Virginia Sports

Virginia is by far the most populous U.S. state without a major professional sports league franchise. The reasons for this include the proximity of Washington, D.C. which has franchises in all four major sports, and the lack of any dominant city or market within the state. There have been proposals to locate stadiums for Washington teams in Northern Virginia or to locate teams in the Hampton Roads area, but none have come to fruition. When Jack Kent Cooke decided to build a replacement for the aging RFK Stadium as home of the Washington Redskins, he considered a site in Alexandria until public opposition developed. An attempt to bring a National Hockey League expansion franchise to Hampton Roads in the 1990s was rejected by the NHL. The Houston Astros were nearly sold and relocated to Northern Virginia in 1996, but Major League Baseball owners stepped in and scuttled the proposed transaction in order to give Houston time to approve a new stadium deal. The team ultimately got its new stadium in Houston and stayed put. A proposal to relocate the Montreal Expos to Norfolk was considered by Major League Baseball in 2004. MLB had also considered a site near Washington Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County as a possible new home for the Expos. However, a reluctance by state officials to dedicate funds to the project along with concern about traffic helped lead MLB to select Washington as the Expos' new home. The ownership of the Florida Marlins has mentioned Norfolk as one of the cities to which it could relocate the team.

Washington-based sports teams, particularly the Redskins, are popular throughout much of Virginia. Professional teams based in North Carolina, the Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, and Charlotte Bobcats also have followings in the southern part of Virginia. The Atlanta Braves are one of the more popular baseball teams in much of the state, though the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles have followings due to their proximity to the state, and the Cincinnati Reds have fans in Southwest Virginia.

Virginia has been a hub of NASCAR racing since the series' inception. NASCAR Grand National (now NEXTEL Cup) Champion of 1962 and 1963 Rex White was born in Norfolk. Current Virginia drivers in the series include brothers Jeff Burton and Ward Burton of South Boston, Chesterfield's Denny Hamlin, Chesapeake's Ricky Rudd, and Emporia's Elliot Sadler. Virginia is also home to two tracks currently on the Cup schedule, Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway. Former Virginia Cup tracks include South Boston Speedway, Langley Speedway, and Old Dominion Speedway.

Virginia does not allow state appropriated funds to be used for either operational or capital expenses for intercollegiate athletics. Despite this, both the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech have been able to field competitive teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference and maintain modern facilities. Both regularly have attendance over 60,000 at home football games. Virginia has several other universities that compete in Division I of the NCAA. Notable successes include James Madison University's Division I-AA national championship in football in 2004 and George Mason University's advancement to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament in 2006.

Three historically black schools compete in the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and several smaller schools compete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and the USA South Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. The NCAA currently holds its Division III championships in football, men's basketball, volleyball and softball in Salem.

Virginia is home to many minor league clubs, especially in baseball and soccer. Virginia has many professional caliber golf courses including Upper Cascades, Kingsmill Resort, and the new Greg Norman course at Lansdowne Resort. Other favorites include Old Trail GC, Winton Country Club and Devils Knob at Wintergreen Resort.