I did this kind of thread about 9 years ago when all the conference realignment was taking place, but things have changed so much (my metro has added 100K population in that time) I figured I'd do it again.

Charleston, SC

1A. South Carolina football- huge demand for tickets, probably 15-20% of crowds of 80K on Saturdays are from here. 15K+ alumni, thousands of students. Strong even during lean years. Major local sports talk host huge Carolina homer
1B. Clemson football- jumped in popularity during Dabo championship years, but has always been very strong. Were 1A during that time, but even last year some people stopped watching even with a 10 win year. Probably same percentage of fans make trip every home weekend

2. Other college football- Huge around here. People will watch random games. Probably every national program on the East Coast has a fan base here since this is such a transient city now. It probably goes like this:

Ohio State
Georgia
Alabama
Michigan
Penn State
Notre Dame
West Virginia
Other SEC schools (anybody in East but Vandy, all the West teams)
Other ACC schools (UNC, NC State, FSU, VT, UVA)
Other B1G schools (Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Iowa)
Everyone else (including Coastal Carolina)

3. NFL- gotten a lot bigger around here, Panthers fans barely a plurality. Met fans from almost every team here. Steelers and Cowboys next biggest, then Falcons, Patriots, Packers, Washington, anybody else on the East Coast, Chiefs, Seahawks. All reasonably-sized fan bases.

4. High school football- still relatively big around here, but COVID and a couple lean years of football cut down on attendance by a lot.

5. MLB (Braves)- Braves have been #1 here since they started, but they got a big bandwagon last fall with the World Series run. Tons of Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs fans. Again see folks from almost every team at one time or another.

6. Golf/Tennis- just had the PGA in 2021 and a US Women's Open in 2019, both drew huge crowds. Volvo Car Open (women's tennis) less popular, but still has loyal following.

7. Local college football (Citadel, Charleston Southern)- The Citadel still has a reasonably big fan base locally, usually about 9-12K, but 90% of the people are at the games. Charleston Southern mostly restricted to students and alums.

8. College basketball- mostly only a February and March sport locally. Duke, Kentucky, UNC then probably College of Charleston around here. Most South Carolina and Clemson fans only care when they are in the tourney. Citadel and Charleston Southern mostly restricted to students/cadets and slums.

9. College baseball- has gone way down with SC and Clemson being down for a few years. Local radio talks about it a lot to fill the empty time in April and May. Local schools usually struggle to draw a few hundred.

10. Minor league teams (RiverDogs baseball, Stingrays hockey, Battery soccer)- Do not share same fan base. Baseball mostly downtown, West Ashley, James Island, soccer more yuppie Mount Pleasant/Daniel Island, hockey Summerville/Goose Creek/North Charleston. Most locals go to a couple or so games a year.

11. NHL- Has gotten rather popular around here especially in last few years with transplants. Caps, Pens, Rangers, Bruins, Hurricanes, Red Wings have decent fan bases.

12. NBA- Most folks do not follow until playoffs. Hornets barely have any fans. Even the other HS sports like baseball and basketball are more popular.

What about your area?

DFW (specifically, North Dallas Suburbs) - based on apparel I see and people I know:

Tier I - Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M
Tier II - Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma St, SMU, TCU, Texas Tech
Tier III - Major power schools (ex: Alabama, Ohio St, USC) + regional non-power schools (ex: North Texas, Rice, Sam Houston St, Tulane)
Tier IV - Non-major power schools (ex: Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Washington St)
Tier V - Everyone else

Fort Lauderdale, FL is the Big4: Miami, UF, UCF, and FSU.

Most FIU and FAU alumni I have met are Miami Hurricane fans. Mario Cristobal has without a doubt energized the local population. I'll admit there is a palpable buzz about Cristobal Era.

1. Miami Heat
2. Miami Dolphins
3. Miami Hurricanes
4. Florida Gators
5. UCF
6. FSU
7. Florida Panthers
8. Miami Marlins

Chicagoland

1) Bears
2) Cubs
3) Blackhawks
4) Bulls
5) White Sox
6) Notre Dame
7) Illinois
8) P6 Melting Pot: Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, DePaul, Michigan St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio St, Iowa St, Mizzou
9) Mid-major Melting Pot: NIU FB, Loyola, Illinois St, Bradley, SIU, UIC, Valparaiso

Houston area

Texans

Astros
Cowboys

Rockets

UT
aTm


LSU, Houston, Baylor




Sam Houston
Rice

Others receiving votes: Texas Tech, SMU, Arkansas, TCU,SFA

North Florida: Pensacola to Daytona Beach

Vast Majority: UF or FSU

Next tier: Bama, UGA, Auburn, LSU

Way down the list: Smattering of fans from other schools, especially among military folks and retirees from up north

Me and 2-3 other people: Miami

(06-10-2022 04:40 PM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  Fort Lauderdale, FL is the Big4: Miami, UF, UCF, and FSU.

