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Most popular sports/teams in your area

Started by Sctvhound, August 03, 2017, 09:38:23 AM

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Sctvhound

Living in Charleston, SC, we have a potpourri of sports which are popular and are followed by many people. Here is my list of the most popular sports/teams in our area.

1. College football. Local sports radio could talk Clemson and South Carolina football 365 days a year and have something to talk about. It depends on the year, but Clemson has more popularity currently because of the national championship, as there are bandwagoners who jump on whoever is better. The Citadel (FCS military college) and most of the SEC and ACC schools have sizable fan bases here.

2. High school football. Huge in this market. Every TV station has a 20-30 minute show on Friday nights just showing HS football highlights. Some of the bigger schools fill stadiums that are 5,000 seats plus. Local TV package on our MyTV station shows 10 games a year.

3. NFL. Even though we are 3 hours from Charlotte, we may be the most divided NFL market on the East Coast. The Panthers are the most popular team in town (barely), but it took the recent Super Bowl berth for that to happen. There are at least 10-12 teams with sizable followings (all the East Coast teams, plus the Cowboys, Packers, and the Seahawks thanks to Boeing).

4. College baseball/basketball. Until this year, college baseball was probably above college basketball because of South Carolina's two national titles they won this decade. Even with the Gamecocks making the Final Four in men's basketball and winning the women's national title, they are still equal in popularity. College of Charleston, Clemson, S. Carolina, The Citadel, and Charleston Southern all have decent followings.

5. MLB. There are a lot of fans of the sport in this area, but most are transplants currently, as most of the locals follow the Braves, which haven't been consistently good in years. When they are good, there are a ton of Braves bandwagon fans. Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox are just as popular as them right now.

6. Minor league teams. Charleston has 3 minor league teams (the Battery soccer, Stingrays hockey, RiverDogs baseball). All are very popular, but each only have a few hundred die-hards who purchase season tickets. Many people don't follow these teams, they just go for a night out on a weekend or for a drink special.

7. NBA/NHL. Interest in these sports is pretty non-existent in this market except during the playoffs. Few people follow the Hornets, and even fewer follow the Hurricanes. There is no real dominant NBA team, and the Penguins are probably the most followed NHL team.

8. Golf/tennis. We have a local women's tennis tournament (the Volvo Cars Open) which is a pretty major tournament on the WTA tour, and a lot of people go to that every April. Charleston is also a big golf town, but our PGA tournament is 60 miles SW in Hilton Head. We have had the PGA Championship recently though at Kiawah (2012, and will have it again in 2021), and in two years we will have the US Women's Open.

Everything else is pretty non-existent in this market. What about your area?


Henry

I'll bite with my three hometowns:

Chicago: The Cubs are obviously the #1 team in the city, with the White Sox a distant second. Even in 2005 (the year of the Sox' World Series win), more attention was focused on the Cubs and their so-called Billy Goat curse, which I've always perceived as stupid and was thankfully eradicated with last year's championship. The Bears suck, the Bulls haven't really gotten back to the championship level they achieved in the Jordan-Pippen years, and the Blackhawks have gotten major attention since their Stanley Cup run began in 2010. Northwestern hasn't been historically good, but it's always fun to see them win. I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.

Los Angeles: The Dodgers and Lakers have been entangled in an eternal fight for local supremacy, with their championship pedigree. However, the Angels have a World Series title from 2002, and the Clippers have become a good team as of late (though not championship-caliber). The same goes for USC and UCLA (my alma mater), with the former being better in football and the latter in basketball. The Kings have managed to best the Ducks in terms of Stanley Cups won (Kings 2, Ducks 1). And of course, the NFL is getting a second go-around, so it's too early to tell how well the Rams and Chargers will do here. I remember, though, when the Raiders played in L.A., their popularity eclipsed that of the Rams, and it was a very common sight to see silver and black everywhere you went in the city (going back to the days before Straight Outta Compton even became a thing).

