Methodology

We analyzed 306 cities across the U.S. using 25 factors from 13 different sources. These 306 cities encompassed any with at least one NCAA school or minor league team. However, many of the cities with an NCAA school had no other sporting characteristics, and due to insufficient data, were excluded from the rest of the analysis. We imposed the restriction of a minimum of one team and one sport-related business or stadium, which left us with 210 cities with sufficient data to analyze. (This means that 96 cities in the U.S. have an NCAA or minor league team but do not have any other sporting facilities or businesses).

Being a sports fan can be tricky, and can depend hugely on your budget, the type of sports you enjoy, your gender and many other factors. Those cities that rank best and worst in our overall analysis are those that show a balance of possibilities for their fans. To determine this balance, the factors studied were broadly grouped into three equally weighted categories: Teams, Fan Experience and Participation.

The Teams category is fairly simple: We counted the number of teams available to watch in a city, including men’s professional, women’s professional, minor league (baseball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey) or NCAA.

The Fan Experience category looks at the more subjective aspects of sport fandom, from the cost of attending a game (including ticket price and the average cost of a beer); the number of championships won in that city (as having a winning franchise has shown to significantly increase fan satisfaction); attendance figures; the number of stadiums in the city; and the number of TV channels devoted specifically to covering local sports. All of these factors contribute to a positive environment for sports fans.

Lastly, the Participation category looks at the ability for a sports fan to get involved: the number of sporting related businesses locally, from sports instruction to sports centers to spectator sports businesses. Many sportsmen do not just watch the games, they play for fun too, so we deemed this category as important as the rest.

All factors used in the analysis were weighted equally, as the specifics of which matters more to each sports fan can be subjective and vary with income, transport options and physical ability.

There were several factors we would have liked to include in the analysis but couldn’t. The number of sports bars in each city would be an interesting addition to the fan experience and for many fans is the primary way they watch their teams, but comprehensive and reliable data proved to be elusive.

Secondly, the amount of public money spent on arenas and public sporting facilities is an interesting factor, but considered too subjective to include here. A large dollar amount of public funds used towards sports can indicate a dedicated fan base in a specific city, but many experts argue that using public funds for this purpose has questionable or even negative repercussions to the city as a whole. Comprehensive data is not available, and a city-by-city analysis of amount of public spending and economic impact on the city would be required to determine the effect.

Lastly, seasonal city-run facilities such as outdoor rinks could be a factor in a local’s enjoyment of sport in their city, but no comprehensive data source for this information was available.

There are also several data points that we considered using but chose not to. Public transit data has relevance for those cities with their main stadiums in the center, and ease of access can be an important factor. In these cities, we found that parking costs at stadiums were much higher than average. But in smaller cities or where teams were located outside of the center, public transit becomes less available and parking much much cheaper. The benefit of transit versus parking seems to balance out, and in the end becomes a purely subjective issue depending on whether a fan can or indeed wants to drive to their home stadiums, are planning to drink at the game, are traveling in a group or are planning to tailgate.

The number of hall of famers on a team can significantly add to the enjoyment of a fan watching that team. But counting the number of hall of famers per city is not a simple task. Hall of famers can include players, coaching staff and contributors. There are hall of fames for multiple sports, many of which are not particularly followed. And even a well-recognized hall of famer plays in multiple cities over their career, for varying amounts of time. Determining the length of time a player had to be in a city to deem it a positive for the fan experience, whether to include lesser sports or lesser known positions, and whether to include minor league teams (which all hall of famers had to come through before they were famous) made this factor too complex to determine. The benefit to the fan experience may vary widely with age of the player whilst at the team, length of time at the team, during the ascendency or descendancy of their career, and the sport played.

Below, we break down the statistics we did employ, plus their point of origin.

Teams

1) No. NHL Teams / NHL

2) No. MLB Teams / MLB

3) No. MLS Teams /

4) No. NFL Teams / NFL

5) No. NBA Teams / NBA

6 to 9) No. Women's Professional Teams / Various

10) No. NCAA Schools /

11 to 15) No. Minor League Teams / Various

Fan Experience

16) No. Major Championships /

17) Average Ticket Price / Team Marketing Report

18) Average Cost of a Beer at Game / Team Marketing Report

19) Average Attendance (by highest attendance in city) /

20) No. Regional Sports TV Channels /

21) No. Stadiums /

Participation

22) No. Fitness Clubs and Sports Centers / Census Bureau

23) No. Sports Instruction Businesses / Census Bureau 24) 24) No. Sports Clubs / Census Bureau

25) No. Spectator Sports Businesses / Census Bureau