Big4?

Biloxi, MS

1. LSU
2. Miss St
3. Alabama
4. Ole Miss
5. Southern Miss
6. South Alabama

(06-10-2022 04:43 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Chicagoland

1) Bears
2) Cubs
3) Blackhawks
4) Bulls
5) White Sox
6) Notre Dame
7) Illinois
8) P6 Melting Pot: Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, DePaul, Michigan St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio St, Iowa St, Mizzou
9) Mid-major Melting Pot: NIU FB, Loyola, Illinois St, Bradley, SIU, UIC, Valparaiso

I think that’s pretty close to what I’d say for the Chicago area, but I’d swap the Blackhawks and Bulls. Note that I’m basing this on an “all things equal” basis and trying to take into account recency bias. The Hawks got a massive increase in fandom with their multiple Stanley Cup runs in the 2010s, but the Bulls are still more popular for similarly situated seasons - they pretty much always lead the NBA in attendance if they’re even just a marginal playoff team (as with this year). Note that the Bulls even led the league in *road* attendance this season (yes, even more than the Warriors and Lakers) since Chicago sports fans travel so well for a merely decent team.

There are also certain schools in that “P6 melting pot” that are noticeably more prominent than others, particularly Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. Essentially, the entire “original Big Ten” of the Midwest all have really large fan bases here.

(06-10-2022 05:11 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 04:43 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Chicagoland

1) Bears
2) Cubs
3) Blackhawks
4) Bulls
5) White Sox
6) Notre Dame
7) Illinois
8) P6 Melting Pot: Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, DePaul, Michigan St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio St, Iowa St, Mizzou
9) Mid-major Melting Pot: NIU FB, Loyola, Illinois St, Bradley, SIU, UIC, Valparaiso

I think that’s pretty close to what I’d say for the Chicago area, but I’d swap the Blackhawks and Bulls. Note that I’m basing this on an “all things equal” basis and trying to take into account recency bias. The Hawks got a massive increase in fandom with their multiple Stanley Cup runs in the 2010s, but the Bulls are still more popular for similarly situated seasons - they pretty much always lead the NBA in attendance if they’re even just a marginal playoff team (as with this year). Note that the Bulls even led the league in *road* attendance this season (yes, even more than the Warriors and Lakers) since Chicago sports fans travel so well for a merely decent team.

Which is amazing because nobody had even heard of the Bulls before Jordan.

Cincinnati, Ohio

CFB
1. UC
2. Ohio State
(big gap)
3. Notre Dame
(a smaller gap)
4. Kentucky
5. Possibly Michigan or Alabama- There has always been a presence of Michigan fans down here, perhaps as a foil to OSU. Quite a few Kentucky Basketball/Alabama FB fans especially on the KY side of the river.
6. Miami Ohio- Just for the number of alums but most of those are also bigger fans of Ohio State.

College Hoops
1. UC
2. Xavier
3. Kentucky
4. Dayton
5. Ohio State

As you notice I have Ohio State #5 for hoops but #2 in FB. OSU basketball just does not move the meter down here, most of the OSU FB fans I know in town don’t follow CBB or root for another team.


High school football is a huge deal in Cincinnati.

Michigan & Michigan St football & basketball dominate athletics talks no matter what season it is. You get your Ohio St or Notre Dame fans who just want to be different.

Central, Western, Ferris, & Grand Valley have as much interest as minor league teams. That's not saying the interest isn't there, I know alumni of all 4 in the city who are very passionate, it's just not comparable to the Big 10 & pro teams.

After Michigan & Michigan St, it depends which season. If it's football season, it's the Lions. Summer, it's the Tigers, winter swings heavy to the Red Wings but doesn't help the Pistons haven't been good lately.

I'd say
Michigan football
Michigan St basketball
Michigan St football
Michigan basketball
Detroit Tigers
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Lions
Gap
Detroit Pistons
BIG GAP
Local minor league baseball Whitecaps & AHL Griffins & non Power 5 local regional Michigan schools

Other than your Ohio St & Notre Dame fans, everyone here is a fan of Michigan teams unless it's the Packers, whatever team LeBron is playing for, whatever team Brady is playing for, the Cowboys, Cubs, your usual bandwagon teams.

I live in the next county over from Ohio St and deep in the heart of Buckeye country. There are a few village idiots who claim loyalty to Michigan or Notre Dame. There’s also the occasional MAC alum but most of them are dual alma mater/Ohio St fans.

The small college scene is virtually non existent despite having a D2 and 6 D3 football teams between this county and surrounding ones. (Ohio Dominican; Denison, Muskingum, Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, Otterbein, and Capital) They don’t really even register with their local townies.

