1996 in sports
1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.
[Alpine skiing]
- Alpine Skiing World Cup
- * Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway
- * Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany
[American football]
- Super Bowl XXX – the Dallas Cowboys won 27–17 over the Pittsburgh Steelers
- *Location: Sun Devil Stadium
- *Attendance: 76,347
- *MVP: Larry Brown, CB
- World Bowl 96 – The Scottish Claymores won 32–27 over the Frankfurt Galaxy.
- Fiesta Bowl :
- * The Nebraska Cornhuskers won 62–24 over the Florida Gators to win the national championship
- Cleveland Browns deactivate and move to Baltimore where they become the Baltimore Ravens The Browns are later reactivated in Cleveland in 1999.
- The Big 12 Conference begins with its first college football game between Texas Tech and Kansas State. Kansas State won 21–14.
Athletics">Sport of athletics">Athletics
- July–August – Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics held at Atlanta, United States
[Australian rules football]
- Australian Football League
- * North Melbourne wins the 100th AFL premiership d Sydney Swans 13.10 )
- * Brownlow Medal awarded to James Hird and Michael Voss
- * At the end of the season Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears merge, forming the Brisbane Lions.
[Baseball]
- January 8; For the first time in 25 years, no one garners 75 percent of the votes needed to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Phil Niekro comes closest with 68 percent.
- The New York Yankees won 1996 World Series defeating the Atlanta Braves.
[Basketball]
- April 1 – 1996 [NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game|NCAA Men's Basketball Championship] –
- * Kentucky wins 76–67 over Syracuse
- NBA Finals –
- * Chicago Bulls win 4 games to 2 over the Seattle SuperSonics, after a record-breaking 72-10 regular season.
- The 1996 NBA draft takes place at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Tied with the 1984 and 2003 drafts, this draft is considered one of the greatest in NBA history, as it included a class of several Hall of Famers such as Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, and Steve Nash.
- National Basketball League (Australia) Finals:
- * South East Melbourne Magic defeated the Melbourne Tigers 2–1 in the best-of-three final series.
[Boxing]
- March 16 – Christy Martin loses to Deirdre Gogarty by a decision in six rounds to retain her Women's boxing world title in front of a national TV audience. This fight is credited with making the general public aware of women's boxing.
- March 30 to April 7 – 1996 [European Amateur Boxing Championships|31st European Amateur Boxing Championships] held in Vejle, Denmark
- June 7 - Oscar De La Hoya defeats Julio César Chávez by 8th round to win the WBC's world Junior Welterweight championship.
[Canadian football]
- Grey Cup – Toronto Argonauts win 43–37 over the Edmonton Eskimos
- Vanier Cup – Saskatchewan Huskies win 31–12 over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men
- Ottawa Rough Riders fold
[Cricket]
- Cricket World Cup – Cricket World Cup Final|Final]: Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets
Cycling">Cycle sport">Cycling
- Giro d'Italia won by Pavel Tonkov of Russia
- Tour de France – Bjarne Riis of Denmark
- 1996 [UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race|UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race] – Johan Museeuw of Belgium
[Dogsled racing]
- Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion –
- * Jeff King wins with lead dogs: Jake & ''Booster''
[Field hockey]
- Field hockey at the [1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament|Olympic Games Men's Competition]: Netherlands
- Olympic Games Women's Competition: Australia
[Figure skating]
- World Figure Skating Championships –
- * Men's champion: Todd Eldredge, United States
- * Ladies' champion: Michelle Kwan, United States
- * Pairs' champions: Marina Eltsova / Andrei Bushkov, Russia
- * Ice dancing champions: Oksana Grishuk / Evgeny Platov, Russia
[Floorball]
- Men's World Floorball Championships
- * Champion: Sweden
- European Cup
- * Men's champion: Balrog IK
- * Women's champion: Högdalens AIS
[Gaelic Athletic Association]
- Camogie
- * 1996 All-Ireland Senior [Camogie Championship|All-Ireland Camogie Champion]: Galway
- * National Camogie League: Cork
- Gaelic football
- * All-Ireland Senior Football Championship – Kerry 2-9 died Mayo 1-11
- * National Football League (Ireland)|National Football League] – Derry 1-16 died Donegal 1-9
- Ladies' Gaelic football
- * All-Ireland Senior Football Champion: Monaghan
- * National Football League: Monaghan
- Hurling
- * 1996 All-Ireland Senior [Hurling Championship|All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship] – Wexford 1-13 died Limerick 0-14
- * National Hurling League – Galway 2–10 beat Tipperary 2–8
[Golf]
Men's professional- Masters Tournament - Nick Faldo
- U.S. Open - Steve Jones
- British Open - Tom Lehman
- PGA Championship - Mark Brooks
- PGA Tour money leader - Tom Lehman - $1,780,159
- Senior PGA Tour money leader - Jim Colbert - $1,627,890
- Tiger Woods turns professional in September. In the last five regular tournaments of the year on the PGA Tour, his finishes were T5-T3-1-3-1, placing him among the tour's top 30 money-winners for the year and thereby qualifying him for the season-ending The Tour Championship. Woods named the PGA Tour#Player and [rookie of the year awards|PGA Tour Rookie of the Year].