Seattle: I say the Seahawks are the #1 team in town, especially in the Russell Wilson era that produced two Super Bowl berths and one Lombardi trophy. Too bad that the Mariners had to take a long time to come into their own, but they had lots of memorable moments in the Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki eras (the 116-win season from 2001 comes to mind). The Sonics were the main draw (especially when Payton and Kemp were on the team), but then they left for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder (perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers are attracting former Sonics fans as of late?). And then there's Washington, whose main campus is right in the city. There's no local NHL team either, but I imagine everyone goes up to Vancouver to follow the Canucks.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Brandon

Quote from: Henry on August 03, 2017, 09:57:47 AM
I'll bite with my three hometowns:

Chicago: I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.

It's all f-ing Notre Dame.  Even Northwestern gets second billing to the Domers.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

jp the roadgeek

Greater Hartford:  It's a combination of MLB, NFL, and college basketball that rule the roost.  For baseball, the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is taken to the next level, dividing neighbors and even families.  The Mets are a distant third, and a fan of any other team is most likely a transplant.  For the NFL, the Giants and Patriots dominate much like the Red Sox and Yankees, except it is not as strong a rivalry, and those that root for one city in baseball don't necessarily root for a team from the same city in football (have many Red Sox/Giants and Yankees/Patriots fan friends).  Jets fans pretty much are non-existent north of the New Haven area, and fall in popularity with the teams that have a national following (Steelers, Cowboys, Packers).  But, no matter what team(s) anyone follows, everyone is united for the cause when it comes to UConn Basketball, both mens' and womens'.  CT is probably the only state where a guy can watch womens' basketball and not have his man card called into question by people from out of state.  UConn football is kind of a niche sport (many national teams have as much of a following around here), along with NHL since the Whalers left town, and the NBA.
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

US 89

Salt Lake City: everyone loves the Jazz, and the Real Salt Lake soccer games are well attended, but college football is definitely huge and probably the biggest sports talk in the area. The Utah BYU rivalry is so intense that if you don't care about the game and wear a blue shirt on game day , people will think you're for BYU (and vice versa).

Darkchylde

Obviously the Chiefs and the Royals. Sporting KC also has a fairly sizable fandom here. As far as college spots go, mostly Kansas or K-State, depending on the sport a particular fan likes more. There's a decent-sized contingent of Mizzou fans as well.

Since we don't have a NBA or NHL team, there doesn't tend to be that one team that most fans flock to - and on the basketball side, more people here tend to be fans of college basketball anyway and tend to root for one of the aforementioned Kansas schools.

SP Cook

In my area, the sports loyalites change greatly in just a few miles.  This causes headaches for the media, especially TV stations that have to cover a huge media market covering 66 counties in 3 states. 

I live about half-way between the other Charleston and Huntington, in West Virginia.

1. College football.  Clearly the most popular sport locally.  Huntington is the home of Marshall and supports it greatly, but it is pretty much limited to alumni or others with a relationship to the school in the rest of the state.  Charleston follows WVU. People in Kentucky seem to know that UK has a football team, but there is no hope for it, when is basketball season?  Ohio is split between the local Ohio and the big time Ohio State.  Charleston's once robust chemical industry has left behind some alumni of Virginia Tech.

2. NFL.  Charleston is probably 50% Steelers, 30% Bengals, 10% Browns (back in the 60s when the Steelers were a joke and the Bengals did not exist, the Browns were on TV here every week, it dates to that) and the rest bandwagoners.  Rest of the market is 100% Bengals.

3. MLB.  We get the Reds, Pirates, and Indians on TV.  Only Pirates fans are people from northern WV who moved to Charleston to work for the government.  Never met an Indians fans.  Market is 95% Reds.  Some residual Cubs and Braves fans from the superstation days.

4. College basketball.  Same loyality map as college football, except this part of Kentucky is, like the entire Commonwealth except for downtown Louisville, 100% Big Blue.  Some Marshall fans will follow MU as their "small time" team and UK or some other "big time" team. 

5. NASCAR.  During the "NASCAR boom" of the 90s, the sport took off here big time, particularly in the rural areas.  As everywhere, the massive and foolish changes to the sport have driven away most of the fans.  There are some Indy fans, particularly in Ohio.

6. HS football/basketball.  Football is mostly just parents and people that work for the school system.  Declining population has led to lots of consolidations, and that cut interest.  Basketball is probably equal to football, maybe a bit more popular.

