Sports in San Antonio
Sports in San Antonio includes a number of professional major and minor league sports teams. The American city of San Antonio, Texas also has college, high school, and other amateur or semi-pro sports teams.
The city's only top-level professional sports team, and consequently the team most San Antonians follow, is the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. The Spurs have been playing in San Antonio since 1973 and have won five NBA Championships (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014). Previously, the Spurs played at the Alamodome, which was built for football, and before that the HemisFair Arena, but the Spurs built – with public money – and moved into the SBC Center in 2002, since renamed the AT&T Center following the merger of SBC and AT&T. It was later renamed to the Frost Bank Center after Frost Bank became the arena sponsor.[1]
San Antonio is home to the Double-A Minor League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, the San Antonio Missions who play at Nelson Wolff Stadium on the west side of the city.
San Antonio is also home the San Antonio Brahmas of the UFL who play at the Alamodome.
The University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of the Incarnate Word fields San Antonio's two D1 college athletic teams.
Professional sports
[edit]San Antonio is home to one major league professional sports team: the National Basketball Association's San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio is also home to minor league professional sports teams in soccer, baseball, and basketball.
San Antonio is also occasionally home to international professional sports events. The April 15, 2014 soccer match at the Alamodome between the United States and Mexico sold a record 65,000 tickets, with tickets sold out over two months in advance.[2] This beat the city's previous record for a soccer match of 54,313, set in January 2014 for a friendly between Mexico and South Korea.[2]
| Sport | League | Club | Founded | Venue | Titles | Championship years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basketball | NBA | San Antonio Spurs | 1967 | Frost Bank Center | 5 | 1998-99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2013–14 |
| Baseball | Texas League(AA) | San Antonio Missions | 2019 | Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium | 0 | N/A |
| American Football | UFL | San Antonio Brahmas | 2022 | Alamodome | 0 | N/A |
| Soccer | USL Championship | San Antonio FC | 2016 | Toyota Field | 1 | 2022 |
| Arena Football | Indoor Football League | San Antonio Gunslingers | 2020 | Freeman Coliseum | 0 | N/A |
Notes:
- The Spurs were formerly the Dallas Chaparrals (1967-1970, 1971-1973), formerly the Texas Chaparrals (1970-1971)
- The San Antonio Missions were an AA Team in the Texas League and moved to Amarillo in 2018 to become the Amarillo Sod Poodles, at which time San Antonio was selected for a AAA team, which maintained the same name, later being brought back down to a AA team.
- The San Antonio Brahmas were originally part of the XFL and became part of the UFL when the XFL merged with the USFL to create the UFL.
Current semi-professional teams
[edit]| Sport | League | Club | Founded | Venue | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basketball | American Basketball Association | Texas Fuel | 2008 | Palo Alto College | 0 |
| Rugby | Texas Rugby Union division 3 | Alamo City Rugby Football Club | 1983 | Bowie Field in Brooks Park | 0 |
| Rugby | Texas Rugby Union division 3 | San Antonio Rugby Football Club | 1971 | Olmos Basin Park Pitch | 0 |
| Soccer | United Premier Soccer League | Samba FC San Antonio | 2017 | Wheatley Heights Soccer Complex | 0 |
National and international events
[edit]- NCAA football bowl game Alamo Bowl each December
- U.S. Olympic Festival in 1993
- NCAA Final four host - men's tournament: 1998, 2004, 2008, 2018, and 2025
- NCAA Final four host - women's tournament: 2002, 2010, and 2029
- NBA All-Star Game: 1996
- NABC All-Star Game: 1998
NCAA college football
[edit]| Team | Division | Conference | Founded | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTSA Roadrunners | Division I | Conference USA | 2011 | Alamodome (65,000) |
| Incarnate Word Cardinals | Division I | Southland Conference | 2009 | Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium (6,000) |
| Trinity Tigers | Division III | Southern | 1900 | Trinity University Stadium (3,500) |
NCAA college basketball
[edit]| Team | Division | Conference | Founded | Venue (capacity) | NCAA tournament appearances |
Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTSA Roadrunners | Division I | Conference USA | 1981 | Convocation Center (4,080) | 4 | 1988, 1999, 2004, 2011 |
| Incarnate Word Cardinals | Division I | Southland | 1989 | McDermott Center | 3 (Division II) | 2002, 2009, 2010 |
| St. Mary's Rattlers | Division II | Heartland* | 1926 | Bill Greehey Arena | 8 | 1989**, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015 |
| Trinity Tigers | Division III | SCAC | 1930 | Sams Gymnasium (1,800) | 10 | *** |
* Beginning in 2019, the St. Mary's Rattlers will be in the Lone Star Conference.
