The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team currently plays its home games at the Oakland Coliseum, with plans to temporarily move to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, for the 2025–2027 seasons, prior to their permanent move to Las Vegas. The nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles that the A's have won throughout their history is the second-highest in the American League after the New York Yankees.
The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on January 4, 1999. Geographically, the MW covers a broad expanse of the Western United States, with member schools located in California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, as well as an associate member in Hawaii. Gloria Nevarez took over as Commissioner of the MW on January 1, 2023, following the retirement of founding commissioner Craig Thompson.
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington.
The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals.
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and in 1988 was renamed the Big West Conference. The conference stopped sponsoring college football after the 2000 season.
The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other words, a team is eliminated when it has lost two games. After six teams have been eliminated, the remaining two teams compete in a best-of-three series to determine the Division I WCWS National Champion.
The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States.
The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) is a U.S. not-for-profit advocacy group that aims to expand the economic opportunities and advancement of the LGBT business community. Its headquarters are in NW in Washington, D.C. NGLCC is the exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses known as LGBT Business Enterprises (LGBTBEs), and advocates for LGBT business inclusion in corporate and government supplier diversity programs. In October 2017, the organization changed its name from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to National LGBT Chamber of Commerce to better reflect the entire LGBT business community it serves.
The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) is an international organization which was founded in 1992 with the intention of promoting association football (known as soccer in the United States and football in most of the rest of the world) in the LGBTQ+ community and to promote queer football to the world at large.
The Las Vegas metropolitan area is home to many sports, most of which take place in the unincorporated communities around Las Vegas rather than in the city itself. Currently, the Las Vegas Valley has three major league professional teams: the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL), which began play in 2017 as the region's first major pro team, the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) which began play in 2020 after relocating from Oakland, California, and the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB) plan to move to Las Vegas to play at a new ballpark which is estimated to be complete by 2028. When this relocation happens, Las Vegas will have progressed from being the largest market in the U.S. with no teams in the men's major professional leagues to being one of the smallest markets with at least three such teams within less than a decade. In addition, the National Basketball Association has publicly confirmed Las Vegas is being considered for an expansion franchise, which would potentially make Las Vegas by far the fastest market to progress from no teams in the Big Four leagues to having teams in all four leagues.
Palm Springs Stadium is a stadium in Palm Springs, California. It is primarily used for baseball. It used to be named Angels Stadium and was the home field of the Palm Springs Suns of the Western Baseball League in 1995 and 1996. Palm Springs Stadium is the home of the Palm Springs Power, of the collegiate summer Palm Springs Collegiate League. In 2018 and 2019, the stadium is the official home of the Palm Springs Collegiate League and the California Winter League (2010), also shared with Palm Springs High School baseball field. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,185.
Pride Bands Alliance is an international network of LGBTQ+ and affirming community bands founded in 1982 as the Lesbian and Gay Bands of America. The organization supports local bands by providing a network for communication, hosting annual conferences, and providing the opportunity for members to perform in massed band performances in major events throughout the world.
The Big Apple Softball League (BASL) is an LGBT softball league located in the New York City area. The league is open to all skill levels and abilities, and to all people regardless of race, religion, age, race, religion, gender expression or sexual orientation. The league plays its regular season from late April through early August and holds its playoffs in August. Teams from this league also compete in tournaments in the US and Canada, including the NAGAAA's Gay World Series.
The San Francisco Bay Area, which includes the major cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, hosts six 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 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-heterosexual or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) community is prevalent within sports across the world.
The Amateur Sports Alliance of North America (ASANA) is a non-profit women's softball organization.
The National Basketball Association has undergone several rounds of expansion in the league's history, since it began play in 1946, to reach 30 teams. The most recent examples are the additions of the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat in 1988; the Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic in 1989; the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies in 1995 ; and the New Orleans Hornets in 2002. In June 2022, Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that while there are no current plans to expand beyond 30 teams, the NBA "invariably will expand."
