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Pittsburgh is very overrated. They love the Steelers. Pre-Crosby the Penguins have the lowest attendance in hockey, and the Pirates are the worst out side of Florida for attendance.
Detroits kind of the same they live the Lions but everyone else is kind of run if the mill.
I will be sticking up for Pittsburgh here. They are a smaller rust belt city with extremely dedicated and passionate fans throughout Western PA/WV/A sliver of Ohio and Maryland. However, they are loyal. I don't think that Pittsburgh is overrated because you can pull stats when each city is doing bad, and attendance is low. All Pittsburgh folk are Pittsburgh fans.
Pirates are based in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is a small city. Keep that in mind.
Lot's of cities are overrated for Sports prominence. Everyone always puts Boston as the indisputable number one sports city. Do I agree? No. Even though 90% of Native Bostonians go for all 4 Boston sports teams, I think one city really edges out Boston through thick and thin. Who? Philadelphia. Easily.
On New York, all of my friends and coworkers in NYC/NJ like at least 1 or 2 (or even 3) Boston/Philadelphia/Non NYC teams. In bergen County NJ, all the younger kids (Sub 40), my age, generally do not follow NY Sports outside one team. I generally find most Yanks' caps are toursits and a loooott of locals in NYC are diehard Steelers and Celtics fans.
Boston, not as passionate as Philadelphia, but more-so than New York. Slightly more than Chicago.
I personally am a Giants fan in NJ, even though I am from Boston. I am the only Giants fan in all of my friend groups. Everyone else are Patriots/Cowboys/Steelers/Eagles fans. A random Dolphin one dreamin' about Marino days.
There is a great bar in Hackensack owned by some guy from Teaneck, huge Red Sox / Patriots fan. Cool place. Also Hoboken has a group of 'Boston' bars down by the Irish Quarters, if interested.
Circling back around, I don't see how Boston could be a bigger sports city than Philadelphia. And I also don't see how Pittsburgh doesn't cut the ranks ahead most/all of these.
I've only seen Denver mentioned once, but the four major league teams in Colorado often see some of the highest attendance rates in the country, even the Rockies who were abysmal this year still were in the top 50%. Denver really does transform for sporting events.
I will be sticking up for Pittsburgh here. They are a smaller rust belt city with extremely dedicated and passionate fans throughout Western PA/WV/A sliver of Ohio and Maryland. However, they are loyal. I don't think that Pittsburgh is overrated because you can pull stats when each city is doing bad, and attendance is low. All Pittsburgh folk are Pittsburgh fans.
Pirates are based in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is a small city. Keep that in mind.
Lot's of cities are overrated for Sports prominence. Everyone always puts Boston as the indisputable number one sports city. Do I agree? No. Even though 90% of Native Bostonians go for all 4 Boston sports teams, I think one city really edges out Boston through thick and thin. Who? Philadelphia. Easily.
On New York, all of my friends and coworkers in NYC/NJ like at least 1 or 2 (or even 3) Boston/Philadelphia/Non NYC teams. In bergen County NJ, all the younger kids (Sub 40), my age, generally do not follow NY Sports outside one team. I generally find most Yanks' caps are toursits and a loooott of locals in NYC are diehard Steelers and Celtics fans.
Boston, not as passionate as Philadelphia, but more-so than New York. Slightly more than Chicago.
I personally am a Giants fan in NJ, even though I am from Boston. I am the only Giants fan in all of my friend groups. Everyone else are Patriots/Cowboys/Steelers/Eagles fans. A random Dolphin one dreamin' about Marino days.
There is a great bar in Hackensack owned by some guy from Teaneck, huge Red Sox / Patriots fan. Cool place. Also Hoboken has a group of 'Boston' bars down by the Irish Quarters, if interested.
Circling back around, I don't see how Boston could be a bigger sports city than Philadelphia. And I also don't see how Pittsburgh doesn't cut the ranks ahead most/all of these.
Boston has a world marathon major, and the countries top regatta. Not that college hockey matters that much, but basically no other major American city even has a presence save for Minneapolis. Also Boston is the only city on the east coast with a P5 university.
