How popular are the Stars in Dallas?

Ishad

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They are behind and out of state college team? That shocks me but I am not an American. College sports have no relevance in Canada. Maybe ignorance on my part.
Texas has high school football stadiums that can hold the close to the same capacity as the stars.
 

Straight Fire

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I would have generally agreed with your long post analogy on the Stars being a boring team, cause even has a fan of the Stars they were boring to watch. I mean it got them in the playoffs, they won several rounds including a trip to the finals, but yes still somewhat uneventful at times. I can imagine for non Stars fans … i mean i heard it from my buddies all the time on how boring they were.

This year is vastly different though. Odd that you called them boring after last nights game too, even though it was a 3-2 game, it did not lack excitement.

I mean the Stars are ranked 9th in GF, 13 in SOG, and 6th in PP. Not the type of rankings you’d see for a boring team

It wasn't an awful game last night, maybe I overstated that. Nice that the home team won in a shootout. I probably just expected more from some of your stars like JR and Benn. And actually I think there's carryover from prior years of being relatively boring for me.

But as an aside, I find my Flames pretty boring this year outside of a few games like last night against the NYR.
 
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LevelingSolo

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Back when I used to work retail I helped a family that was visiting from Dallas

We started talking sports, they said they knew little next to thing about the Stars and they are far down the pecking order for sports in Dallas-Fortworth

A little surprised considering their building is always sold out and loud but I guess that's just hockey in the south :huh:

EDIT: Sidenote, I am in Ontario
 
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Troy McClure

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It just seemed odd to me to include OU which is, as you noted...a sort of sacrilegious team to root for in Texas. Over a number of those other, pretty big college programs. But i guess maybe like you said, they're more prominent in the "rural" bits of Texas, not so much in Dallas itself.
Something like 25% of OU's student body comes from Texas, with much of them being from the DFW area. On top of that, a huge number of OU graduates end up in DFW because there are a lot of jobs here. Look at it this way: OU's campus is closer to Dallas than UT, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or Houston.

I've always seen Americans loving their colleges in a cult like way.
Here in Canada, it's just another school for us lol
A lot of these universities are in cities with no pro sports. There are a surprising number of states with no pro sports at all or maybe one team from one sport. College sports fills the void and it gives people something local to cheer for if their closest pro team is far away.

States with no pro team: Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, North/South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Iowa, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and I think South Carolina but they may have the NBA team. I might be missing another one or two.
 
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Salsa Shark

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I tried to think of each of those teams on that list and still had a hard time. In the case of the Red Wings, even during their heyday, they were competing with the Lions, a really good Wolverines football team with a 30 year bowl streak including 5 wins in 6 years from 97-02, and who knows if the Tigers were still popular enough to edge them out. Same goes for the Pistons. Detroit certainly has one of the best arguments, especially with all the success that the Wings had, but even that one's not guaranteed, which is crazy to think about. I think the NHL is just that far behind the other leagues in terms of popularity everywhere in the US, which is fine by me. The Stars are still my favorite sports team by far.
I'm from NJ I don't even consider college football, so that was an oversight by me. I don't get the appeal, much more a fan of the NFL product
 
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Troy McClure

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Back when I used to work retail I helped a family that was visiting from Dallas

We started talking sports, they said they knew little next to thing about the Stars and they are far down the pecking order for sports in Dallas-Fortworth

A little surprised considering their building is always sold out and loud but I guess that's just hockey in the south :huh:

EDIT: Sidenote, I am in Ontario
Keep in mind, the population for the metro area is approaching 8 million people, so even being down the pecking order can still mean they have a big following. And hockey as a sport has never been bigger. There's something like ten rinks around the area with most having two sheets of ice.
 
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Coffey

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I imagine it's sort of like the junior leagues in Canada. The NFL, NBA, and MLB don't really have minor leagues...other than college.
Nah nobody cares to that extent. If they do, it's 5% of the intensity. lol
Watching college football/basketball games in the states is very cultlike haha
 

Canes

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Something like 25% of OU's student body comes from Texas, with much of them being from the DFW area. On top of that, a huge number of OU graduates end up in DFW because there are a lot of jobs here. Look at it this way: OU's campus is closer to Dallas than UT, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or Houston.


