I apologize--the list is a little hard to read with all of those comments.  It's much easier to read if you click on the link.

 

Best Sports Cities 2006: Who, where and how

Posted: August 1, 2006 

 

A few things to note about this year's list of Best Sports Cities, not the least of which is that it's considerably smaller. We still crunched all the usual numbers for qualifying cities, but we've kept it to a mighty 99 here.

 

We also listened to recurring complaints and broke apart as many hyphenations as possible. No more Baltimore-Washington, Oakland-San Francisco-San Jose or Los Angeles-Anaheim (and the City of Anaheim didn't have to sue us, either.)

 

Our criteria are the same as they've been for more than 10 years: We take a 12-month snapshot, roughly July to July, of each city's sports atmosphere and put a heavy premium on

 

* regular-season won-lost records (from the most recently completed season);

* playoff berths, bowl appearances and tournament bids;

* championships;

* applicable power ratings;

* quality of competition;

* overall fan fervor as measured in part by attendance as percentage of venue capacity;

* abundance of teams, though we reward quality over quantity;

* stadium/arena quality;

* ticket availability and prices;

* franchise ownership;

* marquee appeal of athletes.

 

-- Bob Hille

 

 

The list

(number after the city name is last year's rank.) 

 

1.  Chicago  15  includes Evanston 

2.  Miami  4 

3.  Dallas-Fort Worth  8  Hangout. Yeah, yeah, the Mavs were thisclose to vaulting the Metroplex to numero uno. But you want a real feel for DFW sports history? You gotta git yerself to the Cotton Bowl for Texas-OU weekend during the state fair. "As has been the case since it opened in 1921," the Dallas Observer notes, "the Cotton Bowl is all substance, no style . . . This old joint refreshingly reeks of old-school." 

4.  Detroit  3  includes Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti 

5.  New York  10 

6.  Denver  13  includes Boulder 

7.  Boston  1  Don't fret, Beantown -- your reign had to end some time 

8.  Los Angeles  5  Angels have their way; Anaheim gets its own listing this time. 

9.  Philadelphia  2 

10.  Phoenix  12  includes Tempe.  Hell-raisers. Golf claps? They don't need no stinkin' golf claps on the par-3 No. 16 at the TPC of Scottsdale's FBR Open. Liquored-up frat boys and be-seen babes are part of the loudest hole on the PGA tour. Quiet? Please. 

11.  Washington  7  This time, Baltimore stands on its lonesome 

12.  Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.  23 

13.  Atlanta  9 

14.  Minneapolis-St. Paul  11 

15.  Seattle  16 

16.  Indianapolis  17 

17.  Tampa-St. Petersburg  388  That's some improvement! 

18.  Austin, Texas  47  Don't mess with Texas. Big year deep in the heart of. The Horns rode St. Vincent to the football national championship to follow the baseball team's College World Series title. Fans dreamed of a baseball-football-basketball trifecta, but LaMarcus, PJ & Co. came up shy. Still, it was a damn fine year, y'all. 

19.  Anaheim  5  No L.A., no problem 

20.  Cleveland  29 

21.  Pittsburgh  18 

22.  San Diego  20 

23.  Nashville  25 

24.  San Jose  24  used to include Oakland and San Francisco; now includes Palo Alto, Santa Clara 

25.  Charlotte  28 

26.  Oakland  24  includes Berkeley 

27.  Cincinnati  21 

28.  Houston  6 

29.  St. Louis  19 

30.  Salt Lake City  24  includes Provo 

31.  Milwaukee  31 

32.  Gainesville, Fla.  58  Hookup. How's this for the ultimate sports coupling: One of the nation's best college football towns goes gaga over . . . hoops? (And you thought we were going to make some cheap, tawdry Joakim's-a-hottie joke.) 

