Sports in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nine universities whose teams compete in various NCAA Division I level sports, most notably the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans.

When he died in 2013, Lakers owner Jerry Buss also owned the city's WNBA franchise, the Los Angeles Sparks, which also plays at Crypto.com Arena.

One year later, longtime Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned from the NBA after derogatory statements he made became public, and was subsequently forced to sell the team.

[17] On March 1, 1993, at the brand-new Anaheim Arena – located a short distance east of Disneyland and across the Orange Freeway from Angel Stadium – the team received its name, inspired by the 1992 Disney movie The Mighty Ducks.

The area then went more than a decade without a top-flight team, either in WPS or in the current National Women's Soccer League, until an NWSL franchise was granted in 2020; the new side, since unveiled as Angel City FC, started play in March 2022.

Their sports teams have also appeared an additional 11 times as league finalists: two by the Galaxy (2001 and 2009), two by the Lakers (2004 and 2008), two by the Dodgers (2017 and 2018), two by the Sparks (2003 and 2017), one by Los Angeles FC (2023), one by the Rams (LIII (2018)), and one by the Ducks (2003).

Rorion Gracie and Art Davie co-created the MMA promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (the UFC), in 1993 out of Torrance, CA, under the War of the Worlds (W.O.W.)

The warm mediterranean climate as well as the miles of a scenic coastline with a variety of wave types from Malibu to the South Bay, Los Angeles is one of the favorite destinations to both amateurs and professional surfers across the world.

[25] The weather, the vast sand area and the abundant permanent courts make Los Angeles one of the hotspots for beach volleyball.

[28] The Los Angeles Wildcats were an XFL team that began play in the league's inaugural 2020 season at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The Los Angeles Xtreme were a member of the original XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States.

The team played its home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the spring of 2001 and won the only championship in XFL history as the league folded after only one season.

The team, owned by a group that included Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, members of the rock band KISS, played in Anaheim at the Honda Center until folding in 2016.

LA is home to the Inland Empire 66ers, Lake Elsinore Storm, and Rancho Cucamonga Quakes minor league baseball teams.

LA Galaxy II, currently playing in the USL Championship, will move to Next Pro in 2023, and will be joined that season by a new, as-yet-unnamed reserve side for Los Angeles FC.

[40] The area's other Division I programs are: In the San Fernando Valley, Cal State Northridge Matadors compete in sports like basketball, soccer, and baseball.

It is the oldest ballpark in MLB west of the Mississippi River, and third-oldest overall, after Fenway Park in Boston (1912) and Wrigley Field in Chicago (1914), and is the world's largest baseball stadium by seat capacity.

The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League were also tenants; the Avengers were folded in 2009, and the D-Fenders (since renamed the South Bay Lakers) moved to the Lakers' practice facility at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California, for the 2011–12 season.

It is located at the former site of the Hollywood Park Racetrack, approximately three miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport, immediately southeast of Kia Forum.

Located south of SoFi Stadium, it is the new permanent home venue of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who are moving from Crypto.com Arena.

The United States and many allied nations had boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow four years earlier, protesting Soviet activity in Afghanistan.

Los Angeles submitted bids for the 1924, 1928, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, but lost to Paris, Amsterdam, London, Helsinki, Melbourne, Montreal and Moscow respectively.

In November 2011 a delegation from Los Angeles attended a seminar at the IOC headquarters for cities interested in bidding on future editions of the Olympic Games.

[68][69] At the conference Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and IOC Member Anita DeFrantz stated that the city would be interested in hosting the Olympic Games a third time.

Los Angeles is among the 16 host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will be held in three different countries, the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Rose Bowl hosted four matches during the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup including the final where the United States defeated China 5–4 on penalties.

Throughout the history of the Greater Los Angeles area, international sporting events aside from the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup tournaments have also taken place across the region.

Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson as well as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum have also hosted matches during the CONCACAF Gold Cup over the years.

it is a foot race run over a 26.2 mi (42.2 km) course takes the runners from Dodger Stadium across the City of Los Angeles to a scenic finish just steps from the Santa Monica Pier.

Ever since it was first launched after the summer Olympics 1984, it has been an attracted place for professional as well as amateurs athletics from all over the world with a capacity of 24000 making it the fifth-largest-running event in the United States.