7.  Golf.  Our witless governor has a PGA event at his resort.  It did well at first, but it has died down as the newness has worn off.  Gave away tickets this year.  The PGA is redoing its schedule in 19, might move to the fall, which might help.  Several other tournaments nearby.  Golf on TV get among its highest ratings outside Florida here, which is probably a function of the high %age of old people here.  Tennis is not followed.

8. Minor league teams.  Charleston has had a minor league baseball team most of the time since forever.  Current team seems to be dying out, not drawing well.  Nobody from outside Charleston cares about it.

9. NBA/NHL/soccer/whatever.  No one cares about the NBA.  We get Cleveland on TV.  Hockey, we get Columbus and Pittsburgh on TV.  Not a big deal.  Most people don't understand the rules of hockey.  College baseball is not followed.  Soccer gets the stereotypical upper middle class spoiled kid demographic.  As with any college, Marshall has a number of professors and students from elsewhere and they turn out for Marshall's games, but nobody else does. 




Alps

Northern NJ, greater suburbia (Morris County):
* In order by sport: Football, baseball, basketball, college football, hockey, soccer (international), soccer (MLS), college basketball... trace amounts of golf, especially in richer places
* In order by team: Yankees, Giants, Jets, Devils, Mets, Lakers (or possibly whatever team is currently popular), Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Real/Man U/other popular int'l teams, Red Bulls, NYCFC

Max Rockatansky

For Fresno...

MLB:   The Giants are the favorite by far.  I don't even run into many Dodgers fans out here.
NBA:   The Warriors are the favorite but I suspect the Lakers have been historically. 
NFL:  The Raiders by far with the 49ers and Rams coming in far behind.
NHL:  I suppose the Sharks?   Really not a ton of hockey followers around these parts but I hear them get mentioned now and then.
NCAA:   By far Fresno State based off the football program and the Carr kids.  There seems to be a decent baseball following. 

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 03, 2017, 10:11:52 AM
Greater Hartford:  It's a combination of MLB, NFL, and college basketball that rule the roost.  For baseball, the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry is taken to the next level, dividing neighbors and even families.  The Mets are a distant third, and a fan of any other team is most likely a transplant.  For the NFL, the Giants and Patriots dominate much like the Red Sox and Yankees, except it is not as strong a rivalry, and those that root for one city in baseball don't necessarily root for a team from the same city in football (have many Red Sox/Giants and Yankees/Patriots fan friends).  Jets fans pretty much are non-existent north of the New Haven area, and fall in popularity with the teams that have a national following (Steelers, Cowboys, Packers).  But, no matter what team(s) anyone follows, everyone is united for the cause when it comes to UConn Basketball, both mens' and womens'.  CT is probably the only state where a guy can watch womens' basketball and not have his man card called into question by people from out of state.  UConn football is kind of a niche sport (many national teams have as much of a following around here), along with NHL since the Whalers left town, and the NBA.
Yankees/pats? Ew
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

bing101

For the San Francisco area

1. Golden state Warriors mainly because of the Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.

2. San Francisco Giants ok

3. San Jose sharks

4. San Francisco 49ers

5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.

Alps

Quote from: bing101 on August 03, 2017, 09:50:52 PM
For the San Francisco area

1. Golden state Warriors mainly because of the Rivalry with the Cleveland Cavs in the NBA Finals.

2. San Francisco Giants ok

3. San Jose sharks

4. San Francisco 49ers

5. New England Patriots mainly because News Outlets mention that Tom Brady grew up in San Mateo as a Child.
But perennially, until recently, it was 4-2-1-A's-3? (Don't forget the A's!)

triplemultiplex

This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.

Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally.  I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy.  For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/  I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.

In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans.  The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.

The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team.  As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale.  Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

Sctvhound

In the Charleston area, our minor league team is a Caps affiliate, so a few people gravitate toward them, but most people are fans of their transplanted teams. The Blackhawks, Bruins, Rangers, Penguins, Sabres, and a few Hurricanes fans.

The local news here frequently shows highlights of Blue Jays star Justin Smoak, and used to show them every time Yankees CF Brett Gardner and Orioles (now Nats) C Matt Wieters went deep, but there have been no fans added of those teams.

