Rank your city's sports teams by popularity

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The "Indians" and "Redskins" names are already gone, along with all of their other native American inspired aspects like mascots, logos, imagery, etc.

My guess is that the same will happen to the Braves, Chiefs, and Blackhawks* by the end of this decade.


(*) The Blackhawks might be able to retain all or part of their name if they re-theme themselves to hawks, the birds.


I do like the idea of renaming the Braves to the "Atlanta Hammers" to honor Hank Aaron.

What a great idea and neat name for a team!

[SAN Man]

Atlanta Tomahawks? There's nothing racist about a hatchet that was and is still used today by people of all races and ethnicities around the world. We use tomahawk cruise missiles today.

[TempleGuy1000]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

I would change it to this:

1. Eagles
2. Phillies
3. 76ers (now)
4. Flyers (now)
5. Big 5 basketball
6. Penn State football
7. Union

I think the tide has changed, and the 76ers are 3rd in the area now over the Flyers. That has been the case for the last 5 years, and doesn't appear to get changed any time soon.

In general, the NBA has grown far more in popularity than the NHL has. One can try to estimate what effect the lockout and subsequent falling out between ESPN/Disney and the NHL had on the overall popularity of the league, but imo, Basketball's global growth has also contributed to it's increased popularity domestically.

IMO, if a vote was taken today:
1. Eagles
2. Sixers
3. Phillies
4. Flyers
5. College Sports
6. Union

It was a banner year for the Union which probably has pushed it's popularity to new heights around here. The Phillies 100% have the potential to be #2 overall and sell out the ballpark years on end, but they kind of have not made the playoffs in over a decade and it's hurting popularity. The Sixers are #1 in the NBA for home attendance several years running, so they get the nod for #2 in my book.

[mrnyc]

well its all in for the cavs these days in the cleve, but traditionally its browns, browns and the browns, with the err, guardians as second banana. the monsters are a popular ahl team too as cle has long hockey history despite no nhl team currently.

[PHX31]

Interesting thread, I enjoy reading these takes from each city. I'll take my own stab at Phoenix:

1. Suns - the original pro sports franchise in town. Even if Sarver has put a strain on the relationship, especially the last 10 years prior to the recent 2, this is a Suns town given their strong history.

2. Cardinals - the NFL is king. Even if there are a lot of transplants with their own allegiances and the Cards have mostly sucked badly since they relocated here in the 80s, they have a lot of fans and recent native Phoenicians are taking a liking to them as their own.

3. Diamondbacks - Phoenix is a big baseball town, but the D-backs haven't completely become ingrained yet. I mean, most people here like them as "their team", but aren't die hards yet. However, with Spring Training the AZ Fall league, etc., baseball as a whole is popular here.

4. ASU Sun Devils - Could possibly be higher than the Diamondbacks depending on the year.

5. UofA Wildcats

6. Coyotes - their ownership and arena situation and everything is sad for Phoenix. But I have hopes hockey can flourish if things get straightened out.
More and more ice sheets/rinks are being built and are popular and youth leagues are growing. Auston Matthews.

[mousquet]

PSG (Paris-Saint-Germain) must have the biggest budget of all soccer teams in the world by now.
Soccer being the world's most pop sport, no matter how North America dislikes it.

Here in Paris, we have Leo Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, the fastest forwards and worst pricks you could think of on the soccer planet.
Each one of them makes €40+ million a year, that's not taking merchandising, sponsoring or advertisement contracts into account.
These dudes make some crazy money for their daily living like CEOs and owners of the world's largest corporations.

But they don't play as a team because they're worried about their personal interests and because Paris is such a funny city when you get so much money.

I love this soccer club PSG. I've always been a fan of it since I was a kid, but it hurts when it's kinda corrupted by money and marketing.
That's not our actual values.

Soccer is a very team sport, huh. There is no success to it if you get too much into the individualistic super-star system.
It works only when a team works as a team.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mousquet

PSG (Paris-Saint-Germain) must have the biggest budget of all soccer teams in the world by now.
Soccer being the world's most pop sport, no matter how North America dislikes it.

