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I don't feel like crunching the numbers, but remember previously reading that the Cleveland Browns have the highest attendance-per-victory ratio for the past decade. Think about that....sigh...
Not a stat to boast about too much, but this city sure as hell shows up for its teams.
On a fun note, check out this video from a Browns fan named Mike Polk, ending his rant with, of course, "I'll see you Sunday..." LOL. He knows he'll be in the stands cheering again that week:
Probably because people out west can do more outdoor activities close to home. I.E. Ski, surf, rock climb, hike etc.
In my experience people out east tend to stay in doors more often. Mainly because they do not have easy access to real life sports outside. Therefore they live vicariously through sports teams.
No it's because more of the population does not have Deep roots there so the teams don't mean as much.
In terms of professional sports I would say it's more an east cost/midwest obsession overall, but there are pockets elsewhere. Besides the obvious cities like NYC, Boston and Chicago you have cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Buffalo and St Louis that have tried and true local fans, versus the bandwagon variety who tend to jump on the NY/Boston teams fan base when winning. Denver has always done a good job of supporting it's teams as well as Dallas though one sense's more bandwagon-ism there. San Francisco seems to do well for a west coast city and sticks out in my mind as the exception there.
I don't get that sense of bandwagon fans in Dallas. They do a good job supporting their teams. The Stars are going through a transition mode. Terrible ownership and managing the last few years has turned the base off from them. Same thing happen wuth the Rangers who also was under the same ownership as the Stars.
As bad as Seahawks and Mariners are, they're still playing to huge crowds. There some devotion to the "lovable losers"... and with the Mariners, people do get excited about their "one game winning streak". Most Seattleites were upset about losing the Sonics, but politics worked against them. As it stands right now, Soccer is the huuuuuugeee thing. No one else is as passionate about their soccer team the way Seattle is (Portland comes close, but they're just not as good )
I think L.A. with two soccer teams wins on that one.
I think the initial point is false, just a stereotype perpetuated ad infinitum.
Lowest average attendance this year of four major professional sports: NFL
32. Cincinatti 49,619 (MIDWEST)
31. Tampa Bay 54,973 (SOUTHEAST)
30. St. Louis 56,455 (MIDWEST)
MLB
30. Oakland 18,232 (WEST)
29. Tampa Bay 18,878 (SOUTHEAST)
28. Florida 19,007 (SOUTHEAST)
NHL
30. Phoenix 10,671 (WEST)
29. Dallas 11,305 (SOUTH)
28. NY Islanders 13,039 (NORTHEAST)
The West is not represented in the bottom attendance rankings any more than any other region. The simple fact of the matter is that fans will come when the product is good, and stay away when the product is bad.
It is also a complete fallacy to say that people in places like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, or wherever support a losing team no matter what.
If you don't believe me, take a look at the Pirates attendance, or the Twins attendance when they weren't doing that great. Or the Tigers.
It's complete B.S.
People in general just like to exaggerate on here. No one's been able to provide any real evidence that people in the West don't follow sports anymore than the rest of the country. In general a good chunk of the population of this country are warm weather sports fans. There's a group of diehard loyalists which varies from city to city, but if a team is winning you're going to get a ton more attention. If you look at attendance figures there's tons of old teams back east like the Baltimore Orioles that are at the bottom of the MLB in terms of average attendance percentage(only 48% last year, 29th out of 30 teams). I don't care how long someone's roots are in an area, most cities aren't going to pay to attend as many games when your team is in the cellar. The Midwest and South are riddled with pro franchises with dismal attendance figures. Not every city is like Boston where you've won all championship in each league in the last decade and have an old school fanbase.
People in general just like to exaggerate on here. No one's been able to provide any real evidence that people in the West don't follow sports anymore than the rest of the country. In general a good chunk of the population of this country are warm weather sports fans. There's a group of diehard loyalists which varies from city to city, but if a team is winning you're going to get a ton more attention. If you look at attendance figures there's tons of old teams back east like the Baltimore Orioles that are at the bottom of the MLB in terms of average attendance percentage(only 48% last year, 29th out of 30 teams). I don't care how long someone's roots are in an area, most cities aren't going to pay to attend as many games when your team is in the cellar. The Midwest and South are riddled with pro franchises with dismal attendance figures. Not every city is like Boston where you've won all championship in each league in the last decade and have an old school fanbase.
Ya know, I always thought of it being more attached to history. Like most East Coast / Midwest cities have developed decades long rivalries whereas the West more or less developed later in time. Also, Western cities are more spread out so until transportation got really efficient, playing other teams and travelling with them was probably expensive and/or very time consuming.
These are cities with NFL teams. I don't imagine too many people out west traveled every weekend to see a football game back in it's earlier days.
From Wikipedia.
In modern times, I assume that while there may be numbers to show that people are interested in sports, I don't think there's really a strong cultural attachment like it is on the East Coast.
EDIT: Actually, baseball is a better example because it was actually confined to the northeast in its early history. Whatever, I used football.
Last edited by animatedmartian; 11-29-2011 at 02:27 PM..
"Finally, the MLS recognized the Northwest as a passionate soccer hotbed (who knew?), aggressively expanding with the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps. The Seattle Sounders lead the league in attendance with 38,496 per game, more than doubling the league average."
"Finally, the MLS recognized the Northwest as a passionate soccer hotbed (who knew?), aggressively expanding with the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps. The Seattle Sounders lead the league in attendance with 38,496 per game, more than doubling the league average."
But can Seattle support two teams? The Home Depot Center can only hold 80% of Seattle's capacity, so of course it won't average as many fans for each team, but the total number of fans attending MLS games in L.A. is higher, almost twice as high.
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He knows he'll be in the stands cheering again that week:
)
LA isn't as passionate as Seattleites on Soccer. Seattle Sounders lead the MLS in attendance by a mile.
