[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by mdovell

I don't work in the sports industry but I'd have to argue that there has to be some actual financial figure when they assume that there's fan loyalty. When someone says they're a fan of a team are we looking at simply watching the game, attending a game, buying season tickets etc TV ratings are obvious but there's also streaming. I've got Fire TV and can pick up baseball games without having to subscribe to cable or the Yes Network or nesn.

^ Yeah. The CT populace is pretty damn loyal. It would be harder to break this market over .. Austin TX or Vegas for example which don't really have loyalties woven into them to the extreme CT does.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

New London area is and was more Red Sox than Yankees.

But RI in the 1950s was close to half Italian. Italians favored Yankees at that time because DiMaggio etc. RI had a huge Italian American population and I think in the MLB thread some links posted showed at some time 40%+ of RI Italians supported Yankees over Red Sox. In genesis in the 70s about a quarter of RI were Yankees fans. Now thats down to about 10%. But towns like Cranston and Johnston are almost 20% Yankees still to this day. Which also happen to be the most Italian cities. If you look East Greenwich, its less than >5% Yankees. So it really is a transcendent from the past! I also think Boston had a very small Italian American Yankee fanbase in the 1960s. A few hundred in Revere and Saugus.

I think back in the day it was lessNE=Red Sox and NYS=Yankees and it was more who was being aired in the area or what immigrant group/people supported a team.

Ie, Oswego NY aired Yankees and Pulaski aired Red Sox on Radio well into the 1980s which definitely impacted fandom. Its pretty cool. But Utica aired Yankees and Saratoga only had Red Sox. It created little bubbles everywhere and then when you got to RI and CT you had huge Italian American Yankee bubbles that formed.

Then you had Mets fans come when the Dodgers and Giants left NYC.

Also.. NY Giants fandom had over 5% of locals in East MA well into the 2000s. Id also say 10% of the Silent Generation in MA were Giants fans because that was the predominant fanbase there. That was the local team before Pats. But NFL/AFL didnt have much of a fanbase until the Boston Patriots in the area.

Tying back to CT, i think as the line gets more prevalent you might see more younger Yankee fans develop southwest of Hartford County. And from Hartford County and Northeast… you might see more younger Red Sox fans. Although NYC migration might have impacted that a bit.

So with that, I dont think Hartford would be able to support a NFL or MLB team.

Very interesting....thanks for sharing.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

Very interesting....thanks for sharing.

Yeah researching the history of sports fandom geography is pretty cool. I made a thread on it once. But using that knowledge and applying it here just shows an NFL team might not be practical.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by JayCT

No but the kids could be persuaded and become Red Sox fans. I’ve seen it happen in a number of families.

It could but winning does that too. Around here you'd see Golden State Warriors Curry jerseys on every other kid a couple of years ago. Not anymore.

Frequent trips to the 3rd place Boston Red Sox's affiliated team in Hartford could sway impressionable youths, yes. It could have a "sweeping" effect.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

It could but winning does that too. Around here you'd see Golden State Warriors Curry jerseys on every other kid a couple of years ago. Not anymore.

Frequent trips to the 3rd place Boston Red Sox's affiliated team in Hartford could sway impressionable youths, yes. It could have a "sweeping" effect.

Yeah. In upstate NY, there was always that great mix of Lakers, Patriots, Yankees and either Bruins/Penguins fans

[7 Wishes]

Gov. Lamont just tweeted that the Yard Goats drew more fans than the Marlins or Rays on Tuesday night.

[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

Gov. Lamont just tweeted that the Yard Goats drew more fans than the Marlins or Rays on Tuesday night.

That's amazing.

[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Whats the NHL like?

What towns do you want me to look into for the NHL?

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by ProudFairfielder

What towns do you want me to look into for the NHL?

hmm Greenwich, Avon and Guilford. I feel like thats a good indication.

[ProudFairfielder]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

hmm Greenwich, Avon and Guilford. I feel like thats a good indication.

Ok!

Greenwich:

Bruins: 1600 likes
Rangers: 2300 likes
Islanders: 1700 likes

Guilford:
Bruins: <1000 (it's not more specific than that)
Rangers: <1000
Islanders: <1000

Well, that's not that helpful. I'll do Branford and New Haven instead because larger towns don't run into this issue.

Branford:
Bruins 1.1K
Rangers <1K
Islanders <1K

New Haven:
Bruins: 1.7K
Rangers: 1.1K
Islanders: 1.4K

Ok, now I'm curious if that Bruins plurality extends all the way to Fairfield.

Fairfield:
Bruins: 1.8K
Rangers: 2.2K (clearly not, and wow we have a lot of hockey fans!)
Islanders: 1.6K

Avon:
Bruins: <1K
Rangers: <1K
Islanders: <1K

Great. Trying WeHa instead.

West Hartford:
Bruins: 2K
Rangers: <1K
Islanders: <K

Yea, that makes sense. If even NH has a Boston plurality I'd expect the Hartford area to be solid Boston fans.