jkvonny wrote:therealbig3 wrote:We can safely say America is way more into the NFL than the NBA in general, and for most places, it’s the football team that reigns supreme in terms of a city’s sports identity, way more than their NBA counterpart. For example, I don’t think it’s controversial at all to say that Dallas cares way more about the Cowboys than the Mavs, and Milwaukee cares way more about the Packers than the Bucks. Eagles over Sixers for sure.
But which cities/states actually care more about their NBA team than their NFL counterpart?
A few that come to mind for me (and are probably still arguable):
-Celtics over Patriots
-Bulls over Bears (maybe more so during the 90s, probably not so much now)
-Lakers over Rams/Chargers
-Knicks over Giants/Jets
Which others?
NFL/ Football is king here in the US.
Many of the fans are very very loyal. Good years and bad years. And not really player fans. They are team fans and very regional pride loyalty.
Problem with NBA is, that the fans (not all, but a lot) are pretty fickle, fairweather.
And many of the casuals are player fan types (LeBron, Kobe, Melo, Luka, Iverson, KD, Westbrook, Kyrie, Curry, Harden, Nash, MJ etc etc) bounce from team to team or bandwagon the top teams or dynasties.
Example: here in south Texas. Back in the '90s we'd have quite a few Bulls fans .... present day, you hardly ever run into a Bulls fan. 10 yrs ago, we'd have a few Heat fans here or there...... now, nothing hardly any Heat fans. Same for GSW. We'd have GSW fans pop out of nowhere 10 yrs ago...... prior to that, zero. No GSW fans, the Warriors were a joke during the '90s, '00s.
That's a pretty good list there.
One I really agree with you is LA. Despite being a huge market. LA has always been a bad city for NFL football for whatever reason. They love their college football teams more, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans. They are huge basketball fans, Lakers, Clippers and the college basketball teams.
NFL struggles there. The Rams relocated to/from LA a few times over the decades. They couldn't hang on to the Raiders (relocated several times including Oakland now in Las Vegas) over the decades. They just recently acquired the Chargers, which is BS IMO, they belong in San Diego.
LA NFL fans are also pretty fairweather.
BTW, MLB is huge there too. Dodgers and Angels.
NY??? Eh, that's a tuff one. Because, NYers are just loyal and passionate period! In all sports. Good years or bad years. They are diehards. NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB.
Chicago , Boston/New England , Philly are the same way as NY. So that's a tuff one.
Yup even the Bears during the '90s over the Bulls or at least even par.
Bay area (SF/Oakland). SF 49ers are king I think. Also Raiders. Compared to Sacramento Kings, GSW .
Miami is kinda like LA. Somewhat fairweather fans. I think Dolphins fans are more diehard/loyal than Heat fans. But that's typical of NFL fans.
Atlanta, Memphis, Charlotte, and New Orleans for sure it's NFL football. Same with the Texas, Florida teams. Football is king in the south. High school, college, pro. So you have the New Orleans Saints, Tennessee (Nashville) Titans, Atl Falcons, Panthers (Carolina over the Hawks, Grizzlies, Hornets, Pelicans.
And for sure Dallas Cowboys over Mavs. Houston Texans over Rockets (Texans are younger franchise but have gained huge over the years) Dolphins over Heat,
North/Central Florida? Jacksonville Jaguars/Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Orlando Magic.
Wisconsin folks are diehards in all of their sports. Brewers, Bucks, Packers. So it's hard to say. I'd probably lean Packers over Bucks.Same thing with Michigan folks and Minnesota folks. Upper midwest. They love their teams. Minn Twins, Wild , TWolves, Vikings. Detroit Lions, RedWings, Tigers, Pistons.
I'd probably lean Lions over Pistons and Vikings over Twolves tho. But again...football is king in the US.
Cleveland?? Browns for sure. Good or bad years, their fans are loyal as hell. Super diehards. Browns over Cavs
You think the 2016 Cavs parade was huge??
Wait til the future if/when the Browns win a Super Bowl! It will be humongous. Same for the MLB team ((Indians/Guardians) . Good sports town, but the Browns are kings there, and the MLB team. Cavs have lots of fans too but not as huge , widespread, loyal as the NFL and MLB teams.
I could see the Phoenix Suns fans more vocal than AZ Cardinals fans. That I can see! Phoenix has a lot of transplants, so loyalty for the AZ cards may not be as huge especially since the Cardinals have had more bad years than good years, AZ Cardinals are also kinda new (around 3 decades) to AZ, relocated from St Louis, MO back in the late '80s.
The Suns have been around for decades ('60) and that city, region really loves that team. There's more history with them and the city. The Suns have been a successful franchise majority of their history, just have yet to win a Championship. If the Suns wins an NBA title and AZ Cardinals wins a Super Bowl.... I would not be shocked the Suns had a larger wilder parade than the Cardinals.
Ok. Denver Broncos over the Nuggets.
DMV area? Washington Commanders (Redskins) and Baltimore Ravens over Washington Wizards.
Indiana is tuff, because basketball is huge in that state. They love their college basketball teams (Indiana, Purdue, Norte Dame, Butler, Indiana State etc) and their pro team (Pacers). But at the same time also a big football state. They love their college teams and pro team (Indianapolis Colts). This one is a tuff one. I'd say a toss up.
Buffalo Bills (upstate NY) over Toronto Raptors maybe?? Both have large loyal, loud fanbase. Good or bad years.
the amount of excitement will be immense. Living in Houston for a decade, the Rockets are a clear third behind the Texans and Astros.
