What kind of "Sports Town" is your city?

[crashcarson15]

D.C. is a fair-weather sports town.

As is Indianapolis. Colts attendace was pitiful pre-Manning, and it will be post-Manning. The Pacers were loved in the Reggie Miller era, but now nobody could care about them. Butler's suddenly loved, but nobody cared before last year.

/This area cares more about High School Basketball than the Pacers, though.

[IceCap]

People say Toronto is a hockey town. To an extent their right. Toronto is a Toronto Maple Leaf town. Junior and minor hockey don't do so well, which isn't surprising considering the size of the city. But there is no doubt that the Maple Leafs are number 1. Baseball is number 2, and if the Jays keep improving as the Leafs falter I can see baseball gaining on hockey (it will never pass hockey though). I'd say Soccer is number 3. Not so much Toronto FC, but various teams from Europe.

1. Hockey

2. Baseball

3. Soccer

You could argue football (both NFL and CFL) are ahead of Baseball and Soccer but I still believe Baseball and Soccer appeal to more people.

What happened to basketball? When the Raptors were good last year, didn't hoops gain a lot of popularity? And did the Raptors ever pass the Blue Jays in terms of popularity (at least for a little while there)?

The Raptors were ahead of the Jays during the Vince Carter years.

Now though they mostly cater to people who want to go to sporting events during the winter season but who can't score Leafs tickets.

Both London and Kitchener are solidly hockey towns.

[infrared41]

Looks like I get first crack at Cleveland. Despite what others around here may try to tell you (yes, I'm talking to all of you who spent the better part of last summer whining about LeBron James and acting like the Cavs actually mattered) Cleveland sports break down pretty much like this...

1. The Browns.

2. Bitching about Steelers fans.

3. Whining about how tortured we are.

3. High School Football.

4. The Indians.

5. The Cavs.

[Lights Out]

I do feel pretty good about the Bolts' draft this year, as this time, they went for Division I guys instead of places like Northeastern University (Boston) where they found Larry English.

Um, what? Larry English went to Northern Illinois. That's an FBS school.

[no97]

Minnesota is - wait for it - a football state.

Now, we are definatly the "State of hockey," but there are so many areas of this state that couldn't care less about hockey that it isn't funny. Basically the entire southern part of the state and all of SW Minnesota too. Now, everywhere you go you'll find football and baseball fans though with a decided edge to the Vikes, mostly, I'd guess, to do with the popularity of the NFL overall at this point.

Now, that said, in places where hockey is big, hockey is BIG. I'm in Bemidji (a town of ~30,000), where we have D-II Bemidji State (who's D-I in hockey) along with high school hockey. College and high school football attendance is sparse, and basketball attendance is virtually non-existent (each drawing maybe a couple hundred), yet BSU hockey draws nearly 4,000 a night and HS hockey draws around 1,000 a game as well.

[njmeadowlanders]

New York: Baseball Town 24/7/365. Even in December and January, even if the Jets/Giants are good (they do get the coverage but baseball is still all over the place).

However, the most loyal fans in the NY Metro area, as a collective group, are Ranger fans.

[epper]

St. Catharines is most definitely a hockey town, like 99% of towns in Southern Ontario. Mostly Leaf fans, with some Canadien and Sabre fans sprinkled in. The OHL's Niagara Ice Dogs play here and are also very well supported.

Baseball/the Jays are a distant 2nd, followed by football (mixed support) and basketball (Raptors)

[Seadragon76]

Where I live in Iowa is mostly college sports. Right now, though, is a bit of a dead period since the only thing going on is Softball and Track and Field (Only Iowa and Nebraska in this area have baseball).

Once football season starts up, the area is split into Iowa State, Iowa and Nebraska. The closer to Omaha and Lincoln you are, though, the more you'll see Husker fans. Where I live, it's more or less Iowa State and Iowa. When Basketball begins, UNI and Drake get added to the mix.

Pro sports is a mixed breed since the area is pretty much middle ground for any and all midwestern based pro teams. From the NFL teams to the Wild in the NHL, it's a middle ground.

Minor league teams tend to get more attention out here. The Energy just recently won the D-League Championship, the I-Cubs are still a good draw and the Barnstormers are still a good draw in Des Moines. This also includes the Bucs in the USHL.

[The Six]

Weird. Most of what I've heard about New York is that it's a basketball town. However that wasn't about which team does the best and is therefore the most popular, but which sport the city loves the most.

[MC2]

New York is nothing because there are just so many damn teams. I wish I lived in a city like Atlanta or Denver with only one team per sport.

[njmeadowlanders]

New York is nothing because there are just so many damn teams. I wish I lived in a city like Atlanta or Denver with only one team per sport.

No. Baseball reigns supreme. Nobody cares about football in June, nobody cares about basketball in September, but if the Yankees sign a lefty reliever to a minor league deal in December, it's debated ad-nauseum...

