Jacksonville's ranking in top American sports cities

[JaguarReign]

According to the sporting news, Jacksonville is ranked 49th out of the 402 cities listed. The question I have is, "What the hell is Orlando doing at 24th?" I have always wondered how many of these cities (especially Orlando could be ranked higher than Jax). I would assume the Jags in the NFL would help us outrank many of the NBA cities. I fell this can be chalked up to media biased. J-ville has Jags, but it also has the Suns, Sharks, Giants, TPC, JU, UNF, and Axemen. It is almost the defacto capital of American rugby. We hosted the Superbowl in 2005 and ACC championship for a number of year. We host the Gator Bowl, the Florida-Georgia game, The Players' Championship (where Tiger Woods apologized), and the Atlantic Cup in Rugby. The World Golf Hall of Fame is in the metro area and the Association of Tennis Professionals is headquartered in Ponte Vedra. If 2009 blackouts are the problem then why are San Diego and Oakland rated so much higher who consistently blackout their games? This just shows how stupid the majority of sports writers are.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/feed/2010-10/best-sports-city  

[duvaldude08]

good question. I guess there support of the orlando magic for so many decades put them there? I dunno. The real question is how did tampa rank before us? They dont support their football or baseball team. I wonder what they base this on?

[KenFSU]

good question. I guess there support of the orlando magic for so many decades put them there? I dunno. The real question is how did tampa rank before us? They dont support their football or baseball team. I wonder what they base this on?

With or without support, Tampa has teams in three of the four major US sports (Bucs, Rays, Lightning), plus USF college football. They have hosted four Super Bowls as well. We definitely trail the Bay area.

[tufsu1]

well Orlando has a really good basketball team, Division  I-A athletics, 2 bowl games, and several college competitions at Disney.

[simms3]

Maybe they are basing it on Spring Training

Don't forget that the two beloved cities in FL are Miami and Orlando.  They can never do no wrong.  They're like your friends kids who are just pure as the wind driven snow 

[Coolyfett]

According to the sporting news, Jacksonville is ranked 49th out of the 402 cities listed. The question I have is, "What the hell is Orlando doing at 24th?" I have always wondered how many of these cities (especially Orlando could be ranked higher than Jax). I would assume the Jags in the NFL would help us outrank many of the NBA cities. I fell this can be chalked up to media biased. J-ville has Jags, but it also has the Suns, Sharks, Giants, TPC, JU, UNF, and Axemen. It is almost the defacto capital of American rugby. We hosted the Superbowl in 2005 and ACC championship for a number of year. We host the Gator Bowl, the Florida-Georgia game, The Players' Championship (where Tiger Woods apologized), and the Atlantic Cup in Rugby. The World Golf Hall of Fame is in the metro area and the Association of Tennis Professionals is headquartered in Ponte Vedra. If 2009 blackouts are the problem then why are San Diego and Oakland rated so much higher who consistently blackout their games? This just shows how stupid the majority of sports writers are.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/feed/2010-10/best-sports-city 

Your passion & civic pride is noted.

