Sports

AT&T Center

The AT&T Center is home to the 2003 & 2005 NBA champions, the San Antonio Spurs.

Other local sports teams include:

· San Antonio Missions, Texas League Minor league baseball

· San Antonio Rampage, American Hockey League

· San Antonio Silver Stars, Women's National Basketball Association

The city's only top-level professional sports team, and consequently the team most San Antonians follow, is the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. The Spurs have been playing in San Antonio since 1973 and have won three NBA Championships (1999, 2003, 2005). Previously, the Spurs played at the Alamodome, which was built for football, and before that the HemisFair Arena, but the Spurs built and moved into the SBC Center in 2002, since renamed the AT&T Center, following the merge of giants SBC and AT&T. The AT&T Center is also home to the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League and the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA, both owned by the Spurs. San Antonio is also home to the Double-A Minor League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, the San Antonio Missions who play at Nelson Wolff Stadium on the west side of the city. San Antonio also hosts the NCAA football Alamo Bowl each December.

The city was also a temporary home for the New Orleans Saints for the 2005 NFL season due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The Saints set up practice facilities in San Antonio for the season, and played a split home schedule between the Alamodome and Baton Rouge, Louisiana's Tiger Stadium during the 2005 season. After the final game in San Antonio, the Saints committed to moving back to New Orleans for the 2006 season. City officials are said to be attempting to lure the NFL permanently to San Antonio and have also said that a strong showing at the Alamodome for the three local Saints games was vital to showing that San Antonio can support an NFL franchise. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue stated San Antonio was successful in hosting the team, and that the city would be on the short list for any future NFL expansions.

The city has also hosted the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers preseason camps in the past, and they have signed a contract with the Cowboys in which the Cowboys will practice in San Antonio through 2011. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged his support for the city's efforts to become home to an NFL franchise. Despite this, San Antonio remains the largest metropolis in the United States with neither an NFL franchise nor a Division I college football team.

Some current names in professional sports from the city of San Antonio's high school sports programs include Minnesota Vikings 2006 second-round draft pick Cedric Griffin, Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes, Houston Texans defensive end N.D. Kalu, and Olympic gold medalist Darold Williamson.