A lot of these universities are in cities with no pro sports. There are a surprising number of states with no pro sports at all or maybe one team from one sport. College sports fills the void and it gives people something local to cheer for if their closest pro team is far away.

States with no pro team: Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, North/South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Iowa, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and I think South Carolina but they may have the NBA team. I might be missing another one or two.
South Carolina does not have a major pro sports team. Charlotte is right on the border though with NFL and NBA. But the Panthers are wildly more popular than the Hornets in both Carolinas.
 

ElGuapo

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What is it specifically about the Sooners tho?
Norman, OK is almost the exact same distance to Dallas as Austin. Dallas is the biggest sports recruiting base for Oklahoma. They wouldn't have their level of football program without North Texas to recruit from. Also a big alumni base. If you're from Oklahoma and graduate college are you going to want to stay in the hell hole of Oklahoma or move to DFW? :neener:
The Cowboys are obviously in another tier from all the other pro teams, and I do agree that the Mavericks are probably a safe 2nd. But I'm surprised the Rangers are ranked ahead of the Stars. I've seen plenty of their games since the Mariners are my favorite AL team, and they never struck me as having a hardcore fanbase.
In Dallas I don't know. But in the state overall the Rangers would rank way ahead of the Stars.
Dr. Pepper Arena while the Mavs were bad and regularly drew less than the Stars, believe it or not.
.
Reunion Arena
Grew up and still live in central PA. This is absolutely the case with Penn State and it drives me nuts. People worship their PSU football like it's some kind of cult and most of those people I know never even went to Penn State (hell, some never even had family who went!!) I don't care about college football but I can say for sure that I hate PSU (for more reasons than one).

Plus like 90% of the season they just beat up on second rate schools, which I'm pretty sure is the same for all big NCAA programs. To me it'd be like Tampa or Colorado getting to play ECHL teams 60 times a year. I know the smaller schools do it for money but it doesnt make sense to me from a fan/entertainment perspective (wouldn't you rather see your team play legit competition?).
Why is it weirder to be a "t-shirt fan" of a college than a pro team? These are teams to watch for entertainment. I never understood people thinking being a fan of a college sports team is weird. I have a harder time imagining people being die-hard fans of a pro sports team. It's pretty arbitrary. Colleges on the other hand have a deep connection to the region. The only pro teams I can care about at all are ones nearby. It's always baffled me that there are die-hard fans of pro teams in places far away. Like there are tons of Stars fans here from random places. I'm glad, but I don't get it at all. I tried to become a fan of an EPL team and I just couldn't stick with it. Why would I care about some random team I have no ties to? With college teams even if you didn't go there yourself, like I said there's a deep connection to your region.

It just seemed odd to me to include OU which is, as you noted...a sort of sacrilegious team to root for in Texas. Over a number of those other, pretty big college programs. But i guess maybe like you said, they're more prominent in the "rural" bits of Texas, not so much in Dallas itself.
I'd say OU is only popular in Texas in the DFW area. Outside of that MOST people hate them.

Someone mentioned Tech. They are the #1 college team in West Texas, like basically in the entire western half of the state geographically (outside of the part of that line that extends into South Texas). But most of the population is east of that line so it's a small of people still.
As a Flames fan, I watched last night's game and watch a fair amount of Dallas games (or try to, yawn). I find it disturbing that the Stars are as boring to watch as they are. I think that's the biggest malady. Seguin MIA for so many years. Robertson can be fairly dynamic but also lacks a bit of jam at times- like in last nights 2 min 5 on 3 advantage; no one was making anything happen including JR. For a top team in the league as per points, they're a fairly disappointing product to watch compared to most of the other top teams. IMO.

