Buffalo competitive in sports ranking
Buffalo has beaten Baltimore, San Francisco and even, Norman, Okla.
No, not in a Buffalo Sabres or Buffalo Bills game.
But in a ranking for the top 400 sports cities in North America.
In the ranking, released this week by Sporting News – a sister publication of Business First – the Buffalo Niagara region finished as the 42nd best sports city in North America. Boston topped the list while Burlington, N.C. finished dead last. Boston has finished first three times in the past five years. Sporting News has run the rankings for the past 15 years.
St. Louis and Montreal, at 40 and 41 respectively, finished just ahead of Buffalo.
The rankings were based on a number of factors said Bob Hille, Sporting News chief of correspondents. Among the factors that came into play for cities in the U.S. and Canada included the number of professional collegiate-level sports teams in each municipality and their regular season won-lost records, fan fervor, ticket prices and availability, franchise ownership and the marquee appeal of athletes.
“Buffalo is a great sports city, as anyone who has spent any time there can attest,” Hille said. “Win or lose, fans there support the Sabres and Bills, and, by the time way, this is starting to look like a special fall there.”
The Bills are currently 4-1 and leading the AFC East Division. The Bills have sold out all seven regular season home games at Ralph Wilson Stadium (paydayloans).
The Sabres have sold 14,800 season tickets for the third year in a row and have several thousand people on the team’s waiting list.
Corporate support for both teams is at all time high, despite a weak economy.
“The fans in Buffalo are just incredible,” said Darcy Regier, Sabres general manager. “In Buffalo, it goes something like this ‘Bills..Sabres…Bills…Sabres’. They (the fans) have this incredible passion, you feel it everywhere, even when you are getting gas in your car. I know Buffalo gets a bad rap, but once you move and live here, you begin to defend the community. Buffalo is unfairly characterized at times and misunderstood at other times.”
Regier said support goes beyond the fans. Athletes, once they get here, rarely want to move away.
“It’s funny, players may not initially want to move here, but once they get here and they feel the fan’s passion and see what the city has to offer, they don’t want to leave,” Regier said. “That’s why so many decide to make Buffalo their permanent home.”
The Sporting News issue with the Top 400 rankings is now available.
Filed under: money by Finance Boss