Rank your city's sports teams by popularity

[aderwent]

Off the top of my head; in Columbus:

1. Ohio State football
2. Blue Jackets
3. Cleveland Browns
4. Cincinnati Bengals
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
6. Ohio State basketball
7. Cleveland Indians Guardians
8. Cincinnati Reds
9. Crew
10. Clippers
11. Ohio State hockey
12. Pittsburgh Penguins

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Interesting.. As an outsider, I always thought it was Bears or Cubs 1/2, Bulls / Blackhawks 3/4 then the rest..

For the LA area, I would rank local teams as follows (Angels and Ducks would be higher in an oc centric poll)

1) Lakers
2) Dodgers



3) USC Football
4) Rams


5) UCLA Basketball
6) UCLA Footbal
7) Kings
8) Clippers
9) Galaxy
10) LAFC
11) Angels

12) Ducks
13) USC Basketball
14) Sparks

Where are the Chargers? lol

Assuming we’re talking the whole metro, Angels should definitely rank higher than the two MLS teams. They consistently draw great attendance (better than their New York, Chicago, and Bay Area counterparts).

I would put Angels, Kings, Clippers, UCLA, and Ducks in the same tier. Angels are easily first, Kings/Clippers are about even, and Ducks are definitely last. I don’t know where I’d rank the UCLA teams.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

My take on New York:
Yankees
Knicks - very similar to the Lions dynamic in commiserating over false hope or their inevitably terrible season. Probably has the most geographically dispersed fanbase of any local team, but fans nowhere near as rabid as the Yankees fans.
Giants- tends to have similar fan base as Yankees but not as rabid.
Mets/Jets- same fan base
Nets- still kinda viewed as a carpetbagger team. All of the sincere fans are in Brooklyn and almost nowhere else in the region.


Rangers- Almost never hear about them unless they are having a really good season.




Devils/Islanders - Devils fans live west of the Hudson. Islanders fans live east of the Cross Island Pkwy. You don't really hear about them unless they're having good seasons.

As an outside observer, the sense I get is that New Yorkers really care about the Knicks and Mets, although the fandom is more closeted. You’ll find a lot of people who say they are fans of those teams, but don’t really follow them too closely. Or at least that’s the case with the Mets, who have lots of fans by virtue of family and nostalgia. The Knicks easily have pound-for-pound the most passionate fan base when considering the lack of success vis-a-vis loyalty and media coverage.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Assuming we’re talking the whole metro, Angels should definitely rank higher than the two MLS teams. They consistently draw great attendance (better than their New York, Chicago, and Bay Area counterparts).

maybe OC had covid weirdness last season(?), but, surprisingly, the mets and white sox actually (barely) outdrew the angels in average attendance for 2021.

but yeah, pre-pandemic, the Angles were a consistent top 10 (and sometimes top 5) team in average attendance for the previous two decades, whereas the mets have been more middling, and the white sox have slid from middling to now bottom 10 in attendance (except last season with covid weirdness and a 1st place team).

the A's have had moribund attendance for a good long while now, in large part thanks to all of the uncertainty surrounding the team's future, i'm guessing. it's high time for that franchise to just make a fucking plan already and execute it.

[SAN Man]

The OC fanbase is weird. As soon as you cross into it, you rarely see SD hats, flags, stickers. The baseball hats that you do see are Angels and some Dodgers.

I was at a friend's house in Perris a couple days ago (not OC, Riverside Co) He's a Dodger fan, had a LA Dodgers flag draped in his garage and he was wearing a Dodger hat even though it's February.

Perris is 45 minutes north of Escondido and Esco is solid Padre country. Perris is 47 miles from Angel Stadium of Anaheim, 73 miles from Dodger Stadium and 90 miles from Petco Park.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Best I can tell for Phoenix:
Suns
Cardinals
Diamondbacks
ASU Sun Devils
UofA Wildcats
Mercury
Coyotes (way down at the bottom, could change if they get their arena shit figured out provided they stay east of Downtown)

Because of the transient population, lots of Chicago, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Southern California fandoms represented as well. Countless Bears, Packers and Vikings bars on football Sundays. Anytime the Dodgers and Cubs play the Diamondbacks, it's a visiting team home game. Cactus League spring training wouldn't be what it is (a racket) without the Cubs.

For Cincinnati?
Bengals
Reds
UC Bearcats
Xavier Musketeers
UK Wildcats

When I lived there, Ohio State was not popular at all, and UC had the better football team last season. Notre Dame also has a significant following because of the huge Catholic population, and then there's a smattering of college basketball representation for Dayton, Indiana and Louisville because of proximity.

Cincinnati will always be a baseball town (Opening Day is a regional holiday) but recency bias gives the edge to the Bengals. If only the Reds had ownership whose primary goal was something besides slashing payroll...

[Blitz]

Detroit Tigers
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Lions
Toronto Maple Leafs
Windsor Spitfires
Toronto Blue Jays
Detroit Pistons
Toronto Raptors
Michigan Wolverines
Windsor Express

It's a bit fluid though. If the Lions could string together more than two consecutive winning seasons they'd probably rise to the top.

[Crawford]

For Detroit area, it's the Lions, IMO. They're the only sport that's a a main topic on local sports talk radio all year. Despite their epic suck, the Lions are always a hot topic. Second are the Wings. Tigers are generally seasonal, and Pistons are rarely talked about unless they're good. Michigan and Michigan State Football would probably be up there with the Wings.

