Professional Sports

We’re No. 1 and proud of it. The Sporting News named St. Louis the “Best Sports City” in 2000 and the “Best Baseball City” in 2005. We’re home to the Super Bowl champion Rams, World Series champion Cardinals, and the Stanley Cup-hungry Blues along with many other fun-to-watch teams:

Gateway International Raceway, which features NASCAR Busch Series, National Hot Rod Association, and other popular auto racing events, is located just across the Mississippi River from downtown in Madison, Ill. And only several minutes further east is Fairmount Park, which offers live thoroughbred racing March through September.

Hometown teams play in a number of top-notch venues, which attract millions of visitors to the area every year. In 2006, the Cardinals will play their first season in a new $400 million Busch Stadium, a retro-style ballpark that will likely play host to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and related festivities before the end of the decade.

The Edward Jones Dome, home to the 2000 Super Bowl champion Rams, holds an impressive 67,000 spectators while offering fans a vast array of amenities on four different concourse levels. This year it hosted the immensely successful NCAA Final Four Men’s Basketball Tournament, which drew more than 95,000 fans to the region on a beautiful spring weekend.

The Blues and the Steamers compete in the Scottrade Center, a 21,000-seat arena that hosts exciting NCAA basketball games each year, including Saint Louis University home games and the annual “Busch Braggin’ Rights” competition between men’s college rivals University of Missouri and University of Illinois. In 2006, Scottrade Center (then SAVVIS Center) played host to the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships and to the NCAA Men’s College Cup in soccer. Scottrade is also scheduled to host the NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships in 2008 and 2009. The Scottrade Center plays host to an NBA exhibition game each fall.

All three of the downtown sports facilities offer ample parking and feature scheduled stops on the MetroLink light rail system, providing terrific convenience for hometown sports fans and visitors alike.

And St. Louis’ central Midwestern location makes it an ideal spot for NCAA sports fans. With several local teams at the top of their games — Washington University in St. Louis’ women’s volleyball, University of Illinois’ men’s basketball, and Saint Louis University men’s and women’s soccer just to name a few — and many other Big 10, Big 12 and Conference U.S.A. schools just a quick road trip away, St. Louisans are always close to some of the best competition in college athletics in the nation.