Professional and College Sports in Central Florida

College and Professional Sports

If spectator sporting events are your enjoyment – Central Florida has a wide variety of entertaining possibilities. 

Colleges

The University of Central Florida Knights, University of Florida and Florida State all have a full array of sports. In addition, Orlando hosts the Capital One Citrus Bowl each New Year’s Day.    

Professional

Orlando is also home to the Orlando Magic professional basketball team which plays in the recently completed Amway Arena.

A new stadium for professional soccer is currently being constructed.

In nearby Tampa, both the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and MLB’s Devil Rays play.   Jacksonville to the north hosts the Jaguars and Miami to the south has one of the oldest NFL franchise teams – The Dolphins. Disney’s Wild World of Sports complex has served as the preseason training camp base for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the past.  

When the winter season – or what passes for winter here in Central Florida comes – the National Hockey League begins play and nearby Tampa sports the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Miami also hosts the Miami Panthers.

In addition, Central Florida serves as spring training for the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, and Houston Astros.  The Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers all train approximately one hour south of Central Florida.  Central Florida also serves as the home base for a variety of farm clubs, including the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers.