Louisville, the largest city in Kentucky and home to the global fast food chain KFC, is renowned for its many sports venues, events and teams. The city is proud to be one of the best college sports cities in the country, boasting a long sporting history dating back to the mid-19th century. The Kentucky Derby and the University of Louisville Cardinals are two of the most popular college sports teams in the United States. Churchill Downs hosts the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, which together form the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival.
The Louisville Lightnings are a futsal team that plays in the Professional Arena Soccer League. Manual and Male are two of the oldest high schools in Louisville, and they played the first football game in the state in 1893. The Louisville Bats are a baseball team that plays in Triple-A East as the class AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. The Louisville Bulls are a semi-professional soccer team that plays in the Mid-Continental Football League. The University of Louisville Cardinals compete in Division I of the NCAA and are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In addition, Louisville has hosted teams from the National Football League and Major League Baseball, as well as a strong franchise, the Kentucky Colonels, in the American Basketball Association before its merger with the NBA in 1976. The city also hosted two professional ice hockey teams in the East Coast Hockey League from 1990 to 1994, followed by the Louisville RiverFrogs from 1995 to 1998. Sports lovers can enjoy a variety of amateur and professional sports such as baseball, soccer and basketball, horse racing, equestrian shows, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse. With its rich sporting history and vibrant college sports scene, Louisville is one of America's top 10 cities for college sports fans.