If they could ice excitement and energy like the Hurricanes or Devils or Lightning or the Oilers or Colorado or Buffalo I'd bet the fanbase would go wild. A true bona-fide superstar there like a Kucherov or McDavid would be crazy to see.

I didn't like Benn sitting on the bench during his 1000 game tribute. Should have stood and acknowledged the ovation.

I think the Stars are fortunate they have the fanbase they do.
Stars aren't boring. How can they be when they're near the top of every offensive and defensive statistical category? They score a lot (not quite as much the last several games, dropped from being top 3ish all season to 8th), give up little, near the top in special teams, second in goal differential, etc. The previous few years they were boring.
I think their home rink hold 20,000 and they most often have about between 18K and 19K as an average attendance figure. But in 19-20 when they made the finals, it was standing room only with an average of 20,326/game.
Capacity is 18,532 and average attendance this season is 18,366.
 

ElGuapo

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Texas has high school football stadiums that can hold the close to the same capacity as the stars.
Shoot, there are high school stadiums that seat MORE than the AAC.

College sports fills the void and it gives people something local to cheer for if their closest pro team is far away.
Definitely. Also, being in a state with a lot of pro sports, college sports is just flat out more entertaining IMO than pro.
 

ElGuapo

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Nah nobody cares to that extent. If they do, it's 5% of the intensity. lol
Watching college football/basketball games in the states is very cultlike haha
I would have figured Canadian junior hockey fan intensity was higher than NHL. In Texas I find the atmosphere at major pro sporting events to be lower than college, minor pro, and high school.
 

Coffey

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I would have figured Canadian junior hockey fan intensity was higher than NHL. In Texas I find the atmosphere at major pro sporting events to be lower than college, minor pro, and high school.
lol Nope. We care about the pros where the quality is better.
 

chirrrs

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The Caps were probably second in popularity when they won. The Caps and Nats tend to swap places but each have a dedicated following. I think there was more buzz around the city during the Caps run than when the Nats won the World Series the next year. The Redskins/WFT/Commanders are still king because of how good they used to be and the reach they have across multiple generations and if they become good again with a new owner and a new stadium they’ll have a rabid fanbase again.

The Wizards are largely irrelevant as they’ve been mediocre for decades and as the dynamic of the city has changed considerably — DC used to be known as Chocolate City… now, not so much with all of the gentrification. Georgetown basketball used to be a thing but they’re beyond awful now. DC United has a very small following.

In the case of the Capitals I assumed that in DC Metro area, the Redskins, Ravens, Nationals, and maybe the Orioles and Wizards were more popular. Again, not because all of those teams were necessarily more exciting or better, but just sheer numbers of fans. Perhaps I'm just overestimating the gap between all of the big 3 and the NHL, but I just don't know. Both the Wizards and Orioles have been terrible for years, but I would be willing to bet money that if you polled 100 people in DC, you would find that more people had been to Wizards and Orioles games, could name more players on those rosters, owned jerseys, watched games, etc.

I've been to DC once, in the summer of 2002. I was 17 at the time. I hadn't really traveled much outside of the South at that point, so I'm not sure what my expectations of the city were based on. I just assumed that it was a really small area filled with government buildings and super rich neighborhoods where politicians and government workers past and present lived. When we visited the Capitol, we drove through what I seem to remember were some really run down neighborhoods with rough looking apartment buildings and just not a great area. I don't mean to insult those who live in DC, but it's just not at all what I thought it would be. There's definitely nice areas, but the juxtaposition of lifestyles is incredible; some areas are just night and day.

Dallas on the other hand has a really weird downtown, and now having been all over the country, I can tell you that it's unlike most major cities in the US. Comparatively, it's incredibly devoid of people moving around on foot, living there, etc. About the only thing to do in downtown Dallas is go to work. There's some neighborhoods in the surrounding areas, but the actual downtown area is not really known for much of a nightlife compared to similarly sized cities. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we don't really have an extensive bus/rail system that connects all the various areas of a pretty large metroplex efficiently enough to rely on that for commuting. You'll never have a problem finding an entire bench to yourself on the trains here. People here spread out further and further into the suburbs and just commute. For reference, I grew up here until I was 18, moved out to the Bay Area, CA and then came back after living there for a decade. San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose are more like most major cities in the US. I suspect that Dallas is reaching the limit of expansion to where people won't want to make a 90 minute commute anymore and there will be the need for affordable housing to expand downtown.
 

