Die-hard sports fans stand outside for hours in the freezing cold at Soldier Field in Chicago; they sweat it out on a hot, muggy day at New York City's Yankee Stadium. While all cities have dedicated game-goers, which city is the best for sports fans?
Wallethub's 2018 Best Sports Cities study compared 149 cities across 50 key metrics related to the five largest U.S. sports: football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer. Each sport category was given a weight corresponding with the total percentage of U.S. adults who say they follow that sport. (So, football was weighted 40 percent, basketball 31 percent, baseball 27 percent, hockey 15 percent and soccer 9 percent.)
Each sport was then graded on a 100 point scale for favorable conditions for sports fans, with 100 being the most favorable. The 50 key metrics looked at ranged from number of championship wins for each sport, fan engagement, ticket prices for games, stadium capacity, game attendance and more.
Wallethub found that the best sports city for fans for 2018 was Boston Massachusetts, boosted by its top ranking for the best city for hockey, its second-place ranking for basketball and its fourth-place ranking for football. The second best city for sports fans, according to Wallethub's report, is Los Angeles, California, which snagged first place for basketball and soccer. Coming in third is New York, New York, with a No. 1 ranking in baseball.
These are the top 10 sports cities for sports fans, according to Wallethub:
1. Boston, Massachusetts
2. Los Angeles, California
3. New York, New York
4. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
5. Chicago, Illinois
6. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Atlanta, Georgia
9. Oakland, California
10. Dallas, Texas
Meanwhile, the worst cities for sports, according to the report, are Salt Lake City, Utah; Tampa, Florida; and San Antonio, Texas in descending order. You can find Wallethub's full report and methodology here.
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