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From the 1969 Mets to the 2024 Chiefs: 10 title parades in U.S. sports

These 10 U.S. sports championship parades, from the 1969 Miracle Mets to the Kansas City Chiefs, show how cities turn titles into street celebrations

A championship belongs to a team on the night it is won. Within days, it belongs to a city. The parade is the moment that handoff becomes visible. Players leave the arena and move through streets that fans use every day.

U.S. sports championship parades have taken several distinct forms. New York stages its ticker-tape parades along lower Broadway, the stretch of Manhattan known as the Canyon of Heroes. Boston loads its players onto duck boats, amphibious vehicles that can drive through downtown and then roll into the Charles River. Tampa put its 2021 Super Bowl champions on boats in the Hillsborough River. Philadelphia sent its Eagles toward the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Chicago has used Grant Park, the lakefront park next to downtown, as a rally ground.

The titles behind these parades differ too. Many of them followed long waits. The Boston Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918 when they won in 2004. The Chicago White Sox had last won one in 1917. The Chicago Cubs had gone without one since 1908. Cleveland had not won a major professional title since the Browns in 1964. The 2016 Cavaliers and the 2019 Nationals won their franchises' first titles, and the 2018 Eagles won their first Super Bowl.

Other titles came closer together. The New York Mets won World Series titles in 1969 and 1986, and both celebrations ran through Manhattan. The Kansas City Chiefs held Super Bowl parades in back-to-back years, 2023 and 2024. The second ended with a fatal shooting near Union Station as the celebration closed.

This is a selection of 10 parades, not a ranking or a complete list. They run from 1969 to 2024 and appear in chronological order. Each slide covers the title behind the celebration, the opponent, the game or series that decided it, and the city setting where fans gathered.

1969 New York Mets ticker-tape parade

The 1969 New York Mets were honored with a ticker-tape parade up Broadway in lower Manhattan after beating the Baltimore Orioles in five games to win the World Series. The title came in only the franchise's eighth season. The team is still known as the Miracle Mets.

The Mets joined the National League as an expansion club in 1962. That first team finished with 40 wins and 120 losses. Through 1968, the franchise never placed higher than ninth in what was then a 10-team league.

The 1969 season was the first with divisional play in Major League Baseball. Under manager Gil Hodges, the Mets overtook the Chicago Cubs in September to win the National League East. The club finished with 100 wins. It then swept the Atlanta Braves in the first National League Championship Series.

The Orioles entered the World Series as heavy favorites. Baltimore had won 109 games during the regular season. Its lineup included future Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson.

Baltimore won Game 1. The Mets then won four straight games behind a pitching staff led by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. Koosman threw a complete game in the Game 5 clincher at Shea Stadium in Queens. Fans poured onto the field after the final out.

For the parade, the players rode in open cars up lower Broadway. Office workers in the buildings above threw paper and ticker tape from their windows. Mayor John Lindsay honored the team at City Hall.

Lindsay was running for reelection that fall. He won a second term in November 1969.

The same Broadway route had already hosted a ticker-tape parade that summer. New York honored the Apollo 11 astronauts in August 1969, weeks after the first crewed moon landing.

The Mets' title was New York's second major professional championship of 1969. In January, the New York Jets of the American Football League beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Both of the city's titles that year came against Baltimore teams.

1986 New York Mets parade through Manhattan

The New York Mets celebrated their 1986 World Series title with a ticker-tape parade through lower Manhattan after beating the Boston Red Sox in seven games. It was the club's second World Series title, coming 17 years after the 1969 championship.

The 1986 Mets had the best regular-season record in the majors. They won 108 games under manager Davey Johnson. The roster included Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter and Lenny Dykstra. In the National League Championship Series, the Mets beat the Houston Astros in six games. The clinching game went 16 innings at the Astrodome.

The World Series nearly slipped away. Boston led three games to two. In Game 6 at Shea Stadium, the Red Sox took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 10th inning. The Mets were down to their last out with nobody on base.

Carter, Kevin Mitchell and Ray Knight followed with three straight singles. Knight's hit cut the lead to one run. A wild pitch by Boston reliever Bob Stanley brought Mitchell home with the tying run. Mookie Wilson then hit a slow ground ball that rolled through the legs of first baseman Bill Buckner. Knight scored the winning run.

Rain pushed Game 7 back a day. The Mets fell behind 3-0, then rallied to win 8-5. Hernandez drove in two runs with a single in the sixth inning. Knight hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh. Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett for the final out, and Knight was named World Series MVP.

The team played its home games at Shea Stadium in Queens. The celebration moved to Manhattan. Fans lined the Canyon of Heroes, the stretch of lower Broadway used for ticker-tape parades, to cheer a club that had come within one out of losing the title.

The parade ended at City Hall. Mayor Ed Koch hosted a ceremony there for the........

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