About Traverse City Michigan Sports

For being such a lightly populated and small area, Traverse City, Michigan has an impressive number of sports teams in the region. The number of semi-professional and professional sports teams covering a wide array of different sports is surprising, with this region near the Bay quickly becoming an essential component of northern Michigan's sports scene. Although a majority of the teams in the Traverse City area are just getting started playing in their respective leagues, they are already turning into local favorites and playing in front of sell-out crowds on a regular basis.

The Traverse City Beach Bums is the local area's baseball team, which was named after the resorts and beaches nearby on the Traverse Bay shores. Traverse City, Michigan was granted a franchise by the Frontier League following the 2004 season. The first home game for the team was played in 2006 at Wuerfel Park, with a sold-out crowd of nearly 6,000 watching the Beach Bums compete against the Kalamazoo Kings.

The local area football team is the Traverse City Wolves. They are a semi-professional team that plays in the Great Lakes Football League. The Traverse City Wolves was established in 2007 and was initially intended to be a summer league football team when college football and the National Football League were not playing. The Wolves have become well-established in the community and hold open tryouts for anyone who wants to try to become a member of the team. Although not everyone is accepted for the team, aspiring players from across the Northern Michigan area attend the tryouts on a regular basis. Thirlby Field is where the team's home games are played.

In the past, Traverse City also had its own junior ice hockey team called the Traverse City North Stars, which was in operation from 2005 through 2012. There is a training rink for the NHL's Detroit Red Wings in Traverse City which allows hockey fans in the local area to see games at the training rink during the offseason to watch the Red Wings in action.

In addition to its professional and semi-professional teams, the Traverse City area also features a beautiful natural backdrop for numerous sporting and outdoor activities. There are multiple youth leagues and internationally acclaimed events that take place here including the Vasa ski race and Iceman Cometh Challenge - which is the biggest one-day mountain biking race in the United States.

Numerous races take place in the summer, including the Glen Arbor Solstice Half-Marathon, which makes the plate in late June, and features a half marathon along with a 5k walk/run around Glen Arbor and Big Glen Lake. The Meijer Festival of Races takes place in July, which is a 15K and 5k run/walk. The yearly Ironman 70.2 triathlon takes place in August in Traverse City. Fall is the season for bikers and runners, and even the winter season sees sporting events such as the Farmland 5K XC Challenge, which is a biking and running event that takes place in December.