Sports in Georgia (U.S. state)

Sports in Georgia include professional teams, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports.

Professional sports

Baseball

The Atlanta Braves in 2014

The Atlanta Braves are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that moved to Atlanta in 1966 from Milwaukee where they were known as the Milwaukee Braves.[1] The Braves play their home games at Truist Park in suburban Cobb County, which opened in 2017 as the replacement for Turner Field, which had been the team's home since the 1997 season. Before then, they played at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996. They won the World Series in 1914 (as the Boston Braves), 1957 (as the Milwaukee Braves), and 1995, 2021 (as the Atlanta Braves). Braves players in the Baseball Hall of Fame include Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Eddie Mathews, Fred McGriff, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn, Bruce Sutter, and Hoyt Wilhelm. Two former Braves managers have been inducted to the Hall in that role, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre, although Torre's induction was mainly for his accomplishments with the New York Yankees. Mathews also served as a Braves manager. Braves executive John Schuerholz entered the Hall in July 2017 for his accomplishments in that role.

The AAA minor league baseball Gwinnett Stripers of the International League began play at Coolray Field in 2009. The Atlanta Crackers were the AAA affiliate of the Braves organization before the Braves moved to Atlanta.

The Rome Emperors, previously known as the Macon Braves and the Rome Braves, are a High-A minor league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves playing in the South Atlantic League. In 2003, the team moved from Macon to Rome. Their home games are played at State Mutual Stadium, which opened April 11, 2003. Former Atlanta Braves alumni include Brian McCann, who was a Rome Brave in 2003. After the 2023 season the team changed its name from Braves to Emperors. The Augusta GreenJackets play in the Carolina League and have been affiliated with the San Francisco Giants since 2005. In 2018, the GreenJackets moved from their namesake of Augusta into a new ballpark across the Savannah River to SRP Park, in North Augusta, South Carolina. The Savannah Sand Gnats played in the same league from 1984 to 2015, most recently as affiliates of the New York Mets (2007–2015), but have since relocated to Columbia, South Carolina as the Columbia Fireflies. All three teams were formerly members of the South Atlantic League.

After the relocation of the Sand Gnats, Savannah's Grayson Stadium became the home of the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League, a wood-bat collegiate summer league, In 2020, the Bananas gained nationwide attention for an unorthodox style of play dubbed Banana Ball, starting a professional exhibition team that plays under that rule set.[2] After the 2022 season, the Bananas shut down their collegiate summer team to focus entirely on their professional exhibition operation.

Basketball

Hawks' Jeff Teague in 2013

The Atlanta Hawks are a National Basketball Association (NBA) team founded in 1949 and play their home games at State Farm Arena; (previously Philips Arena from 1999 to 2018.) Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now Hank McCamish Pavilion) from 1968 to 1972, the Omni Coliseum from 1972 to 1997, and the Georgia Dome from 1997 to 1999. The Hawks have won one Championship, four Conference titles and fourteen Division titles. Notable current and former Hawks include Walt Bellamy, Cliff Hagan, Connie Hawkins, Bob Houbregs, Moses Malone, Pete Maravich, Ed Macauley, Bob Pettit, Lenny Wilkens, Dominique Wilkins, and Trae Young.[3]

The Atlanta Dream has played in the Women's National Basketball Association since 2008. They play their home games at Gateway Center Arena.[4]

The American Basketball Association and the World Basketball Association are also represented in Georgia. In the case of the former, Georgia has three teams: the Atlanta Vision,[5] the Rome Legions,[6] and the Georgia Gwizzlies.[7] The latter association teams are the Georgia Warriors, the Marietta Storm and the Rome Gladiators.[8]

Football

Atlanta Falcons players at training camp

The Atlanta Falcons are a National Football League (NFL) team founded as an expansion team in 1966.[9] They have played their home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta since 2017; they previously played at the Georgia Dome; prior to playing at the Georgia Dome, they played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1991. The Falcons have won seven Division Championships in 1980, 1982, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016 and two Conference Championships in 1998 and 2016. Notable current and former players include Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Eric Dickerson, Tommy McDonald, William Andrews, Jeff Van Note, Michael Vick, Jessie Tuggle, Mike Kenn, Marion Campbell, Dan Reeves, Greg Brezina, Ray Buchanan, Buddy Curry, T. J. Duckett, Bill Fralic and Wallace Francis.

