American Sport Following

[yerwot?]

the bedrock of the NFL is the college/university system. It's the main conduit into professional sport. They have a loyal and huge fan base, 100,000 every game in some cases. The "tribal" mentality that is prevalent in European football is barely evident, tail-gate meets often are home and away fans, where the "craic" is more important than loyalty to the teams. Each team has pockets of fanatics but generally a small but noisy percentage. The college teams have a following more akin to our set-up, but really , still a world away from the atmosphere that pervades football in the UK and Europe. In summary, any attempt to compare will have so many caveats as to be meaningless imo.

 

[southamptonblue]

You definitely do get attachments to teams, especially the ones who have stayed in the same city....I've been to alot of hockey games and the pubs/bars are same as here,full of replica shirts.
The big difference I found is how friendly it is, just all friendly banter no animosity between fans Sat together.
In buffalo, the what you may call the die hard fans in their 20's/30's stand on the ledge behind their back row seats chanting "go go Buffalo" all night, which compared to the chants/songs here is hard to get your head around, it's almost like a crowd at a pantomime lol
On the concourse on leaving, a Pittsburgh fan (they had just stuffed Buffalo) shouting how great they were....everyone laughing with him and shaking his hand. My brother in law found it equally confusing when I said he'd probably be decked at an English football ground......different cultures ;)

 

[southamptonblue]

Will add to above.....at Toronto Maple Leafs playing Ottawa which despite the distance is an 'Ontario derby' the big screens pre game post things like "there are only 2 teams in Ontario, the Leafs and Marlies (Toronto's feeder club/ressrves)......I was surrounded by Ottawa fans who had flown down, they all clapped and laughed at it.....Now imagine that on the Etihad screen on derby day?

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

It depends, is the classic answer. I can only really speak to the NFL and even there it depends. You can look at teams like Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Buffalo, all industrial northern cities where the NFL team is a large part of that city’s identity, the fans are deliriously obsessed with their team and many do travel around the country following home and away. New Orleans is an interesting one where hurricane Katrina bonded the team and the city incredibly closely (in part as the Superdome was so relied upon in the aftermath as shelter and the centre of recovery) and that bond has endured.

On the other hand you get the LA teams - Rams and Chargers - both of which have relocated to the city in recent years. LA has a history of hosting franchises and then losing them, so it’s probably difficult for local fans to get too attached. Both teams are notorious for having home games where the away fans outnumber the home - both travelling fans and Buffalo/Detroit/whatever natives that have moved to California turning up.

Same in Florida. The majority of people I have worked with are not Floridians and will go and see their home city's sports teams when they play the Bucs / Ray's or Lightning. But not the Rowdies :D

 

[better dead than red]

You definitely do get attachments to teams, especially the ones who have stayed in the same city....I've been to alot of hockey games and the pubs/bars are same as here,full of replica shirts.
The big difference I found is how friendly it is, just all friendly banter no animosity between fans Sat together.
In buffalo, the what you may call the die hard fans in their 20's/30's stand on the ledge behind their back row seats chanting "go go Buffalo" all night, which compared to the chants/songs here is hard to get your head around, it's almost like a crowd at a pantomime lol
On the concourse on leaving, a Pittsburgh fan (they had just stuffed Buffalo) shouting how great they were....everyone laughing with him and shaking his hand. My brother in law found it equally confusing when I said he'd probably be decked at an English football ground......different cultures ;)

Try Philadelphia if you want fan animosity. Hell, they attack each other.

Video: Philly Eagles fans brawl during first game back in stadium | Daily Mail Online

Philadelphia Eagles NFL fans got into a fight during the first game they were allowed back in the stadium.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Eagles Fans Beat the Crap Out of Each Other

If we fight ourselves, instead of fans from other teams, does that make us less boorish? Less uncouth? A question for the philosophers, perhaps. This video is from Thursday night, the preseason opener against the Titans, but I hadn’t seen it anywhere until this morning, with Busted Coverage...

www.crossingbroad.com

 

[mexico1970]

Try Philadelphia if you want fan animosity. Hell, they attack each other.

Video: Philly Eagles fans brawl during first game back in stadium | Daily Mail Online

Philadelphia Eagles NFL fans got into a fight during the first game they were allowed back in the stadium.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Eagles Fans Beat the Crap Out of Each Other

If we fight ourselves, instead of fans from other teams, does that make us less boorish? Less uncouth? A question for the philosophers, perhaps. This video is from Thursday night, the preseason opener against the Titans, but I hadn’t seen it anywhere until this morning, with Busted Coverage...

www.crossingbroad.com

Was the fat chap in the tangerine shirt a copper? He looked drunk himself.

 

[TonyM]

I lived near Boston for a while and they were lucky to have the Celtics, Patriots, Bruins and NE Revolution (new back then) all nearby. So it's very similar to England from what I saw. No one really supported teams from elsewhere unless they or their parents were from elsewhere.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Do you want to know about sports following in America or just football?

Football or soccer is a minor sport in the USA.

Not for women

 

[Barcon]

If you ever find yourself in Toronto and fancy watching a hockey game you would have to drive to Detroit or Buffalo to have any chance of getting a ticket. Maple Leaf fans fly down to Florida to watch a game as there is very little chance of seeing a game here.

 

[southamptonblue]

If you ever find yourself in Toronto and fancy watching a hockey game you would have to drive to Detroit or Buffalo to have any chance of getting a ticket. Maple Leaf fans fly down to Florida to watch a game as there is very little chance of seeing a game here.

Ex Sister in law used to get them through work.....driving to buffalo was cheaper though, plus saw them play Pittsburgh who had Crosby and the Russian fella so for a neutral was like seeing Messi/Ronaldo in the same team.
Also saw Hamilton during the NIL strike which was cheap and entertraining as all they seemed to do was fight!