Locals of Virginia love football and sports in general, so let’s look at some of the most interesting facts surrounding this topic.
1. Virginia has no professional, major-league teams
Virginia is the most populated U.S. state, with no major professional sports league franchise playing within its borders. The Old Dominion has several professional teams, but none compete in North America’s major league organizations, such as the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, or MLS.
Despite this fact, sports and sports betting is widely supported in Virginia, particularly for the region’s college teams and pro-teams residing in the neighboring states. Funnily enough, the NFL’s Washington Commanders and the NHL’s Washington Capitals run their training schedule and franchise operations in Northern Virginia. Still, Virginia doesn’t have a team based in the major leagues they can call their own.
This fact hasn’t existed without attempts, though. State officials attempted to bring a National Hockey League (NHL) expansion franchise to Norfolk in the 1990s; however, the NHL rejected this proposal and instead sided with the expansion franchise of the Columbus Blue Jackets. There were also attempts to locate stadiums for Washington-based teams in Northern Virginia or to relocate teams in the Hampton roads metro area, but nothing surfaced in these attempts. The Washington Football team nearly arrived in Alexandria, but public opposition prevented this development. Lastly, the Houston Astros were close to being purchased and relocated to Northern Virginia in the 90s. Still, MLB owners assisted Houston in finding more time to approve a new stadium deal.
2. Virginia owns the second-most accomplished athletics program in the NCAA Athletic Coast Conference
With no major league sports team to support, Virginia-based sports fans have still had a reason to celebrate by having the most accomplished football team in the NCAA Division I Athletic Coast Conference team.
Known as the Virginia Cavaliers, UVA, Wahoos, or Hoos, this sports program represents the University of Virginia and has twice won the Capital One Cup by leading the nation with overall athletic excellence in 2015 and 2019. The Capital One Cup recognizes the athletic success of colleges across all sports, and the Cavaliers rarely fall outside of the Top 5 athletics programs.
Virginia tops the ACC history books with 22 NCAA Championships in men’s sports. When combining the women’s accomplishments of nine NCAA titles, they boast a whopping 31 NCAA titles, the second most in this major conference that involves fifteen programs overall.
Virginia men’s basketball won the NCAA Tournament Championship in 2019 and the ACC tournaments in 1976, 2014, and 2018. In addition, they’ve placed first in the ACC standings on ten separate occasions. College Football Hall of Famer George Welsh exited the program with the most wins in ACC history until 2021, following a 19-year career with the Cavaliers.
3. Virginia Cavaliers basketball betting was a coin flip in 2021, but the football team present value in the under in 2022
A brand-new college basketball season begins in a few days, and before the action is underway, sports bettors will be hoping the Cavaliers can provide more than a coin flip outing. During the 2021/22 season, the Cavaliers basketball team scored 17-17-1 when betting against the spread, covering 50% of their games ATS.
However, the college football season is reaching Week 9 of action, and Virginia sports betting trends have revealed an interesting fact about this year’s team. They are low scoring! As six of their eight games have gone under the betting total, wagering against high-scoring Cavalier games this season has been highly profitable.
4. Coin flip records are nothing new in Virginia
Betting trends aside, the Virginia athletics program witnessed multiple 50% winning records during the 2021 season. Not only did the basketball team finish with a 50% ATS, but the UVA football team finished their overall win/loss record at 6-6, putting them at 50% on the season.
5. Virginia Cavaliers aren’t the only football team in VA
Don’t forget the Virginia Tech Hookies, representing Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in American football. The Hookies play in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA and the Coastal Division of the ACC. Between 1993 and 2019, the program reached 27 consecutive bowl appearances – the fourth-longest streak of successive bowl appearances in college football history. They’ve also collected eleven conference titles and produced eight All-Americans.
