Spectator Sports In Florida

For the less energetic sports fan amongst you, there are plenty of spectator sports in Florida with major league American football, baseball and ice hockey teams all with their homes in Florida. We have teamed up with TicketNetwork to offer tickets to all the major sporting events throughout Florida. Just click on the venue to see a list of upcoming events.

Professional Football

Florida based NFL (National Football League) professional football teams and NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) college teams include the:

Baseball

Florida's only two MLB (Major League) baseball teams, the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays plus a number of Minor League teams including:

• Miami Marlins - Sun Life Stadium (Dolphin Stadium), Miami Gardens
• Palm Beach Cardinals and Jupiter Hammerheads - Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter
• Tampa Bay Rays - Tropicana Field, St Petersburg
• Tampa Yankees and Tampa Bay Rowdies - George M. Steinbrenner Field, Tampa

Every year during late February to early April, around half of the American national baseball teams descend on Florida for their annual Spring Training season as part of the Grapefruit League.

Read more about baseball in Florida with a complete list of all Florida's Major and Minor League baseball teams.

Basketball

Florida also has two professional basketball teams in the NBA (National Basketball Association):

• Orlando Magic - Amway Arena, Orlando
• Miami Heat - American Airlines Arena, Miami

Ice Hockey

Surprisingly, Florida also has a couple of professional ice hockey teams who both play in the NHL (National Hockey League):

• Florida Panthers - Bank Atlantic Center, Sunrise, Ft. Lauderdale
• Tampa Bay Lightning  - St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa

Horse Racing

There are plenty of horse racing tracks including:

• Calder Race Course, Hialeah Park (currently closed but hoping to restart racing)
• Gulfstream Park in the Miami area
• Pompano Park at Pompano Beach
• Tampa Bay Downs at Oldsmar just west of Tampa

Greyhound Racing

Greyhound racing is also popular and their are dog tracks at Daytona Beach, St. Petersburg, Flagler, Hollywood, Bonita Springs, Jacksonville, Monticello, Melbourne, West Palm Beach, Pensacola, Longwood, Sarasota, Casselberry and Tampa.

Rodeos

There are numerous amateur rodeos throughout the year as well as the annual big rodeos that attract professional rodeo stars from across the States.

Motor Sport

For motor racing fans, Florida boasts several top class racing tracks including:

• Daytona International Speedway
• Homestead Miami Speedway
• Sebring International Raceway

Two out of the top three endurance races in the world are held in Florida. Sebring has the 12 Hours of Sebring motorsport endurance race and Daytona the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car endurance race; the third being the Le Mans 24 hours race in France.

Daytona is also home to the world famous Daytona 500 (part of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car racing series) as well as other internationally renowned motorcycle and sports car races.

If you want to experience the the thrills of high speed driving for yourself then Disney's Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Disney Speedway near the Magic Kingdom may be just the ticket.