Sports in Jacksonville

Jacksonville is home to one major league professional team — the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League — and several minor league teams. American football Football is by far the most popular sport in the Jacksonville area. The city is home to the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). The only major league-level sports team to play in Jacksonville, the Jaguars currently play in South Division of the NFL's American Football Conference (AFC). The Jaguars joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1995, along with the Carolina Panthers. In 1990, the NFL had announced it would expand by two teams, and Jacksonville entered the bidding war. Jacksonville was the smallest market among the bidders, and was considered the unlikeliest choice. However, in 1993, after a series of negotiations, the NFL announced that the second franchise would go to Jacksonville. Jacksonville had its first professional football team in 1974 with the Jacksonville Sharks of the World Football League, a short-lived attempt to establish a rival to the NFL. The Sharks' financial troubles led the league to fold the team; the franchise was revived the following year as the Jacksonville Express. However, the WFL folded before the end of the 1975 season. The Jacksonville Firebirds played in the American Football Association, a spring minor league, for three seasons, 1979–1981. In 1984 professional football returned with the Jacksonville Bulls of the United States Football League (USFL). The Bulls set many USFL attendance records, including the only two sell-out games; however the league ceased operations after the 1985 season. They play at 121 Financial Ballpark in Downtown Jacksonville. Hockey Ice hockey returned to the city in 2017 when the Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL were announced for the 2017–18 season. The team came from Evansville, Indiana, after a one-year hiatus and is the second ECHL team for the city of Jacksonville after the Jacksonville Lizard Kings ceased operations in 2000. The Jacksonville Icemen are the sixth hockey team to be based out of Jacksonville, with the historical list of teams in order of presence in the city being the Jacksonville Rockets from 1964 to 1972, the Cleveland Barons (1937–1973) for the 1972-73 AHL season, the Jacksonville Bullets from 1992 to 1996, the Jacksonville Lizard Kings from 1995 to 2000, and the Jacksonville Barracudas from 2002 to 2008. Indoor football Jacksonville is home to the Jacksonville Sharks, an indoor football team, who started play in 2010. From 2010 to 2016, the Sharks played in the Arena Football League (AFL), the top indoor football league in the United States. They left the league prior to the 2017 season and joined the National Arena League, a newly formed league with no association with the Arena Football League. The city was previously home to the Jacksonville Tomcats, who played in af2, the AFL's developmental league, from 2000 to 2002, at which point the old Jacksonville Coliseum was demolished to make way for the current arena. The Sharks won one AFL championship, defeating the Arizona Rattlers 73–70 in Arena Bowl XXIV. Soccer Sporting Club Jacksonville is a proposed American professional soccer club located in Jacksonville, Florida. The club is planning to debut in the USL Championship in 2025. The Jacksonville Armada FC is Jacksonville's professional soccer team who began play in 2015 as an expansion team in the North American Soccer League (NASL), which was the second tier in the American soccer pyramid at that time. As of 2016, U.S. Men's National Team's Tony Meola took on the role of head coach. The Armada used to played their home games at University of North Florida at the Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville. After the 2017 season, the NASL ceased operations and the Armada temporarily joined the amateur National Premier Soccer League while looking for another professional league. The team then went on hiatus after the 2018 season. They are set to resume play in MLS Next Pro league in 2025. Golf and tennis The Greater Jacksonville area is at the top level of professional golf. The PGA Tour is headquartered in the suburb of Ponte Vedra Beach, where it hosts The Players Championship every year. The championship is one of the major stops on the PGA Tour, and is regarded as the most prestigious non-major tournament on the tour. St. Johns County is also home to the World Golf Village and the World Golf Hall of Fame. The Jacksonville area has around 64 golf courses, of which 18 are public, 18 are semi-private, 15 are private and 13 are resort courses. Several PGA Tour players make the Jacksonville area their year-round home. Professional tennis is in town each year when the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) holds the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island Plantation near Fernandina Beach, just north of Jacksonville. Additionally, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has its American headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach. ==Semi-pro and amateur sports==

