30th Best Sport City in the Nation?

[DraftBoy]

In the most recent article of The Sporting News, they listed the top 101 cities in the nation based on sports. They listed Boston as #1, which is understandable. #30 was Buffalo, which makes sense since you guys only got 2 pro teams. But the thing that caught my eye was that Atlanta was #15. I couldnt believe since this city cant even sell out a playoff game, this is kinda ridiculous.

[bduff54]

but atlanta has every major sport. and they are die-hard braves fans!

[lordofgun]

Last I looked, they didn't sell out a lot of their Braves playoff games either. Probably has something to do with having hosted the Olympics in '96 and other stupid stuff like that.

[EricStratton]

Duff, I'll give you the every major sport thing in Atlanta but die-hard fans they are not. The Braves rarely sell out playoff games to the point Yankee fans in the WS and Met fans in the playoffs fly to Atlanta on cheap flights and buy tickets at the window.

[JefftheBillsfan]

hey...do you have a link...I would be interested to see the link?

[BambinoSux]

Obviously Boston is #1 but where was Miami on this? They can't sell out a playoff game either and about 3,000 people come to their baseball games a night.

[bduff54]

wow, i really thought the braves fans were die hards. there team is always amazing aswerll. Buffalo is good but not great. where is toronto on this list. every leaf and every raptor game was sold out last year. (who else can boast those numbers?) And in the early 90's we broke the attendance record for baseball!@

[dolfan25]

Why is it that when the Bills don't sellout a playoff game no one holds it against the Bills. Was the last playoff game you had at Buffalo sold out?

I always hear how the game was actually sold out by game time but when Fin fans tell you the same about their games that were not sold out it is just disregarded. As I have said so many times, do you think Green Bay or Cleveland would not sell out their playoff games in time for TV.

[bduff54]

i hear ya dolfan. we have had real problems with that. there have been many blackouts. some bills fans are very quick to mock other fans but meanwhile ours aren't the greatest either

[EricStratton]

This is the link to the 2001 list. New York is #1 and Buffalo #25.

http://www.sportingnews.com/sportscities2001/fulllist.html


The page also has the criteria to see why a city makes it or not.




1. New York-New Jersey-Long Island
2. Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose
3. Los Angeles-Anaheim
4. Philadelphia
5. Dallas-Fort Worth
6. Denver
7. Baltimore-Washington
8. Miami-Fort Lauderdale
9. Detroit
10. Phoenix
11. St. Louis
12. Atlanta
13. Chicago
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Pittsburgh
16. Boston
17. Seattle
18. Nashville
19. Salt Lake City
20. Toronto
21. Raleigh-Durham- Chapel Hill
22. Indianapolis
23. Charlotte
24. Cincinnati
25. Buffalo
26. Milwaukee
27. Houston
28. New Orleans
29. San Antonio
30. Tampa-St. Petersburg
31. Columbus
32. Cleveland
33. Orlando
34. Sacramento
35. San Diego
36. Norman, Okla.
37. Ottawa
38. Kansas City
39. South Bend, Ind.
40. Portland, Ore.
41. Vancouver
42. Edmonton
43. Jacksonville
44. Green Bay
45. Gainesville, Fla.
46. Calgary
47. Austin, Texas
48. West Lafayette, Ind.
49. Knoxville, Tenn.
50. Ames, Iowa
51. Madison, Wisc.
52. Tucson, Ariz.
53. Athens, Ga.
54. Tallahassee, Fla.
55. Lincoln, Neb.
56. Corvallis, Ore.
57. Eugene, Ore.
58. Oxford, Miss.
59. Manhattan, Kan.
60. East Lansing, Mich.

[bduff54]

Buffalo does alright. Toronto is good but could be a bit higher

[lordofgun]

What's the point of putting one out every year? The cities don't change that much.

[EricStratton]

It fills space in the magazine

[lordofgun]

yep...that's about it... :D

[BambinoSux]

I agree BDuff. I think Toronto should be near the top 10. I guess if they take everything into consideration, then the baseball attendances hurts it. Can't really think of anything else.

[lordofgun]

No NFL...that's TO's problem.

[EricStratton]

Remember BDuff, it's 2001 not the early '90s. Toronto has no NFL and the Skydome is deserted during most baseball games.

[bduff54]

not true. they get around 25-30,000 in the dome that is not that bad comapred to some others. they had 27,000 lastnight! I think it should be higher than 20 but no NFL does it hurt it

[Phins054]

Who here really cares about a list that ranks sports citys??? Let alone get into bickering about where a particular city should be ranked...

