A WalletHub study recently ranked Jacksonville as the top city in Alabama to be a basketball fan.
The "2023’s Best & Worst Cities for Basketball Fans" results ranked 296 cities across the U.S. with at least one college or professional basketball team.
At the top of the country were cities such as Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco. The study also found Jacksonville, Alabama, to be the 58th best city in the nation to watch basketball.
Rankings were determined by the number of teams in the area, team performance level, ticket prices, team social media engagement, and stadium capacity, among other metrics.
Data was collected from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, NCAA.org., ESPN, and the NBA.
Among other top cities in Alabama were Troy, at 82nd in the nation, and Mobile, at 116th. At the bottom were Montgomery (258th), Auburn (271st), and Huntsville (283rd).
WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez explained what factors could contribute to less populated cities outranking the more populated ones: “Fan engagement, I think, is helpful here, as well as the stadium capacity,” said Gonzalez. “You know, if you do have a smaller city, then getting people into the stadium and more people into the stadium is certainly helpful.”
Without a professional basketball team, Alabama cities are restricted from ranking among the top basketball cities. However, Gonzalez said modern technology has helped fans participate in basketball games from hundreds of miles away.
“You can watch pretty much any game for free as long as you have internet access," she explained. "So, I think that that's really helpful. Now, even if you're not near basketball, you can still totally take part in it without breaking the bank.”
For more information on this study and its findings, visit www.wallethub.com.