Sports in Texas
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Major league professional teams
Location of major league teams in TexasTexas is home to 12 major league sports teams and two major women's teams.
American football
Many Texans are passionate about
The Dallas Cowboys, founded in 1960, are one of the most popular teams in the league and have fans in many parts of the United States, leading to the nickname "America's Team". They are also one of the most successful, having reached eight Super Bowls and won five (tied with the San Francisco 49ers for second all-time). The Cowboys play their home games at AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington, into which they moved in 2009 after having spent 38 years at Texas Stadium in Irving.
The first major-league sports team in Texas was also an NFL franchise—the Dallas Texans, which joined the league in 1952. The team's first game, however, proved to be a harbinger for the season—a 24–6 loss in front of fewer than 18,000 fans in the then-75,000-seat Cotton Bowl. Home attendance continued to slump, dropping to 10,000 for a loss that left the team 0–7. The team owners, unable to make payroll, returned the Texans to the league, and the team played the rest of the 1952 season as a traveling team, never returning to Texas. After the season, the NFL folded the Texans, making them the last NFL team to permanently cease operations.
In the same year that the Cowboys entered the NFL, the
The NFL returned to Houston in 2002 with the debut of the current Texans, who play their home games at NRG Stadium, the first NFL stadium with a retractable roof.
In 2020, the
Baseball
Baseball has a strong presence in Texas, with two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The Houston Astros (originally the "Colt .45s") started playing in 1962. The Texas Rangers debuted in 1972 after relocating from Washington, D.C. In 2005, the Astros became the first team in Texas to make it to the World Series. The Rangers followed the Astros in 2010 to their first World Series and the following year as well. In 2017, the Astros became the first team in Texas to win the World Series.
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is also closely followed in Texas—especially in the smaller metropolitan areas. As of the 2023 season, three teams play in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League: the El Paso Chihuahuas, Round Rock Express, and Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Five teams play in the Double-A Texas League: the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Corpus Christi Hooks, Frisco RoughRiders, Midland RockHounds, and San Antonio Missions. The Fort Worth Cats were a team in Fort Worth that won three-straight championships in independent leagues, one in the Central Baseball League and the last two in the American Association.
College baseball is also quite popular, as Texas A&M University, Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, Baylor University, Texas Tech University, and Texas Christian University have all made multiple Men's College World Series appearances.
Basketball
Basketball is also popular, and Texas hosts three NBA teams: the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets, and the Dallas Mavericks. All three have won championships, however the Spurs having won at least 50 games for 18 consecutive seasons and winning 5 NBA championships, are arguably the best professional franchise in Texas sports and are considered one of the best NBA franchises in history. The Houston Rockets did however distinguish themselves as the first team in Texas to win an NBA Finals.
Texas is home to one WNBA team, the Dallas Wings, which relocated from Tulsa, Oklahoma after the 2015 season. The state had two other WNBA teams, the Houston Comets and San Antonio Stars. The Comets, a founding member of the WNBA, won the league's first four championships (1997–2000), but folded after the 2008 season. The Stars were also a founding member of the WNBA as the Salt Lake City-based Utah Starzz, and moved to San Antonio when the team was bought by the Spurs' parent company, Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SSE), before the 2003 season. The team then took the identity of San Antonio Silver Stars, dropping the word "Silver" after the 2013 season. After the 2017 season, SSE sold the Stars to MGM Resorts International, which moved the team to Las Vegas as the Las Vegas Aces.
At the collegiate level, the state is home to two NCAA Division I Men's Championship teams: the
Texas also has a statewide championship recreational basketball league, Shamrock Basketball Association.[2]
Horse racing
From 1905–1915, people in Dallas and Fort Worth turned out by the thousands for horse racing, which was usually tied to the state fair schedule. Dallas established a Jockey Club early on. The Fort Worth Driving Club (for owners of Standardbred trotters and pacers) had 101 members when it opened in 1905. Trotters raced at a park in Fort Worth, but both cities attracted thousands of people for each style of racing.[3]
Lone Star Park, in the Dallas–Fort Worth suburb of Grand Prairie, hosted the Breeders' Cup, the climax to the American Thoroughbred racing season, in 2004.
Ice hockey
Prior to the advent of the Stars, top-tier professional ice hockey existed in Texas in the form of the
Minor league professional hockey has also become popular in the last several decades. The
Between 1992 and 2014, the Central Hockey League had fifteen different teams based in Texas and as many as nine from 2002 to 2005. However, by the CHL's final season, only the Allen Americans remained. The Americans joined the ECHL in 2014 and went on to win the championship in their first season in the league.
Soccer
The major professional
In 1996, the Dallas Burn was born as one of 10 founding members of Major League Soccer, which is the current Division 1 professional soccer league overseen by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The Dallas Burn were later renamed FC Dallas with a new logo and colors, and now play in a soccer-specific stadium called Toyota Stadium in Frisco. A second Texas team, Houston Dynamo FC, joined MLS in 2006 (with "FC" added to the club branding in 2020). The Dynamo won the MLS Cup in their first year in Houston, and again in their second year in 2007. Dynamo FC now plays at Shell Energy Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium near downtown Houston. Texas received its third MLS team in 2021 with the arrival of Austin FC. The city had originally been planned as the future home of the Columbus Crew, but the move proved controversial, triggering lawsuits by the city of Columbus and state of Ohio. The dispute was settled with an investment group led by the owners of the Cleveland Browns buying the Crew, while former Crew owner Anthony Precourt received a new Austin team.