The Atlanta Legends played in the Alliance of American Football in 2019, with home games at the Georgia State Stadium.

Georgia has also been home to several arena and indoor football teams. Two different teams known as the Georgia Force played in the Arena Football League (AFL). The original version arrived in Georgia after the 2001 season, having relocated from Nashville, Tennessee. This team initially played at Philips Arena, but later moved its home games to the suburb of Duluth. This version of the Force folded along with the league after the 2008 season. The AFL was relaunched in 2010, and a new version of the Force arrived in 2011 when the Alabama Vipers relocated from Huntsville. The new Force played the 2011 and 2012 seasons before folding. Georgia has also had various minor league indoor teams in the United Arena League (UAL) af2, National Indoor Football League (NIFL), Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL), American Indoor Football (AIF), World Indoor Football League (WIFL), American Arena League (AAL), and the National Arena League (NAL), with the Columbus Lions having lasted since 2007 and playing in over five different leagues.

Cumming, Georgia is home to an Arena football team, Peach State Cats, in the United Arena League (UAL).

The Atlanta Xplosion are a Women's Professional Football League team. They won the league's 2006 Championship.[10]

Hockey

Gwinnett Gladiators playing at Infinite Energy Arena

Hockey's history in Georgia goes back to the 1970s with the Atlanta Flames, who played in the state until 1980 when they were relocated to Calgary. It was not until October 2, 1999 that hockey formally returned with the Atlanta Thrashers' first game against the New Jersey Devils.[11] On May 31, 2011 the Thrashers were sold to True North Sports and Entertainment. It was announced the team would move to the MTS Centre in Winnipeg and return the Winnipeg Jets name to the NHL, resurrecting the name of the city's previous NHL team that departed for Phoenix in 1996. The Thrashers played their home games at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. The Thrashers did not appear in the Stanley Cup Finals. They only won one division title during the 2006–07 NHL season and were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.

Currently, the ECHL has only one operating team in Georgia. The Atlanta Gladiators play all of their homes games at Gas South Arena in Duluth. The team, formerly the Mobile Mysticks, moved to Gwinnett County and officially started play in 2003 as the Gwinnett Gladiators; the team changed their name to Atlanta Gladiators in 2015. The Augusta Lynx were first formed in 1998, but due to financial concerns were forced to cease operations halfway through the 2008 season. The Lynx played their home games at James Brown Arena. In 2021, a new ECHL franchise was awarded to Savannah, the Savannah Ghost Pirates, and the team is scheduled to take the ice in the 2022–23 season in the newly-constructed Enmarket Arena.

The Macon Mayhem is currently the only team in Georgia that is part of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The Mayhem were founded in 2015 after the Augusta RiverHawks suspended operations for the 2013–14 season because of a failure of their home arena's ice system and subsequently relocated to Macon, Georgia, after going dormant for two seasons.

The Columbus Cottonmouths were a hockey team that played for 21 seasons over three separate leagues. The team was founded in 1996 as a member of the Central Hockey League.[12] In 2001, the organization obtained a franchise in the East Coast Hockey League (later called just ECHL) before joining the Southern Professional Hockey League as one of its inaugural members. The organization suspended operations in 2017 when the owners could no longer fund the team and failed to find new owners.[13] Columbus got another professional hockey team in 2019 as the Columbus River Dragons with different owners.

Soccer

The Atlanta Silverbacks were a North American Soccer League team founded in 1999. The Silverbacks played at the Atlanta Silverbacks Park.[14] The also had a women's team called Atlanta Silverbacks Women that played in the W-League. Both teams ceased operations after the 2015 season, the men's team due to a lack of ownership and the women's team due to the W-League ceasing operations.

