Most Popular Sports Teams in Your Area

[pikachu]

In LA, the entire area's Dodgers territory except for Orange County, which is for the Angels. Same can be said for the NHL, just substitute the appropriate teams. The Lakers absolutely dominate the Clippers, who have their small-but-loyal fanbase (though with the caveat that even a small fanbase in LA is quite large). The NFL's weird - I think the Raiders are still the popular team, but they aren't that big a deal with anyone who came of age in the last 20 years, and I know a lot of people who follow a bunch of random teams. It's an interesting situation atm because the Rams and Chargers are equally popular, and their performances over the next few years. USC dominates college football fans who aren't associated with either university, and no one in this town (even a lot of the students) gives a f[inks] about college basketball – last year the Lakers still got more attention than UCLA.

I'm originally from central Jersey though, and I think smilo overrates the popularity of college sports in that part of the world. I grew up 20 minutes from Rutgers and I don't think I knew a single person who actually paid attention to them in football (maybe in 2006), the Knicks significantly outpace any college team in NYC (the Daily News and Post websites don't even have tabs for college), and the Sixers are about to become a solid number 2 in Philly and way more popular than the Big 5.

[Mr. Illini]

I also really like sports geography, so I am going to do multiple areas that I have lived.

Currently living in Chicago's LakeView neighborhood.

The Bears have slipped a bit as they have been so bad and so many transplants cheer for other teams. A common theme with out-of-staters (LakeView has quite a few of them) is that they'll cheer for the Chicago team when they are playing well but will "reconnect" with the team from their home state/city when the Chicago team is struggling. Very annoying.

Obviously, LakeView is not just on the north side but is also home to the Cubs and Wrigley. The Cubs are king here.

LakeView has high rates of college education and therefore you have a lot of alums from a range of Big Ten schools. NCAA is pretty mixed, which is unfortunate. Locals and grads of smaller schools cheer for the Illini/Notre Dame/Northwestern (the local schools) when they're good, but that is obviously not the case right now for any of them.

My estimates below.

NFL: 75% Bears, 5% Packers, 20% Other
MLB: 90% Cubs, 5% White Sox, 5% Other
NBA: 85% Bulls, 15% Other
NHL: 90% Blackhawks, 10% Other
NCAA: 15% Illinois, 15% Michigan, 15% Michigan State, 15% Wisconsin, 10% Notre Dame, 10% Iowa, 20% Other

Where I grew up in the northern Chicago suburbs (Lake County) is below.

The Bears ruled the area, though we were very close to the WI border and the Packers have obviously had the Bears' number over the last several decades, so you get a handful of Packer bandwagoners.

Being the northern burbs, the Cubs ruled. A contingent of White Sox fans exists, though.

The Blackhawks are big-time in white Chicago suburbs. Definitely the consensus team across all sports as evidenced by my ratings below.

For NCAA, the area has fewer transplants, so you get a little bump in the Illinois/Notre Dame crowd that cheers local. Still, you've got a mix of Big Ten grads just like in LakeView.

NFL: 80% Bears, 15% Packers, 5% Other
MLB: 80% Cubs, 15% White Sox, 5% Other
NBA: 85% Bulls, 15% Other
NHL: 95% Blackhawks, 5% Other
NCAA: 20% Illinois, 20% Notre Dame, 15% Wisconsin, 15% Northwestern, 10% Michigan, 20% Other

Where I went to school in Champaign, IL ranked below. Rating on the towns, which I spent plenty of time in and around, rather than the campus.

Champaign is, of course, downstate, so you have a bit of the Chicago vs St Louis clash. Plenty of angsty downstaters looking to cheer against Chicago.

I found, however, that the clash really only existed in baseball. See below that the Rams and Blues had small groups of fans, but it was pretty negligible. The real divide is in baseball. Champaign is north of the "line," so it is about 60/30 Cubs. The rest of the sports are pretty much dominated by Chicago teams.

Obviously, everyone cheers for the Illini.

NFL: 75% Bears, 10% Rams, 15% Other
MLB: 60% Cubs, 30% Cardinals, 10% Other
NBA: 70% Bulls, 20% Other
NHL: 75% Blackhawks, 15% Blues, 10% Other
NCAA: 100% Illinois

[Xing]

Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I'm originally from central Jersey though, and I think smilo overrates the popularity of college sports in that part of the world. I grew up 20 minutes from Rutgers and I don't think I knew a single person who actually paid attention to them in football (maybe in 2006), the Knicks significantly outpace any college team in NYC (the Daily News and Post websites don't even have tabs for college), and the Sixers are about to become a solid number 2 in Philly and way more popular than the Big 5.

Rutgers managed to draw 50,000 a game for a 2-10 season. The alumni are ultra-passionate but living in their own reality in that no normal people actually care. (e: Look at comparables. Syracuse managed 30,000. BC a program with vastly more history barely averaged 30,000 in a bowl season.  If you want state school comps, UConn is at 25,000 and Temple, an actually good team where alumni also still live in the major population center, was only at 25,000. 50k is extremely impressive for a terrible team even considering state school and local alumni. Giants and Jets are right down the road!)

I also do not deny that I live in a bubble on the other counts, for Manhattan college sports - virtually every (American) I work with has the similar perception of college sports superiority. For goodness sakes, we once spent an entire evening watching a Rice baseball game, and we have lots of Duke and MSU fans for basketball and BC for football which obviously shapes my thinking. I'm sure it's less popular in the reaches of the outer-boroughs with which I no longer interact. And yes obviously Sixers are bigger than Big Five, it's not even close.  