** The St. Mary's Rattlers won the NAIA national title in 1989.
*** The Trinity Tigers appeared in the post-season tournament in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Marathon
[edit]- Rock 'n' Roll Marathon [3]
The San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon started in 2007 and is part of the nationwide Rock 'n' Roll Marathon series.
Events include: Full marathon, Half marathon, 10K run, 5K run, 13.1 relay, and Kids rock run.
The events ran from 2008-2024.
- Christmas Jingle Rudolph Run
Events include: 5K run, 10K run, 13.1 run, and Family Fun 1 Mile run.
Motorsports
[edit]Alamo City Motorplex (formerly known as San Antonio Raceway) is a 1/4 mile drag strip with a 1/2 mile of shutdown space. It has a seating capacity of 13,000. The facility is an NHRA Member Track and also hosts a number of large yearly events including Bounty Hunters No-Prep, Midnight Grudge Fest, Club Loose Drifting, Summit Series Bracket Racing, and weekly test and tune sessions.
High school
[edit]San Antonio is home of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl,[4] played annually in the Alamodome and televised live on NBC. The Bowl is an East versus West showdown featuring the nation's top 90 high school senior football players. The game has featured NFL stars Reggie Bush, Vince Young, Adrian Peterson, and many other college and NFL stars. The U.S. Army All-American Bowl also includes the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band, the U.S. Army National Combine, and the U.S. Army Coaches Academy, all of which take place in San Antonio during the week leading up to the game itself.
The U.S. Army All-American Marching Band features 91 of the nation's top high school senior marching musicians who perform during halftime of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The U.S. Army National Combine features 500 of the nation's top high school underclassman football players. The U.S. Army Coaches Academy features 100 of the nation's top high school football coaches, including the coaches of each U.S. Army All-American.
Club teams
[edit]San Antonio is also home to the San Antonio Gaelic Athletic Club, which was established in early 2011. The SAGAC plays in a Texas League with teams from Austin, Dallas, and Houston. The season ranges from April to the end of August, when the team competes at the North American Gaelic Athletic Association tournament every Labor Day Weekend. The club also has two inter-squad teams, the San Patricios and the I.C.A (Irish Citizen Army), that compete in a pub league in the fall.
History
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2015) |
The city served as a temporary home for the New Orleans Saints for the 2005 NFL season due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The Saints set up practice facilities in San Antonio for the season, and played a split home schedule between the Alamodome and Baton Rouge, Louisiana's Tiger Stadium during the 2005 season. After the final game in San Antonio, the Saints committed to moving back to New Orleans for the 2006 season. City officials are said to be attempting to lure the National Football League permanently to San Antonio and have also said that a strong showing at the Alamodome for the three local Saints games was vital to showing that San Antonio can support an NFL franchise. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said that San Antonio was successful in hosting the team, and that the city would be on the short list for any future NFL expansions. The city has also hosted the Dallas Cowboys' and Houston Oilers' preseason camps in the past, and they signed a contract with the Cowboys in which the Cowboys practiced in San Antonio through 2011.[5] Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged his support for the city's efforts to become home to an NFL franchise.[6] Although it is the largest city in the United States without an NFL team, San Antonio's smaller metropolitan population has so far contributed to its lack of landing an NFL, MLB, or NHL team.
San Antonio has fielded teams in two attempted major league football rivals to the NFL, both at Alamo Stadium: in 1975, the Florida Blazers of the World Football League relocated to San Antonio as the Wings for one season before the league ceased operations; and in 1984, the San Antonio Gunslingers joined the United States Football League as an expansion team and played for two seasons before the league folded. The San Antonio Riders were one of the founding teams of the World League of American Football, the NFL's one-time spring developmental league, in 1991. They played for two seasons before the North American teams were disbanded and the WLAF became a strictly European league. During the Canadian Football League's brief expansion into the U.S., the city played host to the San Antonio Texans for a single season in 1995, following the team's relocation from Sacramento after two seasons. San Antonio was also home to two minor league football franchises: the Toros of the Texas Football League (later Continental Football League, then Trans-American Football League) from 1966-1971; and the Charros of the American Football Association from 1978-1981. After the 2011 Arena Football League season, the Tulsa Talons relocated from Oklahoma and played two seasons in San Antonio before folding in 2014.
