Texas - Sports

Sports

While American football has long been considered "king" in the state, Texans today enjoy a wide variety of sports.

Texans can cheer for a plethora of professional sports teams. Within the "Big Four" professional leagues, Texas has two NFL teams (the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans), two Major League Baseball teams (the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros), three NBA teams (the Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Dallas Mavericks), and one National Hockey League team (the Dallas Stars). The Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex is one of only thirteen American metropolitan areas that hosts sports teams from all the "Big Four" professional leagues. Outside of the "Big Four" leagues, Texas also has one WNBA team (the San Antonio Silver Stars) and two Major League Soccer teams (the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas).

Collegiate athletics have deep significance in Texas culture, especially football. The state has ten Division I-FBS schools, the most in the nation. Four of the state's universities, the Baylor Bears, Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies, and Texas Tech Red Raiders, compete in the major athletics conference in the area, the Big 12 Conference. The TCU Horned Frogs will join the Big 12 in the summer of 2011, while Texas A&M Aggies depart for the Southeastern Conference. The Houston Cougars and the SMU Mustangs will join the Big East Conference in 2013. Four of the state's schools claim at least one national championship in football: the Texas Longhorns, the Texas A&M Aggies, the TCU Horned Frogs, and the SMU Mustangs.

According to a survey of Division I-A coaches the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, the Red River Shootout, ranks the third best in the nation. The TCU Horned Frogs and SMU Mustangs also share a rivalry and compete annually in the Battle for the Iron Skillet. A fierce rivalry, the Lone Star Showdown, also exists between the state's two largest universities, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas. The athletics portion of the Lone Star Showdown rivalry has been put on hold after the Texas A&M Aggies joined the Southeastern Conference.

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) organizes most primary and secondary school competitions. Events organized by UIL include contests in athletics (the most popular being high school football) as well as artistic and academic subjects.

Texans also enjoy the rodeo. The world's first rodeo was hosted in Pecos, Texas. The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest rodeo in the world. It begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state that convene at Reliant Park. The Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth is the oldest continuously running rodeo incorporating many of the state's most historic traditions into its annual events. Dallas hosts the State Fair of Texas each year at Fair Park.

From 2012 Austin will play host to a round of the Formula 1 World Championship—the first at a permanent road circuit in the United States since the 1980 Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International

• Cowboys Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

• 2006 Lone Star Showdown football game at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium

• Playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007.

• The Ballpark in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers.