Is your town a "Baseball Town" or a "Football town"?

[Mac the Knife]

Raleigh is a basketball town, above all else. College ball, specifically.

Not even the Stanley Cup could ever change that.

Agreed, but if I *had* to pick between baseball and football, I'd call Raleigh a baseball town simply due to the presence of the Carolina Mudcats and Durham Bulls. College basketball is king, hockey's become the prince, and minor league baseball have become members of the royal court, and anything else is a jester.

[jkrdevil]

Raleigh is a basketball town, above all else. College ball, specifically.

Not even the Stanley Cup could ever change that.

Agreed, but if I *had* to pick between baseball and football, I'd call Raleigh a baseball town simply due to the presence of the Carolina Mudcats and Durham Bulls. College basketball is king, hockey's become the prince, and minor league baseball have become members of the royal court, and anything else is a jester.

Come on nothing is bigger than Duke football!

[lopernv]

Needless to say, Toronto is a hockey town. During the NHL season the Leafs are king, with the Raptors far, far behind. Although the Raps are building respectabilty and the Leafs havent made the playoffs in a few yers, basketball still has a ways to go to catch hockey.

That got me thinking, is there any town in Canada that is NOT a hockey town?

You could probably argue that Regina, Winnipeg and Hamilton are football towns seeing as how they all have the CFL and not the NHL...

Winnipeg Jets

Regina Pats

Hamilton Bulldogs

[nwtrailtrekker]

Excuse me if someone had already given their speech on Seattle is a baseball town or football town. I'm giving my own

In a sense Seattle is both a baseball town and football town. Just surely not a basketball town. Many here are ready to say bye-bye to the Supersonics.

Here in Seattle, mariner games are in a sense.."trendy". Teenagers, Adults, Young and Old alike, partake mariner games, more as a social event that a sporting event. Girls at the M's games in many cases dont know :censored: about baseball, but they still enjoy going to the games, being in the summer sun, working on their tan.

Mariners fans, for the last 5 or 10 season, have been fairly loyal, as they have had some interesting players to watch, but ballparks never get too excited or heated. Its a relaxed environment.

The Seahawks are completely different. Qwest Field is a packed house. The 70-something thousand fans that pack in to the stadium every sunday bleed Blue and Green. The feeling is everything but relaxed. Grown men and children alike scream their lungs out while the hawks are on Defense. For a few hours in the stadium, everyone is everyone's best friend. After Hawks wins, the sound of numerous honks fill the streets of downtown Seattle.

The Mariners are fun to spend an afternoon with on lazy summer days, but here in Seattle, for the most part, its 24/7/365 Hawks.

I think its football's effect on people. Every game is so meaningful. And when your team is good, it brings a city together.

SEATTLE IS A FOOTBALL TOWN.

[winghaz]

I'm going to disagree with the notion that Minneapolis is a football town. Minneapolis is a hockey town.

Yes, the Vikings do draw more interest than the Twins. I think that goes back to one man -- Bud Grant. Since Bud Grant, the Vikings have been the true love of the folks in the Twin Cities. Before Bud Grant, the Twins were the most popular.

But while the Vikings are by far the most popular team in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities, the state of Minnesota and the entire Upper Midwest, hockey reamains THE sport in Minneapolis. If football really was THE sport in Minneapolis, then Gopher football games would be sold out despite their lousy teams and them having to play in the Metrodome.

Hockey, on the other hand, constantly draws sellouts for the Wild (yes, the Wild play in St. Paul, but big deal), for the Gophers, for some Division III teams and, definitely, for high school teams. Football doesn't have that kind of popularity.

[Swiss]

So football already won the America's hearts.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The Mariners are fun to spend an afternoon with on lazy summer days, but here in Seattle, for the most part, its 24/7/365 Hawks.

I think its football's effect on people. Every game is so meaningful. And when your team is good, it brings a city together.

SEATTLE IS A FOOTBALL TOWN.

I don't buy it. I've lived in Tampa, where there really were daily stories about the Bucs leading the news throughout the entire year. It's just not the same here. That's not to say that the people of Seattle don't support the Seahawks, because they clearly do. However, it's far from being the rabid city for pro football that Chicago, Dallas, or Tampa are.

And I think if you wanted to strengthen your argument, you would have included UW football. Yes, it's going to be another tough year, but it's also the best home schedule in all of college football (Oklahoma, Ohio State, Boise State and USC all at Husky Stadium) and the team remains well attended even through the team sucks. There aren't too many cities in the country that are able to support two major football teams like that in those kinds of numbers (Pittsburgh, Miami, Seattle and where else?)

