Athletes and sports teams from North Carolina compete across an array of professional and amateur levels of competition, along with athletes who compete at the World and Olympic levels in their respective sport. Major league professional teams based in North Carolina include teams that compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The state is also home to NASCAR Cup Series races. At the collegiate and university level, there are several North Carolina schools in various conferences across an array of divisions. North Carolina also has many minor league baseball teams. There are also a number of indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, and minor league ice hockey teams based throughout the state.
↑ Founded as the AA Charlotte Orioles, which moved to Charlotte from Asheville. The Knights have been part of the AAA International League (known in the 2021 season as Triple-A East) since 1993. From 1989 to 2013, the team played just across the state border in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
↑ The Durham Bulls trace their history to the 1902 Durham Tobacconists. Numerous league and name changes have occurred over the years; the current incarnation of the Bulls has played in the AAA International League since 1998.
↑ Numerous teams in Asheville have been known as the Tourists; the previous team moved to Charlotte in 1976 and is now the Charlotte Knights. The current team replaced them in 1976.
↑ The Dash trace their history to the 1945 Winston-Salem Cardinals. The current team has been a member of Class A since 1961, and has had their current name since 2009.
↑ The current incarnation of the Mudcats trace their history to the Kinston Indians, who moved to Zebulon to assume the Mudcats name in 2012. The previous team known as the Mudcats are currently the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, which became a Class AA team in the 2021 Minor League Baseball reorganization.
↑ Created when the Carolina League expanded by two teams, replacing two teams that had been contracted by the California League. The team played its first two seasons of 2017 and 2018 in Buies Creek as the Buies Creek Astros.
↑ Prior to 1993, the Crawdads were located in Gastonia and played under a variety of nicknames.
↑ The Owls moved to Forest City in 2008. For the previous season, they played in Spartanburg, South Carolina, as the Spartanburg Stingers.
In 2004, the NBA added the Charlotte Bobcats franchise, two years after the city lost the Hornets to New Orleans. The Charlotte team plays its home games at the Spectrum Center. The Bobcats assumed the Hornets nickname after the conclusion of the 2013–14 season; the New Orleans team had changed its name to the New Orleans Pelicans at the start of that season. By agreement between the NBA, Hornets, and Pelicans, the history and records of the 1988–2002 Hornets were assumed by the current Hornets franchise.
Prior to that, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association (ABA) played in various North Carolina cites (playing in the ABA for five seasons, 1969–1974). Former Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown started his coaching career as head coach of the Cougars.
Following the Cougars' move to St. Louis it would be fourteen years before professional basketball would return to the Old North State when Charlotte was awarded the NBA's 24th franchise, the Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets played at the Charlotte Coliseum before moving to New Orleans following a bitter dispute between team ownership and the city over funding for a new arena. Two years after the Hornets decamped the Queen City was named as the home of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats who would play two seasons at the Coliseum before taking up residence at a new venue now known as Spectrum Center in Uptown. After the 2012–13 NBA season, New Orleans changed their franchise name to the New Orleans Pelicans. The franchise rights to the Hornets name and logo, plus the history of the original Charlotte Hornets, were given back to the city of Charlotte after the 2013–14 NBA season, at the same time the Charlotte Bobcats became the Charlotte Hornets. North Carolina Tar Heels legend Michael Jordan is the majority owner of the Hornets.
North Carolina is home to what some consider the best rivalry in American sports, North Carolina vs. Duke. Chapel Hill (UNC) and Durham (Duke) are only 8miles apart. This rivalry reaches its climax in basketball but often spills over to other sports. North Carolina State and Wake Forest are also considered major rivals of the Blue Devils and Tar Heels, for more on the four-way rivalry see Tobacco Road.
Although North Carolina did not have a major-league professional sports franchise until the 1980s, the state has long been known as a hotbed of college basketball. Since the formation of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 1953, the conference's North Carolina member schools have excelled in conference play. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Duke University, and North Carolina State University are all located within 25 miles (40km) of one another, creating fierce rivalries. Wake Forest University, another ACC member, was located in the town of Wake Forest, also within the Raleigh–Durham area, until its 1956 move to Winston-Salem, less than 100 miles (160km) to the west of these schools. UNC has won six NCAA national championships in men's basketball (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017) and one in women's basketball (1994). Duke has won five NCAA men's championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015), and NC State has won two (1974 and 1983). The Duke-UNC basketball rivalry has been called one of the best rivalries in sports and the two schools are often contenders for the national title. In addition to the ACC schools, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte went to the NCAA's Final Four in 1977, and Davidson College near Charlotte went to the NCAA's "Elite Eight" in 1968, 1969, and 2008.
