The
Sporting News: Indiana a sorry place for sports fans
By Lance
Barker, THG Sports
Seven of nine Indiana
cities that made The Sporting News magazine’s annual rankings of Best Sports
Cities that past two years have dropped considerably in 2004.
The Sporting News uses
several factors for its yearly ranking of 368 cities, including the number of
college and pro sports teams or events in a city, regular-season records,
playoff berths, bowl appearances, tournament bids, and championships. Fan
fervor, quality of sports facilities, and ticket availability and prices also
play a role in how a city is ranked.
Indiana cities that
dropped in this year’s rankings include: West Lafayette (falling from 60 to 68),
South Bend (49 to 76), Bloomington (92 to 110), Muncie (111 to 115), Valparaiso
(142 to 152), Evansville (171 to 187), and Fort Wayne (219 to 237).
Most experts agree that
the declining grades for Hoosier sports cities are due mainly to poor showings
by college athletic programs, especially their basketball teams. “Basketball
state my ass!” said Indianapolis bookie Vinny “The Greek” Vincent when asked
about The Sporting News’ rankings.
To be ranked, each city
needed to meet one of the following minimum requirements: have at least a Class
A minor league baseball team, a Division 1-A basketball team, host an NFL or MLB
training camp, an NCAA bowl game, PGA Tour event, or Triple Crown horse race.
The only Indiana cities to
improve in the rankings were Indianapolis, moving from 17 to 16 due to the
success of the Colts and Pacers in the NFL and NBA playoffs, and Terre Haute
(208 to 184), site of the Colt’s yearly training camp at the Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology and the Indiana State University Fighting Sycamores.
The nation’s top sports
city was Boston, ranked number one for the second time in three years.