33.  Buffalo  30 

34.  Memphis  26 

35.  San Antonio  22 

36.  Columbus  33 

37.  Jacksonville  34 

38.  Morgantown, W.Va.  55 

39.  Oklahoma City  142  includes Norman 

40.  Baltimore  7 

41.  Toronto  38 

42.  Ottawa  41 

43.  San Francisco  14  This time, no Oakland or San Jose to help 

44.  Baton Rouge, La.  61  Rim shot. Speaking of football towns gone hoops, picture this: LSU and Southern made it into the men's and women's NCAA Tournaments. Money! 

45.  Orlando  35 

46.  Edmonton  44 

47.  Sacramento  32 

48.  Kansas City  36 

49.  Calgary  42 

50.  New Orleans  27 

51.  Montreal  40 

52.  Vancouver  43 

53.  Green Bay  37 

54.  South Bend, Ind.  70 

55.  Tuscaloosa, Ala.  69 

56.  State College, Pa.  106 

57.  Madison, Wis.  56  Hangout. Summer months spent on the Terrace are bliss, but UW makes this a hot spot year-round. That is, if you like a school that plays in a bowl game and makes the NCAA tourney every year, sells out its huge stadiums for every game in both sports and, to boot, packs in more than 13,000 to watch the nation's No. 1 hockey program. 

58.  Portland, Ore.  39 

59.  Blacksburg, Va.  52 

60.  Athens, Ga.  63 

61.  Louisville, Ky.  46 

62.  Knoxville, Tenn.  51 

63.  Tucson, Ariz.  62 

64.  Iowa City, Iowa  49 

65.  Lawrence, Kan.  72 

66.  East Lansing, Mich.  53 

67.  College Park, Md.  68 

68.  Clemson, S.C.  79 

69.  Eugene, Ore.  83 

70.  Storrs, Conn.  57 

71.  College Station, Texas  60 

72.  Auburn, Ala.  50 

73.  Lubbock, Texas  48 

74.  Columbia, S.C.  80  Hookup. Steve Spurrier/Dave Odom gave South Carolina's athletic program a kick in the Cockaboose. The football team went to a bowl game, and though the basketball team didn't make the Big Dance, hey, it won the Little One, aka the NIT. That's progress on two fronts in Columbia. 

75.  Lincoln, Neb.  88 

76.  Tallahassee, Fla.  74 

77.  Charlottesville, Va.  64 

78.  Ames, Iowa  78 

79.  Fayetteville, Ark.  77 

80.  Las Vegas  99 

81.  Piscataway, N.J.  100 

82.  Reno, Nev.  93 

83.  Bloomington, Ind.  96 

84.  Columbia, Mo.  89 

85.  Lexington, Ky.  84  Hell-raisers. Here's one for the UK Philosophy Department: Who are the bigger paint-yer-face-blue Wildcats fans, the 22K-plus who jammed Rupp for every basketball game (tops in the NCAA) or the 62K who made it to 67,0606-seat Commonwealth Stadium to watch that football team (3-8)? 

86.  Tulsa, Okla.  108 

87.  Toledo, Ohio  82 

88.  Champaign, Ill.  67 

89.  Albuquerque, N.M.  59 

90.  West Lafayette, Ind.  81 

91.  Colorado Springs, Colo.  92 

92.  Fresno, Calif.  76 

93.  Winston-Salem, N.C.  73 

94.  Manhattan, Kan.  85 

95.  Pullman, Wash.  87 

96.  Boise, Idaho  75 

97.  Syracuse, N.Y.  65 

98.  Peoria, Ill.  154 

99.  Spokane, Wash.  131  And finally . . . Just when we think we've got enough zigs in our annual list, we come to this conclusion: We've got to have some Zags, too.

 

http://www.sportingnews.com/features/best/

 

so a championship and mediocre teams in every other sport gets you number one?

 

hell, their city doesn't even support the southsiders.

I never really understand these rankings. If you are going to rank cities, you should base it on how fun it is to be a fan in the city. Austin--all they have is UT football.  While the basketball team is getting better over the years, the city doesn't have much more to cheer about.

at least when espn does it, they have a points based system: overall winning % (football gets weighted), championships, potential for future championships, fan base (i.e. attendance), ownership, etc. etc.

It would be hard to rank a place like Green Bay. They have a storied love affair with the packers, but what else is there to cheer for after December or January?