North Carolina schools have also won multiple NCAA Division II basketball national championships. In 1967, Winston-Salem State University, led by future NBA star Earl Monroe and coached by the legendary Clarence "Big House" Gaines, was the first school in the state to win the Division II championship. In 1989, North Carolina Central University, which is now a Division I member, brought the title to the state a second time; winning the championship game by 27 points, which remains the largest margin of victory in its history. And in 2007, Barton College in Wilson returned the title to the state a third time.
Although basketball remains the dominant college sport in North Carolina, several schools have also enjoyed success in football and other sports. Wake Forest has also enjoyed substantial success in football; in 2006 they won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) football championship and participated in the 2007 Orange Bowl in Miami. This was the first major bowl berth for a North Carolina–based ACC team since Duke defeated Arkansas in the 1961 Cotton Bowl Classic. East Carolina University also enjoys much success in football. Located in Greenville the Pirates won both the 2008 and 2009 Conference USA Football Championship and have a large and passionate fan base. The East Carolina Pirates were the first back-to-back C-USA champions since divisional play was started in 2005. The Pirates played in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl for a second consecutive year on January 2, 2010. As part of the early-2010s NCAA conference realignment, East Carolina joined the American Athletic Conference in 2014. Elon University made 4 trips to the NAIA National Championship in football game winning back to back championships in 1980 and 1981, and has since moved to the NCAA's second-tier Division I FCS and the Colonial Athletic Association. Lenoir-Rhyne University won the 1960 NAIA National Championship in football, and were losing finalists in the NCAA Division IIchampionship in 2013. The Charlotte 49ers, which are the sports teams affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, first fielded a football team and joined Division I FBS for Conference USA in 2015, participated in their first bowl game in 2019. Charlotte will join East Carolina in The American in 2023. Appalachian State University, Elon University, Western Carolina University and North Carolina A&T State University have all made trips to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision championship playoffs. Appalachian State has since moved to Division I FBS and the Sun Belt Conference. Western Carolina has made one trip to this championship game, while Appalachian State became the first school to win the championship three years in a row (2005–2007). After moving to FBS, Appalachian State won bowl games in each of its first six seasons of bowl eligibility (2015–2020), the most successful such run by any ream that made the jump from FCS to FBS.
Bank of America Stadium, home stadium for the NFL's Carolina Panthers, opened in 1996 and has been the home site for the Panthers since. Since the Panthers first season in 1995, they have won six division championships, two National Football Conference championships and made two Super Bowl appearances. In 2015, quarterback Cam Newton became the first Carolina Panther to win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Along with the New England Patriots, it is one of two NFL teams to represent multiple states.
In 1997, the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL) moved from Hartford, Connecticut (as the Hartford Whalers) to the state. The team played their games at the Greensboro Coliseum for their first two seasons in North Carolina before moving to their current home at the Entertainment and Sports Arena, later RBC Center, then PNC Arena, and now Lenovo Center, in Raleigh. The Hurricanes won the 2006 Stanley Cup, becoming the first major professional sports team from North Carolina to win their sport's highest championship. After a decade without post-season appearances, and a lack of success, the Hurricanes began to turn around under new ownership. The franchise, working with the NHL, will host the team's first outdoor game in Carter-Finley Stadium on February 18, 2023, as a part of the NHL Stadium Series.
In 2010, the Albany River Rats, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Hurricanes, relocated to Charlotte and became the Charlotte Checkers, assuming the name from the former ECHL team that had played in the city since 1995. The Charlotte Checkers play their home games at Bojangles' Coliseum in uptown Charlotte. The Checkers' affiliation with the Hurricanes ended in 2020, and the team became the affiliate of the Florida Panthers.
North Carolina is a center in American motorsports, with more than 80% of NASCAR racing teams and related industries located in the Piedmont region. Stock car racing is the official sport of the state.[1]
A new drag strip, called Zmax Dragway, has been built on the same grounds as the speedway. It is currently the only drag strip in the U.S. to hold 4-wide drag racing events (as opposed to the traditional 2-wide drag races held at other tracks). The NHRA holds one to two national events there each year.
Although no races of this category are presently being held in North Carolina, it is home to the only current American Formula One team Haas F1 Team, founded and owned by Gene Haas, based out of Kannapolis.
Stars
The NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, opened on May 11, 2010. Many of NASCAR's most famous driver dynasties, the Pettys, Earnhardts, Allisons, Jarretts and Waltrips all live within an hour's drive of Charlotte.
Two families from North Carolina, the Pettys and the Earnhardts, have had several members that achieved varying levels of success in NASCAR competitions and are a source of pride for Carolinians and Southerners in general.
