Sports in Louisville, Kentucky include amateur and professional sports in baseball, football, basketball, horse racing, horse shows, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse. The
city of Louisville and the
Louisville metropolitan area have a sporting history from the mid-19th century to the present day.
Professional sports
Louisville is home to one major league professional women's team, and two minor league professional men's teams. The
Louisville Bats are a
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
team playing in the
Triple-A East as the Class AAA affiliate of the
Cincinnati Reds. The team plays at
Louisville Slugger Field at the edge of the city's downtown.
Louisville hosts two soccer teams.
Louisville City FC began play in the
United Soccer League
The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...
in 2015, sharing Louisville Slugger Field with the Bats. Louisville City was the reserve side for
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 ...
's
Orlando City SC in 2015, but no longer fills that role after Orlando City launched
a team-owned reserve side for the 2016 season.
In October 2019, the
National Women's Soccer League announced that it would award an expansion franchise to Louisville that would begin play at
Lynn Family Stadium in 2021.
College sports
College basketball
College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...
and
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
are very popular in Louisville, which prides itself on being one of the best college sports towns in America.
The city is home to the
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...
Cardinals, who compete in the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
's
Division I and are a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The U of L men's basketball team won the
NCAA Division I basketball championship in 1980 and 1986 under head coach
Denny Crum, and recently achieved the NCAA
Final Four in
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
,
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
, and
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
under head coach
Rick Pitino, and winning the National Championship in 2013 which would later be vacated. The women's basketball team, under head coach
Jeff Walz, reached the final of the
NCAA women's tournament in
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
and
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
, losing
both times to
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. The 2008–09 team featured
2009 WNBA draft #1 pick
Angel McCoughtry. Both basketball teams ended their tenure at
Freedom Hall in 2010 and moved to the new
KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville for the 2010–11 season.
The U of L football team, with coach
Bobby Petrino, finished No. 7 in the nation for the 2006 season, 19th in the final BCS rankings of 2005 and 10th in 2004. After winning the Orange Bowl—the school's first Bowl Championship Series game—in January 2007, Petrino left the Cardinals to be the head coach of the
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...
.
Steve Kragthorpe was hired to replace Petrino less than two days later. Kragthorpe was fired after three years and replaced by
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
defensive coordinator
Charlie Strong. Petrino returned for a second stint with the Cardinals in 2014, after Strong left for the head coaching vacancy at
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. The U of L football team plays on campus at
Cardinal Stadium.
U of L won the Allstate Sugar Bowl in
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
, upsetting the
Florida Gators.
The U of L baseball team advanced to the
2007 and
2013 College World Series in Omaha, where eight teams competed for the national championship. In 2012–13, U of L became the first school ever to appear in a BCS bowl game, the men's and women's Final Fours in basketball, and the College World Series in the same school year.
Bellarmine University, home of the Knights, moved all sports up to the NCAA Division I level in the 2019–2020 academic year.
Spalding University, home of the Golden Eagles, plays in
NCAA Division III
NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...
as members of the
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Horse racing and equestrian events
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...
is home to the
Kentucky Derby, the largest sports event in the state, as well as the
Kentucky Oaks, which together cap the two-week-long
Kentucky Derby Festival. Churchill Downs has also hosted the renowned
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Graded stakes race, Grade I Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was ...
on eight occasions, in
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, and most recently in 2018.
Besides racing there is the World's Championship
Horse show
A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and pony, ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrianism, equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days ...
. This show is mostly for
Saddlebred horses and is held in conjunction with the
Kentucky State Fair. This is the premier event of the year for
Saddle seat Pleasure and Equitation.
Louisville is also the home of
Valhalla Golf Club which hosted the 1996, 2000, and 2014
PGA Championships, and hosted the
2008 Ryder Cup. It is also home to one of the top
skatepark
A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, Freestyle scootering, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairw ...
s in the U.S.,
David Armstrong Extreme Park.
Louisville is also the home of
Ohio Valley Wrestling, a
professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...
that at different times served as the official developmental territory for
WWE (2000–2008)
and
TNA Wrestling (2011–2013). Many notable WWE performers trained in OVW, such as
Jillian Hall,
Randy Orton
Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He has been signed to WWE since 2000, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. Orton is widely regarded as one of t ...