Augusta FireBall United, also known as Augusta FireBall, was an American soccer team that was founded in 2005. The team was a member of the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2006, when the team left the league and the franchise was terminated. They played their home games at Patriots Park in Augusta, Georgia.

The Atlanta Beat was an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) as an expansion team in 2010, and played its home games at Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium (now Fifth Third Bank Stadium), the result of a public-private partnership between the team and Kennesaw State University. The club succeeded the former Atlanta Beat of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association. The Beat folded along with WPS after the 2012 season, and the Atlanta area does not have a team in WPS' effective successor, the current National Women's Soccer League.

Atlanta was awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team in April 2014. Atlanta United FC began play in the league in 2017. Atlanta United won the MLS Cup on December 8, 2018.

South Georgia Tormenta FC is based out of Statesboro, Georgia, and began play in 2016 in the amateur Premier Development League. The team moved up to the professional ranks as the first team to join the third tier USL League One, which began play in 2019. The team currently plays at Tormenta FC Stadium and has finished the first phase of soccer-specific stadium, which opened in 2022, the same year Tormenta wins the USL League One Final.

Golf

The Masters Tournament, played in Augusta at Augusta National Golf Club in April is one of four major golf tournaments played in the United States. The tournament was created in 1931 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, a financier from New York City. The course was designed by golf course architect Alister MacKenzie.[15] Notable golfers from Georgia include Atlanta native Jones, noted as the greatest amateur golfer ever,[16] Davis Love III of Sea Island[17] and Tommy Aaron of Gainesville.[18]

Rugby

Georgia has professional Rugby league and Rugby union clubs based in Atlanta. The Atlanta Rhinos joined the North American Rugby League for its inaugural season in 2022.[19] They previously played semi-professionally in the USA Rugby League, winning 1 championship in 2017. Rugby ATL were founded in 2018 and began play in Major League Rugby in 2020.[20][21]

Table of professional teams

Club Sport League
Atlanta Blaze Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse
Atlanta Braves Baseball Major League Baseball
Atlanta Dream Basketball Women's National Basketball Association
Atlanta Falcons Football National Football League
Atlanta FaZe Esports Call of Duty League
Atlanta Hawks Basketball National Basketball Association
Atlanta Gladiators (Duluth) Ice hockey ECHL
Atlanta United Soccer Major League Soccer
Atlanta Xplosion Football Independent Women's Football League
Augusta GreenJackets Baseball Carolina League
Columbus Lions Indoor football National Arena League
College Park Skyhawks Basketball NBA G League
Columbus River Dragons Ice hockey Federal Prospects Hockey League
Georgia Swarm Lacrosse National Lacrosse League
Gwinnett Stripers Baseball International League
Macon Mayhem Ice hockey Southern Professional Hockey League
Atlanta Reign Esports Overwatch League
Rome Braves Baseball South Atlantic League
Atlanta Rhinos Rugby league North American Rugby League
Savannah Ghost Pirates Ice Hockey ECHL
Rugby ATL Rugby union Major League Rugby
South Georgia Tormenta FC Soccer USL League One
Savannah Bananas Baseball Exhibition team

Motorsports

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Georgia is home to approximately twenty-two race tracks and drag strips. Some of the twenty-two tracks in Georgia are the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Road Atlanta (where the Petit Le Mans is held), Atlanta Dragway, Dixie Speedway and Roebling Road Raceway.[22] One of the most famous racers to come from Georgia is Bill Elliott.[23]

NASCAR

Many observers consider Dawsonville one of the birthplaces of NASCAR because so many individuals involved in the sport were from that city. Notable racers from Dawsonville include Bill Elliott, Chase Elliott, Roy Hall and Lloyd Seay.[24] Since 1951 Georgia tracks have hosted two to eight races in NASCAR's elite division.[24] Dawsonville is home to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.[24]

College

Russ Chandler Stadium during a baseball game between Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State

The state of Georgia has 29 schools competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and 13 schools in the NAIA.

