Professional Baseball
Take me out to the Ball Game!

Lakeland's centralized location, coupled with an excellent transportation network and state of the art athletic facilities make Lakeland the optimum location for major sports event. The more then 60-year relationship between the Detroit Tigers and the City of Lakeland is the longest running union between a major league baseball team and a spring training host city. The 7000 seat Joker Merchant Stadium home of the Detroit Tigers Spring Training is located 1 mile from the Best Western Diplomat Inn.

Baseball Fans can enjoy watching their favorite teams play within 30 minutes from Lakeland: The Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, , Pittsburgh Pirates, , Toronto Blue Jays and the many other teams that call Florida their spring training home!

Spring Training Headquarters:

Soccer

Summit Sports, Tampa Bay Sun Bowl and Triple Crown Sports have staged major events in the Lakeland area. The Memorial Weekend Soccer Championships draws more then 180 team annually to the six field Lake Parker Soccer Complex in Lakeland while 5000 seat Bryant Stadium in Lakeland host international events.

Facility Locations:

Wrestling

Wrestling Event Organizers have found Lakeland to be an outstanding site for all types of events and nearby The Lakeland Center is the current home of the FHSAA Wrestling Finals and the USA Wrestling State Florida State Championships.

Basketball

"The most Basketball friendly venue in the United States" according to Don Rudlinger president of Youth Basketball of America (YBOA). Now the Worlds largest Junior Basketball Event, the YBOA series draws thousands of young players from all over the world to over 20 Polk County facilities every year. We also host the Florida High School Association Boys and Girls State Finals and the Sunshine State Conference Collegiate Championships. The events are staged at the nearby Lakeland Center.

Tournament Facilities:

Bowling

Among the tournaments Polk Country has had the opportunity to host are the Professional Bowlers Association, the Florida Open Championships, the Florida Men's Senior Tournament, the World Team Challenge, the Florida State Men's Tournament, the Florida State Mixed Doubles Tournament and the Coca Cola National Junior Bowling Championships.

Bowling Facilities:

Gymnastics

Lakeland hosts a wide range of gymnastics events, including the nationally-televised the United States Association of Independent Gymnastics Clubs (USAIGC), National Gymnastics, the USAG Florida State, the Sunshine State Games and state qualifying meets.

Bicycling

Lakeland is located in the heart of Florida and is considered by many to be the Bicycle Capital of the State. An extensive network of recreational bicycle groups make Lakeland well suited for recreational and competitive bicycling. The Van Fleet Trail in Polk City is 29 Miles of trail ideal for bicycling, rollerblading, horseback riding, rollerblading, running, and walking. Recreational and competitive mountain biking routes are available at Carter Road Complex in Lakeland.

Tennis

World renowned 16-Court complex at the Imperial Lakes Country Club in Lakeland is just minutes from the Best Western Diplomat Inn. Many prestigious tournaments including USTA, FHSAA, The Rolex Regional have been played in Polk County, which also hosted the 1999 Easter Bowl Tennis Championship, one of the nations largest junior tennis tournaments .

Facility Locations:

Softball

Lakeland boosts more then 65 diamonds within a 20 mile radius. In a typical year we host more then 70 local state and national tournaments at all levels, NSA, ISA and ASA.

Facility Locations: