jmf1234

A good sport city= a city that has a lot of teams ( college, pro, minor), loyal fans, and just basically has alot of sporting events going on inside and outside. Also should be a city with alot to do recreation wise (golf courses, soccer fields, marathons, hiking trails, etc.). Also dont limit it to just the city include the whole metropolitan area (IE: if you think Detroit is a good sports city you can say that There's the Michigan University sports teams)

which cities do you think should be on this list?

Dr.Who

People blast Montreal for not suporting the Expos but I still think it's a great sports city. Not one you can have a Baskettall or NFL team, but one who's having tremandous succes with the Formula 1 race every year (you should see the people downtown the week-end of the race), also have a Cart race, one Tennis Tournament, CFL Football who is doing great, the Marathon is coming back this year, add to that a Golf tournament once in a while and off course the Hockey team, I think that in Canada with Toronto, there the 2 biggest sports city.

In the U.S., from the obvious name departement, L.A. and N.Y. but for professional sports, look for a city like Portland to climb the ladder. They are my favorite place to land the Expos in MLB.

jmf1234

yeah I agree with Montreal. it also has alot of beautiful mountains north of it. (the laurentians i think they are called) witch definetly gives it some good recreation. Does Montreal have any good college teams?

About the Expos i wouldnt want to see them around the d.c. area because then it takes buisness away from the Orioles. I wouldnt want to see them in Portland because then we would have to realign (the Portland, Oregon, Expos in the NL East? Please.) was hoping a city like New Orleans,Memphis or Columbus would come in to the bidding war.

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gov135

I think a great sports city should have the fan base that is devoted because there is less to do in the area. For example, the WORST sports city is easily Atlanta, they can't sell out Braves playoff games and have trouble selling NFL tickets. I think its because Atlanta is a great city that has alot of different activities, and the weather is always so good.

How about Cleveland? No hockey (well minor-league), but great CART race with one of the best turnouts, the Indians and the Browns, the MAC college basketball tourney, Cleveland State and many other surrounding colleges - and the fans are very passionate and they always show. (ok, ok, the Cavs are an exception but the fact they draw at all should mean something). The weather is crappy and sports is a big part of the city's identity - and the identity of its citizens.

MikeyChalupa

ESPN actually has a formula for this, though it's more for the individual franchises.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sport...franchiseRanks

They've ranked all 121 professional franchises in the 4 major North American sports according to several factors.

-Mikey

Hard8s

The Bay Area has to be it!!!
The Niners, the Raiders, The Sharks, the Giants, the A's, the Warriors, hell you can almost even call the Kings a Bay Area Team. And thats not even counting the College teams. Cal, Stanford, etc....

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bond007

well, when you include the entire metro area... I'd have to agree with Hard8s.

poit77

Well if you're tslking about cities with rich sports history, not many cities beat out Boston. They host an original six hockey team in the Bruins. The 2001 Super Bowl Champion Patriots, not to mention The Celtics and Red Sox who are known thourghout for their success, Celt's 16 Championships and failures, Sox Curse of the Bambino. For College there is the Hockey Beanpot played every year not to mention more Colleges then any other other major city in the States. The famous Ryder Cup comeback was 15 inutes from Boston in Brookline MA. Last but not least the Boston Garden may she rest in peace and Fenway Park. I don't think many, if any, cities can compare.

jmf1234

For Boston's case, they also have the patriots who won the NFL championship two years ago and if you include metro area they have some beautiful mountains to ski in in vermont and i think they have a speedway in New Hampshire. Also for college football they have that touchdown throw that Flutie made for BC a while back.

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jmf1234

Other good parts about the bay area is that it has beautiful beaches on one side and beautiful forests on the other and that it is beautiful all year round (except for the rain) so you can play soccer in like the winter.

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The_Dude

st louis?








and AUSTIN, TEXAS

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jmf1234

Another area that i definetly think about is the philly area: Flyers, Phillies, Eagles Sixers.i like this city alot because unlike the bay area or New York it isnt divided (everyone cheers for the same team). Philly also has a lot of colleges: Temple, Penn, Villanova
(who's womens basketball team ended UCONN'S streak), and Drexel. I know these colleges arent great but they have alot of tradition. Another thing i really like about philly is that its teams arent crappy (the Phillies are getting better), this year they've put the Flyers, sixers and eagles in the playoffs (the eagles were a game away from making the superbowl). Also, this city has alot of star players playing in it: Iverson,Leclair,McNabb,Thome.

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Grondar

I second the Philly area.

It has great fans that really care about what management does to their teams.

Eagles, Flyers, Phillies, and 76ers. All have dedicated fans that show up early to tailgate hours before games.

Also, as mentioned above by jmf1234, there are a lot of good college basketball teams here.

Temple is a team that always seems to come through when it's important, and have one of the greatest coaches in the NCAA in John Cheney.

St Joseph is another great team (also Atlantic 10), and Penn is a respected school that also has a decent basketball team.