In March 2006, the city made an offer to build a stadium for the struggling Florida Marlins baseball franchise. However, the Marlins and Major League Baseball declined the offer.
In 2005, the city approached Major League Soccer with an interest in placing a soccer franchise in the vacant Alamodome. Both the city and the league seemed to be in harmony,[citation needed] with the council voting 9-2 in favor of the new San Antonio team, citing that it would reduce the financial burden of the stadium on the city by providing it with a permanent tenant without extra financial costs as the necessary upgrading of facilities at the dome would have to take place regardless of a team moving in or not. The following week an 8-3 vote carried the second part of the plan, which would see a major new youth soccer complex being built in the city to compete for what was described as the lucrative Texas youth soccer event market. At the time it was stated that San Antonio had only a fraction of the youth soccer facilities available in other Texan cities of Dallas, Houston and Austin. All seemed to be in place and plans on course until a media campaign against the soccer proposals exposing that the team would only be leased with the Alamodome for three years. After three years the team would have to vacate to a soccer-specific stadium.
After Hurricane Katrina, the city set their goal of earning an NFL franchise. The prospects for the franchise were further hindered when it became a political football during the election for Mayor, which was won by Phil Hardberger who instantly distanced the city from any deal with MLS. MLS meanwhile released a statement claiming that they had planned to withdraw before the election but did not wish to comment until afterwards in order to "respect the electoral process in San Antonio."[citation needed] The deal died with both sides blaming each other for its demise.[citation needed]
In 2018, the Alliance of American Football announced that the San Antonio Commanders would play in the city beginning in 2019.[7] The Commanders opened play at the Alamodome in February 2019; however, the league folded in the same year.
Former teams
[edit]Professional athletes from San Antonio
[edit]| Athlete | Additional comments |
|---|---|
Baseball[edit] | |
| Josh Beckett | n.a. |
| Randy Choate | n.a. |
| Alva Jo Fisher | n.a. |
| Jerry Grote | n.a. |
| Bob Heise | n.a. |
| Joe Horlen | n.a. |
| Cliff Johnson | n.a. |
| N. D. Kalu | n.a. |
| Logan Kensing | n.a. |
| Brandon Larson | n.a. |
| Boone Logan | n.a. |
| Jeff Manship | n.a. |
| Ray Sheppard | n.a. |
| Burch Smith | n.a. |
| Mike Smith | n.a. |
| Frank Snyder | n.a. |
| Justin Thompson | n.a. |
| Anthony Vasquez | n.a. |
| Jake Volz | n.a. |
| Arthur Carter Whitney | a.k.a. Pinky Whitney |
| Forrest Whitney | n.a. |
Basketball[edit] | |
| Devin Brown | Devin not only played high school basketball in San Antonio, but also played for UTSA (college) and San Antonio Spurs (NBA) |
| Jordan Clarkson | n.a. |
| Fennis Dembo | n.a. |
| Keith Edmonson | n.a. |
| Jeff Foster | n.a. |
| Askia Jones | n.a. |
| Wesley Matthews | n.a. |
| Shaquille O'Neal | n.a. |
| Bo Outlaw | n.a. |
| Trent Plaisted | n.a. |
| Andre Robertson | n.a. |
| Ben Uzoh | n.a. |
Bodybuilding[edit] | |
| Heather Armbust | n.a. |
| Vickie Gates | n.a. |
Football[edit] | |
| Anthony Alabi | n.a. |
| Scott Ankrom | n.a. |
| Jace Amaro | n.a. |
| Patrick Bailey | n.a. |
| Glenn Blackwood | n.a. |
| Lyle Blackwood | n.a. |
| Chris Bordano | n.a. |
| Quincy Burler | n.a. |
| Cody Carlson | n.a. |
| Keith Cash | n.a. |
| Kerry Cash | n.a. |
| Bruce Collie | n.a. |
| Tony Darden | n.a. |
| Trey Darilek | n.a. |
