Sports in Texas
The team's first game, however, proved to be a harbinger for the season—a 24–6 loss in front of fewer than 18,000 fans in the then-75,000-seat Cotton Bowl.
In the same year that the Cowboys entered the NFL, the American Football League (AFL) began operations with two teams in the state—the Dallas Texans and Houston Oilers.
As of the 2023 season, three teams play in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League: the El Paso Chihuahuas, Round Rock Express, and Sugar Land Space Cowboys.
Five teams play in the Double-A Texas League: the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Corpus Christi Hooks, Frisco RoughRiders, Midland RockHounds, and San Antonio Missions.
Basketball is also popular, and Texas hosts three NBA teams: the San Antonio Spurs, the Houston Rockets, and the Dallas Mavericks.
Following this, the Spurs enjoyed a period of consistent success, winning 5 championships between 1999 and 2014 with the help of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginóbili.
The Dallas Mavericks enjoyed a similarly successful period after trading the Milwaukee Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki.
[2] From 1905–1915, people in Dallas and Fort Worth turned out by the thousands for horse racing, which was usually tied to the state fair schedule.
[3] Lone Star Park, in the Dallas–Fort Worth suburb of Grand Prairie, hosted the Breeders' Cup, the climax to the American Thoroughbred racing season, in 2004.
In addition to the 1999 Stanley Cup and 2000 Western Conference championship, the team has also won two Presidents' Trophies as the NHL's regular-season points champion and seven division titles.
The team was notable for featuring hockey legend Gordie Howe, who was lured out of retirement by the prospect of playing alongside his sons, Mark and Marty.
Led by the Howes, the Aeros won back-to-back Avco World Trophies as the WHA champions in 1974 and 1975.
The Houston Huskies played in the old United States Hockey League (USHL) and won its championship in 1948, led by legendary NHL coach Toe Blake.
In 1994, Houston received a franchise in the International Hockey League (IHL), which was named the Aeros after the city's old WHA side.
The AHL has established two more teams in Texas since that time – the San Antonio Rampage (owned by the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and affiliated with the NHL's Colorado Avalanche) began play in 2002, and the Texas Stars (an AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars based in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park), began play seven years later.
The major professional North American Soccer League had teams in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Houston, and in San Antonio.
Bold FC effectively replaced the Austin Aztex, which joined the USL Championship in 2015, when the competition was known as the United Soccer League, but only played one season.
Eventually, a new deal for a stadium on the grounds of the Circuit of the Americas emerged, clearing the way for Bold FC to join the league.
As of the current 2024 season, 13 Texas schools compete in the top level of college football, Division I FBS.
This athletic rivalry was put on hold after the Aggies joined the Southeastern Conference in 2012, but is resuming with the Longhorns' 2024 move to the SEC.
The SMU Mustangs and Texas Christian University Horned Frogs have a rivalry called the Battle for the Iron Skillet.
Houston's two largest athletic programs hold the Houston–Rice rivalry with a large focus on the Bayou Bucket Classic.
Rivalries include the Battle of the Piney Woods between Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin and another between Prairie View A&M and Texas Southern.
In addition, the state has three Division I programs that do not sponsor football—the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders and UTRGV Vaqueros of the SLC, and the UT Arlington Mavericks of the WAC.
UTRGV is in the process of establishing an FCS football program, with an exhibition schedule in 2024 followed by full varsity play in 2025.
The event begins with trail rides that originate from several points throughout the state, all of which convene at Reliant Park.
The Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas has a cowboy, and a Mexican and many traditional rodeos.
Notable Texan golfers include Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jimmy Demaret, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Scottie Scheffler (born in New Jersey, but moved to Texas as a child), Jordan Spieth, Lee Trevino, and Kathy Whitworth.
The Texas Motorplex and Houston Raceway Park dragstrips host rounds of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
