Us Too - New York City's Other Teams Quiz

Answer: New York Americans

In 1926, "Tex" Rickard, the president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded the right to set up a new NHL franchise to play in his arena. This came about following the success of the New York Americans, which had been established the previous year, and had consistently filled the Garden, despite having a mediocre season on the ice, which saw them finish fifth of the seven teams in the NHL at the time. The crowds attracted by the Americans led to the NHL agreeing to the establishment of a second franchise in the Big Apple.

Initially, Rickard sought to call his new team the "Giants", but, by the time it was set up, it had been named as the New York Rangers, as in "Tex's Rangers", a play on Texas Rangers. The closing of the NHL's rival Western Hockey League led to a large number of quality players immediately becoming available, and saw the Rangers pick up a roster of talent that enabled them to immediately compete, reaching the playoffs in their first season. This success rapidly saw the Rangers assume a position as the city's dominant hockey team, relegating the Americans to a second-place status, and eventually dropping out of the league in 1942.

Answer: Montreal Maroons

In 1928, the Rangers finished their second NHL season with a second place finish in the American Division, giving them a berth in the playoffs for the second successive year. In the quarter-final they overcame the Pittsburgh Pirates across the two-game series, before getting past the Boston Bruins to reach their first Stanley Cup finals series, where they met the Montreal Maroons, who reached the series by beating the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens.

Owing to the Rangers' home arena, Madison Square Garden, being pre-booked, all five games of the finals series were held at the Montreal Forum. In the first three games, the Maroons gained a pair of 2-0 victories, while the Rangers won Game 2 in overtime, in which the team's head coach, Lester Patrick, was forced to go in goal, stopping a total of 17 shots. The Rangers eventually won the last two games for a 3-2 series victory, to become the first American NHL side to win the trophy - the Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association became the first US team to win the trophy in 1917.

Answer: New York Nets

In 1971, in an attempt to stop the upstart World Hockey Association placing a team at the newly built Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, officials from Nassau County on Long Island enlisted the help of William Shea, the man responsible for the foundation of the New York Mets, to try and get an NHL franchise for the area. Unlike the establishment of other New York based franchises, such as the Jets and Nets, which were part of rival leagues to the established organisations, the NHL was receptive to the idea of a second team in New York. Despite the initial misgivings of Rangers president Bill Jennings, the new franchise was established to play in Nassau County the same year.

Roy Boe, a clothing magnate based in New York City, and the owner of the New York Nets of the ABA, was awarded the rights to the new NHL franchise in November 1971, remaining in control until he sold up in 1978. Although many expected the new team to be named as the Long Island Ducks, after an existing team playing in the Eastern Hockey League at the time, they were instead named the New York Islanders, with the map of Long Island forming part of their iconography. Upon their foundation, the Islanders began to build a fanbase among the population of suburban Long Island, with the Rangers remaining as the team for fans within the five boroughs.

Answer: Belmont Park

In 2000, the Islanders were sold to businessmen Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar, who had a proposal to redevelop the Nassau Coliseum into a modern arena, with a major development surrounding it. However, in 2011 voters in Nassau County rejected the plan, which led to the owners looking at other options for a new venue for the team. In October 2012, a deal was signed to allow the Islanders to move inside the five boroughs for the first time in their history, when they secured the use of the newly built Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with the team moving there in 2015.

Barclays Center however was not an optimum venue, as it had been built specifically for basketball, and when converted to hockey provided obstructed views in some areas of the arena. As a result starting in 2018, the Islanders began splitting their home schedule between Brooklyn and their old home in Uniondale, while at the same time negotiating to construct a new arena. In August 2019 approval was granted for a site near the Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, on the boundary between Queens and Nassau County. Having spent the entire 2020-21 season at the Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders moved into the new UBS Arena in November 2021.

Answer: Empire Soccer Club

In June 1994, the initial 10 franchise locations for the fledgling Major League Soccer were announced, with the New York Metropolitan area being one of them. The planned franchise for the Big Apple was officially launched in November of the same year, under the name Empire Soccer Club, coming from the term "Empire State", which is a universally recognised nickname for New York State. The new team went under the name Empire SC for almost a year until October 1995 when, at the official launch of MLS, they were given a new name as the NY/NJ MetroStars prior to the first MLS season beginning in early 1996, which referred to Metromedia, the company owned by the franchise's first owner, John Kluge.

After two years of play, the club dropped the NY/NJ moniker, with the team referred to simply as the MetroStars, with no city, state or regional name included, a rarity in American sport. The team continued under this name until 2006, when it was purchased by Austrian drink manufacturer Red Bull, who elected to completely rebrand the franchise under its own name, becoming Red Bull New York, and generally referred to as the New York Red Bulls.