This is mainly the fault of the citizens in Jax. The Media takes shots because Jacksonville does not hit back. Historically there is only one team that Jacksonville citizens love & that is the Florida Gators football team. Im a huge sports fan, I can say I have studing sports in Jax since maybe the 7th grade...1992...now as individuals some people love the Jags, love the Noles, love the Dawgs, but as a collective the onl team that gets that majority love is Florida Gators. Meaning Jacksonville Does not have a diverse fan base. Add the transplants from other cities & what do you get? A more fragmented fanbase. TU tries to cover Dawgs & Noles..but its nothing like the Gator coverage. Im a huge Suns fan mainly because they get overlooked as major part of Jacksonville Sports history & baseball is a great game. The team has been in Jax since 1962, yet people try not to support them as the city's team because they are not in the major leagues...I even hear people say Jacksonville needs a pro baseball team lol...The Jacksonville Suns ARE A PROFFESSIONAL team, they get paid to play, they are just not in the 2 major leagues. I can remember in 2005 when the Suns won the pennant on a saturday on the road...the gators beat the Vols in a lame ass regular season game. Guess who made front page? If the Dawgs or Noles won a national championship...it may get a little square on the front page. Now about the Jaguars. The Jaguars have been in the league for almost 20 years...yet who is the most popular player in franchise history?? Taylor?, Smith?, Brunell?, Boseli?...Jags dont have a Montana, Rice, Aikman, Marino, Manning, Bradshaw type of player...That everyone recognizes. If the NFL listed the Top 100 players in NFL history would any Jags get mentioned? Jags have no REAL rival...I hate the Titans,...some others on here as well, but as a Jaguar COLLECTIVE...its just another game. We would much rather beat the Steelers, Cowboys or Patriots then beat the Titans. If it was a real rival that game would be standing room only at both fields.  So again to the media we are not passionate fans. To them, we are too quiet, to friendly which in the entertainment world = boring. I would not take the rankings personal because these list come out all the time.

This is my take on the issue. Split coverage between Gator & Noles 50/50 instead of 70/30. Jax media should treat the Suns, how Boston media treats the Redsox, how San Fran media treats the Giants & how Detriot media treats the Tigers....COVER THEM, with live reports, player interviews, manger interviews...after all they are the City's team and have been there for years. Jaguars the media does well here, but the fans suck! Go to any NFL forum...no Jags fans. Sports talk...no Jax callers...crazy atmospere when Colts, Titans & Texans come in and visa versa when we go to their field. It may happen in time, but as of now...we just happy not to have blackouts. If theses hings happen Jax will become a real diverse sports city.   

[Coolyfett]

good question. I guess there support of the orlando magic for so many decades put them there? I dunno. The real question is how did tampa rank before us? They dont support their football or baseball team. I wonder what they base this on?

They dont with tickets sales because of their economy & location of the ballpark...but those people do support on forums & sports talk...out of all cities in Florida...Tampa Bay goes hard on national sports talk. I hear more TB callers than Miami.... its not all about ticket sales, Ticket sales is important but we all know a Steelers fan, Cowboys fan, Yankees fan or Lakers fan that have never seen their so called fav team play live...Its my favorite question to ask "You ever been to a Steelers/Cowboys/Yankees game?" The answer is ALWAYS no...but you will see  & hear these same indivduals going in hard for their so called team on sports talk & internet sites.

Lake is a Dolphins fan how many Phins games has he been to? lol

[JaguarReign]

According to the sporting news, Jacksonville is ranked 49th out of the 402 cities listed. The question I have is, "What the hell is Orlando doing at 24th?" I have always wondered how many of these cities (especially Orlando could be ranked higher than Jax). I would assume the Jags in the NFL would help us outrank many of the NBA cities. I fell this can be chalked up to media biased. J-ville has Jags, but it also has the Suns, Sharks, Giants, TPC, JU, UNF, and Axemen. It is almost the defacto capital of American rugby. We hosted the Superbowl in 2005 and ACC championship for a number of year. We host the Gator Bowl, the Florida-Georgia game, The Players' Championship (where Tiger Woods apologized), and the Atlantic Cup in Rugby. The World Golf Hall of Fame is in the metro area and the Association of Tennis Professionals is headquartered in Ponte Vedra. If 2009 blackouts are the problem then why are San Diego and Oakland rated so much higher who consistently blackout their games? This just shows how stupid the majority of sports writers are.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/feed/2010-10/best-sports-city 

Your passion & civic pride is noted.