| Quintin Demps | Quintin Demps currently is a safety in the NFL for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2008 and previously played for the Houston Texans. He was an alumnus of The University of Texas at El Paso, and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in San Antonio, Texas |
| Ty Detmer | n.a. |
| Ronald Flemons | n.a. |
| Philip Gaines | n.a. |
| Erik Flowers | n.a. |
| Darryl Grant | n.a. |
| Derwin Gray | n.a. |
| Gary Green | n.a. |
| Cedric Griffin | n.a. |
| David Hill | n.a. |
| Carlyle Holiday | n.a. |
| Brent Holmes | n.a. |
| Priest Holmes | n.a. |
| Morton Hopkins | n.a. |
| Rob Housler | n.a. |
| Weldon Humble | n.a. |
| Sam Hurd | n.a. |
| A.J. Johnson | n.a. |
| N.D. Kalu | n.a. |
| Wade Key | n.a. |
| Tommy Kramer | n.a. |
| Cedric Lawrence | n.a. |
| Keith Lee | n.a. |
| Hunter Lawrence | n.a. |
| Travis Lewis | n.a. |
| Wane McGarity | n.a. |
| Warren McVea | n.a. |
| Primo Miller | n.a. |
| Willie Mitchell | n.a. |
| Sammy Morris | n.a. |
| Tommy Nobis | n.a. |
| Joe Pawelek | n.a. |
| Robert Quiroga | n.a. |
| Jeramie Richardson | n.a. |
| Reggie Rivers | n.a. |
| Corey Robinson | n.a. |
| Aaron Ross | n.a. |
| Kyle Rote | n.a. |
| Tobin Rote | n.a. |
| Chris Samuels | n.a. |
| Greg Schorp | n.a. |
| Corey Sears | n.a. |
| Andrew Sendejo | n.a. |
| Scott Solomon | n.a. |
| Mykkele Thomson | n.a. |
| Michael Toudouze | n.a. |
| Alex Van Pelt | n.a. |
Ninja Warrior[edit] | |
| Brent Steffensen | Most noted for competing on American Ninja Warrior |
Mixed martial arts (MMA)[edit] | |
| Alivia Bierley | n.a. |
Soccer[edit] | |
| Jonatham "Gordinho" Rexroat | Rexroat graduated (class of 2013) from Lady Bird Johnson High School and played varsity soccer. He is Johnson's first alumnus professional athlete. He has an honorable mention on the title by the school's district, NEISD. Rexroat signed his first professional soccer contract on December 20, 2015 for Club Calor of the Mexican professional FMF second division.[citation needed] |
Swimming[edit] | |
| Josh Davis | Olympic gold medalist |
Tennis[edit] | |
| Wilmer Allison | n.a. |
Track and Field[edit] | |
| Jennifer Gutierrez | Olympic triathlete |
| Fred Kerley | Olympic medalist |
| Anjanette Kirkland | Olympic gold medalist |
| Reuben Reina | n.a. |
| Darold Williamson | Olympic gold medalist |
Wrestling[edit] | |
| Tully Blanchard | n.a. |
| Shoichi Funaki | n.a. |
| Jose Lothario | n.a. |
| Michael Shawn Hickenbottom | aka "Shawn Michaels" |
See also
[edit]- List of baseball parks in San Antonio
- List of defunct Texas sports teams
- List of Texas sports teams
- List of people from San Antonio
References
[edit]- ^ Danner, Madison Iszler, Patrick. "Frost Bank Center: Spurs arena gets new name after nearly two decades as AT&T Center". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Sunil Gulati confirms USMNT's April friendly vs. Mexico in San Antonio officially sold out", MLS Soccer, February 14, 2015.
- ^ "Certified Piedmontese Beef Rock 'n' Roll Running Series - San Antonio".
- ^ Welcome to the 2009 U.S. Army All American Bowl
- ^ Football: Cowboys returning to S.A. in '07 Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine, San Antonio Express-News, April 1, 2006.
- ^ Football: Cowboys' Jones backs S.A. team Archived 2006-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, San Antonio Express-News, May 5, 2006.
- ^ Reinagel, Joe (26 September 2018). "San Antonio Commanders coach, GM share excitement about first season". KENS. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ Department, Sports (June 21, 2018). "Alliance of American Football league announces details about San Antonio franchise". News4 San Antonio.com. WOAI. Retrieved June 22, 2018.