[GriffinM6]

Atlanta is tough to determine, I'd say that it's a baseball and basketball town mainly.

[Viper]

Minnesota is - wait for it - a football state.

Now, we are definatly the "State of hockey," but there are so many areas of this state that couldn't care less about hockey that it isn't funny. Basically the entire southern part of the state and all of SW Minnesota too. Now, everywhere you go you'll find football and baseball fans though with a decided edge to the Vikes, mostly, I'd guess, to do with the popularity of the NFL overall at this point.

Now, that said, in places where hockey is big, hockey is BIG. I'm in Bemidji (a town of ~30,000), where we have D-II Bemidji State (who's D-I in hockey) along with high school hockey. College and high school football attendance is sparse, and basketball attendance is virtually non-existent (each drawing maybe a couple hundred), yet BSU hockey draws nearly 4,000 a night and HS hockey draws around 1,000 a game as well.

The Minneapolis/St. Paul area itself is divided as well. At the pro level the pecking order among the "Big Four" is Vikings, Twins, Wild and T'Wolves. However it varies at the high school level. Generally football and hockey are head-and-shoulders above all other sports, though basketball, baseball and wrestling are still fairly strong, and lacrosse has really taken off in the last decade or so. The exception seems to be Minneapolis itself, many of whose high schools don't even have hockey programs. Football and basketball dominate there. In St. Paul itself hockey is the #1 high school sport without a doubt.

Meanwhile in metro Milwaukee where I live now, football dominates even though the "local" NFL team is 120 miles to the north in Green Bay. Below that, basketball is the #2 high school sport, and is pretty much the only game in town at the college level, but in the pros the Bucks are a distant third behind the Pack and Brewers. Aside from the Admirals there's not much of a hockey scene here; Madison's always been a bigger hockey town than Milwaukee.

[The_Admiral]

Chicago is a football town like someone who thinks Al Pacino starred in Taxi Driver is a Martin Scorsese fan.

[Corvus]

Vancouver is a good Canucks town, everything else is an extremely distant second or third. The BC Lions and Whitecaps will fight it out for second and third, with the WHL Giants behind them, and the Single A Vancouver Canadians not really in the same conversation as those others due to the length of the season.

[Lights Out]

Weird. Most of what I've heard about New York is that it's a basketball town.

When the Knicks are winning, New York absolutely is a basketball town. MSG is one of the best arenas in sports and that crowd is amazing when the Knicks are good.

[nash61]

Hamilton is a football town. The year the Bulldogs won the Calder Cup, the Tiger-Cats went 3-15. Main Street still had "Tiger Town" banners on every lamp post

[NEW.ERA]

Calgary is quite fair-weathered in my eyes, I work in a Jersey store so I know the happening of the amount of band-wagoners in this town.

If the Flames are down - TRADE EM ALL!!!!! YE HEAR! SUTTER SUCKS!

If the Flames are up - Cup champs yo we can take it.

They're actually a ton of Canuck and Oiler fans in this city so a lot animosity in this city.

[officeglenn]

Edmonton = hockey. A fair bit of interest in curling in the winter and CFL football in the summer, and passing interest in baseball, lacrosse and basketball. But hockey is the undisputed champion.

[illwauk]

Since I'm in Green Bay for one more month, I guess I can do it. The Green Bay area is a (wait for it...) Packers town. Not a football town, but a Packers town. I say this because high school football is no more significant in Green Bay than basketball, baseball or even wrestling. It's more/less viewed as a way to pass the time before the Badgers play on Satudays... and even then, a surprisingly large number of people only see the Badgers as a way to pass time til Sunday).

Aside from the Packers, I'd say that Green Bay/NE WI is a hockey town. The USHL (Tier 1 Jr. A) Green Bay Gamblers always draw well and St. Norbert has one of the top D3 programs in the country. The hockey programs at Madison and Michigan Tech also have followings in the area and the Resch Center is a regular venue for the NCAA D1 Hockey Tournament.

Meanwhile in metro Milwaukee where I live now, football dominates even though the "local" NFL team is 120 miles to the north in Green Bay. Below that, basketball is the #2 high school sport, and is pretty much the only game in town at the college level, but in the pros the Bucks are a distant third behind the Pack and Brewers. Aside from the Admirals there's not much of a hockey scene here; Madison's always been a bigger hockey town than Milwaukee.

Basketball is by far the #1 high school sport in the city, but I would imagine that football is bigger in the suburbs. I would also point out that college hockey has always been well supported in Milwaukee between the Frozen Four and the occasional games that the Badgers have hosted at the Bradley Center over the years. I'd even say the Badgers hockey program has more of a following in the Milwaukee area than the Admirals.

Aside from that, I agree with everything here.