Before the Austin FC deal was finalized, MLS Commissioner Don Garber had stated publicly that a third city in Texas—either San Antonio or Austin—was under consideration for a possible MLS expansion franchise. At that time, only San Antonio had a professional minor league soccer team; San Antonio FC play in the second-tier USL Championship, but another Texas team, Austin Bold FC, joined in 2019. Bold FC effectively replaced the Austin Aztex, which joined the USL Championship in 2015, when the competition was known as the United Soccer League, but only played one season. The Aztex went on hiatus while seeking to build a new stadium, but eventually folded after being unable to secure a site. Eventually, a new deal for a stadium on the grounds of the Circuit of the Americas emerged, clearing the way for Bold FC to join the league. Bold FC isn't currently active in the league, pending a move to Fort Worth. Texas currently has three active teams in the USL Championship—Rio Grande Valley FC Toros, which began play in 2016 as the reserve side of the Dynamo, San Antonio FC which also began play in 2016, and El Paso Locomotive FC, which started play in 2019. Another professional team, North Texas SC, began play in 2019 as the reserve side of FC Dallas, playing in the newly launched third-level USL League One. It has since moved to another third-level league, MLS Next Pro, which began play in 2022 as the de facto successor to MLS' former reserve league.
In 2014, the
The
Collegiate
Originally, most Texas
According to a survey of FBS coaches, the
Texas is home to many other
In addition, the state has three Division I programs that do not sponsor football—the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders of the SLC, and the UT Arlington Mavericks and UTRGV Vaqueros of the WAC. UTRGV has announced plans to establish an FCS football program in the near future, with an exhibition schedule in 2024 followed by full varsity play in 2025 as a member of the UAC (a football-only partnership between the.WAC and the Atlantic Sun Conference).
Collegiate teams nationwide see Texas as an American football recruiting hotbed. In 2006, 170 players in the NFL came from Texas high schools.[9]
High school
Most primary and secondary school athletic, music, and academic contests in Texas involving public schools are organized and administered by the University Interscholastic League (UIL).[10] As a general rule, the UIL only governs public schools. Private schools are governed by other bodies, the largest of which is the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS). Both bodies have similar governing scope, although some terminology differs. The TAPPS category of "fine arts" encompasses what UIL calls "academic" and "music" competitions, and also includes competitions for spirit squads (i.e., cheerleading and dance teams), which UIL does not sponsor (other bodies govern cheer/dance competitions among public schools).
Rodeo
Texans also enjoy going to the
Gymnastics
Gymnastics in Texas is very popular and is one of the largest states for the sport in the country. Multiple Olympians and World Champions have come out of the state including; Nastia Liukin (2008 Olympic AA Champion), Carly Patterson (2004 Olympic AA Champion) and Simone Biles (2013, 2014, and 2015 World AA Champion and 2016 Olympic all-around champion). Madison Kocian (2015 world uneven bars champion).
There are many gymnastics clubs in Texas but the top facilities include World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (Plano & Frisco), Texas Dreams Gymnastics (Coppell) and Metroplex Gymnastics (Allen).
The Women's U.S. National Gymnastics Training Center had been just outside Houston, at the Karolyi Ranch in Huntsville, Texas, from 2001 to 2018,[11] when Karolyi Ranch closed permanently in the wake of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal.
Golf
Texas hosts five PGA Tour golf tournaments:
Motorsport
The state is home to motorsport venues such as the
Auto racing is also the second most watched sport on TV in the state,[citation needed] behind American football. NASCAR races tend to do well in Texas media markets than NBA games.[citation needed]
Esports
Major esports organizations located in Texas:
Organization | Location |
---|---|
Clutch Gaming | Houston |
compLexity Gaming |
Frisco |
Dallas Fuel | Dallas |
Houston Outlaws | Houston |
Mavs Gaming | Dallas |
OpTic Gaming | Dallas |
OpTic Texas | Dallas |
Other sports
Another popular sport in Texas is year-round fishing. Lacrosse, originally played by some of the indigenous tribes, is growing in popularity.
Notable professional league and amateur teams
- Notes
Stadiums and arenas
- Notes
See also
- AT&T SportsNet Southwest
- Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast
- Fox Sports Southwest
- Houston Astros Radio Network
References
- ^ Young, Matt (August 21, 2019). "XFL unveils its Houston team: The Houston Roughnecks". HoustonChronicle.com. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
- ^ http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7868889&syndicate=syndicate§ion [dead link]
- ^ Fort Worth Driving Club Records: A Guide, University of Texas at Arlington, accessed March 29, 2008
- ^ "Houston Dynamo Football Club and Houston Dash unveil new club initiatives, brand identity and primary badges". nwslsoccer.com. November 17, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
- ^ https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/fifa-unveils-stellar-line-up-of-fifa-world-cup-2026-tm-host-cities
- ^ https://www.tpr.org/tpr-noticias/2022-06-17/texas-soccer-fans-rejoice-as-arlington-houston-are-named-2026-world-cup-host-cities?_amp=true
- ^ https://www.dallasworldcup2026.com/our-soccer-legacy/world-cup-1994/
- ^ Davis, Brian (October 7, 2005). "UT-OU : Best Rivalry?". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved July 11, 2006.
- ^ Talman, John (March 15, 2006). "Lone Star Competition". Rivals.com..
- ^ "University Interscholastic League". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved September 28, 2008.
- ^ "National Team Training Center at the Karolyi Ranch" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Official website of University of Texas Athletics – Texas Longhorns – Facilities". TexasSports.com. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
- ^ "houston.astros.mlb.com". houston.astros.mlb.com. Retrieved May 12, 2013.