Sports in San Diego
San Diego has several sports venues. The National Football League's San Diego Chargers plays in Qualcomm Stadium, which also houses the NCAA Division I San Diego State Aztecs, as well as local high school football championships. International soccer games and Supercross events take place at Qualcomm where Major League Baseball was once played. Three NFL Super Bowl championships have been held there. Two of college football's annual bowl games are held there: the Holiday Bowl which features a Pac-10 team against a Big-12 team and the Poinsettia Bowl. Balboa Stadium was the city's first stadium, constructed in 1914, where the San Diego Chargers once played. Currently soccer, American football, and track and field are played in Balboa Stadium.
Professional teams
| Club | Sport | Since | League | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego Chargers | Football | 1961 | National Football League | Qualcomm Stadium |
| San Diego Padres | Baseball | 1969 | Major League Baseball | Petco Park |
| San Diego SeaLions | Soccer | 1988 | Women's Premier Soccer League | Manchester Stadium |
| San Diego Flash | Soccer | 1998 | National Premier Soccer League | Mira Mesa High School Stadium |
| San Diego Gulls | Ice hockey | 2001 | Western States Hockey League | Iceoplex Escondido |
| San Diego Sockers | Indoor soccer | 2009 | Professional Arena Soccer League | Valley View Casino Center |
| San Diego Surf | Basketball | 2009 | American Basketball Association | HourGlass Arena |
| San Diego Sting | Football | 2010 | Women's Football Alliance | Carlsbad High School |
San Diego has the largest championship drought in the nation with at least two major-league sports franchises; dating back to 1963 (47 Years as of 2010), as well as being the largest United States city to have not won a Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals or any other Major League sports championship. Some fans believe that there is a curse on the major league teams in the city.[1]
Baseball
Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres play in Petco Park. The semi-final and final games of the inaugural World Baseball Classic were played there in 2006, and an earlier round of the second WBC was held there in 2009.
Other teams
Rugby
Rugby union is a developing sport in the city. The multiple clubs, ranging from men's and women's clubs to collegiate and high school, are part of the Southern California Rugby Football Union.[2] Currently San Diego is one of only 16 cities in the United States included in the Rugby Super League[3] represented by Old Mission Beach Athletic Club RFC. OMBAC, for short, can boast being the home club of USA Rugby's Captain Todd Clever[4] who plays rugby professionally abroad for the Japanese Top League team Suntory Sungoliath. The USA Sevens, an event in the annual IRB Sevens World Series for international teams in rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union with seven players per side instead of 15, was held in Petco Park from 2007 through 2009 before moving to Las Vegas for 2010.
College
The San Diego State Aztecs (MWC) and the University of San Diego Toreros (WCC) are NCAA Division I teams. The Point Loma Nazarene Sea Lions (Pacific West Conference) #plnusealions and the UCSD Tritons (CCAA) are members of NCAA Division II while Cal State San Marcos and San Diego Christian College (GSAC) are members of the NAIA.
Sporting events
The annual Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament (formerly the Buick Invitational) on the PGA Tour occurs at the municipally-owned Torrey Pines Golf Course. This course was also the site of the 2008 U.S. Open Golf Championship.
There has been two international track and field competitions at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista called the Thorpe Cup, which is an annual decathlon and heptathlon meeting between the United States and Germany.
San Diego is home to several premier amateur sports events, such as the San Diego Crew Classic, held in Mission Bay every spring and featuring 100 or more college and amateur crews. The amateur beach sport Over-the-line was invented in San Diego, and the annual world Over-the-line championships are held at Mission Bay every year. The San Diego Yacht Club hosted the America's Cup yacht races three times during the period 1988 to 1995.
San Diego is also host to the Bayfair Cup, a hydroplane boat race in the H1 Unlimited season. The race is typically held during the Bayfair Festival on Mission Bay in San Diego.
There are several road races including the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in June, the America's Finest City Half Marathon[5] in August, the La Jolla Half Marathon[6] in April, and several triathlons.[7]
Former teams
Note: Major league teams are in bold.
San Diego has had two NBA franchises, the San Diego Rockets and the Buffalo Braves. The Rockets represented the city of San Diego from 1967 until 1971. After the conclusion of the 1970–1971 season, they moved to Texas where they became the Houston Rockets. Seven years later, a relocated NBA franchise (the Buffalo Braves) moved to town and was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The Clippers played in the San Diego Sports Arena from 1978 until 1984. Prior to the start of the 1984–1985 season, the team was moved to Los Angeles, and is now called the Los Angeles Clippers.
See also
- San Diego Hall of Champions
- Breitbard Hall of Fame
- VAVI Sport & Social Club
Notes
- ↑ "Are San Diego Sports Teams Cursed?". San Diego 6. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ↑ "Southern California Rugby Football Union". Scrfu.org. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ↑ "OMBAC Rugby Home". Ombac.org. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ↑ "About". Todd Clever. 1983-01-16. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ↑ "America’s Finest City Half Marathon website". Afchalf.com. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
- ↑ La Jolla Half Marathon website
- ↑ "Triathlon website". Kozenterprises.com. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
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