Most popular fan bases in your area
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?
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