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The city of
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, and its metropolitan area has only one major professional sports league team. The city's professional soccer team,
Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...
, competes in
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
. Austin is also home to the University of Texas Longhorns and to several minor-league sports teams.


Teams


University of Texas Longhorns

Many Austinites support the athletic programs of the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
known as the
Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...
. During the 2005–06 academic term, the Longhorns football team was named the NCAA Division I FBS National Football Champion and the Longhorns baseball team won the
College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...
. The Texas Longhorns football team plays its home games in the state's second-largest sports stadium,
Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium (formerly War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas, has been home to the Texas Longhorns football, Longhorns football ...
, seating over 101,000 fans. Baseball games are played at
UFCU Disch–Falk Field UFCU Disch–Falk Field is the baseball stadium of the University of Texas at Austin. It has been home to Texas Longhorns baseball since it opened on February 17, 1975, replacing Clark Field as the home of the Longhorns. The stadium is named ...
which underwent renovation in 1996 with an increased capacity to 6,756 seats plus 11 stadium suites.


Professional sports

Before
Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...
's arrival in 2021, Austin was the largest city in the United States without a club in a major professional sports league. Minor-league professional sports came to Austin in 1996, when the
Austin Ice Bats The Austin Ice Bats were a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Austin, Texas, from 1996 to 2008. They were originally members of the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) and later the Central Hockey League (CHL). The team was ...
began playing at the Travis County Expo Center. Since then, the Austin Ice Bats have been replaced by the
Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Cedar Park, Texas. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars. They play their homes games at the H-E-B Center. History In ...
of the
American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...
. Other teams have come to Austin including the
Austin Spurs The Austin Spurs are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cedar Park, Texas, and are affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs. The team plays their home games at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The team has made the po ...
of the NBA Development League (later rebranded as the
NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...
), as well as the Spurs themselves starting to play regular season games at
Moody Center Moody Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in Austin, Texas. The arena, which replaced the Frank Erwin Center, stands on a former parking lot located immediately south of UT's soccer/track and ...
since 2023. The Austin Huns Rugby Football Club entered into their first year as a professional sports entity in 2016. The Round Rock Express Baseball Club the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, play at Dell Diamond. The Express are owned and operated by Ryan Sanders Sports and Entertainment, which is led by Baseball Hall-of-Famer, Nolan Ryan. In October 2017, Precourt Sports Ventures announced a plan to move the
Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 charter clubs of the league. ...
soccer franchise from
Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
to Austin. Precourt reached an arrangement with the City of Austin to construct a new courthouse $200 million stadium on public land at 10414 McKalla Place. However, in October 2018,
Jimmy Haslam James Arthur Haslam III (born March 9, 1954) is an American businessman and sports executive. He is the chairman of the board of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain. He and his wife Dee own the Cleveland Browns of the National Football Leag ...
, owner of the
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...
of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
, along with Columbus businessman Pete Edwards Jr., announced plans to acquire the Crew to keep the club in central Ohio and Precourt was instead granted an expansion club to operate in Austin.
Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q ...
was then announced as planning to start play in the 2021 season.


Biking, swimming, and running

Natural features like the bicycle-friendly
Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...
, limestone rock formations, and generally mild
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...
work with the centrally located Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail, and local pools like Barton Springs to make Austin the home of several endurance and multi-sport races and communities. The Capitol 10,000 is the largest race in Texas, and approximately fifth largest in the United States. The Austin Marathon has been run in the city every year since 1992. The Austin-founded American Swimming Association hosts an open water swimming event, the Cap 2 K, and other closed-course, open water, and cable swim races around town. Austin is also the hometown of several cycling groups and the former seven-time Tour de France champion cyclist
Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...
, as well as environmentally and economically minded bicycle commuters. Combining these three disciplines is a growing crop of triathlons, including the Capital of Texas Triathlon held every
Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...
on and around
Lady Bird Lake Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River (Texas), Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pon ...
, Auditorium Shores, and
Downtown Austin Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas, United States. The area of the district is bound by Lamar Boulevard to the west, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Austin), Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the north, Inte ...
. Local cyclists also compete in the Driveway Series, a weekly bicycle
criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time, ...
held at Driveway Austin.


Auto racing

In June 2010 it was announced by the Formula One chief executive
Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is a British business magnate, motorsport executive and former racing driver. Widely known in journalism as the "F1 Supremo", Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987, controlling the c ...
that the Austin area would host the
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
,
United States Grand Prix The United States Grand Prix is a motor racing event that has been held on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The Grand Prix later became part of the Formula One World Championship. , the Grand Prix has been held ...
, from 2012 until 2021. The effort was aided by State Comptroller Susan Combs. The State has pledged to put up $25 million in public funds annually for 10 years to pay the sanctioning fees for the race. The event was last held in
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...
. A Formula One circuit will need to be built at an estimated cost of $250 to $300 million, paid for by private investors, and is expected to be located just east of the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The Austin investor group is headed by Tavo Hellmund, President of Full Throttle Productions, LP. Hellmund, of Austin, is himself a former race car owner and driver.
Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...
has also played host to MotoGP World Championships from 2013. Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural 2012 United States Grand Prix at Austin on November 18. Driveway Austin was a motorsports track and racing school within the city, although not hosting sanctioned races and closing in 2021 to be annexed into a city park. Harris Hill Raceway in San Marcos hosts several racing series.


Other sports

In July 2013 ESPN announced the X Games would relocate from Los Angeles to Austin, where the city served as one of six stops on the Global X Games circuit from 2014 to 2018 at the Circuit of the Americas. Austin is also considered the birthplace of all-women's flat track roller derby. In 2003, the
Texas Rollergirls Texas Rollergirls is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Austin, Texas. Founded in early 2003 and widely credited as the league that started the modern roller derby movement, the Texas Rollergirls were the first flat-track league in ...
formed as the first league to play modern flat-track roller derby and, in 2005, were instrumental in the rule-setting and track design used by the
Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby. It sets the international standards for rankings, rules, and competition in the sport, and provides guidance and ...
. In March 2022, Austin was awarded a 250 level women's tennis event, the ATX Open. It started in February 2023.


References

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