The Eagles is really where Philly’s advantage starts and ends.
But I feel Pittsburgh gets a pass for crap attendance in a way the Carolina Hurricanes do not. Pittsburgh I’d not special. Cincinnati really isn’t special either.
The Cardinals and Steelers are pretty impressive but again it’s very much a team thing more than a city thing.
People want to believe rust belt ties have something over the Sunbelt but Dodgers, Cowboys, Braves, Lakers, etc are up there with any team in terms of following.
Pittsburgh is very overrated. They love the Steelers. Pre-Crosby the Penguins have the lowest attendance in hockey, and the Pirates are the worst out side of Florida for attendance.
Detroits kind of the same they live the Lions but everyone else is kind of run if the mill.
Umm the Red Wings have one of the most loyal NHL fan bases in America. It's called Hockeytown for a reason. I'd point to that team before the Lions. Prior to last year, the Lions had arguably the least support of the Big 4 pro teams. It's also a big college market with UMich.
Umm the Red Wings have one of the most loyal fan bases in America. I'd point to that team before the Lions. Prior to last year, the Lions had arguably the least support of the Big 4 pro teams. It's also a big college market with UMich.
Given you live in/just outside Grand Rapids, this could be a little bias. I wouldn't say people from Michigan are the 'most loyal NHL fans'. I have met many people from Michigan who are not Red Wings fans. Plenty.
But I still give Detroit a lot of credit given the hardships of their sports teams for the past 40-50 years.
I will be sticking up for Pittsburgh here. They are a smaller rust belt city with extremely dedicated and passionate fans throughout Western PA/WV/A sliver of Ohio and Maryland. However, they are loyal. I don't think that Pittsburgh is overrated because you can pull stats when each city is doing bad, and attendance is low. All Pittsburgh folk are Pittsburgh fans.
Pirates are based in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is a small city. Keep that in mind.
Lot's of cities are overrated for Sports prominence. Everyone always puts Boston as the indisputable number one sports city. Do I agree? No. Even though 90% of Native Bostonians go for all 4 Boston sports teams, I think one city really edges out Boston through thick and thin. Who? Philadelphia. Easily.
On New York, all of my friends and coworkers in NYC/NJ like at least 1 or 2 (or even 3) Boston/Philadelphia/Non NYC teams. In bergen County NJ, all the younger kids (Sub 40), my age, generally do not follow NY Sports outside one team. I generally find most Yanks' caps are toursits and a loooott of locals in NYC are diehard Steelers and Celtics fans.
Boston, not as passionate as Philadelphia, but more-so than New York. Slightly more than Chicago.
I personally am a Giants fan in NJ, even though I am from Boston. I am the only Giants fan in all of my friend groups. Everyone else are Patriots/Cowboys/Steelers/Eagles fans. A random Dolphin one dreamin' about Marino days.
There is a great bar in Hackensack owned by some guy from Teaneck, huge Red Sox / Patriots fan. Cool place. Also Hoboken has a group of 'Boston' bars down by the Irish Quarters, if interested.
Circling back around, I don't see how Boston could be a bigger sports city than Philadelphia. And I also don't see how Pittsburgh doesn't cut the ranks ahead most/all of these.
I'm from Bergen county, born and raised. Let me let you in on a little inside tip. Giants Stadium, now called MetLife stadium (concrete, cavernous ****house with no feel), is also in Bergen county. The county has been home base for generations of Giants fans, players, coaches and front office going back to the 70s and it still is today. Your circle must be real small because Bergen county and Northern NJ has been Giants country and home base for forever. I can go wayyy deeper on other relevant local ties to this subject but I won't. The fandom in this part of the world bleeds Blue by a good majority. The Jets have surprisingly picked up fans in the area in the last 10 years which surprised the hell out of me but it's true. Even with that, North Jersey is still majority Giants fans and it's not close. Furthermore it's a dream for local kids who play football to play their HS football state championship games at what used to be called Giants stadium. Many people in this area still refer to the stadium by its old name. Several sections of North Jersey and Central Jersey teams get the privilege of doing so. I refuse to say the new stadium's name again because it's a piece of **** and I gave up my season tix due to the uninspired nature of going there and how poor of a job the owners did with it. You're in the largest media market in the country FFS and it's a concrete ****hole in the swamps. They did a lousy job on it.
