Sports in New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven was known for its blue collar fans who favor rough play and who sat in Section 14 at the New Haven Coliseum, nicknamed "The Jungle," which was behind and adjacent to the opposing team's bench. These fans were renowned for being extremely tough on opposing teams, relentlessly screaming obscenities and taunts at opposing players (and sometimes at hometown players), making New Haven an intimidating place to play even though outright physical violence in the stands was rare. Section 14 regular attendees maintain a website called "Section 14 Online" which can be found at Section14.com.^[1]

New Haven's first professional baseball team was the New Haven Elm Citys of the National Association (NA), which played for one season in 1875 at the Howard Avenue Grounds. Although the National Association's status as a major league is disputed (particularly by Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame), some historians and statisticians consider the NA a major league, making the Elm Citys New Haven's only major league baseball franchise.^[2][3]

New Haven has hosted 29 minor league baseball teams, dating back to the 19th century^[4](A complete list of New Haven base ball teams can be found here). Greater New Haven's first minor league baseball team in modern times were the West Haven Yankees of the Class AA Eastern League, which played at both Quigley Stadium and Yale Field in neighboring West Haven from 1972 to 1979. Many future New York Yankees made their way through the West Haven team, including Ron Guidry.^[5] The West Haven Yankees finished first five times in their eight years, winning the Eastern League championship four times (in '72, '76, '78, and '79).

Minor league baseball returned to New Haven in 1994 with the arrival of the New Haven Ravens, an Eastern League AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Like the preceding minor league teams, the Ravens played in neighboring West Haven at Yale Field, just across the town line. The team was very successful in its first few seasons before losing support. New Haven and the Ravens hosted the Double-A All-Star game in 1998.^[6] The Ravens won the Eastern League championship in 2000, giving New Haven proper its first professional championship since the New Haven Blades' championship in 1956. The Ravens moved to Manchester, New Hampshire in 2003, becoming the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

In 1974, a little league team from New Haven placed sixth in the Little League World Series.^[7]

With a capacity of 64,269, Yale Bowl is the second-largest stadium in New England (after Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts).^[8]

New Haven has hosted a couple of minor league basketball teams. The city briefly was the home of an American Basketball League team named the New Haven Jewels in 1937, before the team moved to New York. New Haven gained an Eastern Professional Basketball League (the forerunner to the Continental Basketball Association) team in 1965, named the New Haven Elms, which played in New Haven Arena. In 1967, the Elms left New Haven, and split their season in Bridgeport and Binghamton, as the "Flyers." For the 1968-69 season, the team returned to New Haven, again calling itself the Elms. However, under the sponsorship of the Bic Pen Corporation of Milford, CT, the team moved north to Hamden the following season, now calling itself the Hamden Bics. The Bics played in the gym of Hamden High School for two seasons, before folding in 1971.^[9][10][11]

Greater New Haven's oldest professional soccer team was the Ansonia F.C. which is believed to have begun play in 1887 before dissolving in the 1920s.^[12] Founded in 2017, the city has the Elm City Express of the NPSL. The team plays at Jess Dow Field at Southern Connecticut State University. The city is also host to many university soccer teams including Yale University.