The Earnhardt family of Kannapolis began its association with NASCAR with Ralph Earnhardt. His son Dale would become a major star in the sport, winning 76 Cup series races and tying Richard Petty's record of 7 championships before his death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Dale's son Dale Jr. was also highly successful and was considered the face of NASCAR until his retirement from racing after the 2017 season. Kerry Earnhardt, another son of the elder Dale Earnhardt, and his sons Bobby and Jeffrey have also competed in various NASCAR series.
Once a major part of the NASCAR circuit, North Carolina now only has one track on the schedule that hosts a points-paying race, Charlotte. The 167,000-seat Charlotte track is arguably the heart and soul of NASCAR. The track, actually in Concord, hosts three Cup Series events every season, including the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (formerly The Winston). Charlotte also hosts NASCAR's longest and most grueling race, the Coca-Cola 600, every May. The winner of the race earns tremendous respect among peers and fans due to the distance and the weather (North Carolina is known for extremely humid and hot summers). During race weeks Concord is said to balloon from its normal population of just under 56,000 to over 300,000.
North Carolina is also home to several lower-division professional teams. North Carolina FC (formerly the Carolina RailHawks)[4] plays in the USL Championship, having returned to that league in 2024 after having voluntarily dropped to USL League One (USL1) prior to the 2021 season. The Charlotte Independence had played in the USL Championship through the 2021 season, but dropped to USL1 due to the impending launch of Charlotte FC. Two North Carolina-based teams now play in MLS Next Pro. Crown Legacy FC started play in 2023 as the reserve side for Charlotte FC, and the High Point-based Carolina Core FC, one of Next Pro's few clubs without an MLS affiliation, began play in 2024. Asheville City SC plays in the National Premier Soccer League. Additionally the Charlotte Eagles, the North Carolina Fusion U23 of Greensboro, and Tobacco Road FC of Durham play in USL League Two (formerly the Premier Development League, or PDL). The Eagles played in the USL Championship when it was called the USL Professional Division, but chose to relegate themselves to the PDL after the 2014 season, transferring their franchise rights to local interests that launched the Independence for the 2015 season. The Hammerheads relegated themselves from the USL to the PDL after the 2016 season. Charlotte and Greensboro both have women's teams in the USL W-League.
As with other sports, college soccer is important in North Carolina. The North Carolina Tar Heels have dominated women's college soccer on a national level, laying claim to the lion's share of all Division I national championships in the sport.[citation needed] The Heels have also been successful in men's soccer, winning national and conference champions. Duke and Wake Forest have also won national soccer championships. In 2011, UNC topped the Charlotte 49ers in an all-North Carolina affair to claim the men's national championship.
Charlotte has also hosted several CONCACAF Gold Cup matches at Bank of America Stadium.
Swimming
Over the last two decades, North Carolina has become a rising power in the world of professional and amateur swimming. As with many other components of North Carolina's sport culture, this rise began on the college campuses of the Old North State. North Carolina State University, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill all field varsity swimming and diving teams at the Division I level. The men's program at NC State has enjoyed the most success, bringing home 25 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, more than any other ACC team.
NC State's men have also boasted 75 All-Americans and 9 Olympians, including Cullen Jones, the first African-American world record holder in swimming and gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games in the men's 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay. The women's team has won two ACC Championships and sent one athlete to the Olympics. Recently, Wolfpack Diver Kristen Davies won the NCAA title in platform diving. The Wolfpack program did not perform as well as in the past during the 2000s; however, the arrival of new head coach Braden Holloway has made an immediate impact on the program. In two seasons, Holloway has guided the Pack back to top 25 national rankings and relevance in the ACC. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, have won several conference titles as well. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington has won several Colonial Athletic Association titles.
In addition to the Greensboro Aquatic Center, North Carolina boasts a large variety of competition swimming & diving centers. This includes the Triangle Aquatic Center, Koury Natatorium, Taishoff Aquatics Pavilion, Mecklenberg County Aquatic Center, and the Willis R. Casey Aquatic Center. In 2014, USA swimming ranked Raleigh & Durham as the 3rd best swimming city in the United States. [10]
Other sports
Carmichael Arena; home of UNC women's basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and men's wrestling
In recent years lacrosse has experienced a period of steady growth in North Carolina that has seen high schools in the three main metropolitan areas add the sport to their programs, this growth culminated in Charlotte being awarded a Major League Lacrosse expansion team named the Charlotte Hounds, the first professional outdoor lacrosse team in the South. An indoor lacrosse team, Charlotte Copperheads, played in the Professional Lacrosse League's only season in 2012. Duke and North Carolina field lacrosse teams for both sexes; both of the schools' men's teams have won national championships—North Carolina had been the westernmost school to win the men's national championship until Denver won the 2015 title—and the North Carolina women have also won national championships. The Tar Heels won both the men's and women's titles in 2016. Full Division I member High Point, transitional D-I member Queens, and five schools in the Division II Conference Carolinas also play lacrosse.
