U.S. Cities where soccer is the most followed professional sport? (football, leagues)
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Just thinking out loud here, is there one? MLS seems to have stuck pretty rigidly to the largest markets when placing their teams, my initial thought is that they'd all be surpassed in popularity by the NFL team but maybe not. Maybe then, the best bet is a city with an incredibly popular USL team or something?
It'd be especially interesting if there was a woman's team with good support as well, but this might make it even more unlikely.
Austin is the only city with MLS as the only pro team, and it would be the closest answer. Austin FC is probably the #2 most followed pro franchise after the Cowboys I think. However, as a league MLS is 4th at best as NFL, NBA, and MLB are much more popular; rooting interest for those leagues is just distributed across many teams. Also Longhorns Football is easily #1 if you count that. I think the Spurs will also probably top Austin FC if they get good again, especially now that they are playing annual regular season games here.
When I lived in Atlanta, it seemed to be the most popular team and game to go to for residents of City of Atlanta proper, at least in the inner neighborhoods.
Austin is the only city with MLS as the only pro team, and it would be the closest answer. Austin FC is probably the #2 most followed pro franchise after the Cowboys I think. However, as a league MLS is 4th at best as NFL, NBA, and MLB are much more popular; rooting interest for those leagues is just distributed across many teams. Also Longhorns Football is easily #1 if you count that. I think the Spurs will also probably top Austin FC if they get good again, especially now that they are playing annual regular season games here.
MLS is comfortably 5th behind the NHL. The "Big 4" are NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL...in that order. MLS would be a tier lower.
NCAA Football and Basketball are also just as if not more popular in many areas than many professional sports teams.
MLS is comfortably 5th behind the NHL. The "Big 4" are NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL...in that order. MLS would be a tier lower.
NCAA Football and Basketball are also just as if not more popular in many areas than many professional sports teams.
Soccer is now the second most played sport in the US, after basketball. The MLS is expected to surpass the NHL in the near future. Soccer has already surpassed hockey in terms of US viewership. It's not that far away from MLB either. The NFL is in the process of aging out; the viewership is much older than the soccer fanbase in the US. It'll take a generation, but viewing habits are starting to change.
After watching soccer matches for many years, I now find Pro football to be kind of slow and boring: there's relatively little actual action on the field. It's mostly ads, replays, and rules debates. Zzzz...
After watching soccer matches for many years, I now find Pro football to be kind of slow and boring: there's relatively little actual action on the field. It's mostly ads, replays, and rules debates. Zzzz...
I haven’t weaned myself off of my NFL team yet but I won’t go out of my way to watch the game if something else is going on. I’m also a cord cutter so getting Fox is impossible. I grew up with ubiquitous baseball. The game was on everywhere and any radio had the game on. I haven’t watched my team on television in a couple of years. Ditto basketball. Ditto NHL. Ditto March Madness unless it’s my college getting slaughtered in the first round. I stopped watching television with advertising in it years ago and I’m now mostly there with sports. I’ll watch my Championship team, my Premier League team, and a smattering of other soccer. That’s enough screen time for me. 46 Championship matches. 38 Premier League matches. Some FA cup. Some Carabao Cup. Some Europe competitions. Watch a few things on ESPN+ like Real Madrid-Barca. I haven’t watched anything since Manchester City won Champions League. It’s summer. I’m outside.
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