Sports in Cleveland facts for kids

Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians (top left); Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers (top right); and Cleveland Browns Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns (bottom)

Cleveland is a city that loves its sports! It's home to three big professional sports teams: the Cleveland Browns for football, the Cleveland Guardians for baseball, and the Cleveland Cavaliers for basketball. These teams play in major leagues like the NFL, MLB, and NBA.

Cleveland also has two important minor league teams. The Cleveland Monsters play ice hockey in the AHL. They are connected to the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL. The Cleveland Charge play basketball in the NBA G League, helping to train players for the Cavaliers. Another team, the Cleveland Crunch, plays indoor soccer. You can watch these teams play at places like Progressive Field, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Wolstein Center, and the I-X Center.

Cleveland's Big Teams

Cleveland Browns (Football)

The Cleveland Browns are a famous football team. They have won eight championships in their history! These wins happened in 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. Even though they have won many titles, the Browns have never played in the Super Bowl. They came very close five times, reaching the NFL or AFC Championship Game.

In 1995, the Browns team moved away from Cleveland. This made many fans very sad. But the city worked hard to bring the team back. The Browns returned in 1999, keeping all their history. Before the Browns, other Cleveland football teams also won championships. The Cleveland Bulldogs won in 1924, and the Cleveland Rams won in 1945 before moving to Los Angeles.

Cleveland Guardians (Baseball)

The Cleveland Guardians (who used to be called the Indians) have won the World Series twice. They won in 1920 and 1948. They also made it to the World Series in 1954, 1995, 1997, and 2016.

Between 1995 and 2001, their home stadium, Progressive Field, sold out 455 games in a row! This was a record for Major League Baseball for a long time. The team changed its name from the Indians to the Guardians in 2022.

Cleveland Cavaliers (Basketball)

The Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team has won the Eastern Conference championship five times: in 2007, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Their biggest win was the NBA Championship in 2016. They made an amazing comeback from being down 3-1 to beat the Golden State Warriors. About 1.3 million people came to a parade to celebrate this victory! It was the first time Cleveland had a championship parade in 50 years.

Other Cleveland basketball teams also had success. The Cleveland Rosenblums won three championships in the 1920s. The Cleveland Pipers won a championship in 1962.

The "Cleveland Sports Curse"

For many years, from 1964 to 2016, Cleveland teams didn't win any major championships. This led to people talking about a "Cleveland sports curse." It was a tough time for fans. Two big moments that caused heartbreak were when the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1995 and when basketball star LeBron James left the Cavaliers in 2010.

However, the "curse" is thought to have ended in June 2016. This was when the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship! Right before that, the Cleveland Monsters hockey team also won their league's championship, the Calder Cup.

Famous Cleveland Athletes

Cleveland has been home to many amazing athletes who achieved great things.

• Johnny Kilbane was a boxer who was World Featherweight Champion for 12 years.
• Jesse Owens grew up in Cleveland. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he won four gold medals in track and field!
• Harrison Dillard, also from Cleveland, won four Olympic gold medals in track and field in 1948 and 1952.
• Stipe Miocic is a mixed martial artist from the Cleveland area. He won the UFC World Heavyweight Championship twice.
• Red Gerard won an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding in 2018.
• Katie Nageotte won an Olympic gold medal in pole vaulting in 2020.
• Professional wrestlers Mike "The Miz" Mizanin and Dolph Ziggler (Nic Nemeth) are also from the Cleveland area. They both became World Champions in WWE.

Teams in Cleveland

Current Professional Teams

Here are the main professional sports teams playing in Cleveland today:

Major League Teams

Minor League Teams

(*) - The Charge won one NBA G League championship in 2006 when they were called the Thunderbirds and were based in New Mexico.

Past Teams

Dragon boat racing on the Cuyahoga River

Cleveland has been home to many other professional sports teams over the years. These include women's basketball teams, several soccer teams, and different ice hockey teams.

The city had a professional women's basketball team called the Cleveland Rockers. They were one of the first teams in the WNBA in 1997. They were very good, finishing first in their conference twice, but they never won the WNBA Finals. The team stopped playing in 2003.

Cleveland has also had a long history with ice hockey. The original Barons played in the AHL from 1937 to 1973 and won many championships. Later, another team called the Barons played in the NHL from 1976 to 1978. Other hockey teams like the Cleveland Lumberjacks and a third version of the Barons also played in Cleveland.

Soccer has been popular too. The Cleveland Force played indoor soccer from 1978 to 1988. They were replaced by the Cleveland Crunch, who won three championships in the 1990s. The Crunch were the first Cleveland team to win a championship since the Browns in 1964! The Crunch team returned to play in 2021.

Baseball also had the Cleveland Spiders from 1887 to 1899. A famous pitcher named Cy Young started his career with the Spiders.

Current Arenas and Stadiums

The Wolstein Center is home to Cleveland State Vikings basketball and the Cleveland Charge.

These are the main places where sports are played in Cleveland:

Major Professional Championships Won by Cleveland Teams

Here's a list of the big championships won by Cleveland's professional teams:

MLB (Baseball)

• Cleveland Buckeyes (1 championship)
  • 1945 Negro World Series
• Cleveland Guardians (2 championships)
  • 1920 & 1948 World Series
• Cleveland Spiders (1 championship)
  • 1895 Temple Cup Series

NBA (Basketball)

• Cleveland Cavaliers (1 championship)
  • 2016 NBA championship

NFL (Football)

• Cleveland Browns (8 championships)
  • 1946, 1947, 1948, & 1949 AAFC championships
  • 1950, 1954, 1955, & 1964 NFL championships*
• Cleveland Bulldogs (1 championship)
  • 1924 NFL championship*
• Cleveland Rams (1 championship)
  • 1945 NFL championship*

(*) - These championships were won before the Super Bowl era began.

College Sports in Cleveland

Cleveland is also a hub for college sports. The main office for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) is in Cleveland. This conference holds its men's and women's basketball tournaments at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Cleveland State University has 16 varsity sports teams, known as the Cleveland State Vikings. They play in NCAA Division I in the Horizon League. Their basketball teams play at the Wolstein Center.

Case Western Reserve University has 19 varsity sports teams, called the Case Western Reserve Spartans. They play in NCAA Division III. Their football team has a long history, dating back to 1890, and plays at DiSanto Field.

Even though there isn't a Division I college football team in Cleveland itself, many people in the area are big fans of Ohio State Buckeyes football. This is because the team has played games in Cleveland sometimes, and many talented high school players from Cleveland have gone on to play for Ohio State.

Cleveland's only college football bowl game win was the 1941 Sun Bowl. The Western Reserve Red Cats (now Case Western Reserve University) beat the Arizona State Bulldogs 26–13.

Major Sporting Events in Cleveland

Cleveland has hosted many big sports events over the years:

Cleveland also hosted the Gravity Games (extreme sports) from 2002 to 2004 and the National Senior Games in 2013.