Today the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area supports both the Major League Baseball Cincinnati REDS and the National Football League Cincinnati Bengals, as well as two minor league hockey teams - the Cincinnati Cyclones and the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Losing its National Basketball Association team during the 1970's the area is now limited to an International Basketball League team, the Cincinnati Stuff. However, the city does host the Tennis Masters Series - Cincinnati , one of nine events at the top level on the ATP Tour, and one of the top 13 events in the world, and the annual Kroger Senior Classic golf tournament. And the new Kentucky Speedway, located in Northern Kentucky, has brought auto racing to the area in grand fashion. Visitors to downtown Cincinnati cannot avoid the massive sports complexes being completed on the riverfront, with the new 66,000 seat Paul Brown Stadium already completed and a partial demolition of Cinergy Field accomplished to make way for the new Great American Ballpark, proposed to open during the Cincinnati REDS 2003 season.
Collegiate sports manage to consume a lot of spectator time, particularly during the winter months.
Perhaps the greatest rivalry in the area is that between the Xavier University Musketeers and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats who face off annually in what's billed as the cross-town series between their Division I basketball teams. A major effort is currently underway to land the Olympic Games in 2012, a feat that if accomplished would certainly lend luster to the Queen City's crown. So surf around, and whether you're interested in bowling or running, golfing or horse racing, or the more popular spectator sports, you'll find Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky have a number of jewels in their sports crowns. Baseball's first professional team, founded in 1869, the Cincinnati REDS continue to entertain and excite. With a glitzy stadium about to be constructed on the Riverfront, immediately east of Cinergy Field , the REDS promise to be a major entertainment and sports attraction well into the new millennium.