Dallas, Texas ranked among the top 10 Best Sports Cities in the U.S. according to a new study.
A WalletHub report found that Dallas sits at No. 8 out of 61 large cities with Boston, Los Angeles, and New York landing the top three spots.
“Dallas’ ranking is mostly due to the fact that it ranks second best for football fans,” said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst. “Dallas also ranks high for hockey and basketball fans, respectively. To be able to compete with the top three cities, Dallas would need to have major and minor league baseball teams.”
WalletHub’s 2021 Best Sports Cities further revealed that Fort Worth and Denton scored in the lower hundred large cities because they do not have other major or minor league sports teams.
“The cities don’t have NBA or NFL teams, and they are not represented in hockey or soccer,” Gonzalez told Dallas Express. “To improve, all cities would need to have teams in national leagues, and improve the performance of the college teams they already have. Dallas is the only city that is very well represented by high performance teams in football as well as hockey and basketball.”
As for ticket prices, they vary depending on the sport. In the NFL, for example, WalletHub found that the average ticket is $99.50 in Dallas, $90 in Los Angeles, $104.74 in New York, and $131.45 in Boston.
To determine the best sports cities, WalletHub used results from previous rankings for football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and soccer.
“In hockey, the Stars have won ten division titles and they have a high estimated team value,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “They also have affordable game tickets, and the biggest attendance. In basketball, the Mavericks have one of the highest franchise values, they’ve had the same coach for the past ten seasons, and top the other teams in terms of attendance.”
Dallas ranked only second to Pittsburgh when it comes to football fans.
“Its team has a higher performance level than the Cowboys with more championship wins and stronger fan engagement,” Gonzalez said. “It also had the same coach for the past ten seasons, and has a bigger stadium capacity. Another reason why Pittsburgh outranked Dallas, is the fact that it has three college football teams as opposed to none in Dallas.”
On the upside, in football, the Cowboys have the third most NFL championship wins, the second most division championship wins, and four hall of fame coaches, according to WalletHub data.
“The team also has the biggest franchise value, strong fan engagement and popularity, and only had two coaches in the past ten seasons,” Gonzalez said.
WalletHub’s definition of fandom includes having teams in professional leagues that perform well and that offer affordable tickets and high-capacity stadiums for their fans.
“We also looked at things like fan engagement, attendance, and franchise value,” Gonzalez added. “Dallas is a great city for football fans because its NFL team has one of the highest franchise values in the country, is very popular, and [has] strong fan engagement.”