Los Angeles, the Best City for Soccer Fans – NBC Los Angeles

Soccer is the fastest growing major professional sport in the United States and fans flock to the “beautiful game” in record numbers because of it.

Major League Soccer (MLS) is expanding at a rapid pace and drew more than 10 million viewers in 2022, setting a new record.

Individual records were also broken last season when expansion team Charlotte FC broke the league record for highest independent attendance for a single match when 73,019 fans watched the club’s opening match against the five-time MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy, on March 5, 2022.

LAFC and BMO Stadium threw the house out the window prior to the start of the season at home for the Los Angeles club. Saúl Rodríguez reports.

That record is expected to be broken again this season, when the same club LA Galaxy take on their inner-city rival LAFC in the Rose Bowl on July 4, in the 19th edition of the famed El Tráfico competition. between the two teams.

MLS’s newest expansion team, Saint Louis City SC, is off to a perfect start to its inaugural season, defeating Charlotte FC 3-1 in its home opener in front of a crowd of 22,243 at City Park.

“This is a community with soccer at its heart, and that doesn’t happen everywhere in MLS,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said of the city of St. Louis. “We built a culture of fans and supporters in many cities across this country who had to learn about the game. In this city we delivered the game and the next generation of what MLS is and can be.”

Garber is right. Soccer fandom has begun to spread across the country, and the United States is gaining a new respect and admiration for the game both domestically and internationally.

As MLS successfully expands into new markets such as St. Louis, Charlotte, Austin, Miami, Nashville, Cincinnati, Orlando, and Atlanta in recent years, the question arose: which city has the best soccer fans in the US? USA?

Personal finance website WalletHub did the math for us and figured it out. They compared nearly 300 US cities with at least one college or professional soccer team in five divisions comprising 52 different key metrics.

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Some of those data metrics ranged from season ticket prices to individual fan experience to championship wins.

Before going into the results of the study of WalletHubit is important to note that much of the credit for the growth and acceptance of soccer in the United States is due in large part to the success of the United States Women’s National Team.

While the men’s team has struggled in international competition for the past few decades, the women’s team has thrived, becoming the most successful team in international women’s soccer history by winning four Women’s World Cup titles, four gold medals Olympics and nine CONCACAF championships in the last 30 years.

The countdown has already begun and here you can find out everything you need for this tournament that starts in July.

Now for the results:

Our own city of Los Angeles was selected as the best soccer city in the United States out of nearly 300 other cities in the study. Los Angeles finished five points higher in its total score ranking of 56.87 than second-place Seattle, and more than six points higher than third-place Portland.

As one of only two cities in the country to have two different MLS teams, Los Angeles has a total of six MLS Cup championships between the LA Galaxy and LAFC. The latter are the reigning MLS Cup champions and are among the favorites to lift the trophy again this season.

Atlético’s Steph Yang talks about the US Women’s Soccer team’s quest for a third Cup and why it feels like a transition.

Both teams, located just 12 miles apart, regularly sell out their stadiums and have some of the most loyal and ardent fan bases in the country.

Its decorated history, superstar players, franchise value and popularity were just a few of the reasons Los Angeles was selected as the best city for soccer in the United States.

The list of the 20 best soccer cities in the United States is below:

The 20 best cities for soccer fans
1. Los Angeles, CA	11. Columbus, OH
2.Seattle, WA	12. Chicago, IL
3. Portland, OR	13. Boston, MA
4. Orlando, FL	14. Miami, FL
5. Kansas City, MO	15. Houston, TX
6. Washington, DC	16. Philadelphia, PA
7. New York, NY	17. Cary, NC
8.Atlanta, GA	18. Denver, CO
9. Salt Lake City, UT	19. Dallas, TX
10. St. Paul, MN	20. San Jose, CA

To determine the best cities for soccer fans in the country, WalletHub compiled a list of 294 cities across five divisions: MLS, NWSL, USL, and men’s and women’s college soccer.

Their methodology consisted of 52 different but relevant metrics, which were given a weighted point system. Each metric was rated on a 100-point scale.

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To determine the weight of each division, WalletHub surveyed the top performing teams in each division based on Facebook Likes and popularity on social media.

They then determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics and calculated their overall score to determine the rankings. They also ranked cities based on population size.

For a complete list of the 294 best soccer cities in America, including by population size, check out WalletHub’s full study. here.

This story first appeared on Telemundo 52’s sister station, NBCLA. Click here to read this story in English.