Professional sports
Baseball
The Atlanta Braves are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that moved to Atlanta in 1966 from Milwaukee where they were known as the Milwaukee Braves.[1] The Braves play their home games at Truist Park in suburban Cobb County, which opened in 2017 as the replacement for Turner Field, which had been the team's home since the 1997 season. Before then, they played at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996. They won the World Series in 1914 (as the Boston Braves), 1957 (as the Milwaukee Braves), and 1995, 2021 (as the Atlanta Braves). Braves players in the Baseball Hall of Fame include Hank Aaron, Orlando Cepeda, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Eddie Mathews, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn, Bruce Sutter and Hoyt Wilhelm. Two former Braves managers have been inducted to the Hall in that role, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre, although Torre's induction was mainly for his accomplishments with the New York Yankees. Mathews also served as a Braves manager. Braves executive John Schuerholz entered the Hall in July 2017 for his accomplishments in that role.
The AAA minor league baseball Gwinnett Stripers of the International League began play at Coolray Field in 2009. The Atlanta Crackers were the AAA affiliate of the Braves organization before the Braves moved to Atlanta.
The Rome Emperors, previously known as the Macon Braves and the Rome Braves, are a High-A minor league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves playing in the South Atlantic League. In 2003, the team moved from Macon to Rome. Their home games are played at State Mutual Stadium, which opened April 11, 2003. Former Atlanta Braves alumni include Brian McCann, who was a Rome Brave in 2003. After the 2023 season the team changed its name from Braves to Emperors. The Augusta GreenJackets play in the Carolina League and have been affiliated with the San Francisco Giants since 2005. In 2018, the GreenJackets moved from their namesake of Augusta into a new ballpark across the Savannah River to SRP Park, in North Augusta, South Carolina. The Savannah Sand Gnats played in the same league from 1984 to 2015, most recently as affiliates of the New York Mets (2007–2015), but have since relocated to Columbia, South Carolina as the Columbia Fireflies. All three teams were formerly members of the South Atlantic League.
After the relocation of the Sand Gnats, Savannah's Grayson Stadium became the home of the Savannah Bananas of the Coastal Plain League, a wood-bat collegiate summer league, In 2020, the Bananas gained nationwide attention for an unorthodox style of play dubbed Banana Ball, starting a professional exhibition team that plays under that rule set.[2] After the 2022 season, the Bananas shut down their collegiate summer team to focus entirely on their professional exhibition operation.
Basketball
The Atlanta Hawks are a National Basketball Association (NBA) team founded in 1949 and play their home games at State Farm Arena; the Hawks previously played at Philips Arena from 1999 to 2018, Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now Hank McCamish Pavilion) from 1968 to 1972, the Omni Coliseum from 1972 to 1997, and the Georgia Dome from 1997 to 1999. The Hawks have won one Championship, four Conference titles and fourteen Division titles. Notable current and former Hawks include Walt Bellamy, Cliff Hagan, Connie Hawkins, Bob Houbregs, Moses Malone, Pete Maravich, Ed Macauley, Bob Pettit, Lenny Wilkens, Dominique Wilkins, and Trae Young.[3]
The American Basketball Association and the World Basketball Association are also represented in Georgia. In the case of the former, Georgia has three teams: the Atlanta Vision,[4] the Rome Legions,[5] and the Georgia Gwizzlies.[6] The latter association teams are the Georgia Warriors, the Marietta Storm and the Rome Gladiators.[7]
The Atlanta Dream has played in the Women's National Basketball Association since 2008. They play their home games at Gateway Center Arena.[8]
Football
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The Atlanta Falcons are a National Football League (NFL) team founded as an expansion team in 1966.[9] They have played their home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta since 2017; they previously played at the Georgia Dome; prior to playing at the Georgia Dome, they played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1991. The Falcons have won seven Division Championships in 1980, 1982, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2016 and two Conference Championships in 1998 and 2016. Notable current and former players include Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Eric Dickerson, Tommy McDonald, William Andrews, Jeff Van Note, Michael Vick, Jessie Tuggle, Mike Kenn, Marion Campbell, Dan Reeves, Greg Brezina, Ray Buchanan, Buddy Curry, T. J. Duckett, Bill Fralic and Wallace Francis.
The Atlanta Legends played in the Alliance of American Football in 2019, with home games at the Georgia State Stadium.
Georgia has also been home to several arena and indoor football teams. Two different teams known as the Georgia Force played in the Arena Football League (AFL). The original version arrived in Georgia after the 2001 season, having relocated from Nashville, Tennessee. This team initially played at Philips Arena, but later moved its home games to the suburb of Duluth. This version of the Force folded along with the league after the 2008 season. The AFL was relaunched in 2010, and a new version of the Force arrived in 2011 when the Alabama Vipers relocated from Huntsville. The new Force played the 2011 and 2012 seasons before folding. Georgia has also had various minor league indoor teams in the United Arena League (UAL) af2, National Indoor Football League (NIFL), Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL), American Indoor Football (AIF), World Indoor Football League (WIFL), American Arena League (AAL), and the National Arena League (NAL), with the Columbus Lions having lasted since 2007 and playing in over five different leagues.