Australian Rules Football The Jacksonville Saints were formed in 2018. They train at Alexandria Oaks Park in San Marco and play matches at Willowbranch Park in Riverside. In 2021 they won the inaugural Florida Cup and the Magnolia Cup. Basketball The Jacksonville 95ers have played in The Basketball League (TBL) since 2024. They play their home games at Edward Waters University. Rugby league Rugby league football, has a unique presence in Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Axemen, founded in 2006, are one of the most successful rugby league football teams in the United States, both on and off the field. They currently play in the new USA Rugby League. They previously played in the American National Rugby League (AMRNL) from 2006–2010, advancing to the playoffs four times in five years and winning the championship in 2010. Beginning in 2011, the Axemen oversee a reserve grade competition, the Southeastern Rugby League Championship, contested by three feeder teams, including the Jacksonville Hatchets. The Axemen play at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida, which has also hosted a number of international matches and training camps. In 2008 the school hosted the "Australia Day Challenge" between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Leeds Rhinos, which featured Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe and drew nearly 13,000 spectators. The UNF Deadbirds is a club team at the University of North Florida, consisting of UNF students and other college students in the area. In 2016, the United were replaced by the development team for the professional Jacksonville Armada FC. The U-23 team was temporarily replaced by Armada FC when that team took part in the 2018 season, but returned as the NPSL team in 2019 when the professional team suspended operations while looking for another league. ==College sports==

The city has long supported college football. Florida's first college football game was held in Jacksonville in 1901, between Florida Agricultural College (a predecessor to the University of Florida) and Stetson College (now Stetson University). Jacksonville newspaper The Florida Times-Union recorded the state college championships and awarded the Championship Cup in the early years. The annual Florida–Georgia game between the University of Georgia Bulldogs and the University of Florida Gators has been played in the city nearly every year since 1933. Jacksonville's football bowl game, the Gator Bowl, began in 1946. The Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs have played their annual football game, informally known as "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party", in Jacksonville every year since 1933, save a two-year hiatus caused by the razing of the Gator Bowl Stadium and construction of the venue now known as EverBank Stadium. The Florida State Seminoles have also held individual regular season games there, and in 1964 Georgia Tech and Navy played a regular season game there. The latter game was notable because 1963 Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Hall of Famer Roger Staubach played quarterback for Navy. Georgia Tech won the game 17-0. On September 2, 1989 Florida State played Southern Miss in the regular season opener at the Gator Bowl. Southern Miss quarterback and future NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre led his team to a 30-26 upset of the heavily favored Seminoles. Jacksonville was the host city for the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship games through 2007. In March 2006, Jacksonville was a host site for the first round of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The games were held at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The eventual national champion Florida Gators emerged from the Jacksonville regional. Jacksonville's two universities, the University of North Florida (UNF) and Jacksonville University (JU), compete in NCAA Division I. The University of North Florida's sports teams are known as the Ospreys. From 1993–2005 the Ospreys competed in NCAA Division II. In 2005 they began the transition to Division I, which was completed for the 2009 academic year. They are currently members of the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). UNF's varsity sports are, in men's sports, baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, track and field, tennis, and golf; and in women's sports, basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Women's golf was added in 2012. Jacksonville University's sports teams are known as the Dolphins. The JU men's basketball team became notable in the early 1970s, when they made the NCAA Championship game with future American Basketball Association star Artis Gilmore. Like UNF they are members of the ASUN, a non-football league until the 2022–23 school year, for most sports; JU fielded a football team in the Division I FCS Pioneer Football League until shutting down the football program after the 2019 season. JU's varsity sports are, in men's sports, baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, and tennis; and in women's sports, basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. The Edward Waters Tigers, representing the historically black Edward Waters University, currently compete in the NCAA Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a conference consisting mostly of historically black institutions. EWU started a transition from the NAIA in 2021. One EWU sport, men's volleyball, plays as a de facto Division I member; that sport has a single national championship event open to members of Divisions I and II. Florida State College at Jacksonville BlueWave, members of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) began competing in 1967 as the Florida Junior College Stars. Later the college became Florida Community College at Jacksonville and was later rebranded as Florida State College at Jacksonville FSCJ). FSCJ fields NJCAA DII teams: Men's and Women's Cross-Country, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's Baseball, Women's Softball and Volleyball. ==Defunct teams==