Sure there's going to be some other teams fans in this area because of how big, densely populated and diverse the area is. It's always been like this. Hell my best friend growing up in Bergen was a Detroit Lions diehard lol There's always going to be anomalies. But make no mistake, this area is Giants/Yankees/Knicks country and always has been. Many of the most famous players that ever played for these storied franchises lived here. I know because I'm friendly with several of them, have played against and coached some of their kids in youth sports. The fandom around here is heavily in their favor. You have to go far away, down to the middle of the state (Princeton, for example) to see the line really divide and then change to majority Eagles fans although still lot of Giants fans and good amount of Jets fans that far south in the state. It doesn't matter what age group you're talking about either.
I get it that most people are going off what they’re familiar with or which cities are popular but a lot of you are clueless to certain cities like Las Vegas and Indianapolis. Las Vegas has pulled in a NFL team and now the A’s are moving in and the city is building a stadium for them as well. Formula 1 just finished racing there and nobody has a strip like Vegas or a Sphere for attractions. Then there’s Indy with the Indy 500. The largest single day sporting event in the world with 300k plus attendees. Then there’s the Brickyard 400, they have an NFL, NBA, WNBA franchise as well as minor league baseball and soccer teams. Indy Eleven the cities minor league team is building a new stadium and sports park called Eleven Park. This will be a game changer for the city. Plus the NCAA is headquartered in Indy and Indy host more mens and women’s final fours in college basketball than any another city. Indy also is hosting the NBA ALL STAR GAME Feb of 2024. The college football championship, world swimming try outs, major golf tournaments and the USA Gymnastics hq use to be headquartered there as well. The circle city classic in Indy rivals the Bayou classic and other HBCU championship games.
I think the Big 4 dominate the poll and for good reason - they're by far the most watched and attended (on an annual basis) sports in America. Combined, the seasons are spread out over the whole year; so no matter what day or month it is, there is a game (or several) coming up. So the fact that the Big 4 are carrying the most weight in people's choices makes perfect sense. Far more than weighing one-offs (or every-few-year events) heavily.
I've been to the Indy 500 twice. Most recently in 2022 (for a bachelor party, actually). It's an awesome event and in-person experience. But it's more in line with events like the Master's, U.S. Open (tennis and golf), Big 3 horse races, Daytona 500, etc. It's also not as impactful on the U.S. sports landscape as the NCAA tournament or the College Football Playoff. It probably slots in just above the Boston, New York, and Chicago marathons (which draw bigger in-person crowds than the Indy 500) in terms of national appeal. So while it's definitely a big deal, the Indy 500 doesn't really move the needle as far as being a "sports capital" in the same way the big 4 do.
Lacking 2/4 of the Big 4 doesn't help Indy's case either. And outside of the Colts during the Manning years, neither team packs much of a punch on a national level (I think both are in the bottom 1/2 or even 1/3 of their respective leagues in terms of value). Buffalo, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, St. Louis, Kansas City, Green Bay, Cleveland, Atlanta, etc. all lack one or more of the Big 4, but still have better known/supported franchises on a national level than either the Colts or Pacers.
Hosting the final 4 every several years isn't nothing, but it's also not really indy-specific. Many cities host the Final 4. Many more host other tournament rounds. Miami, Houston, and New Orleans host the Super Bowl more frequently than most places, but I don't think that makes them significantly better sports cities than if they didn't. I don't really put any stock in the NCAA's corporate offices or minor league sports. These things have a negligible impact on the overall sports environment. Indy's a strong sports town with passionate fans for sure. But I just don't see it as a "sports capital" and I think the poll reflects that I'm not alone. I don't think it's just being "clueless" either.
The list of big cities with major college football in their cores isn't huge, particularly if you specify average attendance over 40,000 or 50,000.
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