Athletic Division
NCAA Division I-AA
Athletic Conferences
Football: Ivy Group
Basketball: Ivy Group
School Colors
Yale blue and white
School Nickname
Bulldogs, Elis, Yalies
Men Playing Varsity Sports
470 - 18%
Women Playing Varsity Sports
367 - 14%
Men's Varsity Sports
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Fencing
- Football
- Golf
- Ice hockey
- Lacrosse
- Other sports
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Soccer
- Squash
- Swimming and diving
- Tennis
- Track and field
Women's Varsity Sports
- Basketball
- Fencing
- Field hockey
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Ice hockey
- Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Sailing
- Soccer
- Softball
- Squash
- Swimming and diving
- Tennis
- Track and field
- Volleyball
Club Sports
- Archery
- Badminton
- Ballroom dance
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Cheerleading
- Cricket
- Curling
- Cycling
- Equestrian
- Field hockey
- Figure skating
- Fishing
- Golf
- Ice hockey
- Jiu-jitsu, Brazilian
- Kendo
- Kickboxing (Muay Thai)
- Kung Fu (Wing Chun)
- Lacrosse
- Pistol
- Platform tennis
- Polo
- Powelifting
- Roadrunning
- Rugby
- Shotokan
- Skeet and trap
- Skiing (alpine, nordic)
- Soccer
- Squash
- Table tennis
- Tae kwon do
- Tennis
- Ultimate Frisbee
- Volleyball
- Water polo
- Wrestling
Intramurals
- Baseball
- Basketball (men's, women's)
- Billiards (coed)
- Bowling (coed)
- Cross country (men's, women's)
- Field hockey
- Football (coed, men's)
- Golf (coed)
- Ice hockey (coed)
- Soccer (coed, men's, women's)
- Softball (coed)
- Squash (men's, women's)
- Swimming (coed)
- Tennis (coed)
- Ultimate Frisbee (coed)
- Volleyball (coed, men's, women's)
Athletic Fields & Facilities
- Course at Yale and Maltby Lakes Recreational Area (cross country)
- Coxe Cage (indoor track and field)
- Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center (tennis)
- DeWitt Family Field (softball)
- Gilder Boathouse (crew)
- Ingalls Rink (hockey)
- Johnson Field (field hockey)
- McNay Family Sailing Center (sailing)
- Payne Whitney Gymnasium
- Reese Stadium (lacrosse, soccer)
- Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field (football)
- Yale Field (baseball)
Most Popular Sports
Crew, football, and fencing
Most Overlooked Teams
Lacrosse, pistol shooting, women's rugby, water polo, women's fencing, ultimate frisbee, golf, basketball
School Spirit
Students at Yale are proud to be there and they share it! Eli pride extends beyond athletics into academics, facilities, and social life. Yale gear is popular all year around because everyone looks good in Bulldog Blue. Students are proud of the Yale name and tradition and are willing to defend it to the death against Harvard and Princeton (their major rivals). This is most apparent during the Harvard-Yale weekend. In preparation for this surge of school spirit, students buy shirts and sunglasses saying "Harvard sucks, and Princeton doesn't matter," and they party in the name of Eli. Alumni flock to campus and nearly the entire student body goes out for "The Game" to cheer the football team to victory (or defeat) in New Haven or Boston.
Getting Tickets
You usually don't need to purchase tickets in advance for any event, as tickets are almost always available on-site 1.5 hours before the game. The big exception is "The Game" between Harvard and Yale the weekend before Thanksgiving (tickets must be pre-ordered). Admission is generally inexpensive.
Best Place to Take a Walk
East Rock State Park; Lighthouse Point
Did You Know?
- Edward Egan ('21) is the only athlete in the history of Olympic competition ever to win a gold medal in both the winter and summer games.
- Yalies and Yale alumni have won a total of 104 medals during the Olympics, 54 of them gold.
- Sarah Hughes ('09) won the gold medal in women's figure skating in 2002.
- Yale has long history of fight songs (some written by Cole Porter!). Check out the Bulldog Medley at www.youtube.com/watch.