Florida has professional teams in several sports: the Miami Dolphins, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League, the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic in the National Basketball Association, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League, and the Florida Marlins in Major League Baseball.
Miami, St. Petersburg, and Orlando all made bids for a major league baseball team, and in June 1990 Miami was awarded the National League franchise and began play with the 1993 season. Florida currently plays a very important role in major league baseball by providing spring training camps for eighteen teams, as well as by supporting a number of minor league teams.
Several major professional golf tournaments are held in Florida, as well as several annual automobile races. The most famous automobile race is the Daytona 500, at Daytona Beach. Another famous automobile event is the endurance race held at Sebring.
