With the NBA Finals in full swing, many cities are arguing about whose fans are the most loyal. Whether your team is in the finals or not, you know you’re going to represent your team win or lose. Wallet Hub recently conducted a study to determine which cities in the U.S. are the best for basketball fans.
The study compared 293 of the largest cities in the nation across 17 key domains. Some of the categories measured were: Revenue Collected, Top Performing Teams, Encouragement of Attendance and Engagement, Ticket Prices, and Stadium Accessibility. The study also compiled rankings based upon each city’s NCAA and NBA teams. So let’s see how they all stacked up and if any Texas cities made the list.
Photo: Flickr/Keith Allison
Los Angeles came in with the #1 overall ranking, scoring at #2 in both the NBA and NCAA categories. Rounding out the top five were Boston (#2), which received the #1 ranking for the NBA category, Oakland (#3), San Antonio (#4) and Salt Lake City (#5)
At the bottom of the list were New Britain, Connecticut at #293, Tampa, Florida at #292, Peoria, Illinois at #291, Daytona Beach, Florida at #290 and Clinton, South Carolina at #289. All of these cities received the lowest possible score in the NBA category combined with low marks in the NCAA category.
Photo: Flickr/Danny Bollinger
How did Texas cities mix it up among the other states and their fans? San Antonio was ranked #4 overall and thus the highest ranking Texas city. Dallas was ranked next overall at #11, followed by Houston (#18), Nacogdoches (#49), Austin (#61) and Huntsville (#70). Besides San Antonio and Dallas, the Texas cities received relatively low NBA ratings but scored high in the NCAA category. No doubt, Austin, Nacogdoches, and Huntsville being so-called “college towns” played well to favor these rankings.
Some more statistical categories of interest include the Most Engaged NBA and NCAA teams and the best performing NBA and NCAA teams. In the most engaged NBA category Boston holds the #1 spot. For most engaged NCAA team, there was a five-way tie for 1st amongst Lawrence, Kansas, Bloomington, Indiana, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, East Lansing, Michigan, and Storrs, Connecticut.
The city with the best performing NBA team was Oakland, California, whose Golden State Warriors are currently playing in the NBA Finals and were NBA Champions two years ago. What was the highest ranking for an NCAA city? Nacogdoches, Texas.
