| Sports |
| Detroit is home to professional teams representing
the four major sports in North America. All but one play within
the city of Detroit (basketball's Detroit Pistons play in suburban
Auburn Hills). (See also: U.S. cities with teams from four major
sports.) |
| There are three active major sports venues in
the city: Comerica Park for baseball, Ford Field for football
and Joe Louis Arena for ice hockey. |
| Like many industrial cities, Detroit is known
for its avid fans, particularly in such blue-collar sports as
football (Detroit Lions) and hockey (Detroit Red Wings). Detroit
is perhaps the most fervent hockey hotbed in the United States.
A Red Wings marketing campaign in the late 1990s launched the
nickname Hockeytown, a city moniker subsequently embraced by
local fans and national media. |
| In college sports, the University of Detroit Mercy
has a NCAA Division I program, and Wayne State University has
both NCAA Division I and II programs. |
| A world record was set on December 13, 2003, when
the largest crowd in basketball history — 78,129 —
packed Ford Field to watch the University of Kentucky defeat
Michigan State University, 79–74. |
| Detroit is home to the Detroit International Marathon,
which crosses the border into Canada via the Ambassador Bridge
and returns to the United States through the Detroit-Windsor
Tunnel. It is the world's only cross-national marathon. |
| Detroit was also the former home of a round of
the Formula One World Championship, holding a race on the streets
of downtown Detroit from 1982 until 1987, after which the sanction
moved from Formula One to Indycars. CART continued downtown
until 1992, when the race was moved to another temporary course
on Belle Isle where the race remained through 2001. |
| Comerica Park will host the 2005 MLB All Star
Game in July 2005, and Ford Field will host Super Bowl XL in
February 5, 2006. |
| Professional sports teams |
- Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball
- Detroit Lions, National Football League
- Detroit Pistons, NBA (although the name holds, the Pistons play
in suburban Auburn Hills).
- Detroit Red Wings, National Hockey League
- Detroit Shock, Women's National Basketball Association
- Detroit Demolition, National Women's Football Association
- 2006 MISL expansion franchise
|