For NY area, has to be the Yankees and Mets. Again, the only teams talked about all year on local sports radio. NFL and NBA are about even, and next. NHL is big among white ethnics, but that isn't a majority of the region. Islander fans are nuts but it's very niche. MLS is growing but still pales in comparison to Euro leagues. CFB is almost never mentioned in the NE corridor, unless you're an alum of a major program, or maybe a bit come playoffs time, but it's treated like the EPL or something (some distant curiosity).

[MonkeyRonin]

For Toronto I'd say:

1. Leafs
2. Raptors
3. Jays
4. Toronto FC
5. Argonauts (CFL)

Though, just within the past few years I wouldn't be surprised if the Raptors are giving the Leafs a run for their money - that's certainly the case for younger demographics already. Having won a championship within the lifetime of most current fans definitely helps.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by badrunner

So the Chargers are below the Sparks?
You probably just forgot. I'd put them at #9 below the Clippers.

Ha I did forget.. Ya that's fair

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Where are the Chargers? lol

Assuming we’re talking the whole metro, Angels should definitely rank higher than the two MLS teams. They consistently draw great attendance (better than their New York, Chicago, and Bay Area counterparts).

I would put Angels, Kings, Clippers, UCLA, and Ducks in the same tier. Angels are easily first, Kings/Clippers are about even, and Ducks are definitely last. I don’t know where I’d rank the UCLA teams.

Ya Socal rankings would be different and the Angels would definitely move up the list but my list was LA centric

[Omaharocks]

Atlanta is a tough one, because the urban/suburban divide is bigger than most places due to placement of stadiums/historic fan bases etc.

To take a stab at it, City of Atlanta:

1) Atlanta United/Hawks (tied) I'd actually argue that 3 or so years ago, Atlanta United was #1 within the city
2) Falcons
3) Braves (may be tied with Falcons now due to championship)
4) UGA Football

Atlanta region:

1) Braves/Falcons (tied)
2) UGA Football
3) Atlanta United/Hawks (tied)

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

taking a stab at chicago, i'd say:

1. bears
2. bulls
3. blackhawks
4. cubs
5. sox
6. fire
7. ND football? or maybe the big 10, collectively? there are A LOT big 10 grads in this town, but no single team dominates the local market.

(college sports play second fiddle to pro sports in chicago)




if we only had one MLB team, it'd certainly be higher on the list, but the cubs and sox cleave the city in two on that front.

neither one can unite the entire city and metro area behind them like the first 3 can.

Dude, the cubs are definitely Chicago's most popular export. I bet their team revenue is the city's highest.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Anyway, for Pittsburgh, I'd go with:

1. Steelers
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Penguins
3. Pirates
4. Pitt football
5. Penn State football
6. Pitt basketball

Penguins and Pirates at #2 and #3 could arguably be switched around, but since the Pirates have been bad for so long and the Penguins good, I think hockey has gained a stronger foothold at the distant second position to the Steelers. Pittsburgh is so Steelers dominated that it's really annoying.

Similar here. NHL >>> the rest.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

Dude, the cubs are definitely Chicago's most popular export. I bet their team revenue is the city's highest.

Nationally, the cubs might be #1 outside of Chicagoland, but within Chicagoland the bears are unquestionably #1 because they don't have to "share" the city/metro area with another football team.

The Bears unite, and therefore own, Chicagoland.

The Cubs and Sox only divide it.

[plinko]

Originally Posted by badrunner

Here's the total annual attendance for LA area teams. Mostly 2021 data.

Dodgers - 2,804,693
Angels - 1,505,024
Lakers - 522,250
Rams - 571,791
Kings - 575,151
Chargers - 572,791
Clippers - 459,361

The Chargers aren't going anywhere.

A lot of people don’t really seem to think of LA as a baseball city, but prior to 2020, both the Dodgers and the Angels were over 3M in attendance for many years, even when they weren’t great.

[bnk]

I saw the Atlanta post and question it


How many cities with a NFL team is not ranked an NLF team as number 1?


I would only guess it would be just a tiny minority

Perhaps large city's like LA or NYC with more than one NFL team could pull it off.

But in Minnesota, Kansas city or Tampa for example, cannot see many metros that can displace an NFL team.

MLB might get more seats in the stands because of their number of games played, but when it comes to viewership on a percentage and TV revenue, NFL is Number one across the USA as far as I understand it.

I cannot envision too many metros with a NFL team not being the number one.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by bnk

I saw the Atlanta post and question it


How many cities with a NFL team is not ranked an NLF team as number 1?


I would only guess it would be just a tiny minority

Perhaps large city's like LA or NYC with more than one NFL team could pull it off.

But in Minnesota, Kansas city or Tampa for example, cannot see many metros that can displace an NFL team.

MLB might get more seats in the stands because of their number of games played, but when it comes to viewership on a percentage and TV revenue, NFL is Number one across the USA as far as I understand it.

I cannot envision too many metros with a NFL team not being the number one.

I think poster was considering only the city of Atlanta, not the metro area. It's not unfeasible that due to demographic differences, the two will diverge.

[JManc]

Right now:

Astros (they are solid team now)
Texans (they are absolutely terrible)
Rockets
Dynamo
U. of Houston
Rice University
Skeeters (minor league baseball)

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by JManc

Right now:

Astros (they are solid team now)
Texans (they are absolutely terrible)
Rockets
Dynamo
U. of Houston
Rice University
Skeeters (minor league baseball)

I would have expected the Aggies and Longhorns to have a bigger following than UH?