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Minnesota has a number of professional and semi-professional sports teams in various sports and leagues. Most are based in Minneapolis, though every major league team in the state is named for Minnesota itself.
All teams currently play their home games in Minneapolis except United, the Wild, and the Wind Chill. United and the Wild play home games exclusively in St. Paul; the Wind Chill splits its home schedule between Blaine and St. Paul.
Team | Sport | League | Venue | Dissolved/moved |
---|---|---|---|---|
Minneapolis Lakers | Basketball | National Basketball Association | Minneapolis Auditorium | 1960 (moved to Los Angeles) |
Minnesota Muskies | Basketball | American Basketball Association | Met Center | 1968 (Moved to Miami) |
Minnesota Kicks | Soccer | North American Soccer League | Metropolitan Stadium | 1981 |
Minnesota North Stars | Ice hockey | National Hockey League | Met Center | 1993 (moved to Dallas) |
Minnesota Arctic Blast | Roller hockey | Roller Hockey International | Target Center | 1996 |
Minnesota Fighting Pike | Arena football | Arena Football League | Target Center | 1996 |
Minnesota Thunder | Soccer | USL First Division | National Sports Center | 2009 |
Minnesota Lightning | Soccer | USL W-League | National Sports Center | 2009 |
Minnesota Whitecaps | Ice hockey | National Women's Hockey League | TRIA Rink | 2023 |
Minnesota Swarm | Box lacrosse | National Lacrosse League | Xcel Energy Center | 2015 (moved to Georgia) |
Teams from Minnesota are also represented in university sports. For example, the Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota are organized in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and, through 2020–21, are the only college sports program in the state to be represented in Division I. They compete against other teams in the Big Ten Conference.
The Gophers were joined in July 2021 by the St. Thomas Tommies, representing the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul.[1] The Tommies, who were involuntarily removed from their Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) effective at the end of the 2020–21 school year, will begin a four-year transition to Division I as members of the Summit League. Other universities are in Division II and III.
Four ice hockey teams from Minnesota are represented in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
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