Home Field Advantage
Baltimore’ s deep sports history translates into a lively setting for major sporting events.
S ports have long been an important part of Baltimore’ s culture. It’ s no wonder that one of the biggest sports apparel manufacturers— that’ d be Under Armour— chose to plant its headquarters right here in the city.
There are our beloved professional sports teams, of course— the Ravens, our NFL team, are two-time Super Bowl champs and the Orioles, our MLB team, fill the beautiful Oriole Park at Camden Yards each baseball season.
But Baltimore’ s love affair with sports goes far beyond football and baseball. Take lacrosse. It’ s Maryland’ s official team sport, and it’ s been a part of Baltimore athletics for decades— all the way back to 1928, when the Johns Hopkins University team represented the United States in lacrosse’ s Olympic debut. Now, five of the country’ s topranked men’ s collegiate teams are located in Maryland. Private all-girls school Bryn Mawr fielded the first women’ s team in the nation. And the Baltimore region is also the home of the sport’ s governing body, US Lacrosse, plus the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, US Lacrosse Magazine and major equipment producers.
And then there’ s the Preakness Stakes. The second jewel of the Triple Crown, this storied horse race has been run at Baltimore’ s Pimlico Race Course for over 100 years. It’ s an institution for the city, right down to the signature drink: the Black-Eyed Susan, named for the Maryland state flower.
Of course, that’ s not all Baltimore has on the field. The upcoming sports calendar is filled with important events, both new and established. Read on to get the scoop on Baltimore’ s biggest sports moments ahead. VB
|
BALTIMORE’ S |
BALTIMORE RUNNING FESTIVAL
OCTOBER 202 1
|
|
KEY INDUSTRIES |
BIG
U P C O M I N G |
S |
P |
O |
R |
T |
S |
E |
V |
E |
N |
T |
S |
|
This running festival— which just celebrated its 20th anniversary— offers five distance options, including marathon, half-marathon and relay. The course winds through Federal Hill and Fell’ s Point before finishing in the scenic Inner Harbor waterfront area, where the Celebration Village brings together music, games, food and drinks in honor of the finishers. |
CIAA
FEBRUARY 2021
For the 2021 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, an athletic basketball conference made up of smaller historically black colleges and universities, Baltimore beat out current host Charlotte, N. C., and other cities to become the new city host. The tournament will be based here for the next three years.
|
38 BALTIMORE. ORG