Here in Paris, we have Leo Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar, the fastest forwards and worst pricks you could think of on the soccer planet.
Each one of them makes €40+ million a year, that's not taking merchandising, sponsoring or advertisement contracts into account.
These dudes make some crazy money for their daily living like CEOs and owners of the world's largest corporations.

But they don't play as a team because they're worried about their personal interests and because Paris is such a funny city when you get so much money.

I love this soccer club PSG. I've always been a fan of it since I was a kid, but it hurts when it's kinda corrupted by money and marketing.
That's not our actual values.

Soccer is a very team sport, huh. There is no success to it if you get too much into the individualistic super-star system.
It works only when a team works as a team.

They seem to be doing OK:

https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/ligue-1/page-classement-equipes/general

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Soccer being the world's most pop sport, no matter how North America dislikes it.

that's slowly changing.

MLS is now a 1 billion dollar league in terms of annual revenue.

i know that still puts it far behind the main euro-leagues, but it's also no longer the complete afterthought league it once was.

a billion dollars is a lot of money no matter who, what, or where you are.

in fact, according to wikipedia, there are only 14 $1B+ sports leagues in the entire world (across all sports), and the little old former joke league, MLS, is now one of them!


now, soccer almost certainly won't ever rise to alpha-level primacy in NA in any of our lifetimes, but saying that north america "dislikes" soccer isn't entirely accurate anymore. it just continues to take a back seat to other, even more popular sports, but its star is rising.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

They seem to be doing OK:

https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/ligue-1/page-classement-equipes/general

Are you kidding, Jack? No other team in France has any comparable budget. Even in entire Europe, I don't think anything could compare.
The team is owned and funded by the Emir of Qatar? Do you realize? The guy is so wealthy and such an absolutist king that he's been spending money in our team without even calculating. He doesn't care. All he wants is soccer stars on the pitch for his personal prestige.

Given the budget, I don't even care about the French league. I want the UEFA Champions League, the hardest soccer tournament to win in the world, because all the world's best soccer players are there.
They all want this title. Even the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA Euro are not that hard to win.

The only soccer tournament in the world to gather ABSOLUTELY ALL BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD is the UEFA Champions League. There's nothing like it.
It is the A++ tournament.

So, I'll be satisfied when PSG wins the Champs League. And not just once, but twice and so on.

[dchan]

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.

I mostly agree with this, except I wouldn't put Nets fans that high. They really have no fanbase right now except for maybe a bunch of Brooklynites or hipsters who are excited to finally have a pro sports team once again. I'm not sure if many NJ Nets fan commuted their allegiance to the BK Nets after the move. Prior to the recent KD teams, the fans making up much of the Nets' home crowd were NBA fans who couldn't afford to go to Knicks games (like myself).

The Rangers, Devils, and Islanders fanbases, on the other hand, are a much longer-lived and passionate group, even though the NHL is a less-popular league. It will take some time for the Nets fanbase to grow to the level of those teams' fanbases.

One other thing: the seating at Barclay's Center stinks, especially the upper levels. The seats on the upper levels are way high and angled sharply over the court. It feels like if you trip on the stairs on the upper level, you might roll all the way down to the court. I guess this steeply-raked seating arrangement might have something to do with the limited site space that was made available to build the arena.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Didn't the Islanders run into the same issue at Barclays that the Coyotes had when they played at the Suns arena with obstructed view seats in the upper concourse?

[jayden]

1. Braves
2. United (this one is actually close)
3. Falcons
4. Hawks

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Didn't the Islanders run into the same issue at Barclays that the Coyotes had when they played at the Suns arena with obstructed view seats in the upper concourse?

Yes. Barclays was initially conceived as a basketball/hockey arena, but then, due to budget overruns, was just built for basketball. So it was a really weird fit. You can do hockey, but it doesn't have great dimensions.

The Islanders now play in a new hockey-specific arena on the Queens/Long Island border, which also makes sense given their fanbase is mostly over there.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dchan

One other thing: the seating at Barclay's Center stinks, especially the upper levels. The seats on the upper levels are way high and angled sharply over the court. It feels like if you trip on the stairs on the upper level, you might roll all the way down to the court. I guess this steeply-raked seating arrangement might have something to do with the limited site space that was made available to build the arena.

