Study: Pittsburgh the best U.S. city for football fans, State College 4th among ‘small’ cities
It’s Super Bowl week. And as the unofficial national holiday of game day approaches, so do the lists celebrating America’s favorite sport.
And, at least according to a popular personal finance website, in no U.S. city is it better to be a football fan than Pittsburgh.
Buoyed by an NFL record-tying six Super Bowl championships by the hometown Steelers, Pittsburgh finished first among 245 cities evaluated by wallethub.com. Ranking each city with a pro and/or college team in 21 metrics ranging from team performance, average ticket price and stadium accessibility, WalletHub gave Pittsburgh an aggregate “score” of 62.61, well ahead of runner-up Dallas.
Boston, Green Bay and New York City rounded out the top five in the overall rankings.
Ready for #SuperBowLV? You don’t need to be at the game to have a good time. See WalletHub’s ranking of the best #football cities here: https://t.co/v5XorYle1M pic.twitter.com/hUGRylpexS
— WalletHub (@wallethub) February 1, 2021
Broken down by city size, Pittsburgh was the best of the “large” cities, with Green Bay tops among those designated as “midsize” and Tuscaloosa, Ala., No. 1 in “small” cities.
State College was fourth among small cities, ranking behind Clemson, S.C., and Fayette, Miss., and just ahead of West Point, N.Y.
Miami was No. 5 in the large city category, with Buffalo, Glendale, Ariz., Fargo, N.D., and Baton Rouge, La., Nos. 2-5 in the midsize rankings.
Among the superlatives for Pittsburgh are tied for first with Green Bay for “most engaged NFL fans,” No. 4 for “most accessible NFL stadium” and seventh for performance level of NFL team.
The home, of course, of Penn State, State College’s highest mark came for most engaged college fans (tied for first with Clemson).
Morgantown, W.Va., placed 54th overall and 18th among small cities. Youngstown was 72nd overall and 31st among small cities.
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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