounds of finals for the women's.
AFL Quebec has both representative Men's and Women's 18 a side teams. These teams are known as the Quebec Saints, Montreal Angels and Ottawa Lady Swans respectively. They compete against other 18 a side representative team across Canada and North America. Generally these games occur a handful number of times over a season either in one off games or more commonly at invitational tournament. Such a tournament is the AFL Quebec Women's Tournament held early May every year. [2]
Montreal has become one of the top boxing cities in the world, hosting the third most events in North America, only behind Atlantic City and Las Vegas. The city also currently has two world champions in Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute as well as a number of top contenders such as Herman Ngoudjo, Joachim Alcine, Adrian Diaconu and Sebastian Demers.
From 1897 to 1917 and from 1928 to 1960, Montreal fielded a minor league team, the Montreal Royals, most famous for having Jackie Robinson as a player for the 1946 season.
Montreal was the home of a major league baseball team, the Montreal Expos, named after the 1967 World's Fair, and began playing in the National League from 1969. On July 13, 1982, Montreal hosted the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game outside the United States. However, due to low attendance and other financial factors, the team moved to Washington, D.C. in 2005, where it was renamed the Washington Nationals. [3] [4]
A two-game MLB exhibition pre-season series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets were played on March 28–29, 2014 at Olympic Stadium in front of sold-out crowds. This proved to be very popular with Montrealers, and the Blue Jays (as the home team) hosted the Cincinnati Reds in 2015, the Boston Red Sox in 2016, the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017, the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018, and the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019. (On March 23 and 24, 2020 the Blue Jays were scheduled to host the New York Yankees at Olympic Stadium but the two-game series were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) All six of the two-game series were played in an attempt to gauge the city's interest in a revived Expos franchise. The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal is also actively working on building a new stadium downtown and bringing back a major league baseball team to Montreal. [5] [ needs update ]
Montreal has had several minor pro basketball teams. Currently the city is home to the Montreal Alliance of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, and the Montreal Toundra of The Basketball League. Previously the Montreal Jazz played a single season in the National Basketball League of Canada.
Montreal has also established itself as a popular place for NBA preseason games. On October 22, 2010, the Bell Centre hosted the first pre-season National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks. This was followed by further games on October 19, 2012, when they faced the New York Knicks, October 20, 2013, when the Boston Celtics played against the Minnesota Timberwolves, October 24, 2014, when the Toronto Raptors played against the New York Knicks, October 23, 2015, when the Toronto Raptors played against the Washington Wizards, October 10, 2018, when the Toronto Raptors played against the Brooklyn Nets, October 14, 2022, when the Toronto Raptors played against the Boston Celtics, and October 12, 2023, when the Oklahoma City Thunder played against the Detroit Pistons. All eight games were held at the Bell Centre and were sold out. They were played in an attempt to gauge the city's interest in a full-time team.
Montreal is considered a possible future location for an NBA team. [6] [7] [8]
The Gaelic games of hurling and Gaelic football, governed by the Gaelic Athletic Association, have been played in Montreal since 1948. These sports have become increasingly popular with locals and new Irish immigrants. Beginners are actively encouraged. Games are played against Quebec City, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Halifax, St.Johns etc.. There is also a domestic co-ed Montreal Gaelic Football Superleague open to complete beginners. They are played under the banner of the Montreal Shamrocks GAC. [9] Despite having no home field, Gaelic sports have grown leaps and bounds over the years, many requests have been submitted to the city as the Shamrocks await a permanent home.
Montréal Roller Derby were the first non-U.S. roller derby league to gain membership in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). [10] The league hosts the annual "Beast of the East" tournament for intraleague (club) roller derby teams from eastern Canada. As of November 30, 2015, their travel team was ranked 15th in WFTDA's East region. [11]
Rugby is sport in expansion on the island. The rugby teams are divided by their language and their division, but over all it is a big family trying to expand a sport misunderstood and unknown by many. Montreal boasts a dozen rugby clubs, including the oldest in North America, Westmount Rugby Club, founded in 1878 and the newest Rugby XV de Montreal created in 2010. Traditionally associated with the Anglo community, rugby has seen a sharp rise in Francophone participation in recent decades. Quebec Caribou, drawing many players from Montreal clubs, represented the province in the Rugby Canada Super League before the league's demise following the 2008 season, and now represents the province in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship. The province's senior players are also eligible for selection to the Atlantic Rock, a St. John's-based team which represents Canada's five easternmost provinces in the Canadian Rugby Championship.
