2017’S BEST SPORTS CITIES (VIA PRESS RELEASE)
With the College Football Playoff selection committee to release its final Top 25 ranking on Dec. 3and the North American sports industry expected to pull in nearly $69.4 billion this year – up from $67.2 billion in 2016 – the personal-finance website WalletHub took an in-depth look at 2017’s Best Sports Cities.
To determine the cities where the game is always on regardless of season, WalletHub compared over 420 small to large cities across more than 50 key metrics. The data set ranges from performance level of the city’s team(s) to average ticket price per game.
| Best Large Sports Cities | Best Midsize Sports Cities | Best Small Sports Cities | |||||
| 1 | Boston, MA | 1 | Green Bay, WI | 1 | Clemson, SC | ||
| 2 | New York, NY | 2 | Cincinnati, OH | 2 | West Point, NY | ||
| 3 | Los Angeles, CA | 3 | Buffalo, NY | 3 | Chapel Hill, NC | ||
| 4 | Pittsburgh, PA | 4 | Orlando, FL | 4 | State College, PA | ||
| 5 | Chicago, IL | 5 | Salt Lake City, UT | 5 | Tuscaloosa, AL | ||
| 6 | Philadelphia, PA | 6 | Glendale, AZ | 6 | Hanover, NH | ||
| 7 | Detroit, MI | 7 | Durham, NC | 7 | Cullowhee, NC | ||
| 8 | Washington, DC | 8 | Ann Arbor, MI | 8 | East Lansing, MI | ||
| T-9 | Dallas, TX | 9 | Baton Rouge, LA | 9 | Princeton, NJ | ||
| T-9 | Atlanta, GA | 10 | Cambridge, MA | 10 | Morgantown, WV | ||
Best vs. Worst
- Baltimore has the lowest minimum season-ticket prices for a college football (FBS and FCS) game, $20, which is 68.8 times lower than in South Bend, Indiana, the city with the highest at $1,375.
- New Orleans has the lowest average ticket price for an NBA game, $30.20, which is 3.2 times lower than in New York, the city with the highest at $97.77.
- NHL fans in Pittsburgh are 27.2 times friendlier and more engaged than their New York counterparts.
- Charlotte, North Carolina, has the highest NFL team popularity-index, whereas San Francisco has the lowest.
- Phoenix has the lowest average season MLB ticket price, $18.53, which is three times lower than in Boston, the city with the highest at $54.79.
- Orlando, Florida, has the highest attendance rate for MLS games, 122.84 percent, which is 1.8 times higher than in Dallas, the city with the lowest at 68.75 percent.