,
John Cena,
Batista,
CM Punk, and
The Spirit Squad (which included the wrestler now known as
Dolph Ziggler).
High school
High school sports are also very popular in the city, especially football and basketball.
Louisville area high schools have been dominant in
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
in recent years.
Trinity
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...
(1994, 2001–2003, 2005–2008, 2010–2013),
Male
Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...
(1993, 1998, 2000, 2015) and
St. Xavier (1992, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2009) high schools have won 22 of the 24 football titles in Kentucky's largest enrollment class (4A through 2006, 6A since 2007) since 1992.
Central has won five 3A titles since Kentucky's move to a six-class system (2007, 2008, 2010–2012).
Manual also has a storied history, collecting 5 state titles (1925, 1938, 1948, 1959, 1966) and 2 national titles (1925 and 1938). Manual and Male are the oldest high schools in Louisville, and the 1st football game in the state was played between these two in 1893. Also, Trinity and St. Xavier have one of the fiercest rivalries in high school football. Every year, the Trinity-St. Xavier game draws an average of 35,000 fans to
Cardinal Stadium, and is promoted by the schools as the largest attended regular-season high school football game in the country. Currently, St. Xavier leads this storied rivalry with 31 wins, 26 losses and 2 ties.
The 2002 Kentucky state 4A Football Championship between Male and Trinity, a showdown between future UofL teammates
Brian Brohm (Trinity) and
Michael Bush (Male) that ended with a 59–56 Trinity win, is listed as one of the top 50 sporting events of all time by many critics. The "Old Rivalry" between
Male
Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...
and
Manual high schools is one of the nation's oldest, dating back to 1893, and was played on
Thanksgiving Day through 1980, with Manual winning the final T-Day game by a score of 6–0 in overtime.
Annual competitions
From 2007 to 2019, Louisville was host to the annual Ironman Louisville triathlon, in August until 2014 then in October afterwards. In 2019, 2,366 participants finished the course.
In early 2012, Louisville became the first American city to ever host the UCI Masters
Cyclocross World Championships, and the following year became the first American city to host the Masters, Juniors, U23, and Professional Elite Women's and Men's
UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, the biggest races of the fastest growing form of bicycle racing. The event was held at a new permanent cyclocross course at
Eva Bandman Park.
Historical teams
Louisville long ago hosted teams in 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 ...
and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
and fielded a strong franchise, the
Kentucky Colonels, in the
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...
before the
ABA–NBA merger
The ABA–NBA merger was a major pro sports business maneuver in 1976 when the American Basketball Association (ABA) combined with the National Basketball Association (NBA), after multiple attempts over several years. The NBA and ABA had entered ...
in June 1976. The Colonels won the
penultimate ABA championship in 1975, defeating their archrival, the
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
, in the
1975 ABA Finals.
The
Kentucky Colonels were the winningest team in the history of the American Basketball Association, but the Colonels were not included in the ABA–NBA merger in June 1976. A later team with the same name played in Louisville in the
ABA 2000 league but moved to
Murray, Kentucky, in 2007 before folding. Louisville and the corporate community had also attempted to pursue the
Vancouver Grizzlies
The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. The Grizzlies competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Midwest Division (NBA), Midwest Division of the Western Conference ( ...
franchise before their ultimate move to
Memphis in 2001,
as well as the
Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...
franchise, which ultimately moved to
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
in 2002 but was revived in 2004 as the Charlotte Bobcats, regaining the Hornets name and the team's pre-relocation history in 2014.
Another soccer team, the
Louisville Lightning, played
indoor soccer in the
Professional Arena Soccer League from 2009 to 2012 before folding.
The city was home to two professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
teams in the
East Coast Hockey League, from 1990 to 1994 the
Louisville Icehawks, followed by the
Louisville RiverFrogs from 1995 to 1998. The city also had an
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 ...
team from 1999 to 2001, the
Louisville Panthers.
See also
*
Sports in Kentucky
References
External links
{{Commons category
Louisville Sports Commission