Salsa Shark

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Something like 25% of OU's student body comes from Texas, with much of them being from the DFW area. On top of that, a huge number of OU graduates end up in DFW because there are a lot of jobs here. Look at it this way: OU's campus is closer to Dallas than UT, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or Houston.


A lot of these universities are in cities with no pro sports. There are a surprising number of states with no pro sports at all or maybe one team from one sport. College sports fills the void and it gives people something local to cheer for if their closest pro team is far away.

States with no pro team: Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, North/South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Iowa, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and I think South Carolina but they may have the NBA team. I might be missing another one or two.
Sports in general were popularized by colleges and universities. College football was more popular than pro football nationally until the at least the 40s. BAsketball? College bball was probably more popular than pro ball until Bird and Magic era
In the case of the Capitals I assumed that in DC Metro area, the Redskins, Ravens, Nationals, and maybe the Orioles and Wizards were more popular. Again, not because all of those teams were necessarily more exciting or better, but just sheer numbers of fans. Perhaps I'm just overestimating the gap between all of the big 3 and the NHL, but I just don't know. Both the Wizards and Orioles have been terrible for years, but I would be willing to bet money that if you polled 100 people in DC, you would find that more people had been to Wizards and Orioles games, could name more players on those rosters, owned jerseys, watched games, etc.

I've been to DC once, in the summer of 2002. I was 17 at the time. I hadn't really traveled much outside of the South at that point, so I'm not sure what my expectations of the city were based on. I just assumed that it was a really small area filled with government buildings and super rich neighborhoods where politicians and government workers past and present lived. When we visited the Capitol, we drove through what I seem to remember were some really run down neighborhoods with rough looking apartment buildings and just not a great area. I don't mean to insult those who live in DC, but it's just not at all what I thought it would be. There's definitely nice areas, but the juxtaposition of lifestyles is incredible; some areas are just night and day.

Dallas on the other hand has a really weird downtown, and now having been all over the country, I can tell you that it's unlike most major cities in the US. Comparatively, it's incredibly devoid of people moving around on foot, living there, etc. About the only thing to do in downtown Dallas is go to work. There's some neighborhoods in the surrounding areas, but the actual downtown area is not really known for much of a nightlife compared to similarly sized cities. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we don't really have an extensive bus/rail system that connects all the various areas of a pretty large metroplex efficiently enough to rely on that for commuting. You'll never have a problem finding an entire bench to yourself on the trains here. People here spread out further and further into the suburbs and just commute. For reference, I grew up here until I was 18, moved out to the Bay Area, CA and then came back after living there for a decade. San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose are more like most major cities in the US. I suspect that Dallas is reaching the limit of expansion to where people won't want to make a 90 minute commute anymore and there will be the need for affordable housing to expand downtown.
Regarding DC I'm not sure the Wizards are ahead of the Caps, this season they're amongst the worst in the NBA filling around 76% of the building. They also tend to get more viewers, although I cant find data on this since 2019.
 

ElGuapo

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lol Nope. We care about the pros where the quality is better.
There's more to it than talent. I love football but find the NFL relatively boring, for example. I found low minor hockey games in person many times more entertaining than NHL in person.
 
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Machinehead

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Saying they're behind other sports is not a good measure of popularity. That's everywhere but Canada.

The Rangers have multiple teams in other sports ahead of them. You still can't get a ticket to a Rangers game.
 

patnyrnyg

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Oh, college football is nuts in certain regions, even among non-alumni. Hell, the new Atlanta NFL arena, has a Chick-Fil-A despite them being closed on Sundays due to college games that occasionally get played there. Since it's filled with transplants from throughout the South who went to SEC schools the passion runs high there.