Absolutely agree with you here. The upper level is uncomfortable. But the rest of the stadium seems fine.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Are you kidding, Jack? No other team in France has any comparable budget. Even in entire Europe, I don't think anything could compare.
The team is owned and funded by the Emir of Qatar? Do you realize? The guy is so wealthy and such an absolutist king that he's been spending money in our team without even calculating. He doesn't care. All he wants is soccer stars on the pitch for his personal prestige.

Given the budget, I don't even care about the French league. I want the UEFA Champions League, the hardest soccer tournament to win in the world, because all the world's best soccer players are there.
They all want this title. Even the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA Euro are not that hard to win.

The only soccer tournament in the world to gather ABSOLUTELY ALL BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD is the UEFA Champions League. There's nothing like it.
It is the A++ tournament.

So, I'll be satisfied when PSG wins the Champs League. And not just once, but twice and so on.

I know, just teasing you.

Allez l'OM! (Just teasing you again. I don't have a favourite team in Ligue 1.)

[MolsonExport]

Nobody cares about London (Ontario), let alone the ranking of the sports teams based here.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Allez l'OM! (Just teasing you again. I don't have a favourite team in Ligue 1.)

I never disliked Marseille's team, huh. I'm not your average PSG fan. I have respect for any (French) team. Even for Lyon whose the soccer club owner is a difficult man to deal with (Jean-Michel Aulas, a worst prick).

Marseille won the Champs League once, in 1993, but it was something different back then. The tournament is not quite the same today.
And the owner of their club was a noisy crook too back then anyway.
Bernard Tapie! I'm sure you heard of him cause he was so loud.
But I've always liked the character somehow, because he was no hypocrite. Somehow, he would always say and do what was on his nasty mind, which I have respect for.
May his soul have some rest in God.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Didn't the Islanders run into the same issue at Barclays that the Coyotes had when they played at the Suns arena with obstructed view seats in the upper concourse?

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yes. Barclays was initially conceived as a basketball/hockey arena, but then, due to budget overruns, was just built for basketball. So it was a really weird fit. You can do hockey, but it doesn't have great dimensions.

The Islanders now play in a new hockey-specific arena on the Queens/Long Island border, which also makes sense given their fanbase is mostly over there.

That sounds correct. The upper level seating seemed to sit just above the the basketball court. So I'd imagine you wouldn't be able to see the action near the boards under you with the larger hockey rink.

Also IIRC, the seating for Islanders games was U-shaped. Meaning that the seats behind one of the goals was unoccupied.

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Absolutely agree with you here. The upper level is uncomfortable. But the rest of the stadium seems fine.

Yep, the lower level seats were generally fine. But the whole vibe of the arena was fairly cold. The concourses surrounding the arena is decorated in polished concrete surfaces that's not very friendly or inviting, and they feel fairly narrow and tall in general.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by mousquet

I never disliked Marseille's team, huh. I'm not your average PSG fan. I have respect for any (French) team. Even for Lyon whose the soccer club owner is a difficult man to deal with (Jean-Michel Aulas, a worst prick).

Marseille won the Champs League once, in 1993, but it was something different back then. The tournament is not quite the same today.
And the owner of their club was a noisy crook too back then anyway.
Bernard Tapie! I'm sure you heard of him cause he was so loud.
But I've always liked the character somehow, because he was no hypocrite. Somehow, he would always say and do what was on his nasty mind, which I have respect for.
May his soul have some rest in God.

Yes I know Bernard Tapie for four things:

OM

Fraud

Politics

Adidas

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yeah, I feel some of these perspectives are strictly white male perspectives, which granted, makes up a good portion of the sports-following public, but may skew our observations.

Like NHL. Nowhere in the U.S. is the NHL dominant, like football (or like NHL in Canada). Even in places like Michigan or Minnesota. Nonwhite Americans, who are now the majority in most of the biggest metros, have almost no NHL following. Go to a Red Wings game and try and find a nonwhite fan (OK, you'll see the random Asian/Hispanic/AA girlfriend accompanied by white boyfriend).

White males make up around 32% of all US residents, of course their views on this subject are going to trump black males who make up around 7% of the US population.