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LA. The Dodgers have some of the best attendance records in the all of the MLB. Just scroll this feature on ESPN to see LA Dodgers at the time for numerous years in a row, and at least somewhere near the top for all other years. As far as I can see, there is only one year that the Dodgers were not in the top 10, and only a handful of years where the Dodgers were not #1. Say what you want about LA being bandwagon fans, but you're factually wrong. Dodgers are often higher than the Yankees, even though NYC is a larger city and NYC and the Northeast as a whole like to push the narrative that Dodgers fans are fake fans and so are all LA sports fans as a whole. That's wrong.
There are also, I believe, only 2 years in which the Angels were not in the top 10. So there goes the idea that cities with two teams can't be in the top attendance. LA managed to keep the Dodgers and Angels in the top 10 for attendance for almost every year since 2001, often within the top 5 or even at #1.
There are only 3 years here on here in which the Lakers were not in the top 10. Many of those years, though, include the Clippers in the top 10. In fact, some of the years both the Clippers and the Lakers are in the top 10.
With no NFL team, that's hard to measure.
The Kings have some successes, but I think we can all agree that LA is not a hockey city.
Both USC and UCLA have large turnouts both years for college football, though. And UCLA often has good turnout for college basketball as well.
Out of the cities in the Poll, Dallas is the best sunbelt Sports city. Of course, there can be differences between the major sports.
Atlanta has to be the worst sunbelt sports city...the teams there have little support or fanbase, outside the Braves.
Miami also doesn't seem big on sports. The Dolphins were quite popular in the 80's and 90's, but not really any more and their attendance shows that. Same for the Marlins and defintley the lowly Panthers. The Heat are also a fair weather fan base.
Dallas loves their Cowboys and they have a huge following. The Mavericks are also popular, so I voted Dallas. I don't consider LA or Phoenix to be "Sunbelt Cities".
For cities, left off this poll, Nashville would have to be the most popular NHL team in the Sunbelt. They love the Predators in Nashville...Titans, not so much.
I think you could say the same for Tampa. Florida overall isn’t the greatest of pro sports cities when it comes to support. Orlando though does support the magic pretty well.
Orlando is just weird... There is support for the Magic, as well as for OCSC, but it seems to mainly come from downtown drunks/party-goers. The majority of soccer fans seem to know little to nothing about the sport, yet they crowd the stadium in droves, and practically paint the city purple throughout downtown. It's... weird.
Out of the cities in the Poll, Dallas is the best sunbelt Sports city. Of course, there can be differences between the major sports.
Atlanta has to be the worst sunbelt sports city...the teams there have little support or fanbase, outside the Braves.
Miami also doesn't seem big on sports. The Dolphins were quite popular in the 80's and 90's, but not really any more and their attendance shows that. Same for the Marlins and defintley the lowly Panthers. The Heat are also a fair weather fan base.
Dallas loves their Cowboys and they have a huge following. The Mavericks are also popular, so I voted Dallas. I don't consider LA or Phoenix to be "Sunbelt Cities".
For cities, left off this poll, Nashville would have to be the most popular NHL team in the Sunbelt. They love the Predators in Nashville...Titans, not so much.
Phoenix definitely is. I tend to leave off LA from the Sunbelt category. However, if included in this poll, I don't see how LA is not running away with this poll. I literally just posted on how LA is a top sports city whether or not people want to believe it.
Phoenix definitely is. I tend to leave off LA from the Sunbelt category. However, if included in this poll, I don't see how LA is not running away with this poll. I literally just posted on how LA is a top sports city whether or not people want to believe it.
Yeah but L.A. isn't a Sun Belt city as the OP asked. Now, if they said 'Best Sports City' that's a different story, but they shouldn't have put L.A. on the list because it isn't a Sun Belt city. It's a West Coast city. I think some people tend to think that any city that gets 70-80 degree weather most of the year is a Sun Belt city imo.
I would argue that Houston has the best teams lately
I disagree. Now, the Astros are an excellent team and they won the World Series title two years ago. The Rockets have had some good teams with Harden and CP3 but they didn't produce a championship or even a NBA Finals appearance. The Texans are a pretty good team, they're borderline SB contenders; I think they just need to make a couple of more moves to put themselves into contender status. But, they have been constantly eliminated in the Wild Card Game or Divisional round the last few years.
Now, if the Astros win another WS title this year, Rockets had won or win an NBA title with Harden and the Texans make a deep playoff run that turns into a SB title or appearance then Houston would have the best teams. Right now, Houston has great or pretty good teams but not the best because only one of them has won a title.
I know Dallas is the obvious vote, but honestly the Mavs are the only major sports team in Dallas with a championship over the last 20 years. The Cowboys haven't been relevant for nearly 25 years, it's been 20 years since the Stars won the Stanley Cup, and the Rangers haven't done much since losing back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.
On a positive note, the Rangers are moving into a dome - which will help their fan base immensely. Went to a few Rangers games when I lived in DFW. It was hot and humid every time. I didn't enjoy myself at all.
LA isn't really a sunbelt city, but it is without question the best sports city of the bunch.
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