Biggest Sport in MN (Minneapolis, Viking: home, high school, university)

[brhn87]

Hey everyone,

Two pronged question:

1) What is the most followed sports team in Minneapolis? I'm assuming it would be Vikings, Wild, Twinkies and then T Wolves

2) What are some fun sports bars / divey sports bars in the Uptown / Northloop area?

Curious if hockey is bigger than football in terms of fan base.

Thanks!

[BryaninMSP]

I think it's tough to quantify — I bet if you ask a hockey fan, they'll say the Wild are the biggest team in Minnesota, whereas if you ask a football fan they'll say it's the Vikings. And if the Twins are having a good season, it can feel like they're the only team in the state (although it's been so long since they had a good season maybe I'm glorifying them in my mind).

If you were to rank by total attendance for the most-recent season where numbers are available, it would be:

1. Twins (2,220,054)
2. Wild (777,950)
3. Timberwolves (595,652)
4. Vikings (417,906)

Of course, it's hard to compare the 8 home games for the Vikings with the 81 home games for the Twins. So per game, it works out to:

1. Vikings (52,238 — at TCF Bank Stadium, which has a smaller capacity)
2. Twins (27,408)
3. Wild (18,523)
4. Timberwolves (14,528)

If you're judging in terms of attendance to capacity, the ranking would be:

1. Wild (100%)
2. Vikings (99%)
3. Timberwolves (75%)
4. Twins (69%)

And then if you get away from attendance and look at Facebook fans, it goes like this:

1. Vikings (1.9 million)
2. Timberwolves (1.6 million)
3. Twins (1.1 million)
4. Wild (603,000)

In other words, every team gets 1st place in one category except the T'Wolves. So I think I can safely say that the Wolves are the least-followed team in the area (and looking at their recent record and the sorry state of the Target Center, that should surprise no one). As far as first place, I think it's a bit of a toss-up. Everyone has their preference (my wife and I, for example, never miss a Vikings game on TV, but we'll take a Wild game in person over a Vikings game any day).

[Unsettomati]

Professional:
Hands down, this is a football town. Vikings.

College:
Tough to say. The major college sports (football and basketball) are so chronically bad - with occasional exciting bursts where they rise to merely mediocre - that the comparatively minor but reliably very good hockey is able to compete on a popularity level.

High school:
Hockey. Period.

[Citykid3785]

I would still say Vikings, but hockey holds more weight here than in other cities, so it may give off the appearance that it's the biggest sport, but I still feel like I hear the most about football.

[ellysbelly]

My view is likely skewed as we're a hockey family, but I would say that there's a more rabid following for the University of Minnesota men's hockey team than there is for the Wild (likely because there was a big gap after the North Stars left and the Wild came in-- and the U was the only hockey around).

This is most definitely a sports loving area-- the Timberwolves seem to be 4th in terms of interest.. and anecdotally, while I see people sporting Twins, Wild and Vikings t-shirts, hoodies, and hats all of the time, I rarely see someone wearing Timberwolves gear.

[Ghengis]

attendance figures are pretty irrelevant given the disparity in number of games available.

for the past half-century the Vikings have been undisputed kings and it isn't even close. Their TV ratings consistently are among the tops in the NFL and hover around a 25 rating on average.

Last year the Twins had a big surge in their ratings yet still only managed a little over 4.0 with the Wild slightly higher for their '14 - '15 regular season. T-wolves averaged a rating just over 1.0 for the first half of last season.

It's unlikely that the boys state hockey tourney exceeds the tv numbers that the Twins and Wild put up by very much.

[Hosken Powell]

The T Wolves are beleaguered but they have the youngest fan base in the area. Over half their fans are age 18-34. They are also the only sport in the area where the number of fans in that age demographic has increased. In comparison, the Twins have the oldest fan base, over half their fans are over age 55.

However, the area is producing senior citizens faster than young people so demographics will continue to favor the Twins.

[cathedralhill1]

The Twins created some special memories for their fans since they're the only ones who won a championship--twice. To me it just puts them in a different place than the others.

[StPaulGal]

Originally Posted by Citykid3785

I would still say Vikings, but hockey holds more weight here than in other cities, so it may give off the appearance that it's the biggest sport, but I still feel like I hear the most about football.

I would agree with this.

I don't think there is any disputing that football is what people are most likely to be watching and talking about. If someone says "did you catch the game this week," its more than likely to be the Vikings game they are referring to.

But I think individual hockey fans are more...intense about it. Plenty of people watch football for the water cooler chit chat, but the people who watch hockey tend to be doing it because they truly care what is going on.

[Ghengis]

if we are looking at sports participation, especially outstate, the rankings would likely be something like this...

1) running from out of the woods
2) shooting at anything that moves in the woods
3) shooting at any noises in the woods
4) shooting at things that are hiding from you and can't be seen or heard in the woods