Minor League Sports
Fayetteville SwampDogs
Fayetteville is home to one of the most successful summer collegiate franchises, the Fayetteville SwampDogs. They play in the Coastal Plain League against teams across the Carolinas and the lower half of Virginia. The SwampDogs led the CPL in victories in 2006 and '07. J.P. Riddle Stadium, which seats 2,500 fans, is the home of the SwampDogs.
Players from colleges coast to coast have spent the late May through early August season here, including current major leaguers Mark Reynolds, a third baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and pitcher David Aardsma of the Boston Red Sox.
Fayetteville Guard
Fayetteville's indoor football team, the Guard, inhabits the Crown Coliseum for a regular season that runs from March through June. The team, which usually features several natives of the Cape Fear region, went 13-1 in 2006 and was the NIFL championship runner-up. It won the title in 2007, defeating Wyoming, 48- 34, before jumping to the American Indoor Football Association for the 2008 campaign.
FireAntz
Ice hockey has been part of the local sports scene since the spacious Crown Coliseum opened in 1997, and the Fayetteville FireAntz are consistently among the Southern Professional Hockey League leaders in victories and attendance.
During the 2007-08 season, they topped the Class A league in average attendance at 3,931, and in 2007 they set a franchise record with a crowd of 9,446. For the 2008-09 season, the SPHL is composed of the FireAntz and teams in Winston-Salem; Knoxville, Tenn.; Richmond, Va.; Columbus, Ga.; and Huntsville, Ala. The season is scheduled to begin in late October and concludes with the Presidents Cup in April -- a championship won by the FireAntz during the 2006-07 season.