NFL and MLB is an odd mix of Cleveland/Cincinnati/Pittsburgh fans and the further east you travel, the more Pirate and Steeler logos you see.

For NHL and MLB we have our own local franchises, neither of which I think are terribly well supported. Crew fandom seems to fall along political lines—Democrats follow them, Republicans are apathetic and/or don’t acknowledge their existence.

Our AAA Columbus Clippers draw well.

High school football is huge in this state and this county has some particularly good high school baseball/softball teams.

(06-10-2022 05:20 PM)Bronco14 Wrote:  Michigan & Michigan St football & basketball dominate athletics talks no matter what season it is. You get your Ohio St or Notre Dame fans who just want to be different.

Central, Western, Ferris, & Grand Valley have as much interest as minor league teams. That's not saying the interest isn't there, I know alumni of all 4 in the city who are very passionate, it's just not comparable to the Big 10 & pro teams.

After Michigan & Michigan St, it depends which season. If it's football season, it's the Lions. Summer, it's the Tigers, winter swings heavy to the Red Wings but doesn't help the Pistons haven't been good lately.

I'd say
Michigan football
Michigan St basketball
Michigan St football
Michigan basketball
Detroit Tigers
Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Lions
Gap
Detroit Pistons
BIG GAP
Local minor league baseball Whitecaps & AHL Griffins & non Power 5 local regional Michigan schools

Other than your Ohio St & Notre Dame fans, everyone here is a fan of Michigan teams unless it's the Packers, whatever team LeBron is playing for, whatever team Brady is playing for, the Cowboys, Cubs, your usual bandwagon teams.

Informative list.

Would've thought there would be a pretty large contingent of Fighting Irish fans in the western part of Michigan with Kalamazoo somewhat equidistant among UM, MSU and ND.

Be curious what the split with IU, Purdue and ND would be in Fort Wayne or Northwest Indiana aka "The Region"

Looking at some of the posts earlier in this thread, it's pretty clear how significant Chicagoland is to Notre Dame's fan base

(06-10-2022 05:15 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 05:11 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 04:43 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Chicagoland

1) Bears
2) Cubs
3) Blackhawks
4) Bulls
5) White Sox
6) Notre Dame
7) Illinois
8) P6 Melting Pot: Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, DePaul, Michigan St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio St, Iowa St, Mizzou
9) Mid-major Melting Pot: NIU FB, Loyola, Illinois St, Bradley, SIU, UIC, Valparaiso

I think that’s pretty close to what I’d say for the Chicago area, but I’d swap the Blackhawks and Bulls. Note that I’m basing this on an “all things equal” basis and trying to take into account recency bias. The Hawks got a massive increase in fandom with their multiple Stanley Cup runs in the 2010s, but the Bulls are still more popular for similarly situated seasons - they pretty much always lead the NBA in attendance if they’re even just a marginal playoff team (as with this year). Note that the Bulls even led the league in *road* attendance this season (yes, even more than the Warriors and Lakers) since Chicago sports fans travel so well for a merely decent team.

Which is amazing because nobody had even heard of the Bulls before Jordan.

Yeah, even outside of Chicago, the pre-Jordan era is essentially the prehistoric era when evaluating sports culture at this point. In the early-1980s, the NBA Finals would still regularly be on tape delay on TV. Now, the NBA gets the 2nd highest national TV rights fees after the NFL and a small market team like the Portland Trailblazers is likely going to be sold for more than $2 billion.

Central PA

College: 95% Penn State a few Pitt and other team fans
NFL: Steelers, Eagles Ravens and a small hood out of the “Commanders” from when they did training camp here
Baseball: Phillies, Orioles , Nationals and Pirates
Hockey: Penguins, Capitals Flyers and Probably the most popular area team AHL Hershey Bears


I would say pretty much everyone here at least casually follows Penn State but it’s nowhere near the level of Bama and Auburn fans I saw in college

We are kind of in a weird spot for pro leagues as we are right on the edge of multiple sports teams we are one of the worst cities for tv blackouts and if you are a Steelers fan like my wife most sundays you are out of luck if my Ravens play at the same time because we get the Ravens game (unless they play a NFC team). For baseball in my neighborhood we get the Nationals, Orioles and Pirates on tv but my friend five minutes down the road gets the Phillies station. As a huge fan of the Capitals and Nationals I have told my wife we can’t move to that neighborhood lol. Then there is the Hershey Bears which is run better than a lot of NHL teams and is considered the New York Yankees of the American Hockey League basically if they aren’t hanging a banner it’s a disappointing year