Cumming, Georgia is home to an Arena football team, Peach State Cats, in the United Arena League (UAL).
The Atlanta Xplosion are a Women's Professional Football League team. They won the league's 2006 Championship.[10]
Hockey
Hockey's history in Georgia goes back to the 1970s with the Atlanta Flames, who played in the state until 1980 when they were relocated to Calgary. It was not until October 2, 1999 that hockey formally returned with the Atlanta Thrashers' first game against the New Jersey Devils.[11] On May 31, 2011 the Thrashers were sold to True North Sports and Entertainment. It was announced the team would move to the MTS Centre in Winnipeg and return the Winnipeg Jets name to the NHL, resurrecting the name of the city's previous NHL team that departed for Phoenix in 1996. The Thrashers played their home games at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. The Thrashers did not appear in the Stanley Cup Finals. They only won one division title during the 2006–07 NHL season and were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.
Currently, the ECHL has only one operating team in Georgia. The Atlanta Gladiators play all of their homes games at Gas South Arena in Duluth. The team, formerly the Mobile Mysticks, moved to Gwinnett County and officially started play in 2003 as the Gwinnett Gladiators; the team changed their name to Atlanta Gladiators in 2015. The Augusta Lynx were first formed in 1998, but due to financial concerns were forced to cease operations halfway through the 2008 season. The Lynx played their home games at James Brown Arena. In 2021, a new ECHL franchise was awarded to Savannah, the Savannah Ghost Pirates, and the team is scheduled to take the ice in the 2022–23 season in the newly-constructed Enmarket Arena.
The Macon Mayhem is currently the only team in Georgia that is part of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The Mayhem were founded in 2015 after the Augusta RiverHawks suspended operations for the 2013–14 season because of a failure of their home arena's ice system and subsequently relocated to Macon, Georgia, after going dormant for two seasons.
The Columbus Cottonmouths were a hockey team that played for 21 seasons over three separate leagues. The team was founded in 1996 as a member of the Central Hockey League.[12] In 2001, the organization obtained a franchise in the East Coast Hockey League (later called just ECHL) before joining the Southern Professional Hockey League as one of its inaugural members. The organization suspended operations in 2017 when the owners could no longer fund the team and failed to find new owners.[13] Columbus got another professional hockey team in 2019 as the Columbus River Dragons with different owners.
Soccer
The Atlanta Silverbacks were a North American Soccer League team founded in 1999. The Silverbacks played at the Atlanta Silverbacks Park.[14] The also had a women's team called Atlanta Silverbacks Women that played in the W-League. Both teams ceased operations after the 2015 season, the men's team due to a lack of ownership and the women's team due to the W-League ceasing operations.
Augusta FireBall United, also known as Augusta FireBall, was an American soccer team that was founded in 2005. The team was a member of the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2006, when the team left the league and the franchise was terminated. They played their home games at Patriots Park in Augusta, Georgia.
The Atlanta Beat was an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team joined Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) as an expansion team in 2010, and played its home games at Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium (now Fifth Third Bank Stadium), the result of a public-private partnership between the team and Kennesaw State University. The club succeeded the former Atlanta Beat of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association. The Beat folded along with WPS after the 2012 season, and the Atlanta area does not have a team in WPS' effective successor, the current National Women's Soccer League.
Atlanta was awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team in April 2014. Atlanta United FC began play in the league in 2017. Atlanta United won the MLS Cup on December 8, 2018.
South Georgia Tormenta FC is based out of Statesboro, Georgia, and began play in 2016 in the amateur Premier Development League. The team moved up to the professional ranks as the first team to join the third tier USL League One, which began play in 2019. The team currently plays at Tormenta FC Stadium and has finished the first phase of soccer-specific stadium, which opened in 2022, the same year Tormenta wins the USL League One Final.
Golf
The Masters Tournament, played in Augusta at Augusta National Golf Club in April is one of four major golf tournaments played in the United States. The tournament was created in 1931 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, a financier from New York City. The course was designed by golf course architect Alister MacKenzie.[15] Notable golfers from Georgia include Atlanta native Jones, noted as the greatest amateur golfer ever,[16] Davis Love III of Sea Island[17] and Tommy Aaron of Gainesville.[18]
Rugby
Georgia has professional Rugby league and Rugby union clubs based in Atlanta. The Atlanta Rhinos will join the North American Rugby League for its inaugural season in 2022.[19] They previously played semi-professionally in the USA Rugby League, winning 1 championship in 2017. Rugby ATL were founded in 2018 and began play in Major League Rugby in 2020.[20][21]
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