Detroit’s a weird one. As of right now, I’d rank it:
Lions
(small gap)
Tigers
(big gap)
Wings
Pistons
Historically, I think its REALLY tricky and its almost the Lions on the bottom? A thing that we dabble with in the area, that I think only a couple of other places also deal with is the brand. I think NYC loves the Yankees, but I think they love the Yankee logo and signifier more than they even love baseball/the team. I think Detroit is one of those cities that also likes the team and the logo/signifier. Dallas might be another one, with the Cowboys, but that feels more like an attempt to make that a thing, than it happening organically.
Maybe the shitty Browns and the shitty Lions are more popular than the respective baseball teams because we’re in the snowy Midwest and everyone is stuck home watching shitty football together.
Plus it’s much easier to stomach 17 shitty games than to stay engaged through 162, shitty or not. Everyone can manage to find an opinion on 17 games.
During baseball season we’re all out and about, and out of town. No time for sports (except me, I’m glued to the radio every day)
Personally, I have a lot of co-workers who are first-generation Canadians. So I would rank the popularity of sports talk around our (Toronto) office as follows:
World Cup (by far the most popular)
Euro Cup
Summer Olympics
Jumping on the bandwagon when the Raptors or Blue Jays are having a hot post-season
Jumping on the bandwagon when the Maple Leafs are having a hot post-season **
When the Red Wings had their quasi-dynasty in the late 90’s/early 00’s I’d guess they would have been at the top, but what do I know. They’ve been in the wilderness for 15 or so years now.
A little. A friend from Toronto likes the Bills. But the weird thing is that pretty much all Canadian NFL fans don’t necessarily support the nearest NFL franchise. Even when I lived in Toronto, I knew people who liked the Broncos, Dolphins, and Cowboys (among others); and out here in western Canada, I know people who like the Saints, Eagles, and Patriots (again, among others). Me, I’m a fan of the Forty-Niners.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s the way it is with Canadian NFL fans.
The Bills tried to nurture this at one point; from 2008 to 2013, they played six regular-season games and two preseason games at Rogers Centre.
Between the facts that the Rogers Centre playing surface can no longer be configured for football (the CFL Argonauts now play at the smaller BMO Field), the Bills didn’t draw well there as time went on, and the original idea to play in Toronto came from the Bills’ former owner (the late Ralph Wilson) it seems like like the Bills aren’t interested in continuing to actively woo Toronto fans.
See, that’s also the odd thing, the Pistons are one of the storied franchises in the NBA. There aren’t many who have been more successful. When they’re good, they sell out EASY, and, man, it feels like people are kind of hungry to see some good basketball. I went to the last home game of the season last year and got club level seats. There’s a decent vibe, although with not many people in the stadium.
Some of it’s generational. My father grew up during the Great Depression. The NFL wasn’t really a thing. Even far away from Indiana it was who poor Irish football fans rooted for. Many passed that down to their kids. Personally I don’t get being a rabid fan of a college you didn’t go to.
My gf’s nephew worked for the Pittsburgh Pirates for years, before accepting an offer from the Steelers. While working for the Pirates he met his now wife.
At family get together see are all careful to talk about both teams an equal amount.
I travel to Alabama for work quite a lot, and as a result, I know a lot of football fans from Alabama. My observation is that all of them are fans of their high school football team, and their college football team. In addition, they all seem to be compelled to choose a side, and be a serious fan of either the University of Alabama, or Auburn University, even if they didn’t attend either school.
Most of them don’t really care much about the NFL, though they follow alums of their favorite college teams into the pros, so, for example, they’ll be short-term Packer fans if a former Alabama star is now with the Packers.
There’s a fair bit of fan-of-school-you-didn’t-attend here too with the University of Michigan, but I think it starts to fall under the branding, like the Yankees/Tigers from above.
In general, though this is skewed this year do to successes.
Detroit:
Red Wings
Lions <–despite their losing ways of decades
Tigers
Pistons
You could flip Tigers and Lions possibly.
“Hockeytown” is called that for a reason. Not a great team now, but the Red Wings are a pretty big deal. At one point, they were the most popular team in the league, like the Yankees in baseball.
Being an Original Six team definitely helps, from the standpoint of longstanding fan loyalty and tradition. And, of course, Red Wings fans established the strange octopus-on-the-ice tradition.
OTOH, I remind myself that the twelve teams which the NHL added in their “expansion era” of the late '60s and early '70s, as well as the surviving WHA teams which joined the NHL in '79, have all now been around for 50+ years.
Couldn’t disagree more. Even in a place like Detroit, where there’s a MUCH higher level of hockey literacy than most places, its so far down the list. The others are just so big and so popular. I think they’re perpetually at 3 or 4.
Agreed. If you ever decide to become dumber, turn on the local sports radio in Detroit. It is dominated with football. It still gets a lot of chatter even during the off season. Hockey was heavier in rotation during late 90s and early 2000 but since the Red Wings most recent slump over the last decade, they were barely talked about. Lions were always talked about even when bad.
I will repeat this sentence many times in the future. Probably starting this Sunday. No wait… it could start tomorrow with the Phillies in game 1 of the NLDS.
