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California has 21 major professional sports franchises, far more than any other US state. The San Francisco Bay Area has six major league teams spread amongst three cities: San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. The Greater Los Angeles Area has ten major league teams. San Diego and Sacramento each have one major league team.
California is home to some of most successful collegiate sports teams in the country. Among the list of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships the Stanford Cardinal, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans and California Golden Bears rank #1, #2, #3 and #10 on the list by teams with the most titles, and #1, #4, #2, and #7 by most individual titles, respectively.
It is the only U.S. state to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 summer games, and will host the 2028 Summer Olympics. The 1960 Winter Olympics was held at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort in the Lake Tahoe region.
California has produced the most Super Bowl winning Head Coaches in the history of the NFL, [1] whether born or raised in the state (at least having attended High School in CA). Collecively, California Head Coaches have accounted for 17 Super Bowl wins. In chronological order of first Super Bowl win: John Madden (Jefferson HS, Daly City), Tom Flores (Sanger; Sanger Union HS), Bill Walsh (Los Angeles; Hayward HS, Hayward), Joe Gibbs (Santa Fe HS, Santa Fe Springs), George Seifert (San Francisco; San Francisco Poly HS), Mike Holmgren (San Francisco; Abraham Lincoln HS), Dick Vermeil (Calistoga; Calistoga HS), Brian Billick (Redlands HS, Redlands), Sean Payton (San Mateo), Pete Carroll (San Francisco; Redwood HS, Larkspur), Andy Reid (Los Angeles; John Marshall HS).
Home to some of most prominent universities in the United States, California has long had many respected collegiate sports programs, in particular the University of Southern California, University of California, Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford University, all of which are members of the Pac-12 Conference. They are often nationally ranked in the various sports and dominate media coverage of college sports in the state. In addition, those Universities boast the highest academic standards (on average) of all major college (NCAA Division I) programs. All 4 schools are ranked, academically, in the top 30 nationally with either Cal or UCLA ranked as the #1 public university in the country (usually #20 overall) and Stanford as the highest academically ranked Division 1A university in the country (usually #5 overall).
California is also home to the oldest college bowl game, the annual Rose Bowl (Pasadena), as well as the Holiday Bowl (San Diego) and San Francisco Bowl. A second San Diego game, the Poinsettia Bowl, was discontinued after the 2016 season.
According to the list of American universities with Olympic medalist students and alumni the top 4 universities on the list are, #1 USC Trojans (326), #2 Stanford Cardinal (302), #3 UCLA Bruins (270), and #4 Cal Berkeley Golden Bears (223). Also on the list of top 50 universities are, #27 Long Beach State Beach (47) and #38 UC Irvine Anteaters (33). Referencing a differing source, OlympStats (as of 2017), [2] the all-time total number of Olympic athletes from California universities (1668) was nearly triple the amount from the next state, New York (559). The medal count was even more impressive, with California (678) accounting for more than 4 times the Gold medal count than the next state, Texas (157).
California has produced more Heisman Trophy winners than any other state.
Trivia
The following California universities are members of NCAA Division I.
California has hosted the Olympic Games three times. Los Angeles, the largest city in the state, hosted both the 1932 [3] and 1984 Summer Olympics. [4] Squaw Valley, California hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. [5] Los Angeles and San Francisco were in the race for the United States Olympic Committee nomination to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, but eventually lost to Chicago. Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games for a third time in 2028.
Besides the Olympics, California has also hosted several major international soccer events:
San Diego hosted the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship in men's field lacrosse, with San Diego State's Snapdragon Stadium as the main venue and the University of San Diego's Torero Stadium, plus various fields at both universities, also hosting matches.
Most city municipals house a variety of sports activities. The available sports are typically listed on their city websites. Additionally, there are a variety of California Sports activities listed on FindSportsNow's California database.
California has also long been a hub for motorsports and auto racing. The city of Long Beach, as part of the IndyCar Series, hosts the Long Beach Grand Prix every year in the month of April. The race that take place in the streets of downtown Long Beach is the longest running major street race held in North America. [6] Long Beach has hosted Formula One events there in the past, and also currently hosts an event on the United SportsCar Championship schedule.
