# Professional sports teams and "their" cities **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 22, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961 "2014-12-22T22:34:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/21 "2014-12-23T20:14:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I’m a Red Sox fan because my dad is a Red Sox fan. I’m a Cardinals fan because my dad was a Cubs fan. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/22 "2014-12-23T22:15:15Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I’m a Cardinals fan because my dad was a Cubs fan. Simba: Dad, what’s a World Series? Musafa: I wouldn’t expect you to know, you’re just a cub. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/23 "2014-12-23T22:26:18Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Simba: Dad, what’s a World Series? > Musafa: I wouldn’t expect you to know, you’re just a cub. [The joke works better when you can incorporate a visual pun.](http://www.quickmeme.com/img/14/146565b3a5a1c08499bf61cbc23e26a61715c86279885f80842b0b70c2c23a0a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/24 "2014-12-24T00:26:35Z")
“We’re going to win the Stanley Cup this year!” “Don’t be a sap! You’re a maple leaf.” ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/25 "2014-12-25T03:34:09Z")
So far as the last I heard, every player but one of the Los Angeles Kings lives in either Manhattan Beach or bordering Hermosa Beach. That’s a pretty small geographical area, especially considering how LA sprawls and how many posh neighborhoods there are. In the beach area, there aren’t many gated communities and the homes are generally small compared to where you’d expect wealthy athletes to live, so they live in close among the normals. The first place they took the Stanley Cup after winning it (the first time) wasn’t some exclusive ritzy LA-celebrity-packed club, it was a local neighborhood bar. So when you consider players coming in from drafts and trades and signings, and just about everyone ends up in the same small community, I think the citizens of the Beach Cities can rightfully consider the Kings theirs. There might not be any “they came from us,” but there’s a lot of “they’re one of us.” ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/26 "2014-12-25T03:46:25Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > So I don’t care who wins as long as the Raiders lose. 🙂 You must be one of the happiest people in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/27 "2014-12-25T03:54:27Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > This has been true forever and it works the same way with international sports. Just look at the Yankees and where their most famous players are originally from: > > Babe Ruth - Baltimore > Joe DiMaggio - San Francisco > Mickey Mantle - Oklahoma > Reggie Jackson - Pennsylvania > Don Mattingly - Indiana > Derek Jeter - New Jersey > > Lou Gehrig is the exception as he was from New York City. Small note, Jeter was born in NJ, but he’s really _from_ Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has maintained community involvements there as well as in the city of his career and residence. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/28 "2014-12-30T07:28:34Z")
I live just outside Buffalo. It’s funny how many players still live here in the area after they retire. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/29 "2014-12-30T16:57:27Z")
I became a Bears and Cubs fan as a little girl because bears were my favorite animal. I remained a Bears and Cubs fan into adulthood because clearly I’m a masochist. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/30 "2014-12-30T17:39:35Z")
In San Antonio we have one BIG team (the NBA Spurs) and it seems a thing for the players to remain in SA after they retired - David Robinson, George Gervin, etc have done so. Have no idea what Tim, Tony, Manu, and Pop will do, but we’ll see (quickly, in the case of Tim Duncan). It’s not as if the players have to be from Texas, as long as you join the team, you’re good, even if you’re a New Yorker. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/31 "2014-12-31T01:48:49Z")
A team will play approximately half of its games in (or close to) the city whence it takes its name, so that’s a connection right there. If, say, a Clevelander wants to go to a major league baseball game, but doesn’t want to travel as far as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, or further to do it, then one of the teams that Clevelander sees is always, always, going to be the Indians. Go see the same team often enough, and you’re likely to find yourself developing an affinity for them. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/32 "2014-12-31T02:07:03Z")
> [@Mr.Goob](#): > > I live just outside Buffalo. It’s funny how many players still live here in the area after they retire. Sure. If they’ve been on the team for a while their kids went to school there, their friends are there, and the endorsement opportunities are there. Few people who have their kids in an elite school are going to move back to rural Oklahoma where they grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/33 "2015-01-01T01:15:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Go see the same team often enough, and you’re likely to find yourself developing an affinity for them. Or, if you watch the game closely, possibly a disaffinity. After all, if there are organizational reasons to like a team (that is, apart from _most of the people around me are for them_), the absence of or opposition to these features constitute reasons to dislike them. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/34 "2015-01-01T09:43:56Z")
Not really with the players. But, MOST, not all NFL stadiums are taxpayer funded, so theres already a financial investment by most of the fans in the building that hosts the team. And, in those cities, that investment is part of what allows that city to secure an NFL franchise, since theres no competition for the sports dollar when it comes to professional football, almost making that franchise a public utility (unlike most international soccer, where I can start a club anywhere I can get a pitch, and slowly work my way up the leagues, and maybe someday take fans away from the other club in town by offering a better on field product and/or game experience). AND, its that franchises money partially from ticket sales as well as merchandise sales as well as TV money that goes into the players pockets, which in turn creates a contract where that player then is expected by the fans to play as well as they can for that city. Theres many exceptions to the rule, for instance Jerry Jones IIRC completely financed the construction of Cowboys Stadium; the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey yet represent New York; a large part of the Philadelphia Eagles fanbase is in Southern New Jersey, and their fans didn’t pay a dime for the new stadium; The New England Patriots play in some remote suburb in Southern Massachusetts but because of the clever naming of their franchise has fans in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Then theres the San Francisco 49ers, who now play in a stadium 40 miles south of that city. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/35 "2015-01-02T01:52:03Z")