Answer: Supporters' Shield

Upon the start of league play in MLS in 1996, the MetroStars, as they were then, were expected to be the dominant force in the competition, having recruited a stable of well known and regarded players and a high-profile coach in Eddie Firmani, who had previously coached the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. But, from the start, the team struggled, only reaching the Conference playoff final on a single occasion in their first decade, and missing the playoffs three times, including in 1999, when they lost 25 of their 32 regular season games. It was only in 2008 that they reached the MLS Cup for the first time, eventually losing to Columbus Crew.

Although the following season the Red Bulls (as they had by then become) finished last in the MLS table, after that a steady improvement in both their recruitment and play led to improvement in their standings - they won the Eastern Conference in 2010 before, in 2013, they finally won a major trophy when they picked up the Supporters' Shield, the trophy awarded to the team with the best regular season record in the league, which also saw them reach the CONCACAF Champions League for only the second time.

Answer: Abu Dhabi

As a condition of the sale of the MetroStars to Red Bull in 2006, the exclusive territorial rights that the team had over the New York metropolitan area expired, which led to MLS exploring the possibility of installing a second franchise in the Big Apple. This was confirmed in 2010, when the league officially announced that their planned 20th franchise would be in the New York area. Although there were discussions with the owners of the New York Cosmos, which had been the major name in the old North American Soccer League, ultimately a decision was taken that a brand new team would be established.

In May 2013, MLS's 20th franchise was announced, with the ownership being 80/20 - the New York Yankees held 20% of the new franchise, while the majority was owned by the City Football Group, a holding company established by the Abu Dhabi United Group, a private equity firm from Abu Dhabi. The City Football Group was set up initially to run the English side Manchester City, but from which was developed a collaborative portfolio of football clubs around the world. The establishment of the second New York MLS franchise saw this put in motion, and led to it adopting the colours of Manchester City, with its name announced as New York City Football Club.

Answer: Stony Brook University

When New York City FC was founded, the franchise had plans to build a new, soccer-specific stadium, with various sites in and around the five boroughs under consideration, including adjacent to both of the city's baseball stadiums. However, with no soccer-specific stadium available for use, the team was forced to use an alternative venue for home games from the start of their first season in 2015. As the New York Yankees were a minority shareholder in the franchise, Yankee Stadium was an obvious choice for NYCFC's first home, particularly as it had held a number of football games since 2012.

However, because the MLS and MLB seasons overlap, on occasions Yankee Stadium is unavailable because the Yankees have priority over its use, and so NYCFC have had to find alternative venues for home games. While the most regular alternative venues have either been Red Bull Arena, the home of the New York Red Bulls, or Citi Field, the New York Mets' stadium, on occasion, usually for games in the US Open Cup, the team has made use of the various stadia belonging to local colleges - in 2016, Coffey Field at Fordham University was the venue for a local derby against the New York Cosmos; Pratt & Whitney Stadium, home of the University of Connecticut, has hosted two NYCFC home games; while Belson Stadium at St John's University hosted a US Open Cup game against Rochester New York in 2022.

Answer: Rangers

Although trophies had previously been awarded to the NHL team with the best regular season record, this practice ended in 1967 when the league was split into two divisions. It was only in the 1985-86 season that the President's Trophy was introduced, before which the only tangible indication that a team had been the best during the regular season being a banner that teams could hang in their arena proclaiming "NHL League Champions". The first team to win the President's Trophy was the Edmonton Oilers, while the New York Rangers won their first President's Trophy in 1992.

Although winning the President's Trophy also gives a team home advantage during the playoffs, this does not often translate into success in winning the Stanley Cup (more have lost than won). The Rangers were one of these successful teams when, in the 1992-93 season, they followed up winning the President's Trophy by eleven points over the Pittsburgh Penguins by defeating the Vancouver Canucks by four games to three in the Stanley Cup finals.

Answer: Islanders

In 1974, the NHL expanded to 18 teams with the addition of the Washington Capitals and Kansas City Scouts, at the same time reorganising from its two division structure into two conferences each with a pair of divisions. The East Division became the Prince of Wales Conference, with the West Division renamed as the Clarence Campbell Conference. Upon the establishment of the two conference system, both the Rangers and the Islanders were placed in the Campbell Conference's Patrick Division.

In the 1977-78 season, having finished the previous two seasons in second place in the Patrick Division, the Islanders won 48 of their 80 regular season games, losing 17 with 15 ties, giving them a total of 111 points. While this was only good enough for third place in the league overall, it was good enough for the team to finish with the best record in the Campbell Conference to win the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl. However, despite a bye in the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated in the quarter-finals by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Islanders won the Campbell Conference twice more before their division was moved to the Wales Conference in 1981, which they went on to win a further three times.