It would be hard to rank a place like Green Bay. They have a storied love affair with the packers, but what else is there to cheer for after December or January?

 

something tells me the sports page in the Green Bay Gazette in the summer is nothing but articles on brett favre

I never really understand these rankings. If you are going to rank cities, you should base it on how fun it is to be a fan in the city. Austin--all they have is UT football.  While the basketball team is getting better over the years, the city doesn't have much more to cheer about.

 

the ut baseball team is often the best in college baseball. austin has all the minor league accoutrements too, i dk if that counts for anything.

 

i admit it's fun stuff to look over and it's even a good starter for fan discussion, but really this seems like one of thee silliest of all rankings to me.

 

 

College and minor league baseball do not make for a great sports city.

College and minor league baseball do not make for a great sports city.

 

as a side note, espn's rankings only cover the 100 or so cities with major league franchises (the big four)

 

I don't know...both LA and (on a much smaller scale) South Bend are fairly obsessed with USC and Notre Dame games, respectfully.

Minor league baseball may be popular, but it just isn't in the same league (ha!) as major league baseball.  The Mud Hens set another attendance record last year with 557K tickets sold; the Reds, during the worst dog days of the 1990's, never dropped below 1.7MM.  Hell, the Montreal Expos moved to DC due to low attendance and no interest - and even then, finishing 18 games under .500, they still sold 750K tickets.  Hell, the Dayton Dragons, a frickin' low-A team, has sold out 400+ consecutive games - it is possible.  But the Mud Hens, at AAA, don't even sell out, in a 10K seat stadium.  When you aren't selling out a 10K seat stadium, when you can't out-draw the frickin' Expo's in their worst years, then I'm sorry, that sport is orders of magnitude less impactful.

 

I'm not saying Toledo shouldn't be ranked higher; I'm not saying college sports can't make a city a great sports town; I'm just saying that while minor league sports can have their appeal - tremendous appeal, as the Mud Hens have shown over the years - they simply aren't in any way comparable to major league sports.  There are tons of reasons for it (limited TV and radio, limited media coverage, you're punished when you do well by losing players, you can be the best minor league organization in the country and not win a game, by definition you will never see the best players playing their best game, etc.), but minor league is just not in the same category as major league - not even close.

 

How in the hell does Austin rank higher than Cincy.....they dont have a single professional franchise!  I know they have the university, but how can one successful university rank a city higher than one with a successful NFL team (Bengals), mediocre MLB team (Reds), two alright universities (UC, XU)?

 

All I'm saying is:  GET OFF OF AUSTIN'S BALLS FOR A LITTLE BIT WITH THESE RANKINGS!

Didn't ole C'land pull a #1 ranking back in 1994? That should tell you the rankings are flawed. :)

All I'm saying is:  GET OFF OF AUSTIN'S BALLS FOR A LITTLE BIT WITH THESE RANKINGS!

 

Impossible, the media teabags Austin any chance it gets!

 

I've visited Austin various times (in-laws). I don't see what the big deal is. In fact, its a pretty sprawled out city where you can't go outside for six months out of the year.  Downtown has a great deal of surface lots and most of the buildings lack character.

 

I think that the media has their darlings. And it totally perpetuates itself. If you're told that what you are experiencing is wonderful and hip, then you'll come to believe it as such. I think that is what has turned Austin into the buzz that it is.

fellas fellas yo. its yous guys that needs to get offa austins nutz.

 

ut has two recent major national championships in baseball and football. they have all the minor league pro teams. they host stuff & have a great outdoor sports rep. lance armstrong? bottom line is dey are not de biggest problem wit dis ting.

 

yous should be complaining much much more about that north carolina triangle at #12 and esp tampa moving up to #17 from #388 last time (whaaaatsit?!?!).

No offense to leaving Cleveland out of my previous comment...you were also shafted by the Austin blow machine!

 

On another note, I love Cincy sports, but last time I checked St. Louis fans/teams blow the tits off of most other cities across the nation!  This ranking is a freaking joke!