There were a good amount of Cubs fans, well before the WS, dating back to the 80s when the Cubs and Braves were the only two teams on TV in most of the country unless you were near a local team.

Roddy White, a WR for the Falcons for over a decade, was from James Island, and he added a decent Falcons fan base here. When he stopped playing, a lot of those folks gravitated back toward the Cowboys or other teams.

tchafe1978

Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.

Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally.  I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy.  For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/  I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.

In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans.  The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.

The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team.  As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale.  Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.

Wisconsin should be pretty obvious for the NFL, NBA, and MLB: Packers, Bucks, and Brewers. But living here in the SW corner of Wisconsin after growing up in the Milwaukee area, things are a little different. The Packers are obviously still popular, but it is more evenly split with Duh Bears because Duh Bears used to hold training camp at UW-Platteville from 1984-2000. Lots of people became Bears fans because of that, and especially when they won the Super Bowl in 1986. There are plenty of stories about the players doing things around town from those days.

The Bulls seem to be the more popular team than the Bucks. I'm a Bucks fan, and fellow Bucks fans are few and far between. Most are Bulls fans dating back to the Jordan years.

Baseball seems to be somewhat split between Brewers and Cubs. Plenty of Brewers fans came out of the woodwork when the Brewers made the playoffs in 2008 and 2011, but that has since been taken back over by the Cubs, especially since they won the World Series last year.

Stores around here will usually carry Packers, Brewers, Bears, Cubs, maybe Bulls, but rarely Bucks, which is disappointing. We do however see the majority of the coverage on local TV related to the Wisconsin teams, since we get Madison TV, with a little bit of Cubs. I would be happier, though, if all the Cubs and Bears fans stayed south of the border, lol.

plain

Around here, as far as a local team goes, most people follow the VCU Rams (college basketball) and it's not even close.

Since Richmond (or Virginia for that matter) doesn't have any pro teams, the NBA, NHL, and MLB is up in the air for the most part.. you'll find fans of all sorts of franchises no matter what region they play in despite the DC teams (*see below) being the closest to most of the state.

The NFL fans here though is what makes me sick: the vast majority of Virginians are either Redskins fans or Cowboys fans, to the point where it's like the only 2 teams in existence lmao. You might come across some Giants (me), Panthers, Ravens or Steelers fans, but Redskins and Cowboys BY FAR have the state on lock

Newark born, Richmond bred

mgk920

Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.

Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally.  I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy.  For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/  I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.

In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans.  The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.

The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team.  As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale.  Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.

I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.

Mike

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2017, 10:29:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.

Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally.  I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy.  For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/  I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.

In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans.  The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.

The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team.  As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale.  Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.

I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.

Mike
What is happening? Cubs having bandwagon fans.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

DandyDan

As far as North Iowa goes:
MLB: Twins, then Cubs, then everyone else
NFL: Vikings, followed by Packers, followed by Bears, Cowboys and then everyone else. One of the people I work with says they have a lot of 49er fans here, but I don't really see that. I assume they became fans in the 80's if they exist.
NHL: Wild, then Blackhawks, possibly the Penguins, then everyone else
NBA: Hard to say, because no one wears a Cavaliers jersey that's not LeBron James. Same for Warriors and Stephen Curry. One thing I can say is I am still waiting to see someone in a Timberwolves outfit, as that is the only Minnesota team they don't go for here
NCAA: There's the Hawkeyes, and then there's everyone else. There's some Iowa State and some UNI, but it's Hawkeyes all the way
MORE FUN THAN HUMANLY THOUGHT POSSIBLE

jp the roadgeek

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on August 05, 2017, 10:38:01 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2017, 10:29:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.

Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally.  I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy.  For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/  I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.

In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans.  The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.

The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team.  As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale.  Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.

I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.

Mike
What is happening? Cubs having bandwagon fans.

You think the Cubs have a lot of bandwagon fans?  Wait until the Yankees win a few games, and these fans who think baseball didn't exist before 1996  come crawling out of the woodwork like termites.
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

Takumi

Quote from: plain on August 04, 2017, 02:29:04 PM
Around here, as far as a local team goes, most people follow the VCU Rams (college basketball) and it's not even close.

