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Popularity ranking of NY sports

Coinneach said:
How big would be Stanley Cup for New York?
I know NY is not a hockey hotspot, but is NHL a major sport in New York or it is more like MLS?
Thanks:)
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It's far more of a hockey hotspot than the vast majority of NHL cities or states. Hockey is very popular in NY. Not just NYC. New York is tied for third in active NHL players by state, with Massachusetts and behind only MN and MI. I know people say, "Well NY is a big state!" but the majority of players aren't coming from the city or near it. CT and NJ are basically extensions of the NY market. They add another 15 players.

You have the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils existing in one metropolitan market and then the Sabres existing outside the main market but in the same state. NY is very much a hockey state.

A Stanley Cup for the Rangers would be huge. For the Islanders, it would still be big but not quite as big. The Devils, whatever. Buffalo, probably no one in NYC or Westchester would care, but plenty of Upstaters would be through the roof--the Buffalo-Schenectady-Albay-Troy market isn't insignificant.

Soccer is also very popular in NY, due in large part to the significant immigrant communities that make the City so unique, but isn't close to hockey. Understand the Rangers have been around for nearly 100 years. The Isles have been around for almost 50 years. The Sabres have been around since 1970. Even the Devils have been here for almost 40 years. The teams are all well-established with large, devoted followings.

Outside of New England and portions of the Great Lakes Region, NY is about as hockey-focused a place as you'll find in the US. And I've lived in NY, CA, PA, the Deep South, and Mid-Atlantic, so I have a pretty good sampling.
 
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Irishguy42 said:
The Rangers are pretty popular, but I don't think they're more popular than the MLB/NFL/NBA teams in NYC.

They are above MLS though.
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They're definitely not as popular as the other three big sports, but NY loves a winner, and if/when the Rangers or Islanders make a run the city gets that same buzz as with the other sports, IMO. From what I remember anyway.
 
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You can't judge the popularity of hockey based on a city's reaction or potential reaction to a Stanley Cup championship. Every city in the US would go nuts if their team won the Cup, even non-hockey cities. It's the most well known and recognizable championship trophy in sports. It's one thing the NHL has over the other major sports leagues. People who don't know Connor McDavid still know what the Stanley Cup is.

NYC would go nuts over a Cup. Just like Raleigh went nuts, like DC went nuts, like Dallas would go nuts... it's not really indicative of anything other than the popularity of the Cup and the fact that everybody likes when their team wins a championship, even if they're not usually big fans of the team.
 
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NYC is a baseball and football town, followed closely by basketball. If the Knicks were any good they would be getting as much attention as the Yankees. Outside of genuine hockey fans, while there are a lot, a great NYR team doesn’t do much for the psyche of the city. For example, during 2014-2015, I think there was more excitement over the Mets run than the drive the Rangers put up to the finals
 
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nyr2k2 said:
It's far more of a hockey hotspot than the vast majority of NHL cities or states. Hockey is very popular in NY. Not just NYC. New York is tied for third in active NHL players by state, with Massachusetts and behind only MN and MI. I know people say, "Well NY is a big state!" but the majority of players aren't coming from the city or near it. CT and NJ are basically extensions of the NY market. They add another 15 players.

You have the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils existing in one metropolitan market and then the Sabres existing outside the main market but in the same state. NY is very much a hockey state.

A Stanley Cup for the Rangers would be huge. For the Islanders, it would still be big but not quite as big. The Devils, whatever. Buffalo, probably no one in NYC or Westchester would care, but plenty of Upstaters would be through the roof--the Buffalo-Schenectady-Albay-Troy market isn't insignificant.

Soccer is also very popular in NY, due in large part to the significant immigrant communities that make the City so unique, but isn't close to hockey. Understand the Rangers have been around for nearly 100 years. The Isles have been around for almost 50 years. The Sabres have been around since 1970. Even the Devils have been here for almost 40 years. The teams are all well-established with large, devoted followings.

Outside of New England and portions of the Great Lakes Region, NY is about as hockey-focused a place as you'll find in the US. And I've lived in NY, CA, PA, the Deep South, and Mid-Atlantic, so I have a pretty good sampling.
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If the Sabres ever win the cup the result would be the most wild and insane celebration in the history of mankind lasting well over a calender year taking place in Buffalo.
 
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Bricho said:
NYC is a baseball and football town, followed closely by basketball. If the Knicks were any good they would be getting as much attention as the Yankees. Outside of genuine hockey fans, while there are a lot, a great NYR team doesn’t do much for the psyche of the city. For example, during 2014-2015, I think there was more excitement over the Mets run than the drive the Rangers put up to the finals
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Knicks have TONS of casual fans who kind of tune out when they suck, but they also have tons of die hards (like hockey except for we don't get a ton of casuals) who are always around and into the team, no matter how bad they get. But rest assured, if the Knicks ever get decent again you would see anybody and everybody jump on the bandwagon, claiming long time fandom, and they would take over the city in a heart beat. If they won? Bedlam.
 
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In NYC Hockey is a Niche sport. It is not a sport that most people watch in comparison to NBA/nfl/mlb.

Because of the Yankees and the history of baseball in this town I would say MLB is number 1 in NYC. It also helps they have a season that takes up half the year.

The NFL is clearly number 2 and would be number 1 if the Giants and Jets werent so f***ing awful. They also have a very short season compared to other sports and college football isnt as big in nyc as it is pretty much everywhere else. Despite this the NY Giants are as storied a franchise as any in the NFL.

I suspect the NBA would be as big as Baseball if the Knicks were a great team. Basketball is played the most out of any of the 4 major sports inside the city. And a lot of pro basketball players are native nyers. They are clearly third imo. When the Knicks are winning the Garden is even louder than when the Rangers are.

Next would be Hockey, out of the four major sports they would be dead last. But in spite of this Hockey is still infinitely bigger in NYC than it is in most other places in the US just from the sheer number of fans it has. I would say there are at least 1 million Ranger fans in this town without exaggerating. It is more than just a Niche sport when you compare it to other places in the US but it is a Niche sport compared to the other 3 sports within NYC.

Soccer is huge in nyc because of minority communities and hardcore soccer fans who watch international leagues but because the MLS sucks they havent achieved the foothold they want in the casual fan market. Plus the US is still decades behind the south american or european soccer powers for the sport to really gain interest even though it is probably the third most played sport at the amateur level in this entire country behind basketball and football and way above baseball.
 
sabremike said:
If the Sabres ever win the cup the result would be the most wild and insane celebration in the history of mankind lasting well over a calender year taking place in Buffalo.
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Having spent my formative years playing hockey in Western and Upstate New York, I can confirm it would be a total gongshow if the Sabres won the Cup. Like significant alcohol related deaths and a boom of babies named "Eichel Jeanneret _____".
 
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BleedBlueNYR said:
The Rangers are bigger than people think in New York. The Rangers also have a ton of diehard fans but less casual fans than the other NY teams have and don’t even compare the NHL to mls because it’s not even close. New York is a premiere hockey market just like the other sports.
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The Rangers are treated like the city’s youngest kid.
 
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