Sports are a serious business in Houston—so serious, in fact, that the city opened three sports stadiums between 2000 and 2003 and a fourth in 2012. These state-of-the-art facilities immediately won national recognition, with the NFL choosing Houston’s Reliant Stadium as the site of the 2004 Super Bowl, the MLB choosing Minute Maid Park as the site of its 2004 All-Star Game, the NBA tapping the Toyota Center to host its 2006 and 2013 All-Star Games, and the NCAA tapping Reliant Stadium to host the 2011 and 2016 Final Four tournament.
Of course, these big events aren’t all Houstonians have to cheer about. In addition to professional football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and hockey teams, Houston is home to horse, greyhound, and drag racing tracks and countless NCAA Division I events at Rice University and the University of Houston. The city also hosts annual sporting events, such as the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, Shell Houston Open golf tournament, and the US Men’s Clay Court Championships. Like sports fans just about anywhere, Houstonians have had their share of heartache, but an exciting first trip to the playoffs by the Texans, a World Series appearance by the Astros, and championships won by the Rockets, Dynamo, Aeros, and Rice Owls (baseball) have given fans a few tastes of glory in recent years.