One of the great things about America is that wherever you go, there’s a city or region that is crazy about sports. Whether it’s baseball, college basketball, college football, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, NHL, soccer or the Olympics, a different city tops each sport.
Some of the cities will not be surprising while others might be a shock.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Louisville is the city that watches the most college basketball and not just its own teams, Kentucky and the University of Louisville, but all teams. Louisville leads all metered markets for watching college basketball dating back at least a dozen years.
What about college football? Birmingham, AL is the number one market in the nation for that sport.
New Orleans has topped all markets for NBC’s Sunday Night Football for three of the last five seasons.
Greensboro, NC leads the nation for NASCAR viewing. Fox says St. Louis is the highest-rated market for its MLB coverage.
So far this season, Cleveland ranks first for the NBA on TNT. Miami was the leader for the past three seasons.
And what about the Olympics? Minneapolis-St. Paul tops all markets for the Winter Olympics and Salt Lake City is number one for the Summer Games.
It’s interesting how the lead markets shape up for each sport. Many are in the South, where fans in the ACC and SEC are quite passionate.
Buffalo, Louisville, St. Louis, New Orleans and Birmingham might be obvious choices for their respective sports, but Salt Lake City? Oklahoma City for golf? Richmond, VA for Wimbledon?
It’s interesting how the markets shaped up for their top sports.