List of top-level minor league sports teams in the United States by metropolitan area

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article features a listing of the top-level professional minor league sports teams based in the United States that are typically the second tier of professional sports under the major professional leagues. The minor leagues listed below also include teams outside the United States, with seven in Canada (one in the NBA G League and six in the American Hockey League) and one in Mexico (NBA G League).

Triple-A minor league baseball has two leagues, the International League and Pacific Coast League, both affiliated with Major League Baseball. Basketball and ice hockey each have one affiliated minor league, the NBA G League and American Hockey League, respectively. The USL Championship (USLC) is a Division II league below Major League Soccer as designated by the United States Soccer Federation that governs the various soccer leagues, although some MLS teams are affiliated with clubs from outside the second tier for development purposes. However, most MLS clubs now field their reserve sides in MLS Next Pro, a third-level league that launched in 2022, and the only MLS club that has not announced plans to field a Next Pro side in 2023 is CF Montréal. There are no affiliated minor leagues for American or Canadian football as most of its recruiting is done through college football, and minor football leagues do not historically have long lifespans before folding,. Currently there is one existing high level spring league: the United Football League, formed from the merger of the USFL and the XFL.

Teams that will join a league for a future season are indicated in italics.

Rank[a] Metropolitan area Triple-A Baseball NBA G League American Hockey League USL Championship United Football League
1 New York Long Island Nets
Westchester Knicks
New York Red Bulls II[b]
Queensboro FC
2 Los Angeles South Bay Lakers LA Galaxy II[b]
Orange County SC
3 Chicago Windy City Bulls Chicago Wolves
4 Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas Texas Legends Fort Worth Arlington Renegades
5 Houston, Texas Sugar Land Space Cowboys (PCL) Houston Roughnecks
6 Washington, D.C. Capital City Go-Go Loudoun United FC[b] DC Defenders
7 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Delaware Blue Coats
8 Miami, Florida Miami FC
9 Atlanta, Georgia Gwinnett Stripers (IL) College Park Skyhawks Atlanta United 2[b]
11 Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix Rising FC
12 San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley Oakland Roots SC
13 Inland Empire Ontario Clippers Ontario Reign
Coachella Valley Firebirds
14 Detroit, Michigan Motor City Cruise Detroit City FC Michigan Panthers
15 Seattle, Washington Tacoma Rainiers (PCL)
16 Minneapolis–Saint Paul St. Paul Saints (IL)
17 San Diego, California San Diego Gulls San Diego Loyal SC
18 Tampa Bay, Florida Tampa Bay Rowdies
21 St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis BattleHawks
22 Orlando, Florida Osceola Magic
23 Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte Knights (IL) Charlotte Checkers
24 San Antonio, Texas San Antonio FC San Antonio Brahmas
25 Portland, Oregon Rip City Remix
26 Sacramento, California Sacramento River Cats (PCL) Sacramento Republic FC[c]
27 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
28 Austin, Texas Round Rock Express (PCL) Austin Spurs Texas Stars
29 Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas Aviators (PCL) NBA G League Ignite Henderson Silver Knights Las Vegas Lights FC
32 Columbus, Ohio Columbus Clippers (IL)
33 Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis Indians (IL) Fort Wayne Mad Ants Indy Eleven
34 Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland Charge Cleveland Monsters
35 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California San Jose Barracuda
36 Nashville, Tennessee Nashville Sounds (IL)
37 Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk Tides (IL)
38 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Bruins Rhode Island FC
39 Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (IL)
40 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee Admirals
41 Oklahoma City Oklahoma City Dodgers (PCL) Oklahoma City Blue OKC Energy FC
42 Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Durham Bulls (IL)
43 Memphis, Tennessee Memphis Redbirds (IL) Memphis Hustle Memphis 901 FC Memphis Showboats
46 New Orleans, Louisiana
45 Louisville, Kentucky Louisville Bats (IL) Louisville City FC
47 Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake Bees (PCL) Salt Lake City Stars
48 Hartford, Connecticut Hartford Wolf Pack Hartford Athletic
49 Buffalo, New York Buffalo Bisons (IL)
50 Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham Squadron Birmingham Legion FC Birmingham Stallions
51 Rochester, New York Rochester Red Wings (IL) Rochester Americans
52 Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids Gold Grand Rapids Griffins
53 Tucson, Arizona Tucson Roadrunners
55 Tulsa, Oklahoma FC Tulsa
57 Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester Red Sox (IL)
58 Omaha, Nebraska Omaha Storm Chasers (IL)
59 Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport Islanders
61 Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque Isotopes (PCL) New Mexico United
62 Bakersfield, California Bakersfield Condors
65 McAllen, Texas Rio Grande Valley Vipers Rio Grande Valley FC Toros
67 El Paso, Texas El Paso Chihuahuas (PCL) El Paso Locomotive FC
69 Lehigh Valley Lehigh Valley IronPigs (IL) Lehigh Valley Phantoms
74 Charleston, South Carolina Charleston Battery
75 Stockton–Lodi, California Stockton Kings
76 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Swarm
79 Colorado Springs Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
82 Des Moines, Iowa Iowa Cubs (IL) Iowa Wolves Iowa Wild USL Pro Iowa
84 Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield Thunderbirds
91 Syracuse, New York Syracuse Mets (IL) Syracuse Crunch
94 Toledo, Ohio Toledo Mud Hens (IL)
98 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Hershey Bears
100 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (IL) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
104 Portland, Maine Maine Celtics
112 Reno, Nevada Reno Aces (PCL)
124 Salinas, California Monterey Bay FC
151 Fort Collins–Loveland, Colorado Colorado Eagles
154 Rockford, Illinois Rockford IceHogs
169 Utica, New York Utica Comets
177 Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls Skyforce
182 Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz Warriors
250 Oshkosh, Wisconsin Wisconsin Herd
  1. ^ As of 2020
  2. ^ a b c d This team will move to the third-level MLS Next Pro in 2023.
  3. ^ After the 2022 season, Sacramento Republic FC was to cease minor-league operations with the Sacramento Republic FC name to be transferred to a Major League Soccer team, however, the MLS team has been indefinitely postponed.

See also[edit]