Wait, you think nobody in Atlanta cares about sports?
Good one.
Not literally nobody, but I can hardly think of a city more full of bandwagoneers. At least for football… I don’t know baseball fanbases well… but didn’t I read that they have trouble selling out Braves playoff games?
Think harder, and about different sports.
Why would you expect a huge, consistent turnout at Falcons games when literally hundreds of thousands of college football fans in this city travel to games on the day before the dome opens for business?
You read that the Braves have, after winning the division about 8 times in a row, had trouble selling out the 2 NLDS games. They have typically had no problem with the NLCS, and spent many years near the top of the league in overall attendance.
What if they were called the Carolina Daylilies?
Is Atlanta unique in having a large college following?
Did the college following subside when the Falcons were good here and there, allowing more people to go to their games?
Is there any city you’d consider to be a non-fairweather fan base that has any trouble selling out playoff games?
I’m not trying to insult you personally. I’m sure there are some good fans in Atlanta. But as a city?
This is what bothers me about this whole debate. Why is “good fan” defined as being someone eager to support a crappy product? In these parts we don’t call that a “good fan.” We call that a “sucker.” 
People value their long term connections to teams, they identify with them, invest emotionally, and become attached. Fan support during bad seasons shows dedication.
If your attitude is that you should only support good products, then why have an attachment to the home team at all? Just switch your fandom to whatever team is doing best at any given time in your preferred league.
There are people that do that, and while that may be valid to your world view, most sports fans derisively label them as fairweather or bandwagon fans.
In these parts, I call that a “Carolina fan”.
A perfectly valid question, in my view, if we’re talking about pro sports. Why identify with a bunch of geographically random mercenaries? (Particularly if they’re crappy mercenaries.)
Give us a good product, and we’ll turn out. That’s just smart shopping! 
See, with college teams, there’s a valid reason to stick with a team through thick and thin. (They may suck, but they’re our home boys!) Not so much with pro teams.
I agree to some extent with the sentiment - but mercenaries or not, they represent your city (if you’re a home town fan). Not as strong as the link to a college to a lot of people, but still a link.
If you don’t understand why you’d choose to identify with a particular team, then why identify with one at all? Why be a fan? You could still watch games neutrally if you loved the sport.
Yes. Name another city in the US that has as many stadiums that seat 80k or more (indicating a national championship-calibur program) within a 5 hour drive.
I just love the idea that “we’re not into sports” in Atlanta b/c someone who isn’t from here & who deems certain sports more worthy than others says so. Come to a college football game and tell me that there is ANYONE in the US as “into sports” as we are down here. Name another part of the world that does a combination of events like horse racing (Kentucky Derby), college basketball, golf (The Masters), college football & auto racing that is riveting enough for everyone outside of the area to take notice.
Within a five hour drive? Is that a serious question?
Why in the world would I be making a joke about the number of 80k-person college football stadiums within easy driving distance of Atlanta?
5 hours isn’t a long drive, not by any stretch. Of course the question is serious.
I can drive to Boston in three hours or DC in five.
What is your point?
That a five hour drive is quite long.
No it isn’t.
80K-capacity stadiums that are within an approximate 200 mile radius (thus, much closer than 5 hours):
University of Tennessee
University of South Carolina
University of Alabama
University of Clemson
Auburn University
University of Geogia
(Georgia Tech*)
The last 4 are are within about a 2 hour drive.
All of the above 7 schools, plus Florida State & UF, have a large number of season ticket holders who reside in Atlanta. I have made a day trip to every single one of the listed schools for a college football game.
*Seats only 60K, but in the city of Atlanta.
Wow, can’t argue with that compelling southern logic.