A lot of Penguins and Steelers players do community work, interact with the public on a regular basis, (mind you, not ALL of them – I’m looking at YOU, Ben Rothlisberger!), try and go to the other sports teams, etc. And there are some that do stay with one team their entire career, or at least the majority of it. It’s not just the players, it’s the organization as a whole. (Owners, coaches, staff, etc.) Look at the Rooney family, for example. And sports DOES bring in a lot of revenue to the city. During the NHL lockout a few years ago, the economy really took a hit. The bars do a lot of business during the games – people go in to watch the game, or those attending will go in to grab something to eat before or after they go. Local hotels have people coming in to the city to watch, etc. [Economic impact of NHL lockout worsens](http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/penguins/2012/12/21/Economic-impact-of-NHL-lockout-worsens/stories/201212210146) [NHL lockout costs Pittsburgh area economy $2.1M for each home game lost](http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/2997946-85/nhl-lockout-hockey-penguins-season-games-pittsburgh-canceled-game-lost#axzz3NcjTW619) [NHL lockout is bad news for businesses near Consol](http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2012/10/05/NHL-lockout-is-bad-news-for-businesses-near-Consol/stories/201210050214) And some players will open up businesses in the area after they retire – Jerome Bettis has his “Grille 36”. There’s the Blue Line Grill, owned partially by Phil Bourque and Billy Guerin. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/36 "2015-01-02T03:04:16Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > And sports DOES bring in a lot of revenue to the city. During the NHL lockout a few years ago, the economy really took a hit. The bars do a lot of business during the games – people go in to watch the game, or those attending will go in to grab something to eat before or after they go. No, I really do not believe that is true at all. One of the common things people were saying in Toronto during the NHL lockout is how much BETTER a lot of bars and restaurants were doing. For a sports-themed bar it might not have been great… but for a non-sports-themed restaurant times were terrific. The addition of a sports team basically just routes money that would have been spent on other forms of entertainment away from them and into the sports team - great for the Penguins, but not so great for Pittsburgh bowling alleys, cinemas, and standup comedy bars. Money spent in a bar near the arena is money not spent at a bar closer to the customer’s home where he would have gone had he not been going to the game. My anecdotes aren’t any better than yours of course, but it remains the case that every serious study into the matter has come up with the same answer; money spent to attract a pro sports team is money set on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/37 "2015-01-02T04:53:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The addition of a sports team basically just routes money that would have been spent on other forms of entertainment away from them and into the sports team - great for the Penguins, but not so great for Pittsburgh bowling alleys, cinemas, and standup comedy bars. Money spent in a bar near the arena is money not spent at a bar closer to the customer’s home where he would have gone had he not been going to the game. True, but ~if~ the players and other employees of a team in fact live and spend in the same general area, doesn’t the money recirculate through the economy anyway? > [@RickJay](#): > > …money spent to attract a pro sports team is money set on fire. You’re talking about public spending for stadiums and related infrastructure there, which is a different matter than private entertainment spending. But there too, ~if~ such public spending were routed to local contractors (as it usually is not), I think the analysis would be different. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/38 "2015-01-02T05:32:21Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Well, the Packers are the only community-owned not-for-profit club as well as being in the smallest city of any American major league franchise, so I give them an extra measure of respect. The ties between the Packers and the community run DEEP. You have the players riding kids bike to practice. [Kids carry on Packers bike ride tradition](http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2014/07/28/kids-carry-packers-bike-ride-tradition/13280797/) Or maybe it the stock. [Kids carry on Packers bike ride tradition](http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2014/07/28/kids-carry-packers-bike-ride-tradition/13280797/) Or maybe it’s the wait for a season ticket. [Kids carry on Packers bike ride tradition](http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2014/07/28/kids-carry-packers-bike-ride-tradition/13280797/) Anyway you look at it the pack is tight with Green Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/39 "2015-01-02T13:36:53Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Same with the Canadiens, when I lived in Montreal. In the 60s, 3/4 of the Habs were Quebec-born players, and truly represented Montreal, and I loved following them. Now, I think there is only one, maybe two, Quebecers on the roster, and the coach can’t even speak French to the local media. Hard to believe a native of Montreal named Michel Therrien cannot converse in French. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961/40 "2015-01-03T03:32:43Z")
Back to the OP, not that much difference. Relating pro sports to city value is like bragging about which hooker you rented. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professional-sports-teams-and-their-cities/707961.md?page=3)