Also, in my experience, I don't think Buffalo would qualify either, as the SUNY system doesn't really have D1 teams, and Buffalo is a group of 5 team. But, if you are talking places like Raleigh, Columbus, Florida, Dallas, and possibly even LA when it comes to UCLA and USC.

Like, I have no idea on who the most popular team for college football would be in New York City. My guess would be ND as they have a massive catholic fan base nationwide, but I doubt it's more popular than the Rangers. It's probably a byproduct of the North East being dominated by older institutions (aka the Ivey league, small colleges, and big private Universities that aren't big on football like Georgetown, NYU, etc.) that didn't have football traditions, and Rutgers is generally one of the worst Power 5 schools that is also a flagship state school. Everywhere else in the country pretty much has big state schools with huge athletic programs if they are in a populated state and is often the desired choice within the state for people to go to.
ND does have a bit of a following in the NYC area, but not as much as the NHL. College sports as a whole are popular here, but moreso among the transplants than the natives. I have friends who follow college sports closer than the pros, but they do not necessarily follow a specific school. For those who do, it varies. I have one friend who is a die-hard Michigan fan and he is not an alumni. Another who is a die-hard FSU fan. If you walk around Manhattan on a saturday afternoon in October you will see many bars hosting watch parties. Of the places I frequent before/after Rangers games, one is a place for Washington Huskies games, another is a place for WVU. Rutgers does not have a significant following off their campus. St Johns BBall at one time under Carneseca did, but that has faded.
 

patnyrnyg

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Back when I used to work retail I helped a family that was visiting from Dallas

We started talking sports, they said they knew little next to thing about the Stars and they are far down the pecking order for sports in Dallas-Fortworth

A little surprised considering their building is always sold out and loud but I guess that's just hockey in the south :huh:

EDIT: Sidenote, I am in Ontario
I think it depends on how you look at it. Is it # of fans in the market compared to other teams? Is it attention they get on the local news/newspapers (I'm old)/sports radio? In NYC, the Giants, Jets, Mets, Yankees, Knicks, are all ahead of the Rangers in terms of those things, but as someone pointed out, try to get yourself some Rangers tickets and let me know how much you spend.
 

starsfan86

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We do alright. Although there are so many ignorant fans at the games lol
 

Melrose Munch

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I would have figured Canadian junior hockey fan intensity was higher than NHL. In Texas I find the atmosphere at major pro sporting events to be lower than college, minor pro, and high school.
It used to be. The CHL has fallen from where it was in the 2000s
 

biturbo19

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I'd say OU is only popular in Texas in the DFW area. Outside of that MOST people hate them.

Someone mentioned Tech. They are the #1 college team in West Texas, like basically in the entire western half of the state geographically (outside of the part of that line that extends into South Texas). But most of the population is east of that line so it's a small of people still.

Makes sense i guess. I mentioned Texas Tech, among others...forgot about Baylor too, which seems to have a pretty dedicated following, but pretty specific to certain types of people?

But it makes sense that they'd be more the "rural" sort of team. Dallas Fort Worth as a city area has different rooting interests i guess?


Anyway. Boomer Sooner is a GOAT fight song. So i can understand being a fan even if you're in Texas.

Something like 25% of OU's student body comes from Texas, with much of them being from the DFW area. On top of that, a huge number of OU graduates end up in DFW because there are a lot of jobs here. Look at it this way: OU's campus is closer to Dallas than UT, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or Houston.


A lot of these universities are in cities with no pro sports. There are a surprising number of states with no pro sports at all or maybe one team from one sport. College sports fills the void and it gives people something local to cheer for if their closest pro team is far away.

States with no pro team: Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, North/South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Iowa, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, and I think South Carolina but they may have the NBA team. I might be missing another one or two.

I guess that makes sense. Dallas certainly seems like a bit of a "magnet" for grads and stuff. In a way that none of the cities in Oklahoma really are.
 

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