The personal finance website WalletHub released its report on 2022’s Best Sports Cities.
WalletHub compared 392 small to large cities across the five largest sports in the United States: football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer.
The report concluded that the best large sports city is Los Angeles, followed by Boston, New York City, Pittsburgh and Dallas. Washington, D.C. is no. 9.
The best mid-size sports cities are Green Bay, Wis., Buffalo, N.Y., Glendale, Ariz., Salt Lake City, Utah and Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The best small sports cities are Clemson, S.C., West Point, N.Y., Fayette, Mississippi, State College, Penn. and Hanover, N.H. Morgantown, W.V. is no. 7.
The report also revealed that Jacksonville, Fla. has the lowest average ticket price for an NFL game, $81.97, which is 1.9 times less expensive than in Las Vegas, where tickets are the most expensive at $153.47.
The highest attendance rate for MLS games is 103.45 percent in Atlanta, which is 6.1 times higher than the lowest of 16.98 percent in Chicago.
The lowest average ticket price for an NBA game is $63.11 in Charlotte, N.C., which is 3.2 times lower than in San Francisco, which has the highest at $203.30.
The lowest average MLB ticket price is $22.12 in Phoenix, which is 2.8 times lower than the most expensive in Boston at $61.71.
Experts provided comments on what makes a good sports city.
“There is no one formula, but I would say the easiest way is if a team is considered the primary draw for people to attend,” Andrew Billings, Chair of Broadcasting, Dept. of Journalism & Creative Media and Executive Director of the Alabama Program in Sports Communication at The University of Alabama and Co-Editor of Communication & Sport, said in a press release. “For example, it is hard to imagine people visiting Green Bay without doing something Packers-related. This creates a year-round economy where cities are deeply invested in the fate of the local team. I also see where cities with a single professional sports team can truly embrace it more deeply (think Oklahoma City in the NBA or the San Diego Padres in MLB). This is not the only way for a city to be a great sports town (consider Pittsburgh or Boston), but there seems to be a unique quality in being able to focus on a single team.”
Michael A. DeLong, a professor at Keiser University Flagship, said he believes not only a fan base that will buy tickets makes for a good sports city, but a city that will help sports teams come to new stadiums.
“I say surrounding cities because not all teams play in the actual city they represent, such as the Dallas Cowboys playing in Arlington, or the San Francisco 49ers playing in Santa Clara. The fan base buying tickets is not only based on how well the team plays but the surroundings that the fans will be in once they buy tickets and show up. You have cities where the teams are fleeing because of the lack of new stadiums, which results in poor ticket sales (Oakland immediately comes to mind),” DeLong said.
To what extent do sports teams reflect the cities they call home?
“While there are definitely examples of certain teams that reflect the cities, this is becoming less and less a reality,” Dr. Jonathan Casper, associate professor and Sport Management Program Coordinator at North Carolina State University, said in the press release. “Historically teams such as the Pittsburgh Steelers had a team that reflected a large community of middle-class blue-collar workers. This was reflected in the players and coaches. Nowadays, there might be some examples of this relationship still existing, but the reality is that free agency and sports becoming more corporate means that that might not necessarily be the case.”
DeLong believes sports teams do reflect the cities they call home.
“One that comes to mind is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The city of Pittsburgh is considered a tough, blue-collar town. The way that the Steelers play (and have played for years) is as a tough, blue-collar team. I believe that good team executives try to make their team resemble the city they play in. The Miami Dolphins this year are more of a flashy, speedy team. This resembles Miami itself, a flashy city where celebrities like to hang out. As a team executive, this is crucial to maintain your fan base, for them to purchase tickets and merchandise because they feel it is their team,” DeLong said.
DeLong said that the biggest way to inspire individuals to be involved in sports is through the community.
“You see teams with their own Community Service departments, and I believe in society right now, the community is becoming more and more important to not only fans but everyone in general. Players are recognizing this, and most star players have their own foundations created to help the communities they represent, along with the communities they came from,” DeLong said.
Casper said it depends if you’re trying to get them to play sports or watch sports.
“I think when it comes to playing sports, it is all about what you are exposed to at an early age and have access to later in life,” Casper said. “With spectator sport, it is about socialization and the fact that a person is most likely to be loyal to a team that is influenced by significant others. There also are environmental factors, for example, I grew up in Colorado and it is hard not to be a fan of the Denver Broncos unless you really do not like sports in general.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
