The City of Greensboro used to be known as a textile town, saturated with mills, factories, and blue-collar workers. Today, the city is better known as “Tournament Town” for its wealth of athletic venues including courts, fields, stadiums, and pools. Greensboro has hosted the men’s and women’s ACC basketball tournaments, the PGA Wyndham Championship, the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the AAU Junior Olympic Games, and much more. These days, you’re more likely to see a mass of blue uniforms than blue collars. While advanced manufacturing operations still play an important role in Greensboro, more often, the basketball courts and baseball fields are the center of attention and the economy.
Golf
- Greensboro took its first step into the national sporting arena in 1938, when the Jaycees founded the Greater Greensboro Open golf tournament with a total prize of $5,000.
- Today, the tournament is known as the Wyndham Championship. It is the seventh-oldest event on the PGA TOUR, excluding the Majors.
- The championship returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008.
- Previous winners include Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, and Seve Ballesteros. In fact, 19 former winners are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
- The Wyndham Championship is one of two regular-season PGA TOUR events contested on a course originally designed by Donald Ross.
Basketball
Located in the center of North Carolina’s famed “Tobacco Road,” Greensboro is home to several major national basketball championships.
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
- In 1966, the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament was played at the Greensboro Coliseum, which has since hosted the event more than any other city. The tournament now uses a variety of locations.
- The men’s event dribbled through three incarnations of the Coliseum. The original arena opened in 1959 with 9,000 seats, an expanded arena in the 1970s accommodated 16,000 spectators, and the latest expansion in the 1990s increased capacity to 22,000.
- The ACC Women’s Basketball tournament has made Greensboro its home since 2000.
- In 2011, the ACC Hall of Champions opened in the Special Events Center of the Greensboro Coliseum.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
- The Greensboro Coliseum frequently hosts first and second-round NCAA regionals leading to the Final Four during March Madness.
- As host of the tournament in 1974, Greensboro ranked as one of the smallest cities to be selected as a site for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament’s Final Four.
- One of the most memorable NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament moments happened at the Greensboro Coliseum. North Carolina State University beat seven consecutive time reigning national champions UCLA (coached by the legendary John Wooden) in the Final Four. NC State went on to win that year's National Championship.
Other Sports
Basketball and golf aren’t the only sports with major events in Greensboro. A diverse group of athletic games and events call the city “Tournament Town.”
- Greensboro hosts athletic events ranging from soccer to martial arts, to the US Figure Skating Championships.
- The National Bass Masters tournament competed several times at High Rock Lake with daily fish weigh-ins held at the Greensboro Coliseum with sold-out attendance.
- Greensboro has hosted wrestling tournaments, including the Super 32 Challenge, the UNCG Southern Scuffle college wrestling tournament, and the North Carolina High School State Wrestling Championships.
- The Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball team, a Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, plays at First National Bank Field in downtown Greensboro. The ballpark features North Carolina’s largest outdoor sports bar for adults, the Grandstand.
- The Greensboro Aquatic Center (GAC) opened in 2011. The 78,323-square-foot indoor center is a state-of-the-art facility featuring leading-edge concepts in aquatic design. The GAC brings together all major aquatic sports in one venue. The GAC hosts local, high school, collegiate, USA & Master's Swimming and Diving events, water polo, and more.