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You just need stars. In the 80s when the Hawks had Dominique, the Omni was packed every night. The Hawks have a young superstar in Trae Young and the Hawks are trending up team. The Falcons were also popular in the city when Michael Vick was the primary QB, it was hard to get tickets to the Georgia Dome. The Braves and UGA have a huge following now but before the Superstation TBS and when the Braves were losing in the 80s, Fulton County Stadium was empty and no one really paid much attention to them. That all changed with TBS, Ted Turner, and winning all those division titles in the 90s.
This... the Hawks probably is their lack of star power, they haven't had a superstar since Dominque. Trey Young is arguably that next guy. What his ceiling is we don't know but in the modern NBA it really takes at least two superstars to be a championship contender so if they want to make it to the conference finals consistently they will have to find another superstar somehow.
Last edited by MichiganderTexan; 02-07-2022 at 07:15 AM..
True, but I feel like UGA (and to a smaller extent, the Braves) are the only teams that people will support regardless of wins. Like for example, in Chicago the Cubs were crap this season yet they were still selling out plenty of games. Same with the bears and Bulls (well the bulls are actually fantastic this season, you get my point tho). I only see that for UGA with atlanta. I blame the heavy transplant population.
The top 3 sports cities in this country are Chicago, Boston, and Philly. Besides Boston, those are all legacy cities with low transplant rates. NY/LA fans are fairweather, which reminds me of ATL.
Well, even though UGA Football hadn’t won a National Championship since 1980 before winning one at the end of the 2021 season, UGA still wins consistently enough to maintain that consistent loyal fan following, having had only 5 losing seasons in the last 58 years or so. So at the very least, UGA Football most likely is going to have a winning record every year.
Plus UGA is the flagship college football program in a state and region of the country where college football basically is a religion.
So a winning record year-in and year-out in the nation’s best and most-watched college football conference in the SEC in a region where college football is like a religion means that a flagship college football program like UGA is going to sellout home games each year.
So it’s not just the very large transplant (and immigrant) population that retards support for the big-league pro sports teams in a city/metro like Atlanta, but its also the very strong preference of native Georgians and Southerners for high school and college football that works with that large population of transplants and immigrants to retard support for pro sports teams like the Hawks and Falcons that often have not been consistent winners.
If pro sports teams like the Hawks and Falcons want to gain a more loyal fan following, they’ll have to win and compete for league championships much more consistently to gain the attention of a population that either is focused on (often obsessed with) high school and college football or supports pro teams in other cities.
A new book titled “Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta—and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports” takes a look at how Atlanta was changed by the city’s acquisition of 4 major-league professional sports teams back in the 1960’s and 1970’s when the City of Atlanta acquired the Falcons, the Braves, the Hawks and the Flames franchises within about a 6-year period between 1966 and 1972.
The new book also examines how the City of Atlanta’s use of public money to acquire those 4 major league professional sports franchises (by using public money to build the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium for the NFL’s Falcons and MLB’s Atlanta Braves, and the old OMNI Coliseum for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the erstwhile Atlanta Flames of the NHL) started a national trend of other cities using public money to acquire major league pro sports teams and build playing facilities (stadiums and arenas) for those teams.
The book also goes on to examine how Atlanta sports fans soon became apathetic after becoming disillusioned with the often disappointing performances of their newly-acquired pro sports franchises in a region where many fans had stronger pre-existing allegiances to either college football teams, high school football teams, other pro sports teams in other parts of the country (where many transplants moved from), and/or other sports (high school football, stock car racing, pro wrestling, etc) that quickly came to the forefront when the city’s newly-acquired pro sports franchises continued to struggle for years on end, very often as a result of poor (either absentee and/or experienced) ownership.
True, but I feel like UGA (and to a smaller extent, the Braves) are the only teams that people will support regardless of wins. Like for example, in Chicago the Cubs were crap this season yet they were still selling out plenty of games. Same with the bears and Bulls (well the bulls are actually fantastic this season, you get my point tho). I only see that for UGA with atlanta. I blame the heavy transplant population.
The top 3 sports cities in this country are Chicago, Boston, and Philly. Besides Boston, those are all legacy cities with low transplant rates. NY/LA fans are fairweather, which reminds me of ATL.
Absolutely, especially UGA. College football fans, particularly in the SEC, are diehard, loyal fans.
The Braves became the team to follow in the south, especially in NC, SC, Tenn, Alabama etc., due to not having a team within their state and TBS showing all the Braves games.
You just need stars. In the 80s when the Hawks had Dominique, the Omni was packed every night. The Hawks have a young superstar in Trae Young and the Hawks are trending up team. The Falcons were also popular in the city when Michael Vick was the primary QB, it was hard to get tickets to the Georgia Dome. The Braves and UGA have a huge following now but before the Superstation TBS and when the Braves were losing in the 80s, Fulton County Stadium was empty and no one really paid much attention to them. That all changed with TBS, Ted Turner, and winning all those division titles in the 90s.
True and Vick would have gone down with some of the names you mentioned, had he not had the dog fighting operation going on.
