[Thruway]

I'm orignally from CT, Trumbull in Fairfield County.
I have not lived in the area in awhile but it was my understanding that Fairfield County was all for the Yankees and NY teams with BOS teams, the Sox, having little if any prescene since Boston is three times as far away, you only get NY stations primarily, it borders NY, and therefore makes way to much geographic sense it being part of the NY metro area.

I've been surprised with in recent years how in Fairfield County I see Red Sox clothes for sale.
How people in New Haven it is now being claimed as the start or Red Sox divide.

I thought Fairfield County was all Yankee and NY, along with NH since NH is only 75 miles from NY and part of that region but much further Boston.
I mean take a look at the trees, Boston seems way further away than New York both by distance and culture than Fairfield and New Haven.

I thought CT was primarily Yankee and New York, secondary Red Sox and Boston with the divide beginning in the Hartford area, split 50/50, and increasing from the CT river to points North and East.

I thought Litchfield County being further from BOS and bordering NY was NY, Hartford split, Putnam more Bos, New London more BOs but with a good NY base.

1) Am I right, and if not, how so and why?

2) Also, is it me or does it seem the other two BOS sports, the Bruins and Celtics, have no prescene in CT?
I've seen many people wearing Sox or Pats stuff but hardly any, if ever Bruins or Celtics, does Boston have proportionally much less a prescene in winter sports, and if so, why?

3) I'm curious basically what the split is between BOS and NY, if it follows my logically ruling of CT being NY first, BOS secondary, Fairfied, New Haven, Litchfield New York, Hartford split, points North and East more BOS with a NY base?

4) I also wanted to know what is it like in your specific area
-Which team in which sports (NY or BOS) (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) has a larger or any prescene
-Is covered more in the paper
-If gets YES, SNY, FSNY, MSG or NESN or both

5) Having visited Fairfield County and gone just over the border to Milford I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe not only do they only get 50 NYR games there but they also get NESN since that town border Fairfield County and is worlds more NY than chilly Boston.
Is this true?

6) Where does the shift begin?

Thanks.

[uconn99]

I grew up in Windham which is mostly Redsox nation, however there is still a good amount of Yankee fans in the area. Actually a lot of my friends were Yankee fans.

I would say that the true splt is still the I-91 corridor but as you get further north it shifts to the Northwest, probably around Meriden. Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of Redsox fans in New Haven and Litchfield counties and the reverse is true for Yankee fans in Hartford, Tolland, Middlesex, Windham, and New London counties.

Charter cable in Windham carries NESN for Sox, Celtics and Bruins games along with Boston CBS and ABC stations. There is no NY stations on Charter in Windham, not evan MSG.


The Bruins don't really have much of a following outside of metro Boston and certainly not in greater Hartford. Did anyone ever go to Bruins/Whalers games, they were brutal. The Whalers had most of Hartford/Springfield metro area when they were around with fans as far south as Fairfield. The Rangers were always a bitter rival, one of the reasons a lot of people don't support the Wolfpack. The only true Bruins fans you may see are in the extreme Northeast corner of the state.


As for the Celtics, Hartford, Tolland, Windham and New London county are mostly Celtics fans but not die hard, Middlesex may have some mixed in. If Hartford had an NBA team I think it would do trully well just because there isn't a huge loyal fan base to one NBA team like the Resdox,Yankees, Pats and Giants have in Connecticut. I remember when the Celtics had 4-5 games a year in Hartford before the Fleed center opened, I am sure there were a lot more fans back then.



There is a web page somewhere online that shows the regions of the US and what teams they support. It was really interesting, I will try and dig it up.


Overall I think the following is true IMO-


MLB-

Redsox- 55%
Yankees- 45%

NFL-

Patriots- 65%
Giants- 30%
Jets- 5%

NHL-

Bruins- 5%
Rangers- 20%
Islanders- 5%
Other (Whalers or other)- 70%

NBA-

Celtics- 60% (Mainly Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties, some Middlesex)
Knicks- 40%

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by uconn99

Overall I think the following is true IMO-

MLB-

Redsox- 55%
Yankees- 45%

These are flip-flopped. Connecticut, as a whole, is still Yankees territory primarily because of Fairfield and New Haven Counties (>50 percent of Connecticut's population).

