Are sports team allegiances in your city/area culturally, geographically or generationally divided ?

[torontoblood]

I’m Just a curious man trying to learn something new.


I notice that some team fanbases clearly skew younger and blacker, or older and whiter. Some teams have more Hispanic or Asian fans per capita. Some teams probably have a disproportionate amount of female fans. Some teams bring all the ethnicities/races (white, black, asian etc) and all the generations together (boomers to gen Z)

Some teams somehow find a way to attract defined niche populations(the hipster and hippie crowds for example)




Does sports fandom pretty much comes down to demographics ? Different teams have different demographics and customers

Urban vs suburban
City vs country
City vs rest of province (Canada)
blue collar vs white collar
Yuppies vs working class
Democrats vs republicans
Immigrants vs born and raised natives
Wealthy vs poor

Click to read more...

 

[QuizGuy66]

Bad people root for (poster's rival)

Good people root for (poster's team)

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

There are so many Golden Knights fans in Northern California, it is mind-boggling.

 

[Kane One]

NYC… it’s complicated and inconsistent

 

[Coffees]

NYC… it’s complicated and inconsistent

Oh come on, everyone loves the Islanders

 

[Vegan Knight]

There are so many Golden Knights fans in Northern California, it is mind-boggling.

That seems odd, are these mostly northern Nevadans who moved to California recently since 2020 but I don't think that number would be very large?

I could see some southern Californians rooting for the Knights if they're easier and cheaper to see games with ESPN Plus instead of cable and if the drive to go to a game isn't that much more hassle than LA or Anaheim but northern California would be a surprise.

 

[lionsDen]

Colorado is all about the broncos

 

[mehavecable]

Yes...

For us in Toronto, it split between:

a) Old, pessimistic, defeated and bitter alcoholics who have never experienced a Stanley Cup victory on a colour TV.

b) Young, idealistic 20/30-somethings with disposable income who brazenly strut into opposition areas as make believe champions

Repeat and rinse every 10 years.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Ottawa is interesting. A mix of a young team, a quiet city with a government worker mindset, and a lot of people in the area who are transplants to Ottawa (for work or school), and in the middle of two Original Six franchises (and the only two Canadian ones, at that)....it makes for a very unusual dynamic.

Ottawa also makes for a good case study for those who want to drop an NHL team in Hamilton or near the GTA. A ton of passionate hockey fans in the area does not guarantee an automatically strong fanbase for a new team in the area.

 

[ozzie]

I can't speak for anyone else, but for me. I bled blue for Toronto as a kid, until Steve Yzerman, who became my favourite player. Detroit then became my team away from Toronto. I find alot of people go with a player over anything else, doesn't matter where they are from. Mind you I also rooted for the Tigers against the Jays.

How many Quebec/Montreal fans became fans of the Penguins? I'd suspect a lot.

The hip/hop rap culture, just get Snoop Dog to wear an NHL jersey, bang. Several NHL fan bases have benefited from this. Cool, hip.

 

[Auston Marlander]

Yes...

For us in Toronto, it split between:

a) Old, pessimistic, defeated and bitter alcoholics who have never experienced a Stanley Cup victory on a colour TV.

b) Young, idealistic 20/30-somethings with disposable income who brazenly strut into opposition areas as make believe champions

Repeat and rinse every 10 years.

Where do I, 40 year old who enjoys watching hockey, understands that winning the cup is really hard and that any of the top teams can go on a run, but doesn't tie my entire identity to the team, nor does a bad loss ruin my night.

If I don't get my own category I either need to up my alcohol intake or find a way to get younger

 

[Oneiro]

Yeah, tri-state area - CT, NYC, NJ - is complicated. NYR, NYI, NJ, PHI, BOS, depending on who grew up where and when. I would include CAR in there as well but as I understand it, not too many Whalers fans jumped on the new franchise.

 

[BB79]

Boston...not really. Boston has a ton of colleges, so you sometimes get college kids going to school here from a different state who come in and rout for their home team, and if you start traveling to western MA or even RI you run into a fair amount of NY fans (mainly Yankees,Jets and Giants fans, not so much NHL/NBA NY fans)

I would imagine you would run into some Habs fans in northern NH/VT as well

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Geographically:

If you’re from the Island , you’re and Islanders fan.

Culturally:

If you are dirtbag , you’re a Devils fan.

Everyone else is a Rangers fan.

 

[waitin425]

I'm always shocked by how many people from Quebec like the Bruins.

I wonder if anglophone vs francophone has anything to do with it.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I'd venture to guess that in the US the demographics wildly skew white but in Canada because hockey is less of a niche sport it's for different demographics. Though I will say when I lived in Pittsburgh because the Pens had broader appeal than the Rangers in NYC despite being a less diverse city than NYC I noticed more non-white folks with Penguins gear that than you'd see in NYC with Rangers gear.

