New York Jets

One Super Bowl win, a long playoff drought, and a shared roof in New Jersey — that's the whole résumé.

5 mi west of New York City, the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is where the Jets kick off home games at MetLife Stadium — a field they share with the New York Giants. Based in the New York metropolitan area, the team competes in the AFC East division of the National Football League (NFL) and runs its day-to-day shop from a headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey. Legally, the franchise is organized as a limited liability company filed under the name New York Jets, LLC. Professional American football, sure, but the paperwork makes the whole thing feel like an accounting exercise.

Lore & Background

The team was founded in 1959 as the Titans of New York, a charter member of the American Football League (AFL); the franchise joined the NFL in the AFL–NFL merger. The team began play in 1960 at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. Under new ownership, the current name was adopted in 1963 and the franchise moved to Shea Stadium in Queens in 1964, then to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey in 1984. The Jets advanced to the AFL playoffs for the first time in 1968 and went on to compete in Super Bowl III where they defeated the Baltimore Colts, becoming the first AFL team to defeat an NFL club in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game.

The Jets have never returned to the Super Bowl. Since 1970 the Jets have won the AFC East only twice, in 1998 and 2002. They have qualified for the postseason 12 times, and reached the AFC Championship Game four times, most recently losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010. The Jets have not qualified for the playoffs since then.

Reader's Guide

The Jets' team colors are green and white, although they have at times used black as a third/trim color and have had a black alternate uniform since 2019. For most of their history the Jets had white helmets with green stripes and oval or football-shaped logos, and color-inverted jersey sleeves; the current primary uniforms are based on the design used from 1978 to 1989 with simpler striping, green helmets, and a wordmark logo in stylized italic lettering with a jet-plane silhouette above the letters.

Did You Know?

The Jets are one of two NFL teams to win their lone Super Bowl appearance, along with the New Orleans Saints.
The Jets currently hold the longest active playoff drought in the NFL and the longest drought in the 'Big 4' North American sports leagues.
The Jets also have the longest championship drought among New York's major professional sports franchises, having eclipsed the New York Rangers' 54-year drought in 2023.