Here are two good links for further reading:

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1296.xml?ReleaseID=910

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/sp...rssnyt&emc=rss

Page down on the second link to see the map of Connecticut defining the division.

The cable companies have done a great job of eliminating out-of-area stations from their respective line-ups. I have Cox Communications which, over the past 10 years, has dropped WNBC, WCBS, WNYW, WWOR, and WPIX. They claim that it was required by a change in FCC regulations. However, to the east and north of me, which is farther from New York City, some of these stations are still available. (As an aside, NESN isn't permitted to be broadcast in Fairfield County.)

By the way, Yankees fans thinking about getting satellite should go with DirecTV instead of Dish since the latter doesn't have YES.

[BigHouse9]

When I worked in Hartford it seemed that any office I was in was around 2/3rds to 3/4trs Red Sox fans and the rest Yankees with the occassional Met fan thrown in although that was rare. Seems like there are more and more Red Sox fans these days probably because of 2004.

My nephew is a die hard Red Sox fan and his LL team this year is the Yankees. His is distraught and always makes a point to wear his Sox gear under his Yankees t-shirt.

[VLYS]

I'm a Red Sox fan born & raised in Tolland county but there's lots
of Yankee & Mets fans around here too!

[jeremeyk482]

Originally Posted by Rich Lee

(As an aside, NESN isn't permitted to be broadcast in Fairfield County.)

NESN is broadcast in Danbury because I remember watching it occasionally when I lived there. This was 5 years ago so it may have changed.

From what I've noticed, Yankees territory is a line from New Haven to Bristol to Litchfield and into the NW corner. This consists of probably more than 60% of the population so I'd say most of CT cheers for the Yankees. Of course that changes when you go to Hartford or NE Connecticut, but I'm sure there are many Yankees fans up there just as there are some Red Sox fans in SW CT.

go yankees!!!!!!!!

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by jeremeyk482

NESN is broadcast in Danbury because I remember watching it occasionally when I lived there. This was 5 years ago so it may have changed.

From what I've noticed, Yankees territory is a line from New Haven to Bristol to Litchfield and into the NW corner. This consists of probably more than 60% of the population so I'd say most of CT cheers for the Yankees. Of course that changes when you go to Hartford or NE Connecticut, but I'm sure there are many Yankees fans up there just as there are some Red Sox fans in SW CT.

go yankees!!!!!!!!

MLB changed the rules in 2006. Comcast, the cable supplier for Danbury, was impacted. According to http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/aboutus/FAQ/ (broken link), NESN still isn't allowed to be broadcast in Fairfield County except via satellite.

[jeremeyk482]

Originally Posted by Rich Lee

MLB changed the rules in 2006. Comcast, the cable supplier for Danbury, was impacted. According to http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/aboutus/FAQ/ (broken link), NESN still isn't allowed to be broadcast in Fairfield County except via satellite.

Interesting. I can see why though, most people in the Danbury area tune into NY stations.

[Thruway]

Let me see

-Fairfield all NY
-New Haven the town all NY
-Central CT split
-Litchfield NY with some BOS
-Points North and East of Hartford BOS but with ample NY?

Is that right?

Basically anywhere in CT you'll find NY fans even in Mystic or Putnam?

I'm curious what's the split in
1) New London
2) Mystic
3) Old Saybrook
4) Putnam
5) Litchfield

I'd also be shocked if Litchfield was BOS since it borders and is closer to NY and if New Haven had a BOS prescene since it's metro NY and culutrally, and climate wise it is SO much more NY than that way.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by tberg224

Let me see

I'd also be shocked if Litchfield was BOS since it borders and is closer to NY and if New Haven had a BOS presence since it's metro NY and culturally, and, climate-wise, it is SO much more NY than that way.

Litchfield is very much New York-oriented considering the number of New Yorkers who spend their weekends and/or summers "in the country."

Recently, the numbers for BOS are much higher which some attribute to a bounce from winning the fall classic in 2004.