![[photo, Baltimore Ravens fans at Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/sports/images/1198-1-06146b.jpg)
Football is a popular sport played throughout Maryland. Players, starting at age 5, can participate in a local club or school sport, while professional teams rally fans from all over the State.
Baltimore Ravens fans at Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland, February 2013. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
![[photo, Poe, the Baltimore Ravens mascot, Maryland State Fair, Timonium, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/sports/images/1198-1-07357b.jpg)
PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLMaryland currently has two professional football teams: the Baltimore Ravens, and the Washington Commanders.
The Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League debuted in the 1996 season at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. Ever since the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984, Baltimore had been trying to get another NFL team with the lure of a new stadium. On November 6, 1995, Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced the relocation of his team to Baltimore for the 1996 season. The Ravens franchise is an expansion, or newly-formed, team and, unlike the Colts, the Browns' name, records, and uniforms remain in Cleveland.
"Poe," Baltimore Ravens mascot, Maryland State Fair, Timonium, Maryland, September 2015. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.
![[photo, M & T Bank Stadium, West Hamburg St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/sports/images/1198-1-2729.jpg)
The new Ravens Stadium at Camden Yards opened September 6, 1998. Though the Stadium originally had no corporate sponsor, PSINet Inc. purchased the naming rights on January 22, 1999, and the facility became known as PSINet Stadium from that day until February 28, 2002, when the company declared bankruptcy. The naming rights returned to the Ravens and the facility was again called Ravens Stadium at Camden Yards from February 28, 2002 until May 6, 2003, when M&T Bank Corp. struck a 15-year deal to rename it as M&T Bank Stadium. On May 21, 2014, M&T Bank Corp. agreed to a 10-year extension (which took effect when the original deal expired in 2018), securing naming rights to M&T Bank Stadium through 2027. The Stadium's current seat capacity is 71,008.
M&T Bank Stadium, West Hamburg St., Baltimore, Maryland, April 2008. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
From the franchise’s inception in 1996, the Ravens had held their summer training camp, open to the public, at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) in Westminster, Maryland. In the summer of 2011, however, the Ravens began holding their training in private at their practice facility, now known as the Under Armour Performance Center, in Owings Mills.
The Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 and Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
In September 2026, the Ravens’ 2026-2027 season will begin.
The Washington Redskins, formerly the Boston Braves, were founded in 1932. Following a name change in 1933 and a 1937 relocation to Washington, DC, the team played in Griffith Stadium from 1937 to 1960 and then at RFK Stadium from 1961 to 1996. During this period, the team won the NFL Championship in 1937 and 1942 and the Super Bowl in 1983, 1988, and 1992. Starting in 1997, the team played their home games at the newly-built Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. Located in Landover, Maryland, the Stadium was renamed FedEx Field in 1999 and currently has a capacity of 82,000 people. In February 2024, Fedex announced it was withdrawing from the naming rights deal with the team. The stadium was temporarily called Commanders Field until it was renamed Northwest Stadium in August 2024 after Northwest Federal Credit Union bought the naming rights.
In July 2020, the team retired their name and logo and were then known as the Washington Football Team. On February 2, 2022, the team was renamed the Washington Commanders.
In April 2025, the Washington Commanders and the District of Columbia announced a deal to bring the team back to their home city following the construction of a new domed stadium by 2030 at the site of the former RFK Stadium. The Stadium, estimated to cost over $3.5 billion, will contain 70,000 seats and feature a transparent roof. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026.
The Commanders' 2026-2027 season will start in September 2026.
Over the years, there have been many professional and semi-professional football teams in Maryland, going back to the mid-1930s with the Baltimore Orioles/Blue Jays, who played in the South Atlantic Football League, also called the "Dixie League."
The Baltimore Colts first began as a team in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1947 to 1949. They joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1950, but folded that same year. The team name Colts was chosen to honor Baltimore's horse racing industry, including the Preakness Stakes horse race, the second event in the Triple Crown.
![[photo, Johnny Unitas: The Golden Arm statue, by Frederick Kail, before M & T Bank Stadium, West Hamburg St., Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/sports/images/1198-1-2730.jpg)
In 1953, a new team called the Baltimore Colts debuted and they played at Memorial Stadium until 1983. The Colts made it to the postseason ten times, winning the NFL Championship in 1958, 1959, and 1968. In 1971, the Colts won Super Bowl V.