Rugby union is seeing a major increase in popularity in North Carolina and the Southeastern United States, with the NCYRU's JV and Varsity all-star squads winning the regional southeast RAST (Rugby All Star Tournament) in 2014, with both teams undefeated in the tournament.
North Carolina has become a hotbed for professional bull riding(PBR). It is home to several professional stock contractors and bull owners. The Southern Extreme Bull Riding Association SEBRA headquarters are located in Archdale.
Volleyball is a very popular sport at the recreational level and most colleges field women's teams while a few, notably schools in Conference Carolinas, field men's teams.
Ultimate in North Carolina is increasingly popular with youth, collegiate, club, and professional teams all competitive at the national level.
Miscellany
The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame was established in February 1963, with the support of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, "to honor those persons who by excellence of their activities in or connected with the world of sports have brought recognition and esteem to themselves and to the State of North Carolina." The Hall of Fame inducted its first five members in December of that year.
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I. ACC football teams compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The ACC sponsors competition in twenty-seven sports with many of its member institutions held in high regard nationally. Current members of the conference are: Boston College, California, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.
Sports in Louisville, Kentucky include amateur and professional sports in baseball, football, basketball, horse racing, horse shows, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse. The city of Louisville and the Louisville metropolitan area have a sporting history from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations and active amateur teams and individual sports. The State of Minnesota has a team in all five major professional leagues. Along with professional sports, there are numerous collegiate teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies in NCAA Division I, as well as many others across the Minnesota public and private colleges and universities.
The U.S. State of Kentucky is currently home to two professional soccer teams: Louisville City FC, which plays in the USL Championship, and Racing Louisville FC, which plays in the NWSL. Kentucky has had professional sports teams in its past, such as the Louisville Brecks/Colonels of the NFL in the early 1920s.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
The Campbell Fighting Camels are the athletic teams that represent Campbell University, located in Buies Creek, North Carolina, in intercollegiate sports at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Coastal Athletic Association since the 2023–24 academic year. The football program competes in the FCS, formerly known as I-AA.
The Charlotte 49ers are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 49ers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) Spartans are the athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, North Carolina. All 17 UNCG sports compete in the Southern Conference (SoCon).
The Elon Phoenix is the official mascot of Elon University, located in Elon, North Carolina. It is the name that each of the sports teams at the university are referred to. The university is a member of the Coastal Athletic Association and that league's technically separate football arm of CAA Football. Elon competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, fielding 17 varsity teams in 11 sports.
Sports in Georgia include professional teams, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports.
Sports in Charlotte, North Carolina have a long and varied history. The city is home to teams at nearly every level of American sports including the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League and Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association. In addition to serving as the home base for several teams the city plays host to many events of national and international importance including the longest race in NASCAR, the annual Coca-Cola 600 and golf's Wells Fargo Championship.
The U.S. state of Florida has three National Football League teams, two Major League Baseball teams, two National Basketball Association teams, two National Hockey League teams, two Major League Soccer teams and 13 NCAA Division I college teams.
The Sacramento State Hornets is the team that represents California State University, Sacramento in intercollegiate athletics.
The Santa Clara Broncos are athletic teams that represent Santa Clara University. The school colors are red and white. The nicknames for teams is The Broncos and the student fans are referred to as the "Ruff Riders". The Broncos compete in the NCAA Division I (NCAA) as members of the West Coast Conference of which Santa Clara is a charter member.
The High Point Panthers are the 17 varsity athletic teams that represent High Point University (HPU) in High Point, North Carolina, United States. All of HPU's varsity teams compete at the NCAA Division I level. All sports except men's lacrosse and women's rowing compete in the Big South Conference. The men's lacrosse team joined the Atlantic 10 Conference after the 2022 season. Women's rowing was added in 2024–25, initially competing as an independent until joining the new rowing league of the Mid-American Conference in 2025–26. The Panthers joined Division I in 1999, after having been NCAA Division II and being members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) prior to 1992. HPU was a founding member of the North State Conference, which is now the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas.
A variety of sports are popular in the US state of South Carolina.
Sports in Atlanta has a rich history, including the oldest on-campus NCAA Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Tech. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the A&M College of Alabama and the University of Georgia in Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics, and Downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park was built for and commemorates the games.
Oklahoma City is home to several professional sports teams, including the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Thunder is the city's second "permanent" major professional sports franchise after the now-defunct AFL Oklahoma Wranglers and is the third major-league team to call the city home when considering the temporary hosting of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets for the 2005–06 and 2006–07 NBA seasons.
Ohio is home to many professional and college sports teams. The metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus are home to major league professional sports teams in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.
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