Montreal has a well-developed network of bicycle paths. [12] Bike rentals are available at the Old Port of Montreal, as well as quadricycles, inline skates, children trailers, and Segways. In addition to a network of parks that include le Parc du Mont-Royal, on the mountain's side, Montreal offers five beaches around the island for recreational activities: Cap St. Jacques Nature Park, Bois-de-L’Ile Bizard Nature Park, Jean Drapeau Park Beach, Pointe Calumet Beach Club and Oka Beach. The Quebec Ministry of Environment tests the beaches for pollutants, on a scale from “A” to “D”. [13]
Bandy Quebec [14] seeks to promote bandy in Montreal. There has been an introduction. [15] No teams exist yet. [16]
Montreal is host to three high-profile auto racing events each year: the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series racing event, and the Montreal 200, a Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series event. The race takes place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île Notre-Dame. Montreal was also the host of the Molson Indy Montreal / Grand Prix of Montreal of the Champ Car Series. The races also took place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Of the 300,000 spectators at the F1 race, 25 percent are from outside of Quebec. The Formula One event is responsible for $84 million in economic benefits and the province will collect more than $9 million in additional tax revenues every year because of the race. [17]
In golf, the Royal Montreal Golf Club on Île Bizard has been an occasional venue for the Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, most recently in 2001. The Montreal Championship, an event on PGA Tour Champions for golfers 50 and older, was launched in 2010 and is hosted by Club de Golf Fontainebleu in the suburb of Blainville.
Montreal has hosted several international soccer tournaments, including some games for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
The Canada Masters, currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup, is an annual tennis tournament held in Montreal and Toronto. The men's competition is an ATP Masters Series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. The women's competition is a Tier 1 event on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The two competitions are currently held in separate weeks in the July–August period. The events alternate from year-to-year between the cities of Montreal and Toronto. In odd-numbered years, the men's tournament is held in Montreal, while the women's tournament is held in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years. The competition is played on hard courts.
Montreal has also hosted multiple professional wrestling events, most notably the WWE Survivor Series on November 9, 1997, where the infamous Montreal Screwjob took place. The WWE’s annual Draft event took place in Montreal in 2019 (called the Superstar Shake-Up at the time), which made Montreal the very first city outside of the United States to host the event.
The most important sporting event in Montreal's history was when Montreal played host to the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Montreal hosted the ICF Flatwater Racing World Championships in 1986.
In July 2005 Montreal hosted the 11th FINA World Aquatics Championships.
In 2006, Montreal was expected to attract some 16,000 LGBT athletes, who will participate in the first-ever GLISA World Outgames. The Outgames are being hailed as the largest international event in the city of Montreal since the 1976 Olympics. [18]
Ethnosport World Society is based in Montreal. [19]
Montreal has one all-sport radio station, the English-language CKGM (TSN 690). Sport is covered daily in the city's newspapers by beat writers in The Montreal Gazette, La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. The French-language cable television channel, Réseau des Sports (RDS) focuses much of its coverage on Montreal-based sport clubs and events, however also features standard North American sports programming much like its Toronto-based English-language sister station, The Sports Network (TSN).
Venue | Capacity | Team/Tournament/Attraction |
---|---|---|
Gilles Villeneuve Circuit | 100,000[ citation needed ] | |
Olympic Stadium | 65,255 |
|
Molson Stadium | 25,012 | |
Hippodrome de Montréal | 25,000 | Horse Racing |
Bell Centre | 21,273 | Montreal Canadiens |
Île Sainte-Hélène Aquatic Complex | XI Fina World Championships | |
Saputo Stadium | 20,341 | |
IGA Stadium | 12,000 | |
Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard | 9,500 | |
CEPSUM Stadium | 5,100 |
Club | League | Sport | Venue | Established | Championships |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Montreal Canadiens | NHL | Ice hockey | Bell Centre | 1909 | 24 |
Montreal Alouettes | CFL | Football | Percival Molson Memorial Stadium Olympic Stadium | 1946 | 8 |
Montreal Shamrocks GAC | Canadian GAA | Gaelic Football, Hurling | Parc De La Verendrye | 1948 | 5 |
CF Montréal | MLS | Soccer | Saputo Stadium | 1992 | 3* |
Quebec Caribou | RCSL | Rugby union | Dollard-des-Ormeaux | 1998 | 0 |
Montreal Blitz | CCWFL | Football | Dalbé Viau High School | 2002 | 4 |
Montréal Mission | NRL | Ringette | Centre Étienne Desmarteau | 2004 | 0 |
Quebec Saints | AFL Quebec | Australian rules football | Vanier College | 2008 | 2 |
Montreal Royal | UFA | Ultimate | Claude-Robillard Sports Complex | 2014 | 0 |
Montreal Alliance | CEBL | Basketball | Verdun Auditorium | 2022 | 0 |
Montreal Tundra | BSL | Basketball | Centre Pierre Charbonneau | 2023 | 0 |
Montréal | PWHL | Ice Hockey | Verdun Auditorium | 2024 | 0 |
Scotiabank Arena, formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). In addition, the minor league Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League play occasional games at the arena. The arena was previously home to the Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League. Scotiabank Arena also hosts other events, such as concerts, political conventions and video game competitions.