Auto Club Speedway was a speedway in Fontana and had hosted NASCAR Cup Series racing along with the 2nd-tier Xfinity Series annually. Sonoma Raceway is a multi-purpose facility outside Sonoma, featuring a road course and a drag strip. Different versions of the road course are home to a NASCAR event and an IndyCar event. The drag strip hosts a yearly NHRA event. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a road course nearMonterey that currently hosts an ALMS event, a round of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The Auto Club Raceway at Pomona has hosted NHRA drag racing for over 50 years.
The NASCAR Cup Series currently holds two races in California, previously at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana (originally named California Speedway), and currently at Sonoma Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway. Beginning in 2022, an exhibition race has been held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on a temporary oval at the beginning of the Cup Series season. The IndyCar Series competes every April in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, through the streets of downtown Long Beach. IndyCar also holds an event at Sonoma in the summer. The NHRA Drag Racing Series holds three national events in California, as well; two at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (formerly Pomona Raceway) and at the aforementioned Sonoma Raceway.
Notable off-road courses include Lake Elsinore Motorsports Park, Glen Helen Raceway and Prairie City State Park. Also, the AMA Supercross Series holds several events in stadiums at Californian cities such as Anaheim, Oakland, and San Diego.
California has several notable golf courses, like Cypress Point Club, Olympic Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Riviera Country Club – Pacific Palisades, California and Torrey Pines Golf Course. Notable tournaments include the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Northern Trust Open, Farmers Insurance Open.
Notable Californian golfers include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Johnny Miller, Gene Littler, Collin Morikawa, Amy Alcott, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, and Xander Schauffele.
Horse racing is regulated by the California Horse Racing Board. Notable racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Los Alamitos, Golden Gate Fields and Pleasanton Fairgrounds. Notable races include the Santa Anita Derby, Santa Anita Handicap, Pacific Classic Stakes and Champion of Champions.
Former racetracks include Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park.
California is widely regarded as the "mecca of MMA" for being the birthplace of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), Strikeforce MMA, the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting), among other prominent MMA promotion orgs, and also for the quality and quantity of MMA fighters born or bred there. Bruce Lee, a California native, is considered one of the pioneering figures in the development of MMA.
Not only is California a hotbed for producing native-born MMA fighters, but it also draws many elite athletes from around the world with level of training/gyms. California is home to many of the most successful and historic professional MMA gyms: AKA, Alliance MMA, Team Alpha Male, Black House (MMA), Kings MMA, Lion's Den (original), RVCA Training Center, Skrap Pack-Cesar Gracie Fight Team.
Countless of Champions in the sport of MMA are California born or bred, or have their fight training in California.
Skateboarding is a sport heavily associated with California as it is the place where the sport started. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk was born in Carlsbad, California in 1968 and was involved in many bowl riding and vert competitions there.
The California State Games, a statewide Olympics-like sport event, take place in California every year. The United States Olympic Committee governs this event. [7]
Cricket is growing in California due to the growth of the South Asian community, [8] with one team from the state (San Francisco Unicorns) playing in Major League Cricket. [9]
Most of the teams from Northern California and Southern California are involved in intrastate rivalries. There are particularly strong rivalries between the Bay Area and SoCal teams, even extending to college teams.
Former:
Various rivalries involved two teams from specific metro areas in either Northern or Southern California.
Los Angeles and San Diego:
Former:
Former:
Future venues in italics.
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of NCAA football competition. The conference currently comprises two members, Oregon State and Washington State.
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignity Health Sports Park tennis stadium, a track-and-field facility, and the VELO Sports Center velodrome. It is approximately 14 miles (23 km) south of downtown Los Angeles, and its primary tenant is the LA Galaxy of Major League Soccer (MLS). The main stadium was also home to the Los Angeles Wildcats of the XFL in 2020. The LA Galaxy II of MLS Next Pro play their home matches at the complex's track and field facility. For 2020 and 2021, the stadium served as the temporary home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to Los Angeles veterans of World War I. Completed in 1923, it will become the first stadium to have hosted the Summer Olympics three times when it hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics, previously hosting in 1932 and 1984. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, a day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium located in Pasadena, California. Opened in October 1922, the stadium is recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a California Historic Civil Engineering landmark. At a modern capacity of an all-seated configuration at 89,702, the Rose Bowl is the 16th-largest stadium in the world, the 11th-largest stadium in the United States, and the 10th-largest NCAA stadium. The stadium is 10 miles (16 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
Stanford Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California. It is the home of the Stanford Cardinal and hosts the university's commencement exercises. Opened 103 years ago in 1921 as a football and track and field stadium, it was an earthen horseshoe with wooden bleacher seating and flooring upon a steel frame. Its original seating capacity was 60,000, which grew to 89,000 by 1927 as a nearly enclosed bowl.