 

[kerrabria]

I’m Just a curious man trying to learn something new.


I notice that some team fanbases clearly skew younger and blacker, or older and whiter. Some teams have more Hispanic or Asian fans per capita. Some teams probably have a disproportionate amount of female fans. Some teams bring all the ethnicities/races (white, black, asian etc) and all the generations together (boomers to gen Z)

Some teams somehow find a way to attract defined niche populations(the hipster and hippie crowds for example)




Does sports fandom pretty much comes down to demographics ? Different teams have different demographics and customers

Urban vs suburban
City vs country
City vs rest of province (Canada)
blue collar vs white collar
Yuppies vs working class
Democrats vs republicans
Immigrants vs born and raised natives
Wealthy vs poor

Unfortunately, the nature of the North American franchise system makes it very, very, very difficult for fanbases to develop any unique culture.

Between all 9 of the major New York sports teams, the Mets are probably the only team whose fans aren't mostly a product of geography. People who like the Mets tend to despise the Yankees and everything that NYY is stereotyped for. E.g., unlimited funds, poaching other team's top talent, entitlement to success, general arrogance, etc.

Pretty much every Mets fan I know has a contrarian streak and would say that Yuppies ruined Manhattan. But that's about it.

 

[kerrabria]

Geographically:

If you’re from the Island , you’re and Islanders fan.

This isn't true. The Rangers are more popular on Long Island than the Islanders. Maybe if your family family has been on Long Island for several generations (instead of moving in from the City), then you're more likely to be an Islanders fan.
I don't know about the Devils though. I'd assume it's a similar situation, but maybe a more favorable since it is a different state and they've had way more success the past 40 years.

 

[End on a Hinote]

I'm always shocked by how many people from Quebec like the Bruins.

BC as well, lots of Bruins fans here. I also find that it can be fairly split here with fans who love the Canucks and fans who loathe them (likely EDM/CGY expats from Alberta which there are quote a few of).

 

[piqued]

In Dallas there are a ton of middle-age or older transplants from the Rust Belt who moved for work and brought their former allegiances. So you'll see huge swaths of Red Wings, Blackhawks, Penguins, and even Sabres fans, but for the most part their kids will grow up following the Stars. So the fanbase skews younger due to the younger nature of the team.

And to OP's other point not sure how you'd measure this but the Stars' fanbase has to have one of the higher percentages of Hispanic fans in the NHL, probably comparable to LA/Florida. It doesn't hurt that the club has gone for heavy community outreach to that group.

 

[Puckclektr]

Age is a factor in Toronto. Now I am not talking about the Leafs. There are Leaf fans of every age.

Toronto has a huge population of NON leaf fans. I would say 25-30%. I'm talking true hockey fans, and not the ones who hop on the bandwagon or can't name anyone on the third line.

Generally many of them are aged to the era when they were younger and they were the cup winners or really good. Younger fans tend to pick a favorite team from maybe 8-13ish. MAny 40-60 year olds are NOT leaf fans as they LEafs were so bad in the 70s and 80s.
Lots of Flyers fans in their 50's due to the Broad Street Bullies
Same with older Bruins fans
Habs fans are older as well.
Pittsburgh is a mix due to Crosby and Lemieux.
Oilers. See Pittsburgh
Detroit-40ish year olds due to 90s success
Buffalo, the further east of Hamilton the more there are Sabres fans.
MAny of the teams like Washington, Chicago, LA, became popular the last decade or so.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Unfortunately, the nature of the North American franchise system makes it very, very, very difficult for fanbases to develop any unique culture.

Between all 9 of the major New York sports teams, the Mets are probably the only team whose fans aren't mostly a product of geography. People who like the Mets tend to despise the Yankees and everything that NYY is stereotyped for. E.g., unlimited funds, poaching other team's top talent, entitlement to success, general arrogance, etc.

Pretty much every Mets fan I know has a contrarian streak and would say that Yuppies ruined Manhattan. But that's about it.

What about Jets vs Giants?

This isn't true. The Rangers are more popular on Long Island than the Islanders. Maybe if your family family has been on Long Island for several generations (instead of moving in from the City), then you're more likely to be an Islanders fan.
I don't know about the Devils though. I'd assume it's a similar situation, but maybe a more favorable since it is a different state and they've had way more success the past 40 years.

Rather, nobody is an islanders fan unless they live on or have roots on the Island

 

[kerrabria]

What about Jets vs Giants?

Can't say that I've noticed much of a pattern besides there just being a 60/40 split of Giants/Jets fans (at least on Long Island).