The first round of the NBA playoffs begins Saturday, after the seventh and eighth seeds are settled by the play-in tournament. Last year, an average 3 million people watched the games, and the NBA reported viewership for the 2020-21 regular season was up 34%.
Basketball is the second most popular sport in the U.S., losing only to football. But what makes one city better than others for the sport?
“Top-performing teams, revenues and traditions are all part of the equation, of course, but there’s simply no game without the fans,” the financial website WalletHub wrote. “The city itself should encourage attendance and engagement, too. That means, for instance, making stadiums accessible or keeping ticket-costs affordable — at least for a time.”
To determine 2021′s best and worst cities for basketball fans, WalletHub compared 292 of the most populated cities across two divisional categories, “NBA” and “NCAA.”
It then evaluated those categories using 21 relevant metrics, ranging from the performance level of each city’s NBA and NCAA Division 1 basketball teams to ticket prices to stadium accessibility. Each metric was graded on a 100 point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for basketball fandom.
The Atlanta Hawks have secured their place in playoffs as the No. 5 seed, but how do the team’s fans rank?
According to WalletHub’s analysis, Atlanta has the 17th best fans in the country overall, with a score of 36.83. The city was No. 18 for NBA fans, but No. 153 for NCAA.
WalletHub’s top two teams overall are the No. 7 seeds in the playoffs. Los Angeles, with the Lakers in the West, took the top spot with a score of 65.25. The city ranked No. 1 in NBA and No. 2 in NCAA. Boston, with the Celtics in the East, came in second.
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