I think you are wrong about people not paying attention to the Braves. Fulton County might not have been packed, but fans all across Georgia, NC, SC, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida were tuning in to watch them on TBS. Once the Braves started to turn things around, you had a lot more folks traveling to see them play.
Are you sure this book isn't about Detroit? At least the Falcons went to the Super Bowl.
This is a completely misinformed statement. Most Detroit sports teams have a history of winning at some point during their time in Detroit. Atlanta.
None of the teams are particularly good at this moment, but Detroit has won NBA championships in 1989-1990 and 2004. They've went to the NBA finals five times. They've went to the eastern conference finals 5-6 years from 1986-1991 and 6 consecutive years in the 2000s. They have more championships and finals appearances than most NBA franchises.
The Red Wings have a huge following with die hard fans and had a lot of success in the decades of the 80s, 90s and 2000s including 4 Stanley cup championships. The Tigers are more mixed but they also have a very long history in Detroit with periods of success, their stadium Tiger stadium that was demolished was one of the oldest stadiums in the country.
The Lions where the reputation of horrible sports teams in Detroit mostly comes from has a long history as well and have been terrible during the last 60 years. Prior to that though they won consecutive NFL championships before the Superbowl existed. Even so Lions fan are very die hard, Michigan sports fans are some of the most die hard in the country. The teams are bad now but it's not remotely similar to the experience of Atlanta is like as a sports town.
Last edited by MichiganderTexan; 02-07-2022 at 02:27 PM..
This is a completely misinformed statement. Most Detroit sports teams have a history of winning at some point during their time in Detroit. Atlanta.
None of the teams are particularly good at this moment, but Detroit has won NBA championships in 1989-1990 and 2004. They've went to the NBA finals five times. They've went to the eastern conference finals 5-6 years from 1986-1991 and 6 consecutive years in the 2000s. They have more championships and finals appearances than most NBA franchises.
The Red Wings have a huge following with die hard fans and had a lot of success in the decades of the 80s, 90s and 2000s including 4 Stanley cup championships. The Tigers are more mixed but they also have a very long history in Detroit with periods of success, their stadium Tiger stadium that was demolished was one of the oldest stadiums in the country.
The Lions where the reputation of horrible sports teams in Detroit mostly comes from has a long history as well and have been terrible during the last 60 years. Prior to that though they won consecutive NFL championships before the Superbowl existed. Even so Lions fan are very die hard, Michigan sports fans are some of the most die hard in the country. The teams are bad now but it's not remotely similar to the experience of Atlanta is like as a sports town.
You're absolutely correct about the Wings and Pistons, but the Lions and Tigers have been in the cellar for decades.
It all comes down to transplants. You don't have a boatload of people moving to Detroit, Green Bay, or Pittsburgh. The great sports town all have something in common, they are attractive to people who aren't from there.
You're absolutely correct about the Wings and Pistons, but the Lions and Tigers have been in the cellar for decades.
It all comes down to transplants. You don't have a boatload of people moving to Detroit, Green Bay, or Pittsburgh. The great sports town all have something in common, they are attractive to people who aren't from there.
Yes but that's two out of 4 teams there that have had a lot of success relatively recently and yes Detroit hasn't been a transplant town since before the 1950s-1960s. Lions fans are some of the most loyal fans to a team that doesn't deserve it lol. The transplant issue is a big part of it, but not the only reason. My point is those teams especially the two that have won the most recently have a history of winning games that mean something even if it was a long time ago and they've all been in Detroit as teams for a LONG time. People in Michigan are Tigers and Lions fans because their parents and grandparents were fans before them, and it's a tradition thing for a team that's been rooted in a city for so long. Atlanta's teams all moved there in the 70s for the most part. The Lions have been in Detroit since 1934, The Tigers have been in Detroit as a Major league team since 1901 (they were actually still there but playing in a different league in the 1890s), The Red Wings have been in Detroit since 1926 and the Pistons the "newest" team has been in Detroit since 1957.
Yes but that's two out of 4 teams there that have had a lot of success relatively recently and yes Detroit hasn't been a transplant town since before the 1950s-1960s. Lions fans are some of the most loyal fans to a team that doesn't deserve it lol. The transplant issue is a big part of it, but not the only reason. My point is those teams especially the two that have won the most recently have a history of winning games that mean something even if it was a long time ago and they've all been in Detroit as teams for a LONG time. People in Michigan are Tigers and Lions fans because their parents and grandparents were fans before them, and it's a tradition thing for a team that's been rooted in a city for so long. Atlanta's teams all moved there in the 70s for the most part. The Lions have been in Detroit since 1934, The Tigers have been in Detroit as a Major league team since 1901 (they were actually still there but playing in a different league in the 1890s), The Red Wings have been in Detroit since 1926 and the Pistons the "newest" team has been in Detroit since 1957.
My parents are Michiganders and this is pretty on the money. The Tigers in particular have some serious pull. People aren't Braves fans the way people are Tigers fans. I've been to games at Tiger Stadium and Comerica and it hits different than Turner or (lol) Truist. The Lions are kind of lost on me, I think the sterile domes they play in kind of kills it, but the Red Wings also have an insane brand. Detroit is much more similar to a New England sports town than a sun belt city.
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