Rank your city's sports teams by popularity

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

White males make up around 32% of all US residents

but nowhere close to that % in most major US cities.

and this thread is about the relative popularity of various teams within cities, not which teams all of the corn farmers in Iowa cheer for.

[Labtec]

Atlanta:
#1 UGA (won the Natty)
#2 Braves (won the World Series)
#3 United (won MLS cup a few years ago)
#4 Hawks (went to Eastern conference finals last year, young superstar in Trae Young)
#5 Falcons (went to the Super Bowl... let's forget about that, they were much higher during the Michael Vick era).

[SAN Man]

TV ratings would determine which sport has the most interest in each metropolitan region regardless of the local demographic differences between cities.

[manchester united]

Napoli (Italy)
ONLY SSC Napoli!!!

P.S. In 2019 I was in NYC and I noted the great popularity of the New York City FC (I saw more NYCFC caps and shirts than Yankees caps and shirts)! And in 2021 they won their MLS CUP...

[MolsonExport]

The only thing that matters in Montreal

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by dchan

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.

Yeah, it's mostly generic stadium, but the suites are nice. I've only been in suites at Barclays, Yankee Stadium, and CitiField, but Barclays was definitely the best of those three.

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The only thing that matters in Montreal

Are there still Expos/Nationals fans in Montreal?

Same question for Grizzlies fans in Vancouver, or have they moved on to supporting the Raptors?

[Buckeye Native 001]

I'm sure there's still Expos diehards but MLB and Loria did everything in their power to ruin baseball fandom in Montreal.

I collect/wear t-shirts of old/defunct/relocated sports teams and every once in a while when I wear my Expos shirt I run into someone, even in Arizona, lament how Montreal got screwed.

[edale]

For Cincinnati, the Reds have to be number 1. The Reds are the only/one of the only? teams to always open at home, and Opening Day is essentially a holiday in the city. They have a big parade and tons of people take off work/school just to go to the parade and be downtown, even if they don't have tickets.

The Bengals are certainly number 2. With this season's Super Bowl run, they've probably never been more popular. No doubt the whole region is extremely excited about the Bengals this year, and I heard Cincinnati Public Schools has already called off school for the day after the SB. That said, the Reds have been in Cincinnati since 1869. The Bengals came in the 1960s. Hard to overcome 100 more years of history.

After the two big pro teams, it's probably FC Cincinnati, the new MLS team. They got going after I moved away, but I know their big following allowed them to ascend from the minor leagues to the MLS in a span of only a few years. They have a big new stadium and seem to be pretty popular despite being shitty for their entire time in the MLS.

College basketball would probably be 4th. With University of Cincinnati being the most popular, followed by Xavier. Both have pretty storied basketball histories.

UC football is probably next. Despite their success of late, their fandom seems to mostly be students and alums. It wasn't too long ago when they didn't even check tickets for Bearcats football games. Their success is all recent, so they aren't nearly embedded in the community as the basketball team is.

After that, probably University of Kentucky basketball, Ohio State football, and the Cleveland Cavs would probably be the most popular teams.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

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.

Right, but we aren't talking about national numbers, rather metropolitan numbers. And we aren't talking about whites/blacks but whites/nonwhites.

Most major U.S. metros are majority nonwhite these days. Hockey doesn't have much of a nonwhite fan base. MLB, too, is probably losing (relative) popularity because its fan base is shrinking.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

MLB, too, is probably losing (relative) popularity because its fan base is shrinking.

Perhaps overall, but I will say the last time I was at a sox game last summer, the percentage of Latino fans in the stands was large enough to be very noticeable.

[Manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Washington is obviously an NFL town. Redskins/Commanders are #1 by a longshot. Washington is one of the most loyal NFL towns, especially in the AA community. All the NFC East teams have hardcore fanbases.

And hatred of ownership indicates passion, not apathy.

Is this a sarcastic post? http://www.espn.com/nfl/attendance

Keep scrolling till you get to D.C. Hint: We're between the metro with 1.6 million people, and the one famous for urban blight and despair.

Also, don't sort home attendance by %. It won't look pretty.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Manitopiaaa

Is this a sarcastic post? http://www.espn.com/nfl/attendance

Keep scrolling till you get to D.C. Hint: We're between the metro with 1.6 million people, and the one famous for urban blight and despair.

Also, don't sort home attendance by %. It won't look pretty.

Ya his post might have made sense 10 or 15 years ago

Last few years have been dismal for the Washington football team

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Washington is obviously an NFL town. Redskins/Commanders are #1 by a longshot. Washington is one of the most loyal NFL towns, especially in the AA community. All the NFC East teams have hardcore fanbases.

