Sports and recreation
ARCO Arena is home to two professional level basketball teams: the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association and the Sacramento Monarchs of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Kings came to Sacramento from Kansas City in 1985, and the Monarchs are one of the eight founding members of the WNBA, which started in 1997. The Monarchs won the WNBA Championship in 2005 to become the first major, professional sports team in Sacramento to do so.
The Sacramento Solons, a minor league baseball team of the Pacific Coast League, played in Sacramento during several periods (1903, 1905, 1909-1914, 1918-1960, 1974-1976), mostly at Edmonds Field. In 2000, AAA minor league baseball returned to Sacramento with the Sacramento River Cats, an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. The River Cats play in the recently constructed Raley Field.
Several smaller leagues have and continue to be in Sacramento. The Sacramento Heatwave of the American Basketball Association currently plays at Cosumnes River College. In the past, the city hosted two professional football teams, the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football and the Sacramento Gold Miners of the Canadian Football League. Sacramento was also home to an indoor soccer team, the Sacramento Knights of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (later called the World Indoor Soccer League). The Sacramento XSV (pronounced "excessive") of the National Professional Paintball League are based in Sacramento.
Sacramento has frequently hosted the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship as well as the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. The Sacramento Mile is a national flat-track motorcycle racing event.
Sacramento also hosts some recreational facilities and events. The Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail, that runs between Old Sacramento and Folsom Lake, attracts cyclists and equestrians from across the State. The California State Fair is held in Sacramento each year at the end of the summer, ending on Labor Day. Over one million people attended this fair in 2001. Sacramento residents play softball more than any city except Detroit, Michigan.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
