The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, is one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The Canadiens' most recent Stanley Cup victory came in 1993. They have major rivalries with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins both of which are also Original Six hockey teams.
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) play at Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The Alouettes won the Grey Cup a total of 7 times, most recently in 2010. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 36 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium in Montreal, featuring the tallest leaning tower in the world at 175.5 meters (575.8 ft)The Montreal Impact are the city's professional soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. They recently joined North America's biggest soccer league, Major League Soccer in 2012. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002–2007, and was home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and the Montréal 200, a Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion; with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Active professional sports teams in Montreal 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 7 Montreal Impact MLS Soccer Saputo Stadium 1992 0 Montreal Jazz NBL Canada Basketball Centre Pierre Charbonneau 2012 0 Montreal Stars Canadian Women's Hockey League Ice hockey Centre Étienne Desmarteau 2007 2 Quebec Caribou RCSL Rugby union Dollard-des-Ormeaux 1998 0 Quebec Saints AFL Quebec Australian rules football Vanier College 2008 2 Montreal Blitz IWFL Football Dalbé Viau High School 2002 2 Casino de Montréal
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