(06-10-2022 07:03 PM)Hradmiralsfan Wrote:  Central PA

College: 95% Penn State a few Pitt and other team fans
NFL: Steelers, Eagles Ravens and a small hood out of the “Commanders” from when they did training camp here
Baseball: Phillies, Orioles , Nationals and Pirates
Hockey: Penguins, Capitals Flyers and Probably the most popular area team AHL Hershey Bears


I would say pretty much everyone here at least casually follows Penn State but it’s nowhere near the level of Bama and Auburn fans I saw in college

We are kind of in a weird spot for pro leagues as we are right on the edge of multiple sports teams we are one of the worst cities for tv blackouts and if you are a Steelers fan like my wife most sundays you are out of luck if my Ravens play at the same time because we get the Ravens game (unless they play a NFC team). For baseball in my neighborhood we get the Nationals, Orioles and Pirates on tv but my friend five minutes down the road gets the Phillies station. As a huge fan of the Capitals and Nationals I have told my wife we can’t move to that neighborhood lol. Then there is the Hershey Bears which is run better than a lot of NHL teams and is considered the New York Yankees of the American Hockey League basically if they aren’t hanging a banner it’s a disappointing year

Sounds like parts of Iowa. Dyersville (the location of the Field of Dreams field) is blacked out from Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Brewers, Royals AND Twins games.

College football fans:

1. South Carolina

2. Clemson (strong #2)

3. Georgia

4. North Carolina

Pro Sports:

Charlotte & Atlanta (predominately), but mixed.

(06-10-2022 06:52 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 05:15 PM)Kit-Cat Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 05:11 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 04:43 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  Chicagoland

1) Bears
2) Cubs
3) Blackhawks
4) Bulls
5) White Sox
6) Notre Dame
7) Illinois
8) P6 Melting Pot: Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, DePaul, Michigan St, Purdue, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio St, Iowa St, Mizzou
9) Mid-major Melting Pot: NIU FB, Loyola, Illinois St, Bradley, SIU, UIC, Valparaiso

I think that’s pretty close to what I’d say for the Chicago area, but I’d swap the Blackhawks and Bulls. Note that I’m basing this on an “all things equal” basis and trying to take into account recency bias. The Hawks got a massive increase in fandom with their multiple Stanley Cup runs in the 2010s, but the Bulls are still more popular for similarly situated seasons - they pretty much always lead the NBA in attendance if they’re even just a marginal playoff team (as with this year). Note that the Bulls even led the league in *road* attendance this season (yes, even more than the Warriors and Lakers) since Chicago sports fans travel so well for a merely decent team.

Which is amazing because nobody had even heard of the Bulls before Jordan.

Yeah, even outside of Chicago, the pre-Jordan era is essentially the prehistoric era when evaluating sports culture at this point. In the early-1980s, the NBA Finals would still regularly be on tape delay on TV. Now, the NBA gets the 2nd highest national TV rights fees after the NFL and a small market team like the Portland Trailblazers is likely going to be sold for more than $2 billion.

Bulls might as well have been an expansion team pre-Jordan. The most people were generally familiar with was Lakers, Celtics, Sixers, Knicks when talking NBA.

MLB half the focus was on the standings and the other half was on the individual stats and the all-star game. There are so many different stats that are important in baseball to understand the game. Basketball just know the basic rules and you can follow it.

(06-10-2022 07:15 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(06-10-2022 07:03 PM)Hradmiralsfan Wrote:  Central PA

College: 95% Penn State a few Pitt and other team fans
NFL: Steelers, Eagles Ravens and a small hood out of the “Commanders” from when they did training camp here
Baseball: Phillies, Orioles , Nationals and Pirates
Hockey: Penguins, Capitals Flyers and Probably the most popular area team AHL Hershey Bears


I would say pretty much everyone here at least casually follows Penn State but it’s nowhere near the level of Bama and Auburn fans I saw in college

We are kind of in a weird spot for pro leagues as we are right on the edge of multiple sports teams we are one of the worst cities for tv blackouts and if you are a Steelers fan like my wife most sundays you are out of luck if my Ravens play at the same time because we get the Ravens game (unless they play a NFC team). For baseball in my neighborhood we get the Nationals, Orioles and Pirates on tv but my friend five minutes down the road gets the Phillies station. As a huge fan of the Capitals and Nationals I have told my wife we can’t move to that neighborhood lol. Then there is the Hershey Bears which is run better than a lot of NHL teams and is considered the New York Yankees of the American Hockey League basically if they aren’t hanging a banner it’s a disappointing year

Sounds like parts of Iowa. Dyersville (the location of the Field of Dreams field) is blacked out from Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Brewers, Royals AND Twins games.

I don't understand pro sport blackouts in this day age when nobody is even watching the games anymore on TV.

Thats irritating they still make fans suffer through blackouts.