Philly management signs big guys to big deals (Thome, Burrell, McNabb, Roenick) and they also drop some big guys (Schilling, Rolen, Douglas), and every transaction is met by incredible fan support or opposition.

It really is a great sports city, and IMO it will only be getting better as the season(s) progress. One of the prime reasons being their new stadium they are getting next year!

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jmf1234

Thanks Grondar, i cant believe i left out St. Josephs i knew i forgot some team.

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jmf1234

St. Louis is good i mean they've put the Blues and the Cards in the playoffs (too bad the rams sucked this year). the worst part about St. Louis is that it's as if the city doesn't want an NBA team (Portland, Sacremento and San Antonio are all smaller cities but they all have one and Charlotte is getting ANOTHER one but you never hear about St. Louis even possibly getting one). And what does St. louis have to offer recreationally ( that's an actual question i've never been there).

And about Austin, I dont think cities where the only show in town is a college should count but i think Austin should be an exception because Texas ( in my opinion, and im a big Pitt fan) has the best collegiate sports program in the country (it put both it's Men's and Womens bball teams in the final four).

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jmf1234

The Sporting News puts out an article every summer about good sports cities

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ReggErving

Pac 10 doesn't count, they're barely a conference.

smarm

One of the great college sports areas is the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. UNC, NC State, and Duke make up a great sports rivalry and they are all within 30miles of each other. UNC/Duke in basketball is one of the greatest rivalries in sports.

The Canes were good one year.

The Durham Bulls are great fun to go watch (triple-A Devil Rays), cheap tickets and a high class ballpark.

Not the best Pro Sports area... but hard to beat for college.

ShadowWraith

Toronto... especially with regard to hockey, almost every leafs game sells out. But other than that, we also have the raptors and the jays, both mediocre teams who enjoy fairly wide bases of fan support.

gibber71

New York and especially Boston have great fan support.Ottawa is not that good in terms of support.We have triple A ball(Baltimore Orioles affiliate) and they can't give the tickets away.I also just heard on the radio that 3500 tickets are still available for tomorrows series opener here between Philly and Ottawa as well as Sunday's game 2.Pretty sad.

poit77

Another thing I'd like to add about Boston is that they have some of the most historic rivalries in major sports. Yankees- Red Sox Bruins-Canadiens and Celtics-Lakers from the 80's. In terms of the four major sports Boston, NYC, Chicago, and Philly I think are head and shoulders above the rest.

Dr.Who

You're right on Boston, it's the city with the most history for all 4 major sports. I love to hate the Bruins when they come to Montreal!

spectre

Chicago, because how long have the Cubs sucked and they still get great attendance.

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betman

I would like to vote for Dallas.
I know the Rangers stink but they are interesting.
The Stars are working towards a Stanley Cup.
The Mavericks are a very exciting team to watch.
The Cowboys are The Cowboys.
All the teams owners want to win and will spend the big bucks.
By the way I was raised in LA and keep my team loyalties but Dallas is very interesting.

goddfather40

Philly is a good sports town, but the general consensus is that their fans are assholes (ask native son Kobe Bryant in the '02 All Star game).

I think the overall best sports town is indeed Boston. They seem to be the most intelligent fans.

Someone mentioned the Bay Area is a good sports town as well. The city of San Francisco is pretty good, but the for the whole area, that is definitely not true. With the exception of the very loyal Giants and Niners fans, the other teams don't get support. The A's have been perennial powerhouses, but rarely draw more than 30,000, the Warriors are a joke, the Raiders don't sell out and have a horrible owner, the Sharks are kind of a mystery to everyone. Cal and Stanford don't get the love they deserve, especially in football. The Sacto Kings are not a Bay Area team (different TV market, etc.).

Meanwhile, people love to diss LA. Though I admit that a lot of LA fans are frontrunners, teams like the Dodgers break the theory that all LA fans are bandwagoners. The Dodgers are always near the top in attendance despite their sorry play. The Kings and even Clippers fans are pretty loyal. The Angels lead the league in attendance this year, and Edison Field was generally regarded as one of the loudest baseball stadiums in recently memory during the playoffs. College teams such as UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, and Cal St. Northridge have loyal fans. LA is very underrated as sports town. Note that I convienently leave the NFL out of the picture, but the fact is we don't want a team. People follow whoever they want and they are fine with that. If they want to see a game, they can drive two hours to San Diego. Meanwhile, we get no blackouts which is awesome.

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mfe

How about Washington...the Wizards are sad, the Caps are a bunch of overpriced underachievers, and the Redskins are a disgrace. And that ass Peter Angelos won't let baseball move to the city. Oh, this thread is about _good_ sports cities? My bad.

Liquor Dealer

Dal ass! The Boyz will be back!

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Frowning Budah

How about Denver? If a city can get 11 thousand to show up for a Nuggets game, you know they have got to love their sports.

bubbaspike

For a collage town, it don't get any better than
Lincoln Nebraska

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