Sports Team Fandoms that Reach Beyond City Lines

[walby2]

Do fans who live in areas with no pro team who have cheered for a certain team, switch allegiances if a team does come to town? For example, I assume 80% of B-ball fans in Brooklyn were Knicks fans. When the Nets came to town, what happened? (I do realize Brooklyn is in New York City but you get my point).

Winnipeg went through this twice. I would say that generally speaking, people switched allegiances and cheered for the Jets even if they retained some loyalty to another team that used to be their number one.

The first time around there were tons and tons of Leafs and Habs fans from back in the day when they were the only Canadian teams, to the point where home crowds were split 50/50 when those teams came to town. They still have a lot of fans, but I daresay it is not like the old days anymore.

The second time, loyalties were far more divided. Lots of people bandwagoned and a lot of people picked teams on some regional consideration (Flames, Oilers, Leafs) or on ties to the AHL team (Canucks). Again, a lot of people adopted the Jets even though they still consider themselves fans of their "other" team.

As for after the team moves, hardly anybody continued as a Coyotes fan after the Jets left in 1996. One of the Winnipeg radio stations got the rights to the Coyotes for the first season but quickly dropped them after ratings were rock-bottom. I was actually a little surprised - I figured people would want to support their old team, but virtually no one did.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Do people in Winnipeg embrace and consider the new Jets just sort of a reincarnation of the old? Or does it feel not quite the same?

[Arts11]

Just found out one of my colleagues is from New Jersey, so I posed this question. Since he lived relatively closer to Philly than NYC, he grew up a Phillies fan in baseball, but was more of a Devils fan for hockey [well, at least whenever he actually bothered following the sport anyway].

[walby2]

Do people in Winnipeg embrace and consider the new Jets just sort of a reincarnation of the old? Or does it feel not quite the same?

Hockey fans are all aware that the old Jets are "officially" in Phoenix and the new team only recognizes the Atlanta history, but I think that for all intents and purposes people are treating the team as the same as the Jets of old, just with a break in continuity. "Jets 2.0", if you will.

I think it would have been a bit different had the team gone with a different name and identity, but calling them the Jets encouraged people to think of them this way. Granted, the gap was 16 years which meant that most people had a lot of first hand memories of the original Jets... it would probably be much different if the Sacramento Kings moved back to Kansas City, or the Dodgers back to Brooklyn, to pick two random examples.

[Dexter Morgan]

If the Dodgers moved to Brooklyn, and the Mets stay in Queens, I suspect you will have a lot of Mets fans jumping ship.

[IceCap]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, and since it's a related question here goes:

Do fans who live in areas with no pro team who have cheered for a certain team, switch allegiances if a team does come to town?

I was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, which is solidly Leafs Nation, so even though my hometown never had a NHL team rooting for the Leafs as the "local" team always seemed right. Then there was talk a while back that Jim Balsilie would buy a team and move them to Waterloo or Cambridge (both part of the same general "metro" area as Kitchener). Nothing came of it, of course. And looking back the plan never had a hope in hell of succeeding. Still though, it got me thinking about where my loyalties would lie if the Tri-Cities (Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge) got a team. I'd still probably be a Leafs fan, because hey, it's the Maple Leafs. Drought or not, the second most storied team in the league still counts for something. If the hypothetical Tri-Cities team started winning while the Leafs wallowed in ineptitude though? I could see myself being won over, at least partially.

I've also wondered what I would do if Toronto ever did get that NFL team that seems less and less likely to show up. I've been a Chargers fan for as long as I've followed NFL football, but I've partially justified rooting for a team in southern California by the fact that there's no Canadian NFL team, so it's all fair game. I guess I'd switch to the new Toronto team if 1) they picked a decent identity, 2) somehow managed to not kill the CFL by simply existing, and 3) if the Chargers still employed Norv Turner at the time the Toronto team came into existence

[chuckymack]

To answer a previous question, I live in southern Indiana. I was born a few years before the Colts moved to Indy, so all the football clothing I owned (or was bought for me) was for the Cincinnati Bengals -- who were (and still are) the closest team. I even remember watching snippets of Bengals games on TV as a boy.

When the Colts came to town, TONS of people --including my own father-- jumped ship. I didn't. Even as a kid, I knew I loved the team with the striped helmets.

I'll be honest, though. When the Colts were soaring and the Bengals were floundering in the late '90s and early '00s, I tried to jump ship. I just couldn't make the Colts my favorite team (although they are my second-favorite).

[WizKid]

Believe it or not, here in the DC area there is a significant mass of Cowboy fans and the occasional Steelers fan. People, we are talking about a 2:1 Redskin to Cowboy ratio! Also, there are Redskins fans spread out from West Virginia, all of Virginia, South Carolina, and especially North Carolina. Even when the Skins play the Panthers in Carolina, there are more Washington fans in the stands than those who root for the home team. Of course, the Panthers weren't established during the 60s and 70s thus expanding the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry throughout the Mid Atlantic and Carolinas.

#HTTR