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Which in-town team do you think has the biggest following in the community. This can be attendance, media coverage, overall presence etc.
Rochester has
Americans (AHL)
Rattlers (MLL)
Rhinos (USL)
KnightHawks (NLL)
Razorsharks (PBL)
Redwings (MiLB)
Tigers (NCAA Hockey)
I have Amerks and Knighthawks season tickets, and generally consider myself a local sports fan. My thoughts:
Amerks - most casual fans, most media coverage mainly because of the Sabres tie-ins. They have been mediocre for far too long and interest in the team is dying. Although I was not even alive for the "glory years" of the Amerks, it is still sad to me to see what this organization has become.
Knighthawks - most actual hardcore fans, very little coverage in the media outside of winning a championship. Best atmosphere at games as far as local sports go, if you have not been to a KHawks/Bandits game and enjoy sports, you're doing yourself a disservice.
Rhinos - the dream died when Rochester realized they would never make the MLS, but they still have fans in the hardcore supporter groups and local ownership may be able to turn things around. The stadium got a bad rap early on that it has been unable to shake.
Red Wings - best way to spend a nice summer day outside, I don't think people actually care if they win or lose though. Frontier Field is a real highlight of Rochester.
Rattlers - never been to a game, no opinion here other than they should still be playing at Sahlen's
Razorsharks - also never been, but it seems like the league they are in is a joke and they have to paper the arena with free tickets just to get fans. I think they'd be better off trying to jump to the D-league, at least that is a legitimate pro league.
Tigers(hockey) - I would call them a success story but it's about time for them to make the next step and join a better league like the ECAC if the opportunity presents itself, they've outgrown Atlantic Hockey. In the games I have been to, it doesn't really seem like they get a ton of community support outside of the students and die-hard alumni.
I have Amerks and Knighthawks season tickets, and generally consider myself a local sports fan. My thoughts:
Amerks - most casual fans, most media coverage mainly because of the Sabres tie-ins. They have been mediocre for far too long and interest in the team is dying. Although I was not even alive for the "glory years" of the Amerks, it is still sad to me to see what this organization has become.
Knighthawks - most actual hardcore fans, very little coverage in the media outside of winning a championship. Best atmosphere at games as far as local sports go, if you have not been to a KHawks/Bandits game and enjoy sports, you're doing yourself a disservice.
Rhinos - the dream died when Rochester realized they would never make the MLS, but they still have fans in the hardcore supporter groups and local ownership may be able to turn things around. The stadium got a bad rap early on that it has been unable to shake.
Red Wings - best way to spend a nice summer day outside, I don't think people actually care if they win or lose though. Frontier Field is a real highlight of Rochester.
Rattlers - never been to a game, no opinion here other than they should still be playing at Sahlen's
Razorsharks - also never been, but it seems like the league they are in is a joke and they have to paper the arena with free tickets just to get fans. I think they'd be better off trying to jump to the D-league, at least that is a legitimate pro league.
Tigers(hockey) - I would call them a success story but it's about time for them to make the next step and join a better league like the ECAC if the opportunity presents itself, they've outgrown Atlantic Hockey. In the games I have been to, it doesn't really seem like they get a ton of community support outside of the students and die-hard alumni.
I was just curious because looking at the Amerks, Knighthawks, Rhinos, and Redwings they all have ~6,000 fans/game at least as far as reported attendance. So I was wondering which was really top dog, it seems the Amerks/ Nighthawks are above everyone else.
The Red Wings' numbers are slightly misleading, they draw no one in the spring because who wants to go sit through a generally meaningless baseball game when it's still cold out? But they can draw large crowds for Friday/Saturday night games over the summer, especially the ones with fireworks shows or some other draw for casual fans.
Amerks and Knighthawks are generally similarly sized crowds with the Knighthawks having an edge in my mind. One thing is they only play a fraction of the games in the NLL so that drives up attendance per game, and this year the team had a promotion where all season ticket holders got a second set of season tickets for free to give out. They are actually averaging closer to 8,000 this year.
Rhinos I can't speak to as much, but as I mentioned before their stadium is in a "bad area" which seemingly keeps some people away, even though I can't recall ever really hearing of something that bad happening to someone going to or from a game there. It's also only a couple blocks from Frontier Field, but apparently that's all it takes for some people.
I would say the Amerks and Red Wings are the "top dogs" during their respective seasons as they have just been around in Rochester forever. In my opinion the Knighthawks have the best product as far as the actual sport goes, but they are nowhere near the Red Wings or Amerks in terms of casual popularity. I would also point out I am probably biased as pretty much everyone I know is at least a casual Knighthawks fan, but I'm sure there are people in this city that couldn't even tell you what sport they played.
The Red Wings' numbers are slightly misleading, they draw no one in the spring because who wants to go sit through a generally meaningless baseball game when it's still cold out? But they can draw large crowds for Friday/Saturday night games over the summer, especially the ones with fireworks shows or some other draw for casual fans.
Amerks and Knighthawks are generally similarly sized crowds with the Knighthawks having an edge in my mind. One thing is they only play a fraction of the games in the NLL so that drives up attendance per game, and this year the team had a promotion where all season ticket holders got a second set of season tickets for free to give out. They are actually averaging closer to 8,000 this year.
Rhinos I can't speak to as much, but as I mentioned before their stadium is in a "bad area" which seemingly keeps some people away, even though I can't recall ever really hearing of something that bad happening to someone going to or from a game there. It's also only a couple blocks from Frontier Field, but apparently that's all it takes for some people.
I would say the Amerks and Red Wings are the "top dogs" during their respective seasons as they have just been around in Rochester forever. In my opinion the Knighthawks have the best product as far as the actual sport goes, but they are nowhere near the Red Wings or Amerks in terms of casual popularity. I would also point out I am probably biased as pretty much everyone I know is at least a casual Knighthawks fan, but I'm sure there are people in this city that couldn't even tell you what sport they played.
As an RIT student, I can tell you that the Knighthawks do get their name out there. One of the local stations that advertises at Polisseni bills themselves as the "official home for Rochester Nighthawks Lacrosse".
I went to the Amerks' game tonight, and man they seemed asleep. (I missed watching the Bruins play like this)
I applaud the Sabres Organization on their commitment to losing at all levels.
But seriously, the Amerks power play's seemed like even strength, and at even strength it looked like a Devils Power Play.
There was one absolutely awesome save in the second that gave the 9,800 in attendance just about the only thing to cheer about. (at that point it was still 1-0)
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As far as local sports go, this is an Amerks and Red Wings town. The Knighthawks have a very hardcore group of fans but I don't think it goes too much further than that.
I think the Red Wings have the most casual fans. Mainly because its baseball and everyone loves to sit outside on a nice summer day/night and watch a ball game. Very few diehards of the Red Wings, though.
The Amerks probably have the biggest mix of casual and die hard fans. Id say there's a good number of Amerks fans who really follow the team quite closely and travel to road games.
I will say, if you compare the celebrations of all teams when they last won championships, the Amerks celebrations (parade, speeches in front of city hall) were probably by far the biggest. The Amerks drew huge crowds in the 80's and in 1996 when they won the Calder Cup. Seemed like a much bigger deal than the other teams.
I would say the most popular teams are the Americans because of their affiliation with the Sabres and the Red Wings because let's face it, what's better then a cool summer night at the ballpark?
The Amerks were popular long before they were ever affiliated with the Sabres. It certainly helps but they're popular regardless.
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