And hatred of ownership indicates passion, not apathy.

This is just wrong. The Commies are widely regarded as the worst run team (maybe the Jags might have something to say about it) with the worst stadium in the NFL with the worst owner in the league. This is well known.

The only thing that might save the Commies is if they knock down RFK Stadium (which looks likely) and build a new stadium in it's place.


• Video Link

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by 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.

I live in the IE (Riverside). In terms of baseball fans, I'd say it's 60/40 Dodger fans over Angels fans, plenty of Lakers, growing Rams fanbase and zero Chargers and Padres fans. People overlook the Inland Empire quite a bit.

[38 Geary]

I actually could see the argument that the Commandos are Washington's number 1 team, but more because the rest of their sports teams are so mediocre. When they were the Redskins, they won 3 Super Bowls. Yes, they've been terrible lately, but they still have the most history in Washington.

If you look at the Nationals, yeah, they won a World Series in 2019, but they don't have the longevity/historical/legacy factor, and their record since moving to DC, as well as their attendance, has been mediocre.

The Wizards haven't won an NBA Finals since 1978, and have been largely irrelevant since then. The only notable events are trotting out a washed MJ and the Gilbert Arenas incident where he brought guns into the locker room. And I believe their arena location resulted in the dissolution of their Chinatown, reduced to a population of 400 where they have to travel 14 miles to to nearest Asian market. In short, they're a joke.

I don't follow hockey, so I can't really comment on the Capitals, but it looks like they're the only franchise in DC with recent, sustained success. I think they also have Alexander Ovechkin, who is considered one of the greatest players in NHL history, which none of DC's other sports teams can claim for their respective sports. But the NHL is not as popular as the top 3 sports generally.

[BrandonJXN]

Btw if you have 90 minutes to kill, I highly recommend you check this out. The history of every single stadium that housed an NFL team. And by every stadium I mean each and every one.

https://youtu.be/sWSO4BxJkVk

[pico44]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

i'll give Wisconsin a shot:

If you’re really looking at the whole state, then you’re ignoring a whole lotta Twins and Vikings fans in the western half of Wisconsin

[pico44]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Washington is obviously an NFL town. Redskins/Commanders are #1 by a longshot. Washington is one of the most loyal NFL towns, especially in the AA community. All the NFC East teams have hardcore fanbases.

And hatred of ownership indicates passion, not apathy.

This is absolutely correct. In fact, DC is one of the easier cities to identify the very-clear number one. Other cities with obvious number ones: Boston—Sox, Chicago—Bears, St Louis—Cardinals, Denver—Broncos, Dallas—Cowboys, Phoenix—Suns, Cincinnati—Reds. Slightly less obvious number-ones, but still pretty obvious: LA—Lakers, Philly—Eagles, MN—Twins, Miami—Dolphins, Atlanta—Braves, Pittsburgh—Steelers.

New York is tough. Such a ridiculously huge mass of people makes every sport feel massively important. If St Louis had the number of insane die-hard hockey fans that Greater NY has, it’d be a Blues town and it wouldn’t be close. And it’s like that with every sport. My feeling is that the Knicks are ultimately number one. Nothing gets this city to vibrate like the mere possibility of the Knicks being good. Remember Linsanity? That was like, two or three weeks of the Knicks being good and MSG was actually glowing red.

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by pico44

New York is tough. Such a ridiculously huge mass of people makes every sport feel massively important. If St Louis had the number of insane die-hard hockey fans that Greater NY has, it’d be a Blues town and it wouldn’t be close. And it’s like that with every sport. My feeling is that the Knicks are ultimately number one. Nothing gets this city to vibrate like the mere possibility of the Knicks being good. Remember Linsanity? That was like, two or three weeks of the Knicks being good and MSG was actually glowing red.

I still think it's the Yankees for New York. They're way more iconic, have wayyyy more history of success, and way more generational talent (Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio, Berra, Jeter, Rivera). The Bronx Bombers.

The Knicks are a vastly overrated franchise. They've only won 2 championships, last in 1973. They've been largely irrelevant for the better part of half a century, save for a decent run of success in the 90s with Ewing under Riley and Van Gundy, but they were overshadowed by the Bulls, and since then they've been absolute trash. They barely have a fraction of the star power that the Yankees had/have. Julius Randle is ya'lls best player. Let that sink in. If the Yankees had a Julius Randle equivalent player as their number one, it would be unacceptable.

It's really no contest.