This just shows you how bored the staff at TSN really are...:hamrhed:

[Shiny Chicken]

That list has always been bogus and has no idea what the sports atmosphere is like in Western NY... For instance, how in the hell do you rank Binghamton at 354 and Rochester at 255. They always rank Buffalo too low and Rochester WAY too low... I mean I know not all of you are too high in ROchester, ubut to be ranked after Binghamton?? Gimme a break.

We haveone of the oldest AHL franchises, one of the oldest IL franchises, one of the biggest soccer followings in the country, just about every minor league sport imaginable and we still manage to support them all more than most minor league cities. Their rankings make absolutelly no sense. I can undeerstand us not being up there with major league cities, that would be stupid too... but 255????? come on here... talk about a lack of respect for western NY...

[Shiny Chicken]

Even Albany's ranked higher at 173... I've lived in both cities... and Rochester is a much much bigger sports town than Albany....

[Judge]

Originally posted by Benjudah
Even Albany's ranked higher at 173... I've lived in both cities... and Rochester is a much much bigger sports town than Albany....

Rochester should be near the top of those cities that don't have any major league pro or college sport. AAA baseball, AHL, af2, A- League soccer, MLL-

Rochester's the king of minor league sports!

[HenryRules]

Actually bduff, the Jays average attendance so far this year is 19501 compared to 23106 last year and the tv ratings are down a bunch compared to last year as well. Also, while the Leafs and Raptors have been sold out every game, almost everyone I know that goes to watch either team does it because they get corporate seats. I only went to one game this year for each team where I actually bought the seats and that's about the same for everyone that I know. Having a lot of corporations buy seats says absolutely nothing about the fans in the city. The city that suprises me its so high is LA. They don't have an NFL team, they don't really support the Clips at all, and only support the Kings when they become trendy. Basically, they support the Lakers and the Dodgers as diehards and everything else whenever it pleases them.

[lordofgun]

what about Elmira?

[Valerie]

WooHoo! NY/LI #1. :) Best fans in the world. :) I see the Washington/Baltimore made it to #7. That's just because they're all NUTS down here.

[bduff54]

henry rules. not every seat is corporate big guy. how the hell do you think i go to a bunch of games? and the leafs were selling out for years before all this private boxes and stuff even existed.

[THATTHURMANATER]

They take points away for having Canadian Football.

[HenryRules]

Yes, years ago the Leafs did sell out without corporate seats and they were selling out Jays games years ago as well. Years ago, the Blackhawks and Canadiens were also selling out consistently. I'm talking about right now. And currently, corporate seats dominate the ACC. Am I saying that no individuals go to a lot of games, no. But I am saying that a large majority of the seats at the Leafs games are taken up by corporate people. If you want proof, look how many empty seats there are 10 minutes through the first period or compare the fans at Leafs games to those at the Rock games. Attendees that aren't corporate normally have a tendency to cheer loud and make noise, something that regular season Leafs games suck at.
BTW bduff, the Argos, who everyone always says are dying and don't get enough fan support are currently outdrawing the Jays at the Skydome.

[bduff54]

your right in some regard. but it's a poor example because you cant' say that they wouldn't sell out if you took away the corporate seats. people hear are always dieing for seats.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Didn't they pick St. Louis No. 1 last year? Then everyone ragged on them because the Sporting News in published in St. Louis?

[bduff54]

st. louis is a great sports town. they love their cardinals and rams.

[Phins054]

Originally posted by bduff54
st. louis is a great sports town. they love their cardinals and rams.

They didn't care too much for their NFL Cardinals to much did they???

[bduff54]

maybe not? i'm not that old to be honest!

[Judge]

Originally posted by Phins054


They didn't care too much for their NFL Cardinals to much did they???

They supported that team pretty well considering it never won a damn thing while the team was there- I don't believe the Cardinals ever won a playoff game while in St. Louis.

[BambinoSux]

WooHoo! NY/LI #1. Best fans in the world. I see the Washington/Baltimore made it to #7. That's just because they're all NUTS down here.

That was last year, this year it's Boston. Is there a link to this year's whole list or has it come out yet?

[Earthquake Enyart]

Whoever picked Green Bay 44th has never been there. Those people are nuts up there. With Ottawa ahead of them?

[bduff54]

ottawa???? they suck up there. they are all leaf fans. if you go to a sens game it is half leaf fans. they have no other sports! Green bay should be miles in front of them