Massachusetts Is Dominating Sports In The 21st Century

The Boston Celtics’ recent NBA championship over Los Angeles featured a bunch of hidden gems. One of the greatest side-effects of the game was how it helped push Massachusetts into the forefront of the sporting world in the 21st century.

(Note: for the sake of discussion, I’m using the four major sports for my data: NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL).

Since the year 2000, no other state has had as many championships (in all four sports combined) than Massachusetts. Add in the fact that Massachusetts only offers one team per sport, and this dominance is astounding.

The Red Sox won two World Series rings, the Patriots won three Super Bowls, and the Celtics have won the NBA Finals. Number of rings for Boston since 2000: six.

The runner-up is California, who offers 15 professional teams in the major sports (11 more teams than Massachusetts). Between the Anaheim Angels (or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, as they're now known), the LA Lakers, and the Anaheim Ducks, Cali has racked up five championships since 2000.

After California, there’s a tie between New York/New Jersey and Florida with four championships.

To help New York's numbers a bit, I’ve included New Jersey teams in their count (I debated this inclusion for a while, but determined it was only fair since the "home" of the Jets and Giants is in Jersey). 

That being said, the ten New York/New Jersey teams have combined to win one World Series ring (Yankees), one Super Bowl (Giants), and two Stanley Cups (New Jersey Devils) since 2000.

Florida, which offers nine professional teams, has managed to be great as well: they’ve won one championship in every major sport since the year 2000 - the only state to accomplish this feat.

The Marlins won the World Series, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, the Heat won the NBA Finals, and the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup.

The final two states with more than one championship since 2000 are Texas (offering eight professional teams) and Michigan (offering four teams, like Massachusetts). In Texas, the San Antonio Spurs have won three NBA Championships while in Detroit, the Pistons won one NBA title and the Red Wings snatched two Stanley Cups.

Beyond these six states, all other states to win a championship since 2000 have won only that single title. That list includes Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Colorado, and one of the Carolinas.

Why is this small state (only the seventh largest media market in the U.S) consistently competitive in each of the major three sports? Why has it had a run of absolute dominance in each of the four major sports? And why has it won more championships than any other state (including states offering more than three times as many teams) in the 21st century?

We may never know the answers to these questions; some say the fans demand it, while others claim it's the product of great ownership. Either way, one thing is for sure: the rings just keep rolling in. And I love it!

Note: This article was originally featured on Matt's Pats Blog