Despite the success of the Colts, tensions arose with the City of Baltimore regarding a new stadium. Several proposals were made to solve the problem, including the renovation of Memorial Stadium, as well as the construction of a new facility near the Inner Harbor, but they fell through. With the NFL's permission and despite legal action by the State, on March 29, 1984, at 2:00 a.m., the Colts' owner, Robert Irsay, moved the team to Indianapolis, taking the name, logo, colors, and records as well.
Johnny Unitas: The Golden Arm statue (2002), by Frederick Kail. The statue of the Baltimore Colts' quarterback appears on the north side of M & T Bank Stadium, West Hamburg St., Baltimore, Maryland, April 2008. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
As part of the short-lived U.S. Football League, a professional football league aimed at spring and summer markets, Maryland was home to the Baltimore Stars during 1985. The Stars had relocated to Baltimore from Philadelphia, and played at the University of Maryland's Byrd Stadium (now SECU Stadium) in College Park. The Baltimore Stars won the USFL Championship at East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 14, 1985, defeating the Oakland Invaders. Although scheduled to play at Memorial Stadium during the 1986 season, the League ceased operation, and the team only played one season in Maryland.
In 1987, the Washington Commandos, based in Landover, debuted in the newly-formed Arena Football League (AFL). After a year's hiatus, the team was renamed the Maryland Commandos for the 1989 season, after which the team moved to Fairfax, Virginia, and adopted its former name.
The Baltimore Football Club, later called the Baltimore Stallions, formed in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Playing at Memorial Stadium from 1994 to 1995, the team chose a horse head logo, as well as blue and white colors, as a nod to the former Baltimore Colts. It had winning records both years. Considered the most successful of all the League's teams in the U.S., the team became the first American one to win the League's Grey Cup trophy. The Stallions ceased operation in Baltimore after the NFL returned for the 1996 season with the new Baltimore Ravens.
Maryland had several professional indoor football teams, including the Western Maryland Warriors and Maryland Eagles, both of which played in the American Arena League.
The Baltimore Brigade, a team in the Arena Football League (AFL), played their home games at the Royal Farms Arena (now CFG Bank Arena) from 2017 to 2019. Other indoor football teams that have played in Baltimore include the Baltimore Blackbirds (2007) of the American Indoor Football Association and the Baltimore Mariners (2008-10, 2014), who first played for the American Indoor Football Association and then for American Indoor Football.
Some of the semi-professional football teams in Maryland include the Brunswick Railroaders and Maryland Blackhawks.
There have been several women's football teams in Maryland. The Baltimore Nighthawks, founded in 2007, first played in the Independent Women's Football League from 2008 to 2016, but then switched over to the Women’s Football Alliance in 2017. The team plays their home games at Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn. The Baltimore Burn debuted in April 2001 and originally played at the Art Modell Field of the Mergenthaler Vocational Technical Senior High School before moving to the Eugene (Utz) Twardowicz Field at Patterson Park in 2013. The team started as part of the National Women's Football Association, but then switched leagues several times, first to the Women's Football Alliance in 2009, then to the Women's Spring Football League in 2011, the U. S. Women's Football League in 2017, and finally to the Women's Tackle Football League in 2020. The team last played in 2019.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The University of Maryland, College Park's football team, the Terrapins, or Terps, compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division 1. The team has won 2 national championships, 11 Conference championships, and 11 Bowl games. Most recently, the Terps won the Military Bowl on December 29, 2010, beating East Carolina University, 51-20.
On July 1, 2014, the University of Maryland, College Park joined the Big Ten Conference. The University had been part of the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1953 to 2014.
![[photo, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, 550 Taylor Ave., Annapolis, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/37mun/annapolis/images/1198-1-07608b.jpg)
Navy football is played at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. Opened in 1959, the Stadium seats 30,000. It is home to the midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy athletics department. On December 22, 2005, Navy beat Colorado State University 51-30 in the Poinsettia Bowl.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, 550 Taylor Ave., Annapolis, Maryland, April 2016. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.
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