Shit, I forgot about the Kraken. I’ll place them in between the Mariners and the Sonics.
It’s actually kinda surprising how many pro sports teams Seattle has when this is very much NOT a city people associate with sports. As popular as the Seahawks are, it’s almost as popular to hate on them. I often hear people call them the “Sea Chickens” disparagingly, or, more colorfully, the “Rain City Bitch Pigeons”.
I lol’ed.
Are the Sounders really that popular? That’s extraordinary. I remember reading a glowing review of a Sounders game experience years ago by the guy from Harvey Danger. Seattle really is sui generis.
The shine may have worn off a bit from when they were brand new, but they’ve been known to sell out Qwest CenturyLink whatever the hell it’s called now Field and people seem to like them. And we’re hosting some of the World Cup events in 2026, which is definitely gonna be putting a spotlight on them.
I grew up in the D.C. area. The Senators were accepted as perennial losers. The football team has always been much more of a big deal, with season tickets sold out for years in advance.
BTW, it’s the “Commanders” now. The Generals made their name losing to the Harlem Globetrotters 5,000 times in a row (or something like that).
Where does Marquette basketball rank, or is that much more regional to Milwaukee?
I grew up in a small city that was definitely more a basketball town than a football town. High school basketball games drew more interest than football games, The high schools regularly competed for state basketball championships and would send basketball players to major colleges and even the NBA, whereas the football teams generally did not have any sort of NFL-caliber talent.
That’s true now, but they started off as the Boston Patriots and had that name for the first 12 years of their existence. They changed the name when they moved to Foxborough in 1971 (which was admittedly a long time ago).
Still, I know at least one older Bostonian who mentions that fact that they started off as the Boston Patriots every time the subject comes up.
Cleveland is a football town, which is crazy considering how bad the Browns are.
We were briefly a baseball town from 1995 to 1999, which is when the Indians sold out 455 games in a row. IF YOU CAN BELIEVE IT, these were the years we had no football in Cleveland.
Sports radio talks about the Browns non-stop. Even now when the Guardians are off to the playoffs and the Browns can’t beat anyone.
I think we also have a basketball team. People like them.
Compared to the Badgers, somewhat more regional, I believe.
We also had a hockey team, but that was eons ago:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Barons_(NHL)
With the NHL in Columbus now, it will likely be very long before Cleveland ever gets a team again. Ok, we do have the minor-league Monsters, fwiw…
First and foremost, Chicago is a Bears’ town. I would rank baseball second, basketball a close third, and then the Blackhawks. The WNBA and soccer are fringe sports in comparison.
Kentucky, where I now live, is described as having a “rich sports culture” but lacks pro teams unless you include the two lower tier soccer teams in Louisville, which might as well not exist as far as most of the rest of the state is concerned. The last semi-real pro team in the state was the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels, who were left out in the cold along with the Spirits of St. Louis when the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976.
Priorities for sports fans in the state:
UK (basketball over football)
U. of Louisville (football over basketball, considering the teams’ relative fortunes lately)
.
Kentucky Derby
.
sports of other Div. 1 schools like EKU, WKU, NKU
.
.
whoever is playing U. of Tennessee
Not surprising. I know a couple of old guys who will bring that up. OTOH never met anyone who mentioned the Braves.
Is that a current ranking, or all time?
Pittsburgh has always been a baseball town first. During the Steelers’ heyday they became a football town also. Oh, and Mario brought hockey to the town.
The one thing Pittsburgh has never been is a basketball town. When I was a kid I used to get freebie tickets to see the Condors play basketball. Free tickets, free giveaways, etc, and the Civic Arena was still mostly empty.
It’s Lumen Field now and a sellout for the Sounders is only about 28,000, the upper levels of the stadium are not used. They average about 22,000 a game which leads the MLS in attendance by a large margin. The Mariners averaged over 31,000 a game this past season which places them well above the Sounders in a list from Seattle above.
Dallas - football first. The Cowboys.
And that says a lot, considering that the Cowboys haven’t made it to a conference championship game since 1995. In that same time period, the Mavericks, Rangers and Stars have each made multiple conference finals appearances and won a championship apiece, yet the Cowboys still draw the most attention.
Washington DC is definitely football first and foremost, despite the poor record and recent terrible ownership of the Commanders.
The Washington Nationals baseball team are a distant second, with the pathetic Wizards NBA franchise back with DC United (MLS).and whoever the WNBA team is.
Georgetown University basketball used to be a big deal, but they haven’t been good for a while and interest seems to have waned…
Hadn’t thought about that. It’s some sort of average over the past few decades. LA is a notorious bandwagon town, so the order can change over periods of time when a particular team has success. For example, when the LA Kings were winning championships, you’d see a lot of Kings gear and cars flying Kings flags. Not so much since then.
All time, you’d have to throw in the Raiders, who still have a significant fan base in Los Angeles, as well as UCLA (basketball and football) and USC (football).
Here’s the Wiki page on LA sports teams. It’s a long list across a lot of sports.
When I moved to Seattle in 1990 the Huskies were definitely the top team. I’m not sure if that’s true any more.