Do you use あります or います when talking about a sports team?


I know you use いる to talk about living things, but is a team separate from its
players enough to refer to it as a non-living thing?




Both 「いる」 and 「ある」 can be used correctly **_but not interchangeably_** so.
Only one of the two will be correct for a given context /situation.

Only 「いる」 is correct when saying that a team is physically at a place at a
given time. For instance, you occasionally get to see an entire team at an
airport, train station, hotel, etc.

「昨日{きのう}ヒルトンホテルに行ったら、ロビーにNYヤンキースが **いた** 。」← You cannot use 「あった」 in this
sentence.

Only 「ある」 is correct when saying, for example, that a certain city has a pro-
baseball team or the like.

「この町｛まち｝には、プロ野球｛やきゅう｝チームは **ある** が、プロサッカーチームはない。」← You can never use 「いる」 in
this sentence.