Sharon Marie Stouder, also known by her married name Sharon Stouder Clark, was an American competition swimmer, three-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events.
ChristianMarlowe is an American professional sportscaster who resides in Denver, Colorado. He currently is the play-by-play announcer for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association in the fall, winter and spring, and in the summer he is a play-by-play announcer for the Association of Volleyball Professionals. He is a former collegiate basketball and volleyball player and played on the US National Men's Volleyball Team. He played beach volleyball extensively and won numerous tournaments on the Open beach circuit. He also was a captain of the US men's volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games.
The Los Angeles 2016 Olympic bid is a reference to the unsuccessful attempt by the city of Los Angeles, with help from the Greater Los Angeles area, to be chosen by the United States Olympic Committee as the official United States bid for the International Olympic Committee 2016 Summer Olympics host city competition. On July 26, 2006, the USOC had narrowed its list of candidates to Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. San Francisco later withdrew its bid on November 13, 2006. On April 14, 2007, Chicago was selected as the United States bid. Two years later, Chicago lost their bid to Rio de Janeiro when the IOC voted to select the host city.
The San Diego State Aztecs football team is the college football program that represents San Diego State University. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I (FBS) as a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW). The team plays its home games at Snapdragon Stadium.
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC).
The San Jose State Spartans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference at the NCAA Division I level, with football competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as UC Santa Barbara or UCSB, the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I intercollegiate sports with the majority competing in the Big West Conference. UCSB currently fields varsity teams in 10 men's sports and 9 women's sports.
The Greater Los Angeles area is home to many professional and collegiate sports teams and has hosted many national and international sporting events. The metropolitan area has twelve major league professional teams:the Los Angeles Dodgers the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Rams, the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles FC, the LA Galaxy, the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks, the Los Angeles Sparks, and Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nine universities whose teams compete in various NCAA Division I level sports, most notably the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans. Between them, these Los Angeles area sports teams have won a combined 105 championship titles. Los Angeles area colleges have produced upwards of 200 national championship teams.
The San Francisco Bay Area, which includes the major cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, hosts five major league sports franchises, with a major women's sports franchise soon to start play, as well as several other professional and college sports teams, and hosts other sports events.
The San Jose State Spartans football team represents San José State University in NCAA Division I FBS college football as a member of the Mountain West Conference. Since its first regular season in 1898, the team has produced over 90 All-America team members, won 18 conference championships, and sent 139 players to the NFL, including Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil. The Spartans head coach is Ken Niumatalolo.
For the 1984 Summer Olympics, a total of thirty-one venues were used. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl, two venues previously used for the 1932 Summer Olympics, were used for the 1984 Games. Between the 1932 and the 1984 Summer Olympics, the expansion of professional sports teams assisted in the growth of the facilities that would be used for the 1984 events. Only two new permanent venues were constructed, both using corporate sponsorship, though neither were mentioned in the official Olympic report. Many other venues had temporary adjustments and returned to their normal usage once the 1984 Olympics were completed. Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto and the Rose Bowl later served as venues for the Super Bowl, the FIFA World Cup, and the FIFA Women's World Cup.
The California–UCLA football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA Bruins football team of the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Trinity League is a high school athletic conference in Southern California, part of the CIF Southern Section. The League is regarded as one of the most competitive high school leagues in the United States. Most famous for football, the Trinity League is extremely competitive in its other sports as well. Baseball, tennis, and water polo players are top recruits and are some of the most talented Division 1 players in the nation. This makes the Trinity League the toughest league in high school sports. For the fall 2023 season, High School Football America rated it the toughest league in the nation, with the top two nationally ranked teams and five out of the six ranked the top 300. In 2021, three of the six programs had been ranked in the top 10 in the country, with five in the top 200.
Sports in Arizona includes professional sports teams, college sports, and individual sports. All four major league sports teams in Arizona are based in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The 2028 Summer Olympics are scheduled to be held in Los Angeles, California, United States, from July 14–30, 2028. The Games will be hosted in and around Greater Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. The city's bid relied on a majority of existing venues and venues that had already been under construction or were planned regardless of the Games. The majority of venues are divided into clusters known as "sports parks", situated in Downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Carson, and Long Beach. No new permanent venues are being built specifically for the Games.