Sports
See also: Florida Sports Hall of Fame and List of sports teams in FloridaFourteen, about half, of all Major League Baseball teams conduct spring training in the state. Throughout MLB history other teams, at one time or another, held spring training in Florida.
Yet Florida did not have a permanent major-league-level professional sports team until the American Football League added the Miami Dolphins in 1966. The state now has three NFL teams, two MLB teams, two NBA teams, and two NHL teams.
The state of Florida has given professional sports franchises some subsidies in the form of tax breaks since 1991.
Three of the Arena Football League's teams are in Florida.
Golf, tennis, and auto racing are popular. NASCAR (headquartered in Daytona Beach) begins all three of its major Series in Florida at Daytona International Speedway, and ends all three Series in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The PGA of America is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens while the LPGA is headquartered in Daytona Beach.
Minor league baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer and indoor football teams are based in Florida. Florida's universities have a number of collegiate sport teams. Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring training, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League".
| Club | League | Venue | Championships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Dolphins | National Football League | Sun Life Stadium (Miami Gardens) | 2 (1972, 1973) |
| Miami Heat | National Basketball Association | American Airlines Arena (Miami) | 2 (2006, 2012) |
| Miami Marlins | Major League Baseball | Marlins Park (Miami) | 2 (1997, 2003) |
| Florida Panthers | National Hockey League | BankAtlantic Center (Sunrise) | 0 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | National Football League | Raymond James Stadium (Tampa) | 1 (2003) |
| Tampa Bay Rays | Major League Baseball | Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg) | 0 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | National Hockey League | Tampa Bay Times Forum (Tampa) | 1 (2004) |
| Orlando Magic | National Basketball Association | Amway Center (Orlando) | 0 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | National Football League | EverBank Field (Jacksonville) | 0 |
Read more about this topic: Florida
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“It was so hard to pry this door open, and if I mess up I know the people behind me are going to have it that much harder. Because then there’s living proof. They can sit around and say, “See? It doesn’t work.” I don’t want to be their living proof.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)
“Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one’s behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)