[seb_pard]

In Santiago the most popular teams are Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile (my team). Both teams are  fiercely rivals and in their matches is very common to happen some violent brawls (thats why their matches are before noon). I think Colo-Colo is more popular but its probably 40% Colo-Colo and 35% Universidad de Chile.

But in my commune (it's like a Borough) another team gets and it's Universidad Catolica (UC). UC is associated with the upper classes (and its catholic/conservative tendencies) and UC fans are probably 30% of the people, (along with 30% for Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile) here.

An important thing to say is that Los de Abajo (Those from below, the Universidad de Chile's supporters group) is, unlike Colo-colo and UC's supporters, explicitly left-wing (this is a typical song with some interesting pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GeniVlCl5E )

[HisGrace]

From Orlando. I would estimate-

NFL- Maybe about 80% Bucs or Dolphins, with them split pretty evenly. The other 20% split between the Jags, big national teams like the Cowboys, Packers, Steelers, and Pats, and some Giants/Jets fans since there are a lot of New York transplants.

NBA- 80/90% Magic, a few Heat, Lakers, and Knicks fans

MLB- About 80% split between Yankees and Braves. My sample may be a bit biased since I'm in an age group that came of age in the 90's when both those teams were great. But the Yankees of course have lots of fans everywhere and the Braves are kind of the flagship team of the South so they have fans all through it. I've met maybe like two Rays and Marlins fans each.

No one watches Hockey.

[FairBol]

Southwestern CT has a strange mixture of sports fans.  Below the Merritt Parkway (CT-15), people generally root for the New York teams.  Above it, you have Red Sox/Pats/Bruins country.  So there ya go. 

[Hoosier_Nick]

NFL: Colts 80%+
NBA: Pacers 75+
MLB: Cubs 50%, Reds 25%, Cardinals 10%, Yankees 10%, others 5%
NHL: Probably pretty proportionate to the USA average, except a little more blackhawks fan than average.
NCAA: Split between IU and Purdue. Throw some Notre Dame in there too. And for basketball include Butler.

[Illiniwek]

I also really like sports geography, so I am going to do multiple areas that I have lived.

Currently living in Chicago's LakeView neighborhood.

The Bears have slipped a bit as they have been so bad and so many transplants cheer for other teams. A common theme with out-of-staters (LakeView has quite a few of them) is that they'll cheer for the Chicago team when they are playing well but will "reconnect" with the team from their home state/city when the Chicago team is struggling. Very annoying.

Obviously, LakeView is not just on the north side but is also home to the Cubs and Wrigley. The Cubs are king here.

LakeView has high rates of college education and therefore you have a lot of alums from a range of Big Ten schools. NCAA is pretty mixed, which is unfortunate. Locals and grads of smaller schools cheer for the Illini/Notre Dame/Northwestern (the local schools) when they're good, but that is obviously not the case right now for any of them.

My estimates below.

NFL: 75% Bears, 5% Packers, 20% Other
MLB: 90% Cubs, 5% White Sox, 5% Other
NBA: 85% Bulls, 15% Other
NHL: 90% Blackhawks, 10% Other
NCAA: 15% Illinois, 15% Michigan, 15% Michigan State, 15% Wisconsin, 10% Notre Dame, 10% Iowa, 20% Other

Where I grew up in the northern Chicago suburbs (Lake County) is below.

The Bears ruled the area, though we were very close to the WI border and the Packers have obviously had the Bears' number over the last several decades, so you get a handful of Packer bandwagoners.

Being the northern burbs, the Cubs ruled. A contingent of White Sox fans exists, though.

The Blackhawks are big-time in white Chicago suburbs. Definitely the consensus team across all sports as evidenced by my ratings below.

For NCAA, the area has fewer transplants, so you get a little bump in the Illinois/Notre Dame crowd that cheers local. Still, you've got a mix of Big Ten grads just like in LakeView.

NFL: 80% Bears, 15% Packers, 5% Other
MLB: 80% Cubs, 15% White Sox, 5% Other
NBA: 85% Bulls, 15% Other
NHL: 95% Blackhawks, 5% Other
NCAA: 20% Illinois, 20% Notre Dame, 15% Wisconsin, 15% Northwestern, 10% Michigan, 20% Other

Where I went to school in Champaign, IL ranked below. Rating on the towns, which I spent plenty of time in and around, rather than the campus.

Champaign is, of course, downstate, so you have a bit of the Chicago vs St Louis clash. Plenty of angsty downstaters looking to cheer against Chicago.

I found, however, that the clash really only existed in baseball. See below that the Rams and Blues had small groups of fans, but it was pretty negligible. The real divide is in baseball. Champaign is north of the "line," so it is about 60/30 Cubs. The rest of the sports are pretty much dominated by Chicago teams.

Obviously, everyone cheers for the Illini.

NFL: 75% Bears, 10% Rams, 15% Other
MLB: 60% Cubs, 30% Cardinals, 10% Other
NBA: 70% Bulls, 20% Other
NHL: 75% Blackhawks, 15% Blues, 10% Other
NCAA: 100% Illinois

Thank you Mr. Illini! This analysis is awesome!

[rpryor03]

CAVS, BABY!