Since Richmond (or Virginia for that matter) doesn't have any pro teams, the NBA, NHL, and MLB is up in the air for the most part.. you'll find fans of all sorts of franchises no matter what region they play in despite the DC teams (*see below) being the closest to most of the state.

The NFL fans here though is what makes me sick: the vast majority of Virginians are either Redskins fans or Cowboys fans, to the point where it's like the only 2 teams in existence lmao. You might come across some Giants (me), Panthers, Ravens or Steelers fans, but Redskins and Cowboys BY FAR have the state on lock


Most hockey fans I've met here are Caps fans. For MLB, there are some residual Braves fans leftover from the R-Braves/TBS 90s heyday, but you're right about it mostly being a mix. Most prominent are Yankee, Red Sox, and the Nats in a distant third, along with bandwagon fans of whichever team has been successful lately (currently Cubs). Almost no Giants fans despite the Squirrels being an affiliate. Few Orioles fans. Few NBA fans as the Rams dominate everything. For the NFL, from what I've seen the Steelers are a distant third behind the Redskins and Cowboys, particularly with those under 30.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

The Nature Boy

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 06, 2017, 07:22:34 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on August 05, 2017, 10:38:01 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2017, 10:29:48 AM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on August 03, 2017, 11:06:22 PM
This is much more interesting for areas without an obvious local pro team.

Everything for Wisconsin is obvious except for hockey; a sport that I don't get into much, personally.  I know some hockey fans and they seemed to be distributed among the Blackhawks, the Wild and the Red Wings, in that order of numeracy.  For this informal survey, I'm excluding transplants, but even then the 'Hawks come out on top. :/  I have such a visceral reaction to any Chicago team that I can't square that circle, so if I was huge hockey guy, my own allegiance would necessarily lay elsewhere.

In my travels, I've noticed three NFL teams that seem to have plenty of fans everywhere: Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  They've all been successful at several points in the last 25 years, but the most dominant team recently doesn't share in this same bounty of nationwide fans.  The Patriots have not won over many fans beyond their home market the way those three teams have.

The other interesting thing I notice is if a "local boy" from an area without an obvious pro sports allegiance becomes a huge star in a pro sport, that area suddenly becomes a big fan of that guy's team.  As an example, years after his retirement, stores in New Mexico still had plenty of Brian Urlacher jerseys for sale.  Another example; I was in Hawaii during Marcus Mariotta's rookie year and every Tennessee Titans game was suddenly the "in market" broadcast on local TV.

I've been seeing waaaaaaaay too many 'bandwagon' Cubs' fans here in NE Wisconsin the last few years, too.

Mike
What is happening? Cubs having bandwagon fans.

You think the Cubs have a lot of bandwagon fans?  Wait until the Yankees win a few games, and these fans who think baseball didn't exist before 1996  come crawling out of the woodwork like termites.

I always find that a good test to see whether or not someone is a bandwagon fan is to start discussing something from the team's history when they mention that they're a fan. Bonus points if it's a big moment in the team's history and they seem utterly clueless. I wonder how many Yankees bandwagoners know about Thurman Munson's plane crash or the Maris/Mantle home run chase.

Bruce

#22
For Seattle:

The Seahawks (NFL) have a lot of region-wide support, which is also healthy in the urban core. Plenty of office workers milling about in Seahawks gear on the Fridays before games, but not so much the regular people out and about on Saturdays.

The Sounders (MLS) have a very strong urban base, which drops off in the suburbs. Thanks to the number of games they play (17 at home) and high average attendance (45K, some games fill out CenturyLink's full 67K), they actually attract more total attendance than the Seahawks and help make the stadium more profitable. The Sounders also seem to inspire more lingering around Pioneer Square prior to games, with people participating in the March to the Match.

The Mariners have strong regional support and weak in-city support, which puts them neck and neck with the Sounders for the number 2 spot here. If they put together a decent team and made a deep run into the playoffs, the city would be all over them.

