Sports culture is a defining part of a city. The residents take pride in their teams and grow old with them. The premier sports city is a debate that will never be settled, as bias reigns supreme, but we decided to throw in our totally unbiased opinions. We at the Lincoln Log Sports section ranked each city on three categories, on a scale from one to ten. The categories are current state of the professional teams, the history of the teams, and our perception of the fanbase/culture. We scrutinized over this for hours, weeks, decades. We examined each piece of information in the known universe, consulting with every expert you can think of, from Neil deGrasse Tyson to Albert Einstein to Jesus himself. We are sure you will have no complaints. Here they are, folks, your top 10 American sports cities, counting down: 

Honorable Mentions: Minneapolis, Buffalo, Houston.

10. Atlanta

Current teams: 6/10

Historical teams: 2/10

Fanbase/Culture: 5/10

Total: 13/30

Atlanta sneaks into the list, sliding into the tenth spot. Atlanta sports are in a pretty good spot right now, with the Braves (baseball) coming off of a World Series victory in 2021 and the Hawks (men’s basketball) reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. The Braves didn’t make it as far this year, but they still won their division and have a very bright future. The Hawks once again have a chance to compete, and the Falcons (football) are atop the NFC South. The history of sports in Atlanta hasn’t been the brightest, as the Braves have two championships in 56 years, and the only other banner that belongs to The ATL is The MLS Cup in 2018 by Atlanta United (soccer). Atlanta is known for a loyal, rich sports culture, even through its historical struggles. The fans continue to show up, and Braves playoff games the past few years are as electric as it gets. We asked Nate Chapple, a junior at Lincoln and an avid Atlanta sports fan, what the sports culture was like in Atlanta, and he highlighted one main point: “The city of Atlanta has a scrappy, gritty feel to it when it comes to sports, the teams always fight, even if they suck.” 

 9. Miami

Current teams: 5/10

Historical teams: 5/10

Fanbase: 5/10

Total: 15/30

Miami is in the middle of the pack for all three categories, but that’s good enough for ninth place. The most defining part of Miami’s sports in the past two decades was far and away the Lebron James-Dwayne Wade era for the Heat (basketball). They brought two championships to South Beach, and that combined with the Dolphins’ (football) success in the ‘70s and the Marlins (baseball) two trophies brought the historical rating up to 5. The current state of their teams is a mixed bag. The Heat are consistently good, but not great, while the Marlins are just bad. The Dolphins have been on the rise, and they seem to have a bright future. The Panthers (hockey) are known as a great regular season team that hasn’t been able to perform in the playoffs. The looming rumors of the possibility of Lionel Messi signing with Inter Miami FC (soccer) gives a little excitement to the future of the soccer in the city. Heat fans always show out in the playoffs, and Dolphins fans have been loud recently. The South Florida region has one of the oldest average ages in the U.S., so their fans tend to lean a little more old school, with fewer rowdy hecklers like you see in Las Vegas, or even here in Seattle, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

8. Dallas

Current teams: 5/10

Historical teams: 6/10

Fanbase: 5/10

Total: 16/30

Dallas, like many cities in the south, has always been a city defined by football. The Cowboys had a dominant run in  the ‘70s and ‘90s that instilled them as one of the premier franchises in the NFL, but the current millennium hasn’t been kind to them. They haven’t even reached a Super Bowl in 27 years. They have a shot this year, as they’re in third place in their conference. The Mavericks (basketball) have a budding superstar in Luka Doncic and made the conference finals in 2022. They don’t have the most storied history, but they have a few defining players (Dirk Nowitzki) and moments, with one title in 2011. The Stars (hockey) made the playoffs last year, and made the Stanley Cup finals in 2020, but also haven’t won a ‘chip in the 21st century. The Rangers (baseball) are in another rebuild season and have yet to reach the peak of their sport in their existence, so they drag the ratings down a tad. FC Dallas (soccer) also hasn’t won a championship, but they were good this past regular season. Dallas’ fanbase has had memes made about them left and right, as Cowboys fans have grown to be famous for crying in their team’s losses. There is constant drama surrounding the city’s owners, as Jerry Jones (owner of the Cowboys) and Mark Cuban (owner of the Mavericks and star of the show Shark Tank) are two of the biggest personalities in the sports ownership world. In the ongoing intrastate rivalry between Dallas and Houston, Dallas wins the athletics category, even with the Astros recent World Series championship.