This is mainly the fault of the citizens in Jax. The Media takes shots because Jacksonville does not hit back. Historically there is only one team that Jacksonville citizens love & that is the Florida Gators football team. Im a huge sports fan, I can say I have studing sports in Jax since maybe the 7th grade...1992...now as individuals some people love the Jags, love the Noles, love the Dawgs, but as a collective the onl team that gets that majority love is Florida Gators. Meaning Jacksonville Does not have a diverse fan base. Add the transplants from other cities & what do you get? A more fragmented fanbase. TU tries to cover Dawgs & Noles..but its nothing like the Gator coverage. Im a huge Suns fan mainly because they get overlooked as major part of Jacksonville Sports history & baseball is a great game. The team has been in Jax since 1962, yet people try not to support them as the city's team because they are not in the major leagues...I even hear people say Jacksonville needs a pro baseball team lol...The Jacksonville Suns ARE A PROFFESSIONAL team, they get paid to play, they are just not in the 2 major leagues. I can remember in 2005 when the Suns won the pennant on a saturday on the road...the gators beat the Vols in a lame ass regular season game. Guess who made front page? If the Dawgs or Noles won a national championship...it may get a little square on the front page. Now about the Jaguars. The Jaguars have been in the league for almost 20 years...yet who is the most popular player in franchise history?? Taylor?, Smith?, Brunell?, Boseli?...Jags dont have a Montana, Rice, Aikman, Marino, Manning, Bradshaw type of player...That everyone recognizes. If the NFL listed the Top 100 players in NFL history would any Jags get mentioned? Jags have no REAL rival...I hate the Titans,...some others on here as well, but as a Jaguar COLLECTIVE...its just another game. We would much rather beat the Steelers, Cowboys or Patriots then beat the Titans. If it was a real rival that game would be standing room only at both fields.  So again to the media we are not passionate fans. To them, we are too quiet, to friendly which in the entertainment world = boring. I would not take the rankings personal because these list come out all the time.

This is my take on the issue. Split coverage between Gator & Noles 50/50 instead of 70/30. Jax media should treat the Suns, how Boston media treats the Redsox, how San Fran media treats the Giants & how Detriot media treats the Tigers....COVER THEM, with live reports, player interviews, manger interviews...after all they are the City's team and have been there for years. Jaguars the media does well here, but the fans suck! Go to any NFL forum...no Jags fans. Sports talk...no Jax callers...crazy atmospere when Colts, Titans & Texans come in and visa versa when we go to their field. It may happen in time, but as of now...we just happy not to have blackouts. If theses hings happen Jax will become a real diverse sports city.   

I think this is a good assessment and you definitely right about the diversity, but I have a couple issues. I think it is more of the ignorance of the national media than it is the fan support of the local teams. I definitely agree that fan and media support of the Suns should be much higher, but I feel that most national sports could care less about Jacksonville and all they know about is our 2009 blackouts and covering of seats. What's funny is that many other cities worse financial issues than the Jags do but you never hear about them. Oakland blacked out games for two straight years. Right before the season started, the Bucs had 20,000 seats left to sell before the owner bought up the tickets to avoid blackouts. San Diego continues to have blackout troubles. We are the only team that constantly gets berated for this and, actually, while the league recorded a net loss in ticket sales, the Jags recorded a substantial gain in ticket sales this season. So, I think it is more of an ignorant small market bias than the local fan and media support.

Also, I think we have been develop nice football traditions here. I do think that the titans are definitely a true rival with us. We also have a good rivalry with the Colts and the Steelers as well. When I lived in Hawaii, I would constantly get berated for being a Jags fan from Steelers fans.     

Another thing to add about Orlando (as a Magic fan myself), the fans historical fairweatherness is noted. During the down years in between Shaq and Howard, the support was lacking. Only recently has Orlando actually started caring about the Magic again. Also, NFL should trump NBA IMO.

[Coolyfett]

But all theses guys are connected. locally, regionally & nationally. It trinkles outward. Some stuff about Jax is made up, but many times its dead right...they could only get this info from another member of the media. Meaning if a jax reporter has issues with Jax...then NOla, Miami & Atl wll know about these same issues, leading to New York, LA & Chicago being aware of these issues. Jacksonville state of mind has to change. Jags still have 10,000 seats covered. The Suns average 6500 fans a game, but the Baseball Grounds hold 11,500 people so there is plenty of room for improvement. Jax has to love itself before New York & LA will love it. BUT Them loving Jax is not important. Respecting our fanbase is. 