Despite being absent for 9 years, the Sonics still have their place in the hearts of Seattleites. The city is in the middle of a huge arena debate (between renovating KeyArena and building a new SODO Arena) that is spilling over into the mayoral contest; don't expect shovel to hit dirt before the end of the decade, though, because things move slow here.

The Storm (WNBA) and Reign (NWSL/women's soccer) have a small but loyal fanbase. The Thunderbirds are far out in the suburbs and not well followed by in-city fans.

The Huskies (CFB) have a huge following as well, but it's hard to gauge in the city. Seattle has a lot of transplants, after all, who are more loyal to their alma mater than UW.

NASCAR is looked down upon here, partially because they tried to come in and mooch off the taxpayers while building a new racetrack in the suburbs. Given the current condition of the selected site (prime industrial land in an area that needs it) and the state's finances, we dodged a huge bullet.

DandyDan

I should have done Omaha,  since I lived there for 20 years.
MLB: I always thought it was the Cubs or the Cardinals,  but when the Royals won the World Series in 2015, the Royal fans sure came out of the woodwork. Omaha has lasted longer as the minor league affiliate of the Royals than any other city with any team, so perhaps it wasn't surprising. The Yankees and Red Sox had some popularity and then there's everyone else.
NFL: A mix of Chiefs, Cowboys, Packers, Vikings, Bears, Raiders and Broncos. Not sure who #1 is, but it probably is one of those.
NHL: Hard to say, but I personally suspect it's either the Blackhawks or Penguins
NBA: I think I could repeat my previous comment on North Iowa for Omaha as far as the NBA goes. It probably entirely depends on who's good at the moment.
NCAA: Nebraska Cornhuskers football is practically a religion there and I had a love/hate relationship with it.  That said, Creighton basketball and UNO hockey have their fans as well.
OTHER TEAMS: The Omaha Lancers junior hockey team always had a following, as does Omaha Beef indoor football. The Omaha Nighthawks UFL football team was huge for one year, and people will still wear the t-shirts.
MORE FUN THAN HUMANLY THOUGHT POSSIBLE

Flint1979

Quote from: Henry on August 03, 2017, 09:57:47 AM
I'll bite with my three hometowns:

Chicago: The Cubs are obviously the #1 team in the city, with the White Sox a distant second. Even in 2005 (the year of the Sox' World Series win), more attention was focused on the Cubs and their so-called Billy Goat curse, which I've always perceived as stupid and was thankfully eradicated with last year's championship. The Bears suck, the Bulls haven't really gotten back to the championship level they achieved in the Jordan-Pippen years, and the Blackhawks have gotten major attention since their Stanley Cup run began in 2010. Northwestern hasn't been historically good, but it's always fun to see them win. I don't know enough about DePaul, and seeing that this is Big Ten country, Illinois and Indiana tend to dominate the scene locally.

Los Angeles: The Dodgers and Lakers have been entangled in an eternal fight for local supremacy, with their championship pedigree. However, the Angels have a World Series title from 2002, and the Clippers have become a good team as of late (though not championship-caliber). The same goes for USC and UCLA (my alma mater), with the former being better in football and the latter in basketball. The Kings have managed to best the Ducks in terms of Stanley Cups won (Kings 2, Ducks 1). And of course, the NFL is getting a second go-around, so it's too early to tell how well the Rams and Chargers will do here. I remember, though, when the Raiders played in L.A., their popularity eclipsed that of the Rams, and it was a very common sight to see silver and black everywhere you went in the city (going back to the days before Straight Outta Compton even became a thing).

Seattle: I say the Seahawks are the #1 team in town, especially in the Russell Wilson era that produced two Super Bowl berths and one Lombardi trophy. Too bad that the Mariners had to take a long time to come into their own, but they had lots of memorable moments in the Ken Griffey Jr. and Ichiro Suzuki eras (the 116-win season from 2001 comes to mind). The Sonics were the main draw (especially when Payton and Kemp were on the team), but then they left for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder (perhaps the Portland Trail Blazers are attracting former Sonics fans as of late?). And then there's Washington, whose main campus is right in the city. There's no local NHL team either, but I imagine everyone goes up to Vancouver to follow the Canucks.
The Bears will ALWAYS be Chicago's #1 team, not the Cubs.



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