Alaska is home to a number of sports teams and events, nearly all of which are based or located in Anchorage, the state's largest city. In Anchorage, the Sullivan Arena is home to the Alaska Aces of the ECHL and the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves of the NCAA Division II. The city's only other professional franchise is the Alaska Wild, an arena football team that began playing with the Intense Football League in April 2007 and joined other league members in the Indoor Football League in 2008. A third professional franchise scheduled to begin play in November 2008 is the Alaska Dream, a basketball team in the American Basketball Association. The Anchorage Bucs Baseball Club is a summer collegiate baseball team, attracting players from universities throughout the world. The Anchorage Glacier Pilots are a member of the National Baseball Congress. Both baseball clubs play at Mulcahy Stadium.
The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. It has Division I teams in gymnastics and hockey, as well as several other Division II teams.
Anchorage hosts a number of sporting events. UAA sponsors the annual Great Alaska Shootout, an annual NCAA Division I basketball tournament featuring colleges and universities from across the United States. Anchorage is the finish line for the Sadler's Ultra Challenge wheelchair race, and holds the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The city was a candidate for hosting the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics, but it lost to Albertville and Lillehammer respectively.
Anchorage is probably the premier cross-country skiing city on the planet, in terms of density of groomed trails within the urban core. There are 105 miles (169 km) of maintained ski trails in the city, some of which reach downtown. The same trail system also provides access to Chugach State Park, a 495,000-acre (2,000 km2) high alpine park.[1] The Tour of Anchorage is an annual 50-kilometer ski race within the city.[2]
There are four Rugby union clubs in Anchorage, including the Bird Creek Barbarians RFC, Anchorage Thunderbirds [3], Mat Valley Maulers RFC, and Spenard Green Dragons.[4] The season runs from April through September.
Many Alaskan athletes in the 1990s appeared on the popular Television show, Sports Talk Alaska. For many athletes this was their first major introduction to the city of Anchorage. However, many notable professional sports figures are from Anchorage. They include:
Notable sports figures from outside the Anchorage area include:
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