Florida has many professional, semi-professional, amateur and college teams. At the professional level, 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, three Women's Soccer teams and many minor league teams in various sports. Additionally, since the late 19th century Florida has been a significant spring training destination for Major League Baseball teams and their affiliates.
In college sports, thirteen Florida schools compete in NCAA Division I. [1] Various others compete in other organizations including NCAA Division II, the NAIA, the NJCAA, the USCAA, and the NCCAA.
Florida has teams in all of the major league sports — National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer. In the early 1980s, Florida had major league teams in only the NFL. Florida has since added two NBA teams in the late 1980s. Florida added two NHL teams in the 1990s as part of the NHL's expansion into the south, and two MLB teams in the 1990s. Florida's most recent major-league team, Inter Miami CF, began play in MLS in 2020, after Florida's first MLS team since the folding of the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion in 2001, Orlando City, joined in 2015. [2] Florida has a team in one of the two most prominent women's leagues, and formerly had two teams in the other.
*Team has folded or relocated
Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring training, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League." As of 2022 [update] , Florida hosts the following major league teams for spring training:
Club | Location |
---|---|
Atlanta Braves | North Port |
Baltimore Orioles | Sarasota |
Boston Red Sox | Fort Myers |
Detroit Tigers | Lakeland |
Houston Astros | West Palm Beach |
Miami Marlins | Jupiter |
Minnesota Twins | Fort Myers |
New York Mets | Port St. Lucie |
New York Yankees | Tampa |
Philadelphia Phillies | Clearwater |
Pittsburgh Pirates | Bradenton |
St. Louis Cardinals | Jupiter |
Tampa Bay Rays | Port Charlotte |
Toronto Blue Jays | Dunedin |
Washington Nationals | West Palm Beach |
Golf, tennis and auto racing are popular in Florida.
The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA), the trade association for club professionals which organizes major championships for men and women and also co-organizes the biennial Ryder Cup, was long based in Palm Beach Gardens before moving its headquarters to Frisco, Texas in 2022. The PGA Tour, which has been separate from the PGA of America since 1968, has its home base in Ponte Vedra Beach, while the LPGA is headquartered in Daytona Beach. The Players Championship, sometimes referred to as the fifth (men's) major, is held every year near Jacksonville. Additionally, the WGC Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Honda Classic and Valspar Championship are PGA Tour events.
In tennis, the Miami Open is an ATP Tour Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory event. The Delray Beach International Tennis Championships is an ATP World Tour 250 event.
NASCAR (headquartered in Daytona Beach) begins all three of its major auto racing series in Florida at Daytona International Speedway in February, featuring the Daytona 500, and ends all three Series in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Daytona also has the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR race weekend around Independence Day in July. The 24 Hours of Daytona is one of the world's most prestigious endurance auto races.[ citation needed ] The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and Grand Prix of Miami have held IndyCar races as well.
The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the Low-A Southeast before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.
The Sunshine State Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its member institutions are located in the state of Florida, which is popularly known as the Sunshine State.
Daytona State College (DSC) is a public college located in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System.
The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a 220-acre (89 ha) multi-purpose sports complex located at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex allows families to combine tournaments and competition with a visit to vacation destinations in the area. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur sporting events throughout the year.
Sports in Pennsylvania includes numerous professional sporting teams, events, and venues located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
The UCF Soccer and Track Complex is a multi-purpose stadium located on the main campus of the University of Central Florida near Orlando, Florida, United States in unincorporated Orange County. The 2,000-seat stadium is home to the UCF Knights track and field, cross country and soccer teams. The Knights compete in the Big 12 Conference.
New Smyrna Speedway is a 0.480 mi (0.772 km) asphalt oval racetrack located near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, that races the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series every Saturday night. It also has a smaller track, known as "Little New Smyrna Speedway" in the infield. This track races quarter midgets on Friday nights.
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.
The UCF Knights are the athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I as a member of the Big 12 Conference. Since men's soccer is not sponsored by the Big 12, they play in the Sun Belt Conference.
Sports in Memphis, Tennessee are supported in the city by Memphis Park Services, which offers a wide range of public facilities, including 17 swimming pools, 8 public golf courses, 48 athletic fields hosting a range of 510 youth and 269 adult teams, 130 basketball courts, 7 tennis centers and a soccer complex.
Sports in Indianapolis include major league franchises, collegiate athletics, and a variety of other club and individual sporting events that have taken place in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Indianapolis is the home to 11 professional sports teams. The city is also home to three National Collegiate Athletic Association collegiate teams. Two teams from the four major American leagues, the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Pacers, are located in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) started play in 2000, and are under the same ownership as the Pacers NBA team.
Jacksonville is home to a number of professional sports teams, and the city has a long history of athletics. The Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) compete at the major league level. Additionally, the PGA Tour is headquartered in the suburb of Ponte Vedra Beach, where it hosts The Players Championship every year. All Elite Wrestling, the second-largest professional wrestling promotion in the U.S. behind WWE, has its headquarters in the Jaguars' stadium, largely due to its shared ownership with the Jaguars.
The culture of Florida is often different in metropolitan areas than in more rural areas. Many parts of rural northern Florida is similar to the rest of American Southern culture, particularly around the Panhandle. In the larger cities such as Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, where there has been a large number of people moving from other parts of the United States, and even other areas of the world, the culture is much more diverse, and has been heavily influenced by Caribbean, Latin American, Jewish, and European culture. Thus, modern-day Florida, from the second half of the 20th century through today, has been heavily influenced by the cultures of people moving in from foreign countries and other parts of the United States, and is often a mix of cultures, values, and ideas.
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.
Bakersfield is home to several minor league sports franchises and collegiate athletic programs at Bakersfield College and California State University, Bakersfield.
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.
The Greater Miami area is home to five major league sports teams — the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association, the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball, the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League and Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer.
The Embry–Riddle Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, located in Daytona Beach, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division II ranks, primarily competing in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) since the 2015–16 academic year for most of their sports ; while its men's and women's track and field teams compete in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) as associate members. Prior to joining the NCAA and the SSC, the Eagles competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as a founding member of the Sun Conference from 1990–91 to 2014–15.