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.
“We’re going to win the Stanley Cup this year!”
“Don’t be a sap! You’re a maple leaf.”
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.”
You must be one of the happiest people in the world.
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.
I live just outside Buffalo. It’s funny how many players still live here in the area after they retire.
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.
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
NHL lockout costs Pittsburgh area economy $2.1M for each home game lost
NHL lockout is bad news for businesses near Consol
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
Or maybe it the stock. Kids carry on Packers bike ride tradition
Or maybe it’s the wait for a season ticket. Kids carry on Packers bike ride tradition
Anyway you look at it the pack is tight with Green Bay.
Hard to believe a native of Montreal named Michel Therrien cannot converse in French.
Back to the OP, not that much difference. Relating pro sports to city value is like bragging about which hooker you rented.