- British Amateur - Warren Bladon
- U.S. Amateur - Tiger Woods becomes the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. This was the sixth consecutive year in which he won a USGA championship, one short of Bobby Jones' record of seven.
- European Amateur - Daniel Olsson
- Nabisco Dinah Shore - Patty Sheehan
- LPGA Championship - Laura Davies
- U.S. Women's Open - Annika Sörenstam
- Classique du Maurier - Laura Davies
- LPGA Tour money leader - Karrie Webb - $1,002,000 - becomes the first ever woman to earn more than a million dollars in one golf season.
- The United States team retained the Solheim Cup beating the European team 17 to 11.
[Handball]
[Harness racing]
- June 22 - the fastest race mile in harness racing history was set by Jenna's Beach Boy at Meadowlands Racetrack
- North America Cup - Arizona Jack
- United States Pacing Triple Crown races –
- # Cane Pace - Scoot To Power
- # Little Brown Jug - Armbro Operative
- # Messenger Stakes - Go For Grins
- United States Trotting Triple Crown races –
- # Hambletonian - Continentalvictory
- # Yonkers Trot - Continentalvictory
- # Kentucky Futurity - Running Sea
- Australian Inter Dominion Harness Racing Championship –
- * Pacers: Young Mister Charles
- * Trotters: Pride Of Petite
[Horse racing]
- Inaugural running of the Dubai World Cup, promoted as the "world's richest horse race", at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai.
Flat races
- Australia – Melbourne Cup won by Saintly
- Canada – Queen's Plate won by Victor Cooley
- Dubai – Dubai World Cup won by Cigar
- France – Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe won by Helissio
- Ireland – Irish Derby Stakes won by Zagreb
- Japan – Japan Cup won by Singspiel
- English Triple Crown races:
- # 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Mark of Esteem
- # The Derby – Shaamit
- # St. Leger Stakes – Shantou
- United States Triple Crown races:
- # Kentucky Derby|Kentucky Derby] – Grindstone
- # Preakness Stakes – Louis Quatorze
- # Belmont Stakes – Editor's Note
- Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships:
- # Breeders' Cup Classic – Alphabet Soup
- # Breeders' Cup Distaff – Jewel Princess
- # Breeders' Cup Juvenile – Boston Harbor
- # Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies – Storm Song
- # Breeders' Cup Mile – Da Hoss
- # Breeders' Cup Sprint – Lit de Justice
- # Breeders' Cup Turf – Pilsudski
[Ice hockey]
- Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer during the regular season: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Hart Memorial Trophy – for the NHL's Most Valuable Player: Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins
- Stanley Cup Finals|Stanley Cup] - the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Florida Panthers 4 games to 0 for their first-ever Stanley Cup title. It was also the franchise's first season since relocating from Quebec City, where they were known as the Nordiques.
- World Cup of Hockey
- * Champion: United States defeated Canada
- World Hockey Championship
- * Men's champion: Czech Republic defeated Canada
- * Junior Men's champion: Canada defeated Sweden
- Phoenix Coyotes play inaugural season.
[Lacrosse]
- The Buffalo Bandits defeat the Philadelphia Wings 13–12 to win the Major Indoor Lacrosse League season|Major Indoor Lacrosse League] championship
[Mixed martial arts]
The following is a list of major noteworthy MMA events during 1996 in chronological order.Before 1997, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was considered the only major MMA organization in the world and featured much fewer rules then are used in modern MMA.
| Date | Event | Alternate Name/s | Location | Attendance | PPV Buyrate | Notes |
| February 16 | UFC 8: David vs. Goliath |  N/A[Professional Wrestling]
[Radiosport]
[Rugby league]
[Rugby union]
[Snooker]
Swimming">Swimming (sport)">Swimming
[Tennis]
[Volleyball]
[Water polo]
[Multi-sport event]s
Awards |