Spectator Sports in
Florida
Florida offers a wide choice of sports entertainment. Thrilling
and exciting events ranging from football, baseball, and basketball to horse,
greyhound, and motor racing can be watched and enjoyed throughout the state.
All of these sports plus jai alai are popular in Miami where a number of
sporting events are held. Florida’s sunny climate makes participation sports
such as tennis, golf, and watersports popular throughout the year. Football, basketball,
and hockey are all winter sports.
FOOTBALL
Florida presently boasts three teams in the National Football
League (NFL): the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Jacksonville
Jaguars. The Miami Dolphins, members of the NFL long before the Buccaneers and
the Jaguars, have appeared in five Super Bowls, winning twice. The season runs
from September to December.
Among the college teams, the Seminoles of Tallahassee, the
Hurricanes out of Miami, and the Gators from Gainesville often finish high in
national football ratings; their rivalry is fierce. Florida holds more college
bowl games than any other state.
Around New Year’s
Day there is a glut of important and popular college bowl games. The three
favorites are the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, the Orange Bowl Classic in Miami, and
the annual Gator Bowl clash in Jacksonville.
BASEBALL
Set up in 1993, the Florida Marlins was the state’s first
major league baseball team.
Despite the relatively short time since joining the National
League, the Marlins have won two World Series championships. The second Florida
team to join the major leagues was the Tampa
Bay Devil Rays based at St. Petersburg Tropicana Field stadium.
The baseball season runs from
April to October. Sixteen major league baseball teams
hold spring training in Florida. In March the teams play friendly games in many
cities in the so-called Grapefruit League. These games, which
take place throughout the week, attract large crowds, with
fans often coming from outside the state. For dates and tickets contact the individual
stadiums in advance. A list of the teams,
cities and phone numbers is also available from the Florida
Sports Foundation.
HORSE RACING AND GREYHOUND RACING
Florida boasts the country’s second largest thoroughbred industry,
centered on Ocala. Gulfstream Park in Hallandale has racing from January
through April.
This is the home of the prestigious one million dollar Florida
Derby which is run in March or in the first part of April. The famous Breeder’s
Cup is often held at Gulf-stream. From May through
December racing moves to Calder Race Course in Miami. The
Summit of Speed in July
and the Festival of the Sun in October are two days of stakes
racing at Calder, each with purses totaling over one million dollars.
Thoroughbred racing also takes place at Tampa Bay Downs in Tampa from December
to May. There is one harness racing track in Florida, Pampano Park in
Pompano Beach. Here standard reds race year-round.
Greyhound racing is popular in Florida and held at 16 tracks
across the state.
HOCKEY
Although hockey is usually thought of as a cold weather sport,
Florida has two teams in the National Hockey League. The Florida Panthers play
at the Bank-Atlantic Center in Sunrise, and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2004
Stanley Cup champions, play at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.
Thousands of Floridians have taken to watching the sport.
The season runs from
October to April.
JAI ALAI
Florida’s game of jai alai, a kind of pelota that
originated in Europe, is virtually unique in the US. Gamestake place on a
three-walled court, where players use a curved wicker basket to catch and hurl
the ball, generating speeds in excess of 150 mph (240 km/h). The back wall is
made of granite
to absorb the resultant force.Games are usually played by
eight teams of one or two
players. After the first point the winners stay on to
meet the next team. This goes on until one team has seven points. An evening
usually consists of 14 such games.
Jai alai is played
all year round in indoor stadiums known as frontons. One of the main
attractions is the chance to gamble, and millions are wagered every year.
MOTOR RACING
Auto and motorcycle racing are big in Florida. The season
starts in February at the Daytona International Speedway, one of the world’s
fastest tracks, with two very popular races.
The Rolex 24, like its older brother at Le Mans, runs all
day and all night, and the Daytona 500 is a season highlight for the National Association
of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).
Other big races take place in Homestead, Pensacola, and Sebring
(near Orlando). Hot
rods come to Gainesville in March for the Gatornationals,
the top drag-racing event
on the Atlantic seaboard. Motorcycles also race at
Daytona.
BASKETBALL
Both professional and college basketball have a huge fan following in Florida. The Miami
Heat, based at the American Airlines Arena, and the Orlando
Magic, whose home court is the TD
Waterhouse Centre, provide the best in exciting NBA
action. The season runs from October to
April.
GOLF AND TENNIS
Golf tournaments abound in Florida, birthplace of golf ace
Jack Nicklaus. Top of the bill are the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando and the
PGA Tournament Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach
near Jacksonville; both are held at the end of March.
Tennis is another big favorite. For example, Key
Biscayne’s Crandon Park is famous for its annual Sony Ericsson
Open in March, which pulls huge crowds.
GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE:
WHO PLAYS WHERE
Atlanta Braves
Walt Disney World.
Tel (407) 939-4263.
Baltimore Orioles
Fort
Lauderdale.
Tel (954)
776-1921,
(800)
236-8908.
Boston Red Sox
Fort Myers.
Tel (877) 733-7699.
Houston Astros
Kissimmee.
Tel (321) 697-3200.
Minnesota Twins
Fort Myers. Tel (800) 338-9467
.
New York Yankees
Tampa. Tel (813) 879-2244.
Philadelphia Phillies
Clearwater
Tel (727) 467-4457.
St. Louis Cardinals
Jupiter. Tel (561) 775-1818.
Tampa Bay Rays
Charlotte County Sports Park.
Tel (727) 825-3250.
A complete list is available from
the Florida Sports Foundation
(see p373).
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