7. Seattle

Current teams: 6/10

Historical teams: 5/10

Fanbase/Culture: 6/10

Total: 17/30

SEATTLEEEEEE!!! This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. We did our best to not overrate Seattle based off any bias, and we think seventh is an appropriate spot. We all know how rowdy our fans are, from the Seahawks and the 12th man to the Sounders and OL Reign’s sellout crowds, and the new reality of Mariners fans packing the seats. Seattle received a good score on the current state of the teams, as the Seahawks have a commanding lead atop the NFC West. They have many young rookies contributing, from Kenneth Walker to Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant, who visited a Lincoln football game earlier this year. The Mariners just broke a 21-year playoff drought and brought new life to the baseball culture of the Emerald City. This is the second year of the Seattle Kraken, Seattle’s new National Hockey League team. The Kraken are off to a good start, and they have a good young core of stars. They are over .500, and looking to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Seattle’s historical rating of 5/10 was mainly carried by the soccer history. The Sounders and the Reign have both had massive success in their history, and brought home a total of 2 cups, 4 shields, and one CONCACAF Champions league title. The Storm (women’s basketball) have won 4 WNBA titles, and are one of the WNBA’s most successful franchises. Seattle arguably has the best women’s sports history in the country, with the Reign and the Storm leading the way. Seahawks fans are as iconic as they come, and they drove up the culture rating singlehandedly. The Seahawks faithful have broken noise records before, topping 137 decibels. The Seahawks have one Super Bowl, and many students say that the day the Seahawks won is still “the happiest day of their lives”. One huge part of the Seattle culture is the basketball landscape. Each summer, Jamal Crawford, a former NBA player, hosts a basketball Pro-Am at Seattle Pacific University. Many of Seattle’s basketball stars and some of the top players in the NBA make an appearance, including Lebron James this past summer. At the day Lebron came to town, the line to enter the gym started to form about 24 hours before Lebron played, and the line formed into a blob of over 10,000 people. It is all reminiscent of the Seattle SuperSonics, and there are people in Seattle, like Jamal Crawford and Patty Murray, that are trying to bring an NBA franchise back to Seattle. Seattle has more excitement around sports than it has had in a long time, and that is a wonderful thing for this wonderful city.

6. San Francisco

Current teams: 6/10

Historical teams: 8/10

Fanbase/culture: 6/10

Total: 20/30

When we discussed San Francisco, it came up much higher than we thought it would. We didn’t really think of it as a “sports driven city.” Each category gave San Fran a good score, so it rose up to number 6. The three big historical teams in San Francisco have each had their moments. Each of the 49ers (football), Warriors (basketball), and Giants (baseball) have had a decade where they utterly dominated their respective sport. The 49ers had 4 Super Bowls in the ‘80s, plus one more in 1994, with franchise defining players like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice becoming the face of the city. The Warriors and Giants both had extremely successful 2010’s, with the Giants winning 3 titles in 5 years from 2010-2014, and the Warriors winning 3. The Warriors carried their success into the present day, as they are coming off of a NBA Finals championship, securing their spot in history as one of the best dynasties of all time. The reasons that The Golden City doesn’t have a higher score with the teams are the ‘Quakes (soccer) and the Sharks (hockey). Both of these teams haven’t turned out much recently or in history, so they drag down the rating of San Francisco. San Francisco fans made themselves known last year, as the 49ers were in the NFC Championship game, against the Los Angeles Rams, in LA. Right when the tickets went on sale, the ‘Niners faithful jumped at the opportunity to flood their cross-state rival’s home stadium, and it was no more evident than when you saw the stands on TV. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought it was a 49ers home game. Costin Barber, a junior at Lincoln, who lived in San Francisco until he was 8, is still a huge SF sports fan. When asked to say something about the sports culture in the city, he said confidently “We’re just simply better than you.” 

