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As far as making a fandom an entire part of the cities/its inhabitants personalities this is a solid list (and yes; my username also clearly puts me into this category of person myself to a degree).
While it is obviously a much smaller city than any other mentioned thus far... Green Bay takes the cake on the previously stated parameters. The packers are the heart and soul of Green Bay and almost the whole state of WI.
As far as making a fandom an entire part of the cities/its inhabitants personalities this is a solid list (and yes; my username also clearly puts me into this category of person myself to a degree).
While it is obviously a much smaller city than any other mentioned thus far... Green Bay takes the cake on the previously stated parameters. The packers are the heart and soul of Green Bay and almost the whole state of WI.
solid Football.. but I assume they follow Milwaukee for MLB, NBA; Minnesota/Chicago for NHL.
Another potential dark horse candidate is Indianapolis, as much as Tony George has tried to kill it.
- Pacers
- Colts
- Butler (where Indiana HS basketball championship happened until 71, including Hoosiers)
- NCAA headquarters
- Indy 500, Nascar, former location of US Grand Prix.
I thought of Indy too, and its really strange that it has no votes.
Most of the replies thus far seem to be addressing a premise that wasn't put forth in the OP, or at least the article it linked.
They aren't talking about which city has the most enthusiastic fans or most iconic franchises, but which city through overall throughput could dominate the business of sports.
Sports are big in all populated areas. People in San Diego will insist they are irrelevant here, yet sold out minor league hockey games, sold out college football games in outdoor stadiums during heat emergencies, top 5 MLB attendance, etc.
Vegas is set up to dominate the whole spectrum of sports business like no other city.
St Louis is probably in top 20. But I think reasons why they wouldn't be higher in my book, is because the city does not have NFL or NBA. Two major teams with zero representation on a major league level.
Granted, St Louis has the storied Cardinals, with a ton of support and fan base, as well as the Stanley Cup winning NHL St Louis Blues. And then also, the brand spankin' new MLS team.
But not having NFL or NBA is a major gap, preventing St Louis from making a top 10 showing.
Pretty arbitrary, huh? Because lots of the cities on your list lack teams in at least one major league sport or another. Seriously, many of those cities don't even have MLB!!!!! How do you determine which league is "more important" than another? Sorry, but any ranking of Best Sports Cities that doesn't even include St. Louis AT ALL is just silly and pointless. Especially when you have such relatively amateur sports cities included. Seems more like personal bias than a credible analysis.
Los Angeles has 10 pro teams within its metropolitan area and is preparing to host the Summer Olympics for the third time.
Not seeing how they would be a runner up to San Francisco.
I'm not just looking at quantity but quality. It seems to me that the Bay Area has a more involved, impassioned Sports fandom and culture from top to bottom than LA. Although I believe it's really close and that's why I have them listed as 5 and 6 on my list. They could be interchangeable IMO as you could make the argument for the reverse by saying the Dodgers and Lakers and USC football (although the shine has come off that brand a bit IMO) and the quantity of teams and the Olympics. Again, I think it's close but I give the slight nod to SF/Bay Area over LA.
I'm not just looking at quantity but quality. It seems to me that the Bay Area has a more involved, impassioned Sports fandom and culture from top to bottom than LA. Although I believe it's really close and that's why I have them listed as 5 and 6 on my list. They could be interchangeable IMO as you could make the argument for the reverse by saying the Dodgers and Lakers and USC football (although the shine has come off that brand a bit IMO) and the quantity of teams and the Olympics. Again, I think it's close but I give the slight nod to SF/Bay Area over LA.
The Dodgers led MLB in attendance and the Angels were also ahead of SF. Oakland was dead last.
The Lakers and Clippers were 11th and 17th in attendance and the Warriors were 14th.
San Jose was next to last in NHL attendance while the Kings and Ducks were bad but not as bad.
The Galaxy and LAFC were 7th and 11th in the MLS while San Jose was 20th.
So far this year the Rams and Chargers are 6th and 11th while the 49ers are 8th.
Pretty arbitrary, huh? Because lots of the cities on your list lack teams in at least one major league sport or another. Seriously, many of those cities don't even have MLB!!!!! How do you determine which league is "more important" than another? Sorry, but any ranking of Best Sports Cities that doesn't even include St. Louis AT ALL is just silly and pointless. Especially when you have such relatively amateur sports cities included. Seems more like personal bias than a credible analysis.
C'mon man. I love MLB more than most. But, it's pretty clear what the "most important" American sport is. And by any objective measure, St. Louis has lost not 1, but 2 NFL teams.
NY is the easy answer. 2 teams in all the big 4, MLS, US Open tennis, frequent golf majors at Bethpage Black. The lack of college football fervor would be a negative for me, though. I'd probably go with Chicago.
C'mon man. I love MLB more than most. But, it's pretty clear what the "most important" American sport is. And by any objective measure, St. Louis has lost not 1, but 2 NFL teams.
The thread is about sports cities, not NFL sports cities. It really is stupid that places like Indianapolis and Las Vegas and Charlotte would make the list while venerable legacy sports cities are left out.
If we're going by Big 4 sports, then the main two that come to mind of 1) cities with multiple Big 4 sports and 2) identifying the populace as being fans of their own teams, then I'd think the kings of the hill are Chicago and Philadelphia.
However, if looking at everything, Vegas (highlight being sports betting), Indianapolis (Big 4 plus racing), and Birmingham (college/minor leagues + racing, when adding in Talladega and Tuscaloosa, also sports injury medicine) have some notable aspects as sports cities.
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