Athletic Division
NCAA Division I-AA
Athletic Conferences
Football: Ivy Group
Basketball: Ivy Group
School Colors
Crimson and navy
Men Playing Varsity Sports
572 - 12%
Women Playing Varsity Sports
350 - 7%
Men's Varsity Sports
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Fencing
- Football
- Golf
- Lacrosse
- Other sports
- Rowing
- Soccer
- Squash
- Swimming and diving
- Tennis
- Track and field
- Wrestling
Women's Varsity Sports
- Basketball
- Fencing
- Field hockey
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Soccer
- Softball
- Squash
- Swimming and diving
- Tennis
- Track and field
- Volleyball
Club Sports
- Aikido
- Badminton
- Baseball
- Basketball (women's)
- Climbing
- Cricket
- Curling
- Cycling
- Equestrian
- Field hockey
- Figure skating
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Ice hockey (men's, women's)
- Lacrosse (men's, women's)
- Ping-pong
- Roller hockey
- Rugby (men's, women's)
- Running
- Sailing
- Ski team
- Soccer (men's and women's)
- Squash
- Swimming (coed)
- Synchronized swimming
- Tae Kwon Do
- Tennis (men's, women's)
- Ultimate Frisbee (men's, women's)
- Volleyball (men's, women's)
- Water polo (men's, women's)
Intramurals
- Basketball
- Flag football
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Volleyball
Athletic Fields & Facilities
- Boathouse Row
- Class of 1923 Ice Rink
- David Pottruck Health and Fitness Center
- Franklin Field
- Hutchinson Gymnasium
- Levy Tennis Pavilion
- Lott Tennis Courts
- Meiklejohn Stadium
- The Palestra
- Penn Park
- Rhodes Field
- Ringe Squash Courts
- Robert A. Fox Fitness Center
- Sheerr Pool
- Warren Field
- Weiss Weight Room & Hollenback Weight Room
Most Popular Sports
For an Ivy League school, most of our teams are incredible. One of the best is the basketball team. Season tickets often sell out extremely quickly, and home games always draw high attendance. In recent years, men's basketball is the only Penn sport whose team has reached the NCAA tournament. Additionally, Penn regularly, though not always, finishes first among the Ivy Leagues in basketball. The other most popular sport on campus is probably football. The first game of the season and the Homecoming game usually attract large crowds. However, team spirit is usually lacking beyond these two games. Students often wish that football were a bigger part of student spirit. Soccer, volleyball, tennis, and a slew of other sports are also present at Penn. In fact, Penn's men's soccer team became 2008 Ivy league champions.
Most Overlooked Teams
In fall 2002, men's soccer beat Seton Hall in the NCAA tournament's first round to earn a place as one of the top 20 soccer programs in the country. The team won the Ivy League championship outright last year, proving itself to be just as much, if not more, of a force as its more popular counterparts, basketball and football. With a growing fan base and no signs of slowing down as a emerging power in the near future, hopefully men's soccer will attract the crowd that it deserves.
School Spirit
School spirit is somewhat strong at Penn, especially at sporting events. The pinnacle of students' spirit is shown at the Penn vs. Princeton basketball game, where our long rivalry with the Princeton basketball team is displayed with chants and banners bearing clever anti-Princeton slogans. A popular T-shirt around campus is one that proclaims "Puck Frinceton." Even outside of the basketball season, students can constantly be seen wearing Penn paraphernalia and bringing high school friends by to partake in the Penn experience that students seem to enjoy so thoroughly. Nevertheless, there are those who moan that sports do not play a large enough role in campus life.
Getting Tickets
Many games, including football, are free. Basketball is the most popular sport that requires ticket purchases. Individual tickets are about $5, but avid fans wait on "the line" to get first choice of season tickets at a discounted rate. The facilities for popular sports are big enough that they rarely, if ever, sell out, so you can always show up the night of the game and join in Quaker pride!
Best Place to Take a Walk
The Bio pond
Did You Know?
- Penn coach John Heisman is the name-sake for the Heisman Trophy.
- Penn was the first team in the United States to use numbers on its jerseys.
- Penn played in the first commercially-televised football game.
- Penn was the first American college campus with an outdoor swimming pool.