5. Chicago

Current teams: 3/10

Historical teams: 8/10

Fanbase/culture: 8/10

Total: 19/30

Now we’re getting into the big shots. The third biggest city in the United States comes in at fifth place. Even though San Francisco’s total rating is higher than Chicago’s, we at the LHS Log sports section used our executive power to place Chicago higher. Chicago has a sports history that dates back for over 100 years, and we felt like the reputation for Chicago sports places it on a different level than San Francisco. However, Chicago is drastically weighed down by the current state of its teams. They don’t have a team in a good spot right now. The Bulls (basketball) are middling, they made the playoffs last year, but were an easy out in the first round. The Bears (football) have also been struggling in the past couple years, and they are off to a rough start this year. The hope is that they might have found their quarterback of the future with Justin Fields. Both baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox both had rough years, with neither in the playoff race. The Blackhawks (hockey) and the Chicago Fire (soccer) have also both struggled. The lone bright spot was the Chicago Sky (women’s basketball) in 2021, as they rose from the middle ground to win the WNBA Finals. The city of Chicago doesn’t have many defining athletes to build around and put their support behind as a fanbase right now. Justin Fields brings a taste of the future to the city, but after him, there isn’t much. Seattle native Zach Lavine is leading the Bulls, but they don’t have the pieces around him just yet and haven’t had any sort of success comparable to the ‘90s Bulls, arguably the most dominant, defining decade for a team in any sport ever. That team alone, led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, brought the label of a sports city to the Windy City. Other than the Bulls, Chicago’s success in sports mainly predates the Great Depression. Each baseball team has a title, with the north side (Cubs) winning most recently in 2016. The Blackhawks had a successful 2010s, led by superstar Patrick Kane, they won three of their six total Stanley Cup’s in the decade. The Bears’ success, or lack thereof has been well documented, as their struggles in the past 30 years have made them one of the jokes of the league. In 1985, the Bears had one of the most dominant teams of all time, known as the “85 Bears,” but they haven’t been able to reach that apex since. Even with the recent struggles, Chicago fans still pack the seats, and their culture never wavers, earning them a high rating. 

4. Los Angeles

Current teams: 7/10

Historical teams: 7/10

Fanbase/Culture: 6/10

Total: 20/30

We have a bundle of teams here at the 4-6 range, and LA sits right at the top of that tier. Even though LA isn’t known as a sports city because of the abundance of other things that the city is known for, their longtime fans still show up, as well as the seemingly infinite number of celebrities that appear at Lakers games. Los Angeles thrives on college sports as well, but we feel like their current and historical pro teams were still very strong. LA is a double sport town, with two teams for each league. There is generally a sibling dynamic between the two, a little brother and older brother, and for our ratings purposes we just focused on the more successful of the two and didn’t penalize the little brother teams for struggling. The Lakers (basketball) have as colorful a history as any other franchise, tied for the most championships with 17. They have seen many eras of iconic basketball, from the showtime Lakers to the Kobe-Shaq teams, and even the 2020 run with Lebron James leading the way. The Lakers are in a really rough spot right now, and even though they have a little star power, they are off to a horrible start and there’s no signs of it getting better. The Rams (football) moved away from LA in 1995, but moved back in 2016, so there was a large gap with one of the biggest media markets in the country without the most popular sport in the country. However, since they’ve returned, they’ve reached the heights they wanted to, with a Super Bowl title last year. Similar to the Lakers, they aren’t off to a great start this year, but no one will complain after their run last year. The Dodgers (baseball) have won 7 World Series in their 120 year history, also winning in 2020. They had a great season last year, but fell short in the playoffs. LAFC, one of LA’s soccer teams just won the MLS Cup in a thriller, with Gareth Bale, a soccer legend from Wales, scoring the tying goal in the final minutes of added time. That win just added to Los Angeles’s strong sports history, even if it may be a bit underwhelming for a city with the population it has.