[mania]

Buenos Aires is a Futbol town.

But is it a Boca or River Plate town?

In my part of town... it's definitely Boca. They seemingly own downtown.

[rams80]

So football already won the America's hearts.

1994 didn't help baseball at all. The NFL hasn't missed a game due to labor problems for 20 years.

The NFL has been much better at marketing itself than MLB has in the past, as well as dealing with potential crises.

I'd also suggest that the NFL does better than MLB because it seems that only a pool of about 10 teams annually have any real shot of winning the World Series thanks to payroll disparities. If you aren't a fan of one of those 10 teams, you really don't have much to cheer for. With the NFL, there is at least the impression for the fans of all but the most horrible teams that they will have a chance to win a championship.

At a collegiate level, the fact that baseball's first month must essentially be spent with teams on long road trips through the South doesn't increase the sport's appeal to administrators in the North.

[jkrdevil]

So football already won the America's hearts.

1994 didn't help baseball at all. The NFL hasn't missed a game due to labor problems for 20 years.

The NFL has been much better at marketing itself than MLB has in the past, as well as dealing with potential crises.

I'd also suggest that the NFL does better than MLB because it seems that only a pool of about 10 teams annually have any real shot of winning the World Series thanks to payroll disparities. If you aren't a fan of one of those 10 teams, you really don't have much to cheer for. With the NFL, there is at least the impression for the fans of all but the most horrible teams that they will have a chance to win a championship.

At a collegiate level, the fact that baseball's first month must essentially be spent with teams on long road trips through the South doesn't increase the sport's appeal to administrators in the North.

The reason why football has gotten more popular than baseball is not because of Competitive balance because we all know football has historically had competitive balance especially in the 80's through early 90's where the Super Bow winners every year were wither San Fran., Washington, the Giants, or Dallas. Or even before that when it was the Steelers and Cowboys . Football historically and even recently has had about as much competitive balance as the other sports. Sure it's easier for a team to make a one year run to make the playoffs because there is only 16 games so if a team gets hot their in. However year in year out the contending teams are for the most part the same.

The reason football has become more popular is simply it is an event sport. It's once a week grab the grill and friends to come over to watch the game. Every game is an event/ party. You can't really do that with baseball which is an everyday sport. Further more it is more affordable to attend and watch. For season tickets you have to buy 10 games (including pre-season), in baseball you buy 81 games for season tickets. If football was an everyday sport or even a every few days sport like the NBA or NHL it wouldn't even be close to as popular as it is. It is the setup that makes the game popular.

[The_Admiral]

You insinuate that football tickets and baseball tickets are generally at similar prices, though.

[jkrdevil]

You insinuate that football tickets and baseball tickets are generally at similar prices, though.

I know football tickets on average cost more but it is still cheaper to get season tickets for football than it is baseball. Using the league average for ticket prices from the Team Marketing Report (I know it's not the best source but it's what I could find quickly).

Baseball:

Average price: $22.21 x 81 games = $1799.01

Football:

Average price: $58.95 x 10 games = $598.50

Even with football having higher ticket prices it cost $1,000 more to get Baseball season tickets.

[HedleyLamarr]

but it's also the best home schedule in all of college football (Oklahoma, Ohio State, Boise State and USC all at Husky Stadium)

LSU can make an arguement. LSU hosts Virginia Tech, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, and South Carolina.....

[FiddySicks]

You insinuate that football tickets and baseball tickets are generally at similar prices, though.

I know baseball tickets on average cost more but it is still cheaper to get season tickets for football than it is baseball. Using the league average for ticket prices from the Team Marketing Report (I know it's not the best source but it's what I could find quickly).

Baseball:

Average price: $22.21 x 81 games = $1799.01

Football:

Average price: $58.95 x 10 games = $598.50

Even with football having higher ticket prices it cost $1,000 more to get Baseball season tickets.

Ok, slight level of confusion here, when you say cost more, you mean overall, right? Because you cant beat the price of individual baseball game tickets in comparison to football, basketball, hockey, or even soccer.

[jkrdevil]

You insinuate that football tickets and baseball tickets are generally at similar prices, though.

I know baseball tickets on average cost more but it is still cheaper to get season tickets for football than it is baseball. Using the league average for ticket prices from the Team Marketing Report (I know it's not the best source but it's what I could find quickly).

