Clever, a real estate data company just released new research that found that St. Louis is the sixth-best sports city in America, the highest-ranked city in their top 15 without teams in all four major sports leagues. Only Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Denver, and Philadelphia were ahead of St. Louis on the list of the best sports cities in America.
America’s Best Sports Cities in 2021
They looked at the 42 cities in the U.S. with a team in at least one of the four main professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB) and compared their:
- Average performance
- Average price to attend a game
- Average attendance per game
- Total championships won and lost since 2000
The success of the two teams in St. Louis — the Cardinals and the Blues–in recent years make the city one of the best for sports: Overall, St. Louis had an average winning record of 0.540 the past three seasons, and games in 2019 reached an average attendance of 95% capacity.
The total championships St. Louis teams have played in since 2000 also add to the rankings, with three wins and two losses.
- 0.540 win rate the past three seasons among the Blues and the Cardinals.
- $85, on average, for one ticket, two beers, one hot dog, and parking for a game in St. Louis.
- 3 championships won, 2 championships lost since 2000
- 95% average attendance rate across all sports in 2019
- 30,164 number of people who attended each game, on average, in 2019
The rankings were weighted as follows:
- 2.5x: Average win rates across all teams for the past three seasons
- 2x: Total number of championships won by all teams since the 2000 season
- 2x: Total attendance per game versus total stadium capacity (2019)
- 1x: Total seating capacity across all stadiums
- 1x: Per game attendance averaged across all teams (2019)
- 1x: Number of professional NFL, NHL, MLB, and/or NBA teams
- 1x: Total number of championships lost by all teams since the 2000 season
- -1.5x: Average price for one ticket, two beers, one hot dog, and parking
