Editing Kansas (section)

===Sports===
====Professional====
[[File:Livestrong Sporting Park - Sporting KC v New England Revolution.jpg|thumb|Children's Mercy Park, [[Kansas City, Kansas|Kansas City]].]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Team
! Sport
! League
! City
|-
| [[Sporting Kansas City]]
| [[Association football|Soccer]]
| [[Major League Soccer]]
| [[Kansas City, Kansas|Kansas City]]
|-
| [[Sporting Kansas City II]]
| Soccer
| [[MLS Next Pro]]
| Kansas City
|-
| [[Kansas City Monarchs (American Association)|Kansas City Monarchs]]
| [[Baseball]]
| [[American Association of Independent Professional Baseball|American Association]]
| [[Kansas City, Kansas|Kansas City]]
|-
| [[Garden City Wind]]
| Baseball
| [[Pecos League]]
| [[Garden City, Kansas|Garden City]]
|-
| Kaw Valley FC
| Soccer
| [[USL League Two]]
| [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]], and [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]]
|-
| [[Salina Liberty]]
| [[Indoor American football|Indoor football]]
| [[Champions Indoor Football]]
| [[Salina, Kansas|Salina]]
|- 
| [[Southwest Kansas Storm]]
| Indoor football
| [[Champions Indoor Football]]
| [[Dodge City]]
|-
| [[Wichita Thunder]]
| [[Ice hockey]]
| [[ECHL]]
| [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]]
|-
| [[Wichita Wind Surge]]
| Baseball
| [[Texas League]]
| Wichita
|}

Sporting Kansas City, who have played their home games at [[Village West]] in [[Kansas City, Kansas|Kansas City]], since 2008, are the first top-tier [[Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada|professional sports league]] and first [[Major League Soccer]] team to be located within Kansas. In 2011 the team moved to their new home, a $165&nbsp;million [[soccer specific stadium]] now known as [[Children's Mercy Park]].

Historically, Kansans have supported the [[Major professional sports leagues of Canada and the United States|major league]] sports teams of [[Kansas City, Missouri]], including the [[Kansas City Royals]] ([[Major League Baseball|MLB]]), and the [[Kansas City Chiefs]] ([[National Football League|NFL]]), in part because the home stadiums for these teams are a few miles from the Kansas border. The Chiefs and the Royals play at the [[Truman Sports Complex]], located about {{convert|10|mi|km}} from the Kansas–Missouri state line. [[FC Kansas City]], a charter member of the [[National Women's Soccer League]], played the [[2013 National Women's Soccer League season|2013 season]], the first for both the team and the league, on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area, but played on the Missouri side until folding after the [[2017 National Women's Soccer League season|2017 season]]. From 1973 to 1997 the [[Flagship station|flagship radio station]] for the Royals was [[WIBW (AM)|WIBW]] in Topeka.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20021202/ai_n11792020/pg_3/ |title = Making Airwaves Through History |publisher = Findarticles.com |date = December 2, 2002 |access-date = July 31, 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110515020957/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20021202/ai_n11792020/pg_3/ |archive-date = May 15, 2011 }}</ref>

Some Kansans, mostly from the westernmost parts of the state, support the professional sports teams of [[Denver]], particularly the [[Denver Broncos]] of the NFL.

Two major [[auto racing]] facilities are located in Kansas. The [[Kansas Speedway]] located in Kansas City hosts races of the [[NASCAR]], [[IndyCar Series|IndyCar]], and [[Auto Racing Club of America|ARCA]] circuits. Also, the [[National Hot Rod Association]] (NHRA) holds [[drag racing]] events at [[Heartland Park Topeka]]. The [[Sports Car Club of America]] has its national headquarters in Topeka.