Baseball Jacksonville hosted Major League Baseball's first-ever spring training in 1888, and hosted spring training camps for several teams through the early 20th century. According to the Baseball Almanac, the Philadelphia Athletics trained in Jacksonville in 1903 and 1914–1918, the Cincinnati Reds in 1905, the Boston Beaneaters (later Braves) in 1906, the Brooklyn Superbas (later Dodgers) in 1907–1909, the Brooklyn Robins (later Dodgers) in 1922, the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918, and the New York Yankees in 1919–1920. In 1904 the city got its first known professional minor league team, the Jacksonville Jays, who played in the South Atlantic League until 1910. Subsequent baseball teams that played in Jacksonville include the Jacksonville Tarpons (1911–1916), the Jacksonville Roses (1917), the Jacksonville Scouts (1921), and the Jacksonville Indians (1922). Beginning in 1926, a number of teams known as the Jacksonville Tars played in Jacksonville. The origin of this unusual name is unclear. The original Jacksonville Tars played in the Class B Southeastern League from 1926, following the city's acquisition of Durkee Field. During this time the Jacksonville Red Caps of the Negro leagues also played in Jacksonville for three seasons, in 1938 and 1941–1942. Originally called the Miami Floridians, the team became a regional franchise for the 1970–1971 season, playing home games across the state in Jacksonville, South Florida, and the Tampa Bay area. Poor attendance caused the Floridians to drop Jacksonville and other cities from their schedule; Jacksonville has had a number of minor league-level basketball teams as well. Teams playing in Jacksonville have included the Jacksonville Jets (Continental Basketball Association, 1987); the Jacksonville Hooters, later the "Jacksonville Shooters", (United States Basketball League, 1990–1995); the Jacksonville Barracudas (USBL, 1996–1998), and the Jacksonville JAM (2006–2008). The Jacksonville Jam played one season in the American Basketball Association, from 2006–2007, and transferred to the rival Premier Basketball League the following season, where they were briefly known as the Jacksonville SLAM; however, they did not survive the transfer and folded before the end of the season. The Jacksonville Giants played in the new American Basketball Association (ABA) from 2010 to 2022, capturing seven ABA championships. They played in the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Hockey The city has had an intermittent history of minor league hockey since the 1960s. The city's first hockey team were the Jacksonville Rockets, who played in the Eastern Hockey League from 1964–1972. Lacrosse The Jacksonville Bullies indoor lacrosse team were scheduled to play in the inaugural season of the North American Lacrosse League in 2012. After a dispute with the league, they played part of a season in the Professional Lacrosse League that year before canceling the rest of their games in October. Soccer The Jacksonville Tea Men played both standard and indoor soccer from 1980 – 1984. Their outdoor games were played at the Gator Bowl Stadium downtown. The team was moved from the Boston area, where they were known as the New England Tea Men, and initially played in the North American Soccer League. They later played in the United States Soccer League and the American Soccer League; they won the 1983 ASL Championship, but folded the following year. The FC JAX Destroyers had men's and women's teams in the United Soccer Leagues from 2011 to 2012: a men's team in the USL Premier Development League and a women's team in the W-League. FC Jax Destroyers dissolved in 2012. ==See also==

• James B. Cooks, Jacksonville: The Consolidation Story, from Civil Rights to the Jaguars, University Press of Florida, 2004. • Buddy Martin, The Boys from Old Florida: Inside Gator Nation, Sports Publishing, 2006 • John Oehser, Jags to Riches: The Cinderella Season of the Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Martins Press, 1997. • Daniel Schaefer, From scratch pads and dreams: A ten year history of the University of North Florida, University of North Florida, 1982.