3. Philadelphia

Current teams: 9/10

Historical teams: 5/10

Fanbase: 9/10

Total: 23/30

As recently as November 5th, there was a good chance of Philly being ranked as the number 1 or 2 team. Philly was on top of the sports world in many ways. However, on November 5th, both the Phillies (baseball) and the Union (soccer) lost their championships. The Phillies dropped game 6 of the World Series to the Astros, ending their exciting postseason run, and the Union lost a heart breaker in penalty kicks to LAFC, falling short of their first title. The Phillies have two titles under their belt, but only in their 140 years of existence, so the one title per 70 years ratio doesn’t look too great. The 76ers (basketball) have 2 championships, and a team that can compete for a ring this year and in the next few. The Eagles (football) are on top of the NFL right now, as they are undefeated and have been dominant this season. The city was so close to the peak in every sport, but Philly is still in a great spot right now. The culture and fans in the city of Philadelphia are crazy good. Most recently, game three of the World Series Bryce Harper, the Phillies’ superstar, hit a home run. The crowd erupted, and literally made the city shake, a testament to the passion of the fans. Fans are known to go to extreme lengths, even climbing onto stop lights and celebrating. A video of the Philadelphia police greasing down a telephone pole before game 5 of the National League Championship Series surfaced, an attempt to stop the fans from going crazy on the city’s infrastructure in case of a win. Well, the Phillies won, and the grease didn’t stop anything. There were multiple fanatics going ham on top of the poles, an iconic Philly celebration. Philly is almost a complete sports town, just a few more banners to bring home and then you got a real candidate for the best sports city in the U.S. 

2. Boston

Current teams: 6/10

Historical teams: 8/10

Fanbase/culture: 9/10

Total: 23/30

Boston ranks at numbah 2. When we were thinking about this, we realized that you could argue that Boston is home to one of the top two franchises in the 4 major sports. Let’s break this down. In football, the New England Patriots have been undoubtedly the top franchise since the turn of the millennium, with Tom Brady bringing 6 Super Bowls home (damn you Malcolm Butler). They are in a new era right now, but they are off to a fine start, competing for a playoff spot. The Celtics are also tied with the most NBA titles, with 17 championships. They have had many legends in their history, and have the most successful player of all time, Bill Russell. They just lost the finals last year and are looking to compete for ring number 18 this year. The Bruins (hockey) have 6 Stanley Cups, and again are off to a nice start this year. The Red Sox (baseball) are arguably the second best franchise in baseball history, with 9 World Series. They own one of the best comebacks in sports history, in 2004. It was the semifinals, against their arch nemesis Yankees. Boston fell down 3-0 in a best of 7 series. They then proceeded to claw back, they forced a game 7, and completed the comeback, a top 5 moment in baseball history. Boston fans are as loud as they come, and with their storied success in the Big 4 sports, they’ve had a lot to cheer about. Sports are engrained in the culture of the city; the stadiums are iconic, the logos are iconic, the colors are iconic. Their rivalries with New York also define so much of their sports culture and are half of what make it interesting. 

1. New York City

Current teams: 8/10

Past teams: 8/10

Fanbase/culture: 8/10

Total: 24/30

The Big Apple with the win. New York is the most well-rounded sports city, and it is another two team city. New York, unlike LA, has had both teams in each sport have success in their history. New York’s fanbase always show up to games, often selling out the crowd. The atmosphere during playoff games in New York is rarely matched. The one downside of NYC’s fans is the booing. When the teams aren’t performing up to expectations, they get booed by the committed fans. This can be seen as a negative, as you shouldn’t boo your team, but it can also be framed into how much they care. The most successful franchise in any sports history is undoubtedly the Yankees. They have won a record 27 World Series and have a commanding lead on the next best team. The Yankees’ ownership is always willing to spend an upper echelon amount of money to put a competitive product on the field. The Mets also have some storied history, but only have 2 World Series. Both baseball teams were successful this year, and both made the playoffs. In the NBA, both the Knicks and the Nets have two titles each, but neither are off to hot starts this year and haven’t reached a super high level in recent years. The two NFL teams haven’t been the greatest franchises, but still have some success in history, with the Jets winning one Super Bowl and the Giants winning 4. Both teams are having great seasons right now, the first time that can be said for over a half decade. The hockey teams, the Rangers and Islanders, have 4 cups each, as the cross-city rivalry grows. New York sports teams are seen on jerseys all across the city, but also all across the continent, as their fans stretch to the corners of the Western Hemisphere. New York lacks a weakness when discussing their sports and being strong in all three categories is why it captures the first place spot. 

Thank you for following along this journey. If you disagree with anything, please let us know in the comments!