Mary Brown's Centre is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The arena opened in May 2001, replacing Memorial Stadium. At full capacity the arena can seat 7,000 people.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Sweden, and about half of the population actively takes part in sports activities. The most important all-embracing organisations for sports in Sweden are the Swedish Sports Confederation, and the Swedish Olympic Committee. In total over 2 million people are members of a sports club.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s, culminating in the development and popularization of the major professional games of ice hockey, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, soccer, football and cricket. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Golf, baseball, tennis, skiing, ringette, badminton, cricket, volleyball, cycling, swimming, bowling, rugby union, canoeing, curling, squash, and the study of martial arts are widely enjoyed at the youth and amateur levels. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fame in Canada.
Total Mortgage Arena is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is the home venue of the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League (AHL) and PWHL New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).
The 1st World Outgames took place in Montréal, Quebec, Canada from July 26, 2006, to August 5, 2006. The international conference was held from July 26 to the 29. The sporting events were held from July 29 to August 5.
Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations and active amateur teams and individual sports. The State of Minnesota has a team in all five major professional leagues. Along with professional sports, there are numerous collegiate teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies in NCAA Division I, as well as many others across the Minnesota public and private colleges and universities.
Boston, Massachusetts, is home to several major professional sports franchises. They include the Red Sox (baseball), the Celtics, and the Bruins. The New England Patriots and the New England Revolution play at Gillette Stadium in nearby Foxborough, Massachusetts.
This is a list of sports in Denver, Colorado, United States. Denver is home to many professional sports teams who are based out of Denver and surrounding cities in the metropolitan area. It is also one of the twelve American cities to house a team from each of the U.S. cities with teams from four major league sports. All four of its teams play their home games near downtown with three active sports venues which includes Empower Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos; Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets; and Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies. There is also a Major League Soccer (MLS) team based in the Denver metro area, but they do not play their home games in the city of Denver and is located in nearby Commerce City.
The city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has a long history of sport. It is home to a number of clubs, including the Granite Club, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, the Argonaut Rowing Club, Toronto Argonauts football club, the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, and the Badminton and Racquet Club. A number of heritage venues have developed in Toronto such as: Christie Pits, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Varsity Arena, and Maple Leaf Gardens. Toronto is also the location of the Canadian Football League's headquarters.
Amateur sport in Toronto has a vibrant and distinguished history, with a breadth of sports featuring significant participation in youth leagues, collegiate sports, and other organised and ad hoc events.
Montreal Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal Roller Derby became the first non-U.S. Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) member league in January 2009. In 2019, Montreal Roller Derby will host the International WFTDA Championships, marking the first time the event will be held outside the United States.
Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada include:
Sport in Ottawa, Canada's capital, has a history dating back to the 19th century. Ottawa is home to seven professional sports teams: the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League; the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League; the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League; the Ottawa Blackjacks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League; Atlético Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League; PWHL Ottawa of the Professional Women's Hockey League; and the Ottawa Black Bears of the National Lacrosse League. Several non-professional teams also play in Ottawa, including the Ottawa 67's junior hockey team and other semi-professional and collegiate teams in various sports.
There are professional teams based in Canada in several professional sports leagues. The National Hockey League currently has seven Canadian franchises and is the most popular professional sports league in Canada. The Canadian Football League is the only all-Canadian major professional sports league. Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, and the Professional Women's Hockey League also have Canadian teams.
Lauriane Rougeau is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for PWHL Toronto of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She played college ice hockey at women's ice hockey program|Cornell, where she is a former All-American selection. She was part of the Montreal Stars team that captured the inaugural Clarkson Cup in 2009. Competing in Ice hockey at the 2014 Winter Olympics, she was part of Canada's gold medal triumph. Having also earned a gold medal at the 2012 IIHF Women's World Championship, she is among a rare group of Canadian female hockey players that have won the Clarkson Cup, IIHF World Gold and Winter Games gold.
AFL Quebec is a 9-a-side Australian football competition formerly known as the Eastern Canadian Australian Football League or ECAFL. The league has both a men's and women's division and consists of teams from Montréal and its surrounding areas. Players from the current regular season teams are eligible to play representative 18-a-side football for the men's team the Québec Saints or the women's team the Montréal Angels. The Saints and Angels participate in the United States AFL National Championships Tournament, the Saints having previously participated in the AFL Ontario Division 2 competition from 2008 to 2010.
The prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada serve as the pinnacle of women's athletic competition in North America. The United States is home to the vast majority of professional women's leagues. In North America, the top women's leagues feature both team sports and individual athletes. While some leagues have paid professional women athletes, others do not and function at a semi-professional level.
Place Bell is a multi-purpose arena in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The complex includes a 10,000-seat main arena, which is the home of the Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League (AHL), and two smaller community ice rinks, one of which has Olympic-size ice. The arena was also home to Les Canadiennes de Montréal for the final season of play in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). The arena is hosting select games for Montréal of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) during the inaugural 2023–24 season.
Ice hockey, simply referred to as "hockey" in both English and French in Canada, dates back to the 19th century. The sport is very popular and played year-round and at every level in the country. Born of various influences from stick-and-ball games brought from the United Kingdom and indigenous games, the contemporary sport of ice hockey originated in Montreal. It is the official national winter sport of Canada. Hockey is widely considered Canada's national pastime, with high levels of participation by children, men, and women at various levels of competition.