Places to Watch Sports in Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore is Maryland's hub of professional sports. The Charm City is home to the Camden Yards sports complex, which comprises the Baltimore Ravens football and Baltimore Orioles baseball stadiums. Baltimore also boasts the prestigious Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course. The Maryland Stadium Authority (mdstad.com), a government agency, manages Camden Yards and the 1st Mariner Arena. The city also provides venues for collegiate athletics at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University.

  1. M&T Bank Stadium

    • M&T Bank Stadium is on the south end of Baltimore's Camden Yards sports complex. The stadium was completed in 1998 and is home to the National Football League's (nfl.com) Baltimore Ravens. The stadium, which seats about 71,000 fans, also fields occasional home games for the University of Maryland (umd.edu) and U.S. Naval Academy (usna.edu). The Turkey Bowl, a traditional high school game between Baltimore prep schools, Loyola Blakefield (loyolablakefield.org) and Calvert Hall College (calverthall.com), occurs at M&T Bank Stadium every Thanksgiving.

    Oriole Park at Camden Yards

    • Major League Baseball's (mlb.com) Baltimore Orioles (orioles.mlb.com) play their home games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The stadium, considered the standard bearer for a new wave of MLB facilities built in the 90's and 2000's, was completed in 1992 and accommodates up to 49,000 fans with standing room (seated capacity is about 45,000). Oriole Park's design is "retro," built to resemble American baseball parks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

    1st Mariner Arena

    • Located in downtown Baltimore, 1st Mariner Arena accommodates about 11,000 for indoor sports. As of 2011, the arena was home to the Baltimore Charm (lflus.com/baltimorecharm), a franchise in the Lingerie Football League (lflus.com). The Baltimore Blast (baltimoreblast.com), the city's Major Indoor Soccer League (misl.net) team, plays its home games there as well, while the National Hockey League's (nhl.com) Washington Capitals (capitals.nhl.com) occasionally play preseason exhibition games there.

    Pimlico Race Course

    • The Preakness Stakes (preakness.com), a thoroughbred horse race, takes place at the Pimlico Race Course (pimlico.com) in Northeast Baltimore. The Preakness is one of the three races in the Triple Crown Series, making it one of the most prestigious horse races in the country. This venue has held horse racing events since 1870 and seats more than 13,000. Aside from the Preakness, Pimlico is home to racing events throughout the year.

    College Sports

    • Baltimore is home to several colleges and universities with NCAA athletic programs, including Johns Hopkins University (jhu.edu) and its nationally renowned Division I lacrosse program, as well as Morgan State University (morgan.edu) and Coppin State University (coppin.edu). Johns Hopkins plays football, lacrosse and soccer games at Homewood Field, which seats 8,500 fans. The Morgan State Bears play football at 10,000-seat Hughes Stadium and men's and women's basketball at Talmadge L. Hill Field House, a 4,200-seat venue. The Coppin State Eagles play their hoops at the 2,000-seat Coppin Center.