Still feeling the warmth of the World Series title by the Dodgers, Los Angeles has now been tagged as the Best Large City for Sports Fans by WalletHub. Of course, that assessment doesn’t account for the fact that California is one of the few remaining large states without legal real-money sports betting.
For fans who don’t bet, Los Angeles ranks ahead of Boston, New York, Dallas, and 59 other cities listed in the “large city” category. WalletHub, a personal finance company, ranked 400 cities in more than 50 metrics related to the five largest sports in the United States: baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.
Chip Lupo from WalletHub writes:
Sports can cause rivalries between cities, but can also give people a deep appreciation for places other than their hometown. The best sports cities overall tend to be those with the highest-performing, most-popular professional teams, like Los Angeles, Boston, Pittsburgh and New York.
LA ranked first in basketball and soccer, second in baseball, and fourth in football. The city has experienced five combined championships by the Dodgers, Lakers, Rams, and Los Angeles FC in the last 48 months.
Although Los Angeles sports fans can’t bet real money on games, they can at least indulge in daily fantasy sports or try to win cash prizes through a sweepstakes-based sports prediction service like Fliff.
Large City Sports Rankings
The top ten in the large city category were:
- Los Angeles
- Boston
- Pittsburgh
- New York
- Dallas
- Miami
- Philadelphia
- San Francisco
- Washington D.C.
- Cincinnati
Interestingly, Kansas City, home to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, is way down at No. 14 on the list, just ahead of Chicago at No. 15. Fans in the Windy City have suffered of late: the last major title by a Chicago pro team was when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.
Among other CA cities: San Diego ranks 28th, Sacramento is 34th, San Jose is 36th, Fresno is 40th, and Irvine is 55th. Several other California cities dominate the bottom of the Large City rankings by WalletHub: Riverside (#57), Stockton (#59), Long Beach (#60), Bakersfield (#62), and Anaheim (#63).
Oakland, which lost its baseball team this year, and lost the Raiders a few years ago, is ranked No. 54.
Other California Cities Ranked as Great for Sports Fans
In the small city category, California is represented in the WalletHub rankings by Stanford at No. 16. The top city in that category is Clemson, South Carolina, home to the Clemson Tigers of the SEC.
Berkeley ranks 44th among 107 midsize cities, well ahead of Fullerton, Santa Clara, Modesto, Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, and Visalia on that list.
Best Midsize Sports Cities
- Green Bay, WI
- Buffalo, NY
- Glendale, AZ
- Tuscaloosa, AL
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Tallahassee, FL
- Durham, NC
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Fargo, ND
Best Small Sports Cities
- Clemson, SC
- West Point, NY
- Fayette, MS
- State College, PA
- Stillwater, OK
- Hanover, NH
- Morgantown, WV
- Princeton, NJ
- Grambling, LA
- Buies Creek, NC
