section_path: Sports
section_name: Sports
paragraph_text: Sports
  
  New Orleans' professional sports teams include the 2009 Super Bowl XLIV champion New Orleans Saints (NFL) and the New Orleans Pelicans (NBA). It is also home to the Big Easy Rollergirls, an all-female flat track roller derby team, and the New Orleans Blaze, a women's football team. New Orleans is also home to two NCAA Division I athletic programs, the Tulane Green Wave of the American Athletic Conference and the UNO Privateers of the Southland Conference.
  
  The Caesars Superdome is the home of the Saints, the Sugar Bowl, and other prominent events. It has hosted the Super Bowl a record eight times (1978, 1981, 1986, 1990, 1997, 2002, 2013, and 2025). The Smoothie King Center is the home of the Pelicans, VooDoo, and many events that are not large enough to need the Superdome. New Orleans is also home to the Fair Grounds Race Course, the nation's third-oldest thoroughbred track. The city's Lakefront Arena has also been home to sporting events.
  
  Each year New Orleans plays host to the Sugar Bowl, the New Orleans Bowl, the Bayou Classic, and the Zurich Classic, a golf tournament on the PGA Tour. In addition, it has often hosted major sporting events that have no permanent home, such as the Super Bowl, ArenaBowl, NBA All-Star Game, BCS National Championship Game, and the NCAA Final Four. The Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Marathon and the Crescent City Classic are two annual road running events.
  
  In 2017, Major League Rugby had its inaugural season, and NOLA Gold were one of the first teams in the league. They play at the Gold Mine on Airline, a former minor league baseball stadium in the suburb of Metairie. In 2022, a consortium started an attempt to bring professional soccer to New Orleans, hoping to place teams in the male USL Championship and women's USL Super League by 2025.