Baseball:

Average price: $22.21 x 81 games = $1799.01

Football:

Average price: $58.95 x 10 games = $598.50

Even with football having higher ticket prices it cost $1,000 more to get Baseball season tickets.

Ok, slight level of confusion here, when you say cost more, you mean overall, right? Because you cant beat the price of individual baseball game tickets in comparison to football, basketball, hockey, or even soccer.

I meant to say football. Baseball on average have the cheapest tickets because of the amount of game.

[B-Rich]

but it's also the best home schedule in all of college football (Oklahoma, Ohio State, Boise State and USC all at Husky Stadium)

LSU can make an arguement. LSU hosts Virginia Tech, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, and South Carolina.....

I'M THERE. And lookin' forward to it.......

[illwauk]

OK, now this is just my own personal opinion as a resident, but I really think Green Bay is a ... football town. There, I said it.

Having said that, in seriousness, if there wasn't a Packers, I really think this might be a hockey town. The team has supported the old semipro Bobcats, the USHL Gamblers and the Division III-title contending St. Norbert Green Knights. It even supported the Green Bay Ice of the one-year ... er, what WAS that league again? I really wonder if a pro team wouldn't succeed here. The Gamblers (which is Junior A) draw about as well as Division I UW-Green Bay basketball, which barely filled the old Brown County Arena (except when it was an NCAA team under Dick Bennett) and half-fills the Resch.

If you ask me, Green Bay is a hockey town that masquarades as a football town. It's pretty clear that the town will support just about any hockey team that plays in the metro area (don't forget the Badgers at Lambeau and the NCAA regionals last year), but as far as football, it seems to be Packers or nothing. The Resch was half empty last time I went to a Blizzard game and the Bombers had even less support. And people are probably more apathetic towards HS football in Green Bay than anywhere else in NE Wisconsin. But then, you're an actual resident and I'm just someone who happens to have family in GB.

As far as a pro team... if it can work in Des Moines and the Quad Cities I don't see any reason it couldn't work in Green Bay. Maybe y'all could take the Admirals off our hands if the Marquette hockey team ever comes to fruition.

[zig]

I noticed a couple of people claimed that New York is a baseball town. Let me start off by saying that you people are insane. New York is the Mecca of all sports not just baseball and football. We have the house that Ruth Built, the World?s Most Famous Arena, the greatest game in NFL history was played here, we had the Amazon Mets, Broadway Joe, Willis Reed, Mark Messier etc, etc, etc, etc?. Even our announcers are famous and revered throughout the country. Having said all of this, however, New York should not be included in this discussion. New York is the premier city in the world and offers everything to everybody including and beyond the realm of sports.

How's NYC's cricket team coming along?

New York City is a baseball town, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.

To answer your question smart ass, apparently they are doing very well. Please read below and keep in mind there are only 11 players on a cricket team:

National Cricket

The region provided four players on the USA for the ICC trophy in Canada during the past summer. The players were Richard Staple, Capt., Rohan Alexander, Dave Wallace and Alvin Howard.

Earl Daley, a former national USA player, was appointed as one of the national selectors.

The region also had four players, Komal RamSingh, Tulsieram Mangru, Reiaz Hafeez and Abdool Shakur, on the USA Under 19 team to Bermuda.

The coach, Mr. Rampersaud is also from New York.

In addition, the oldest US cricket team is based in Staten Island.

Oh well, at least their Calvinball team sucks.

I also have to agree that New York City is baseball first.

[AndrewPF]

I'd call Raleigh a baseball town simply due to the presence of the Carolina Mudcats and Durham Bulls.

My little league team in 4th grade was the Mudcats, we had offical hats and everything. The Bulls were in town too.

[VitaminD]

But then again, whichever team delivers us from our 23-year wait for a title will never pay for a meal in this city ever again.

It's funny, though. With all of the crap that the big four teams are going through, the "minor league teams" -- the Phantoms, KiXX, Barrage, and Wings -- Have all brought home multiple championships over the last ten years.

So at least we're getting there in some respect.

The criteria are simple: if I'm not euphorically delirious on Broad Street and cutting a day of work so I can be watching a parade for the champion Philadelphia [insert team name], then it doesn't count. I hear what you're saying about the low-wattage teams, but it's largely irrelevant until one of the Big 4 has a trophy. And no copping out and throwing a parade for a horse that wins a Triple Crown race either...