=====History=====
The history of professional sports in Kansas probably dates from the establishment of the [[minor league baseball]] Topeka Capitals and [[Leavenworth Soldiers]] in 1886 in the [[Western League (1885–1899)|Western League]].<ref name="Evans">{{cite journal |last = Evans |first = Harold |title = Baseball in Kansas, 1867–1940 |journal = Kansas Historical Quarterly |year = 1940 |url = http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1940/40_2_evans.htm |access-date = February 18, 2008 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080316152651/http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1940/40_2_evans.htm |archive-date = March 16, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Madden">{{cite book |last1 = Madden |first1 = W.C. |last2 = Stewart |first2 = Patrick |title = The Western League: A Baseball History, 1885 through 1999 |year = 2002 |publisher = McFarland |isbn = 978-0-7864-1003-3 }}</ref> The African-American [[Bud Fowler]] played on the Topeka team that season, one year before the "[[Baseball color line|color line]]" descended on professional baseball.<ref name=Madden />

In 1887, the Western League was dominated by a reorganized Topeka team called the [[Topeka Golden Giants (1887)|Golden Giants]]: a high-priced collection of major leaguer players, including [[Bug Holliday]], [[Jim Conway (baseball)|Jim Conway]], [[Dan Stearns]], [[Perry Werden]] and [[Jimmy Macullar]], which won the league by 15.5 games.<ref name=Madden /> On April 10, 1887, the Golden Giants also won an exhibition game from the defending [[1886 World Series|World Series]] champions, the [[St. Louis Browns (NL)|St. Louis Browns]] (the present-day Cardinals), by a score of 12–9. However, Topeka was unable to support the team, and it disbanded after one year.

The first night game in the history of professional baseball was played in Independence on April 28, 1930, when the Muscogee (Oklahoma) Indians beat the Independence Producers 13–3 in a minor league game sanctioned by the Western League of the Western Baseball Association with 1,500 fans attending the game. The permanent lighting system was first used for an exhibition game on April 17, 1930, between the Independence Producers and House of David semi-professional baseball team of Benton Harbor, Michigan with the Independence team winning 9–1 before a crowd of 1,700 spectators.<ref>Bowman, Larry G. "I Think It Is Pretty Ritzy Myself: Kansas Minor League Teams and Night Baseball". ''Kansas History'', Winter 1995/1996, pp 248–257. Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved May 25, 2013.</ref>

====College====
[[File:OutsideOfKansasStadium.jpg|thumb|left|[[David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium]] is the oldest football stadium west of the Mississippi River, and one of the oldest standing football stadiums in the country. Built in 1921, it is home to the Kansas Jayhawks football team.]]
{{See also|List of college athletic programs in Kansas}}
The history of intercollegiate of athletics in the state dates back to 1866, with the establishment of the University of Kansas baseball team, which competed against local area teams and schools in the Kansas State Fair. The Jayhawks baseball team is one of the oldest intercollegiate baseball programs in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title="Baseball in Kansas, 1867-1940," by Harold C. Evans, Kansas Historical Quarterly, May, 1940 |url=https://www.kancoll.org/khq/1940/40_2_evans.htm |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.kancoll.org}}</ref>

The governing body for intercollegiate sports in the United States, the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA), was headquartered in [[Johnson County, Kansas]] from 1952 until moving to Indianapolis in 1999.<ref>Jim Davis, [http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/1997/06/09/editorial4.html Loss of NCAA headquarters not related to incentives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410050947/http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/1997/06/09/editorial4.html |date=April 10, 2017 }}, ''Kansas City Business Journal'' (June 8, 1997).</ref><ref>Sam Epstein, ''Sports Law'' (Cengage Learning, 2013), p. 19.</ref>

=====NCAA Division I schools=====
[[File:Allen Fieldhouse (3301441111).jpg|thumb|[[Allen Fieldhouse]] at [[University of Kansas]] in [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]].]]
[[File:Eck Stadium Tyler Field.JPG|thumb|Tyler Field in [[Eck Stadium]] at [[Wichita State University]] in [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]].]]
While there are no franchises of the four major professional sports within the state, many Kansans are fans of the state's major college sports teams, especially the [[Kansas Jayhawks|Jayhawks]] of the [[University of Kansas]] (KU), and the [[Kansas State Wildcats|Wildcats]] of [[Kansas State University]] (KSU or "K-State"). The teams are rivals in the [[Big 12 Conference]].

Both KU and K-State have tradition-rich programs in men's basketball. The Jayhawks are a perennial national power, ranking first in all-time victories among NCAA programs. The Jayhawks have won six national titles, including NCAA tournament championships in 1952, 1988, 2008, and 2022. They also were retroactively awarded national championships by the [[Helms Foundation]] for 1922 and 1923. K-State also had a long stretch of success on the hardwood, lasting from the 1940s to the 1980s, making four [[Final Four]]s during that stretch. In 1988, KU and K-State met in the [[Elite Eight]], KU taking the game 71–58. After a 12-year absence, the Wildcats returned to the NCAA tournament in 2008, and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2010 and 2018. KU is fifth all-time with 15 Final Four appearances, while K-State's four appearances are tied for 17th.

