Where In PA Does Pittsburgh Culture and Sports Begin to Get A Following? (Philadelphia: houses, layoffs)

[Thruway]

Going through part of PA....it really strikes me as odd.
One would assume looking at a map that PA would be Philly fans until the mountains mid state.

Yet from where I have driven, east to west, and from York to Milford, and back to Philly, to me it seems despite Philly being a much larger market.....only SEPA and the Lehigh Valley can truly be classified as being the Philly market in terms of culture and sports affiliations.

I was shocked when I drove through PA that in York, which is MUCH closer to Bawlmer and Philly....it already has that redneck feel to it.
Same with Milford...which is MUCH closer to NYC than PIT.

I also heard that Reading, PA has Steelers, Pens, and Pirates fans.
This leads me to ask...does most of the state of PA consider itself more tied culturally to Pittsburgh once you get outside SEPA and the Lehigh Valley?

Even if you are in NEPA or in Reading, SCPA, areas which are much closer to the larger Philly market...does PIT have influence?

One would logically think that since Philly is the larger market, they would have a larger influence in the state that would extend at least far as the halfway point between the cities.

Yet strangly, it appears that Pittsburgh despite being smaller gets a lot more influence in areas that are much near Philly.

1) Is this the case?
2) Where exactly would you say in PA it goes from being totally under the Philly sphere of influence for culture and sports teams....to mixed....to BAL...to WAS..to NYC...to BUF...to CLE...to PIT?
3) Does this further justify the saying that Philly really isn't a PA city but more the capital of South Jersey?

[PeterRabbit]

This has been discussed in depth at least a couple of times.

[Thruway]

I don't recall this being specifically discussed.

[Love2Golf09]

I would disagree with the lehigh valley being in the philly market. Go out on a sunday and you'll see more people at the bars and stores in steelers jerseys than eagles. jersey is pretty big with the eagles though, but i'd say that the vast majority of PA falls in with the Steelers and Penguins. It's just my opinion, but the state as a whole seems to prefer pittsburgh over philadelphia. There seems to be a lot of anti-philly attitudes throughout the state from what i've witnessed. Most see the city as dirty, crime-filled, poor, and an all-around dump. Some of these issues have been discussed a lot, but there are a ton of various views about the sports thing and the politics regarding pittsburgh, philadelphia, and the rest of the state.

[subwayfan]

I would venture to say that within the Philadelphia TV market (which ends in Reading), it's probably going to be pro Philly. The Reading MSA is also part of the Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD combined statistical area apparently, so I'd be surprised if residents were more avid for Pittsburgh teams over Philadelphia teams.

Then again Berks County is a wildcard in some ways. They did vote for Obama, but usually vote Republican like the counties west of it (Lancaster etc.) in Central PA, and they probably don't have much in common with Philadephians anyways.

The Lehigh Valley is less linked, and while there is Philly influence, there are probably more ex-NYers and NY/NJ commuters living in the Lehigh Valley, and others happy to be at a higher evelation than the rest of the Philly market. Since they are disconnected to Philly, I'm not surprised some would root for Pittsburgh.

WFMZ's website was listing that Phillies and Yankees are in the playoffs but when I catch WFMZ-TV News, in general, I don't see sports highlights of the New York teams. It's probably because WFMZ understands they have a cable audience within Philadelphia that they cannot upset by giving airtime towards New York.

But, they sneak it on their website for the locals. Or, maybe the Yankees are the exception, and don't do it for any of the other NY teams. The cable systems in Allentown carry WNBC, WNYW, WWOR and WPIX, so Lehigh Valley cable watchers can still get their NY fix.

The Harrisburg - Lebanon - Lancaster - York market would probably be split, with York leaning toward Baltimore/DC, Harrisburg halfway to all three Pittsburgh, Philly and Balt/DC, with likely favoritism towards Pittsburgh, and Lancaster leaning a little more in the Philly direction.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market I'm guessing is New York, Philly and maybe Pittsburgh.

Chambersburg, PA being near Hagerstown, MD is part of the greater DC metro area, so would lean like York which leans towards Balt/DC. But given that MD/DC is so different than Central PA culture wise, by default I'm thinking Balt/DC team can never be wildly attractive, and Pittsburgh fills some void.

Altoona and Erie probably full-way toward Pittsburgh.

[subwayfan]

One issue is that Comcast withheld SportsNet from DirecTV and Dish Network. A simple ploy done over 10 years ago to maintain cable subscriptions within Philadelphia.

The adverse unrealized effect is that surrounding markets like Harrisburg Central PA, those customers with DirecTV only get 1 out of 2 of their local sports network markets. They get the DC/MD teams only. Ditto with Scranton/Wilkes Barre, which only gets NY. It just overall hurts exposure, but Comcast could care less about the rest of PA and their affinity towards Philadelphia.

Another issue is weak linkage between Philadelphia and Allentown, and some of the cities within PA. Philly and Allentown for example have no train service linking each other. Then again, PA isn't like Jersey or its east coast states brethren, where its higher taxes for the extras. In NJ, I could see high speed NJ Transit rail service from Wildwood to New York proposed.

[toobusytoday]

Sorry love2golf, Everyone I know (okay, almost everybody) is an Eagles fan, including my husband who has season tickets. Pick up the Morning Call (the local newspaper) and you'll see that the focus is all Eagles and Phillies.

PS - Here's hoping for a Phillies win real soon tonight!

Hey Thruway - I would really appreciate it if you would cut out all the "redneck" and derogatory comments when you talk about the people in our beautiful state. That's how people get a trolling rep.

[lititzman2003]

It seems in Lancaster County there's no real preference as far as pro sports are concerned. Most people here are more concerned about high school sports and Penn State. We also have a minor league baseball team that plays here as well. A few Steeler flags showed up on houses but that was after they the Super Bowl, but when the Phillies won the World Series last year there was hardly a whimper from anyone here.

I agree with Love; there are alot of people west of the Chester County who just don't like Philadelphians. You can pretty much bet that there will plenty of new Yankee fans here when they play the Phillies in the Series.

[Thruway]

So it's true that outside of SEPA....PA goes towards PIT most of the time even if PHI is bigger and closer?

If so...why does PIT have more of a cultural sphere of influence?
Is it just that most of PA is seperate from Philly which is more South Jersey?

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by Thruway

So it's true that outside of SEPA....PA goes towards PIT most of the time even if PHI is bigger and closer?

If so...why does PIT have more of a cultural sphere of influence?
Is it just that most of PA is seperate from Philly which is more South Jersey?

I can't really answer as I'm not Pennsylvanian.

BUT...to me, as a non-Pennsylvanian, Pittsburgh seems firmly planted in Pennsylvania, whereas Philadelphia seems kind of like a New York to New York state people. Meaning, doesn't really seem strongly owned by the state - more international, or just its own entity somehow.