[duvaldude08]

But all theses guys are connected. locally, regionally & nationally. It trinkles outward. Some stuff about Jax is made up, but many times its dead right...they could only get this info from another member of the media. Meaning if a jax reporter has issues with Jax...then NOla, Miami & Atl wll know about these same issues, leading to New York, LA & Chicago being aware of these issues. Jacksonville state of mind has to change. Jags still have 10,000 seats covered. The Suns average 6500 fans a game, but the Baseball Grounds hold 11,500 people so there is plenty of room for improvement. Jax has to love itself before New York & LA will love it. BUT Them loving Jax is not important. Respecting our fanbase is. 

You are right Cooly, however as far as the tarps... when the stadium was built there was never an expectation that we would sell it out for Jaguar games. After some research, I found out that the city wanted the stadium to be that big to accommodate for the Florida/Georgia game, it wasn't Wayne weaver's doing. But to your point it would be nice to remove the tarps. And as far as the suns, Jacksonville is not a baseball town. Jacksonville is football only.

[duvaldude08]

Speaking of sports, did anybody know we now have a basketball team called the Jacksonville Giants? I just read in the business journal...

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2010/11/19/starting-jacksonville-giants-a-local.html

[Keith-N-Jax]

They have been handing out flyers at the Jags games. I just wonder can we support another team/sport. We have the Sharks who did well this yr, the Suns, and now Basketball. Of course the Jags also!!!

[duvaldude08]

They have been handing out flyers at the Jags games. I just wonder can we support another team/sport. We have the Sharks who did well this yr, the Suns, and now Basketball. Of course the Jags also!!!

I hope so!

[ProjectMaximus]

good question. I guess there support of the orlando magic for so many decades put them there? I dunno. The real question is how did tampa rank before us? They dont support their football or baseball team. I wonder what they base this on?

With or without support, Tampa has teams in three of the four major US sports (Bucs, Rays, Lightning), plus USF college football. They have hosted four Super Bowls as well. We definitely trail the Bay area.

And the Bucs and Lightning have won it all. Recently. With the Rays also in the World Series.

[ProjectMaximus]

According to the sporting news, Jacksonville is ranked 49th out of the 402 cities listed. The question I have is, "What the hell is Orlando doing at 24th?" I have always wondered how many of these cities (especially Orlando could be ranked higher than Jax). I would assume the Jags in the NFL would help us outrank many of the NBA cities. I fell this can be chalked up to media biased. J-ville has Jags, but it also has the Suns, Sharks, Giants, TPC, JU, UNF, and Axemen. It is almost the defacto capital of American rugby. We hosted the Superbowl in 2005 and ACC championship for a number of year. We host the Gator Bowl, the Florida-Georgia game, The Players' Championship (where Tiger Woods apologized), and the Atlantic Cup in Rugby. The World Golf Hall of Fame is in the metro area and the Association of Tennis Professionals is headquartered in Ponte Vedra. If 2009 blackouts are the problem then why are San Diego and Oakland rated so much higher who consistently blackout their games? This just shows how stupid the majority of sports writers are.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/feed/2010-10/best-sports-city  

Does this really bother you? I think we really are too sensitive as sports fans in this town. I agree with everything you said and as any of my friends can attest, I talk up all of the aforementioned teams and events because I am proud of my hometown. But who cares really cares about a Sporting News ranking? Seriously? There are over 400 cities...they either didn't put much thought into each individual ranking (particularly beyond the top 10) or they used quantifiable data and just crunched the numbers. There's no reason to be offended.

FWIW, my natural inclination is to expect us to be around 40, where we rank in metro population. Give us a slight bump because the NFL is the most popular major sports league, and then factor in that some college towns might jump us...and we're on the low range of where I'd rank us anyhow. Also remember that each city (just as we do) probably has plenty of hidden things it can brag about that the larger public isn't aware of.

btw, I did just happen to notice that they compiled this ranking based solely on summer 2009- summer 2010. So history was apparently not a factor.