Sports in North Carolina

Athletes and sports teams from North Carolina compete at every level of competition in the United States including NASCAR, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, the NASL North American Soccer League, and MLL, and along with several colleges and universities in various conferences across an array of divisions. North Carolina is a state known for minor league sports. There are also a number of indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, and minor league ice hockey teams throughout the state.

Though it has never been home to a Major League Baseball club, North Carolina is home to numerous minor league and collegiate summer league teams. Many colleges with athletic programs also field baseball teams.

The first successful major professional sports team to be created in North Carolina were the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), which began play in the 1988–89 season.

In 2004, the NBA added the Charlotte Bobcats franchise at the same time the city lost the Hornets to New Orleans. The Charlotte team plays its home games at the Spectrum Center. The Bobcats assumed the Hornets nickname after the conclusion of the 2013–14 season; the New Orleans team had changed its name to the New Orleans Pelicans at the start of that season. By agreement between the NBA, Hornets, and Pelicans, the history and records of the 1988–2002 Hornets were assumed by the current Hornets franchise.

Prior to that, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association played in various North Carolina cites (playing in the ABA for five seasons, ending in the spring of 1974). Former Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown started his coaching career as head coach of the Cougars.

North Carolina's first professional basketball team was the American Basketball Association's Carolina Cougars. The Cougars played in North Carolina between 1969 and 1974 and split their games between the Greensboro Coliseum, the original Charlotte Coliseum and Raleigh's Dorton Arena.

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