Editing Columbia, South Carolina (section)

==Sports==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Columbia sports teams
|-
! Club
! Sport
! Founded
! League
! Venue
! Capacity
|-
| [[South Carolina Gamecocks football|SC Gamecocks football]]
| [[American football]]
| align=center | 1892
| [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
| [[Williams-Brice Stadium]]
| align=center | 80,250
|-
| [[South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball|SC Gamecocks women's basketball]]
| [[Basketball]]
| align=center | 1974
| [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
| [[Colonial Life Arena]]
| align=center | 18,000
|-
| [[South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball|SC Gamecocks men's basketball]]
| [[Basketball]]
| align=center | 1908
| [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
| [[Colonial Life Arena]]
| align=center | 18,000
|-
| [[Columbia Fireflies]]
| Baseball
| align=center | 2016
| [[Carolina League]]
| [[Segra Park]]
| align=center | 9,077
|-
| [[SC United Bantams]]
| Soccer
| align=center | 2011
| [[USL2]]
| Southeastern Freight Lines Soccer Center
| align=center | 2,000
|-
| [[Columbia Olde Grey]]
| [[Rugby Union]]
| align=center | 1967
| [[USA Rugby]]
| Patton Stadium
| align=center |
|}

The most popular sports in Columbia are the sports programs at the University of South Carolina. Columbia also offers minor league, semi-pro, and amateur sports. In April 2017, the women's Gamecocks basketball team won [[2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament|the NCAA national championship]], defeating [[Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball|Mississippi State]] 67–55.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/sports/ncaabasketball/south-carolina-mississippi-state-ncaa-womens.html |title=South Carolina Defeats Mississippi State to Win Women's Title|last=Longman|first=Jeré |date=2017-04-02|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-10-28|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028144702/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/sports/ncaabasketball/south-carolina-mississippi-state-ncaa-womens.html|archive-date=October 28, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Columbia has also hosted the women's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 1996 and 2000<ref>Macinnis, Roberta. (March 2, 2010) [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6892093.html Marathoners making a run for 2012 Games to start here | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118040732/http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6892093.html |date=November 18, 2010 }}. Chron.com. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.</ref> and the 2007 Junior Wildwater World Championships, which featured many European canoe and kayak racers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thestate.com/2007/10/08/194912/kayaking-competition-begins-in.html|title=Kayaking competition begins in Columbia – Building Our City: Quality of Life|access-date=September 14, 2014}}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The Colonial Life Arena has also hosted [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] exhibition games.<ref>[http://www.nba.com/bobcats/recap_pacers_061024.html Bobcats: recap_pacers_061024] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119073104/http://www.nba.com/bobcats/recap_pacers_061024.html |date=January 19, 2012 }}. Nba.com (October 24, 2006). Retrieved on 2010-09-29.</ref>

===Sports venues===
[[Williams-Brice Stadium]] is the home of the USC Gamecocks' football team and is the 24th largest college football stadium in the nation.<ref>[[List of American football stadiums by capacity]]</ref> It seats 80,250 people and is located just south of downtown Columbia. The stadium was built in 1934 with the help of federal Works Progress Administration funds, and initially seated 17,600. The original name was Carolina Stadium, but on September 9, 1972, it was renamed to honor the Williams and Brice families. Mrs. Martha Williams-Brice had left much of her estate to the university for stadium renovations and expansions. Her late husband, Thomas H. Brice, played football for the university from 1922 to 1924.

[[File:ColonialLifeArena.jpg|thumb|[[Colonial Life Arena]]]]
[[Colonial Life Arena]], opened in 2002; it has 18,000 seats for college basketball, it is the largest arena in the state of South Carolina,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colonial Life Arena {{!}} Columbia, SC 29208 |url=https://www.experiencecolumbiasc.com/listing/colonial-life-arena/15387/ |access-date=2022-11-06 |website=www.experiencecolumbiasc.com |language=en-us}}</ref> serving as the home of the men's and women's USC Gamecocks basketball teams. Located on the University of South Carolina campus, this facility features 41 suites, four entertainment suites, and the Frank McGuire Club, a full-service hospitality room with a capacity of 300. The facility has padded seating, a sound system, and a four-sided video scoreboard.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081206171223/http://www.coloniallifearena.com/600/GeneralInformation.asp Welcome to The Colonial Life Arena: About : General Information]. Coloniallifearena.com. Retrieved on September 29, 2010.</ref>

The $13 million [[Charlie W. Johnson Stadium]] is the home of [[Benedict College]] football and soccer. The structure was completed and dedicated in 2006 and seats 11,000 with a maximum capacity of 16,000.

The [[Founders Park]] opened in 2009. Seating 8,400 permanently for college baseball and an additional 1,000 for standing room only, it is the largest baseball stadium in the state of South Carolina. It serves as the home of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks' baseball team. Located near Granby Park near downtown Columbia, this facility features entertainment suites, a picnic terrace, and a dining deck. The facility also features a sound system and scoreboard.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2009/02/19/22/baseballstadiumusc.source.prod_affiliate.74.pdf|title=Carolina Gamecocks Baseball|access-date=June 11, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717034445/http://media.thestate.com/smedia/2009/02/19/22/baseballstadiumusc.source.prod_affiliate.74.pdf|archive-date=July 17, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

On January 6, 2015, developers broke ground on the $37 million [[Segra Park]]. The stadium is the home for the [[Columbia Fireflies]], a [[Minor League Baseball]] team playing in the [[Low-A East]]. It opened in April 2016 and can seat up to 7,501 people. Columbia had been without minor league baseball since the [[Capital City Bombers]] relocated to [[Greenville, South Carolina]], in 2004.<ref name=milb>{{cite web|title=Columbia Breaks Ground on Stadium for 2016|url=https://www.milb.com/news/gcs-105656276|publisher=Minor League Baseball|date=January 6, 2015|access-date=July 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716083911/http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150106&content_id=105656276&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb|archive-date=July 16, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>