Division I

Sanford Stadium
See also: List of NCAA Division I institutions

Seven Division I institutions are recognized by the NCAA.

Five field football teams in the top level of college football, Division I FBS:

The Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have a historical rivalry in college football known as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. Georgia Southern and Georgia State have a more recent rivalry in multiple sports known as Modern Day Hate.

The remaining two field football teams in the second-tier Division I FCS.

Division II

The Complex at Valdosta State University
See also: List of NCAA Division II institutions

A total of 15 institutions are members of NCAA Division II.

Division III

See also: List of NCAA Division III institutions

LaGrange College is in the NCAA Division III with 14 sports, and competes as a member of the Collegiate Conference of the South. The school's most successful athletic program is its men's golf team, which is perennially among the nation's best.

Georgia has seven other institutions in Division III. They are:

NAIA

Inside the Grizzly Softball Complex at Georgia Gwinnett College
See also: List of NAIA institutions

1996 Summer Olympics

Main article: 1996 Summer Olympics

Atlanta was the site of the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The Olympics were held from July 19 until August 4, 1996.[25] It was during this time, on July 27, 1996, that a bombing took place in Centennial Park killing two and injuring 111 people.[citation needed] The Paralympics were held from August 15 to August 29, 2006.

2026 FIFA World Cup

Atlanta will serve as one of eleven US host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[26]

Olympians from Georgia

Katrina McClain, former UGA women's basketball player and Olympic gold medalist

Several people from Georgia, or from Georgia schools, have received gold medals at the Olympics over the years. Some of those gold medalists are:

See also

References

  1. ^ Braves Time line Archived 2007-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  2. ^ Grossfeld, Stan. "How baseball can be more fun, according to the Savannah Bananas". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  3. ^ Hawks History Archived 2009-12-02 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  4. ^ Report: WNBA awards Atlanta franchise for '08 season, Accessed December 31, 2007
  5. ^ Atlanta Vision Archived 2008-01-05 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  6. ^ Roman Legions Archived 2006-12-06 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  7. ^ "Georgia Gwizzlies basketball, News, Roster, Rumors, Stats, Awards, Transactions, Details-usbasket". www.usbasket.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
  8. ^ WBA Team History Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  9. ^ Historical Moments Archived 2019-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  10. ^ Atlanta Xplosion Archived 2008-01-10 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 1, 2008
  11. ^ History Archived 2010-03-24 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed December 31, 2007
  12. ^ Columbus Cottonmouths Official Website Archived 2017-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 1, 2008
  13. ^ "Cottonmouths to suspend operations for next season". Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. May 3, 2017. Archived from the original on May 12, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
  14. ^ Atlanta Silverbacks Official Site Archived 2008-01-10 at the Wayback Machine, accessed January 1, 2008
  15. ^ Masters Tournament Archived 2006-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 2, 2008
  16. ^ Bobby Jones Archived 2006-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 2, 2008
  17. ^ Davis Love III Archived 2006-02-21 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 2, 2008
  18. ^ Tommy Aaron Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 2, 2008
  19. ^ "Ottawa Aces rugby team to join upstart North American league in 2022". cbc.ca. Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  20. ^ "Major League Rugby confirms Boston and Atlanta for 2020 - Americas Rugby News". www.americasrugbynews.com. September 21, 2018. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  21. ^ "ATLANTA'S NEW MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY TEAM PICKS A NAME". USMLR.com. February 26, 2019. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  22. ^ Race Tracks in Georgia Archived 2008-01-03 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 1, 2008
  23. ^ Bill Elliott Archived 2007-09-18 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 1, 2008
  24. ^ a b c NASCAR Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 2, 2008
  25. ^ Olympic Games in 1996 Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 5, 2008
  26. ^ "FIFA announces hosts cities for FIFA World Cup 2026™". Archived from the original on 2022-12-28. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  27. ^ Georgia Olympians, Accessed January 5, 2008 [dead link‍]
  28. ^ Olympians from GA Archived December 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Accessed January 5, 2008
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