Conversely, success on the [[American football|gridiron]] has been less frequent for both KSU and KU. However, there have been recent breakthroughs for both schools' football teams. The Jayhawks won the [[Orange Bowl (game)|Orange Bowl]] for the first time in three tries in 2008, capping a 12–1 season, the best in school history. And when [[Bill Snyder]] arrived to coach at K-State in 1989, he turned the Wildcats from one of the worst college football programs in America,<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Looney |first=Douglas |title=Futility U |magazine=Sports Illustrated |date=September 4, 1989 |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1989/09/04/120464/futility-u-kansas-state-winless-since-1986-has-one-claim-to-fame-it-is-americas-most-hapless-team |access-date=October 9, 2019 |archive-date=October 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009210357/https://www.si.com/vault/1989/09/04/120464/futility-u-kansas-state-winless-since-1986-has-one-claim-to-fame-it-is-americas-most-hapless-team |url-status=live }}</ref> into a national force for most of the 1990s and early 2000s. The team won the [[Fiesta Bowl]] in 1997, achieved an undefeated (11–0) regular season and No.{{nbsp}}1 ranking in 1998, and took the [[Big 12 Conference]] championship in 2003. After three seasons in which K-State football languished, Snyder came out of retirement in 2009 and guided them to the top of the college football ranks again, finishing second in the Big 12 in 2011 and earning a berth in the [[Cotton Bowl Classic|Cotton Bowl]], and winning the Big 12 again in 2012.

[[Wichita State University]], which also fields teams (called the [[Wichita State Shockers|Shockers]]) in [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]], is best known for its baseball and basketball programs. In baseball, the Shockers won the [[College World Series]] in 1989. In men's basketball, they appeared in the Final Four in 1965 and 2013, and entered the 2014 NCAA tournament unbeaten. The school also fielded a [[American football|football]] team from 1897 to 1986. The Shocker football team is tragically known for a [[Wichita State University football team plane crash|plane crash]] in 1970 that killed 31 people, including 14 players.

=====NCAA Division II schools=====
Notable success has also been achieved by the state's smaller schools in football. [[Pittsburg State University]], an NCAA Division II participant, has claimed four national titles in football, two in the NAIA and most recently the 2011 NCAA Division II national title. Pittsburg State became the winningest NCAA Division II football program in 1995. PSU passed Hillsdale College at the top of the all-time victories list in the 1995 season on its march to the national runner-up finish. The Gorillas, in 96 seasons of intercollegiate competition, have accumulated 579 victories, posting a 579–301–48 overall mark.

[[Washburn University]], in Topeka, won the [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics|NAIA]] Men's Basketball Championship in 1987. The [[Fort Hays State University]] men won the 1996 NCAA Division II title with a 34–0 record, and the Washburn women won the 2005 NCAA Division II crown. St. Benedict's College (now Benedictine College), in Atchison, won the 1954 and 1967 Men's NAIA Basketball Championships.

The [[Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference]] has its roots as one of the oldest college sport conferences in existence and participates in the NAIA and all ten member schools are in the state of Kansas. Other smaller school conferences that have some members in Kansas are the [[Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association]] the [[Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference]], the [[Midwest Christian College Conference]], and the [[Heart of America Athletic Conference]]. Many [[junior college]]s also have active athletic programs.

[[Emporia State]]'s women's basketball team, under head coach [[Brandon Schneider]], who is now serving as the women's basketball coach at the University of Kansas, has seen success as well. In 2010 the team won the NCAA Division II National Championship. Emporia State and Washburn in Topeka share a heated rivalry in all sports, mostly due to the close proximity of both cities.

=====Junior colleges=====
The [[Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference]] has been heralded as one of the best conferences in all of [[NJCAA]] football, with [[Garden City Community College]], [[Independence Community College]], and [[Butler County Community College]] all consistently in contention for national championships.

====High school====
The [[Kansas State High School Activities Association]] (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.