Biggest fairweather fans?

[Easternshoreguy2]

Which team in your opinion has the biggest fan base of fair weather fans

[OFFNY]

.

Yankee fans.

Yankee fans would root for the I.R.S. in a tax suit against an average citizen.

Then, if by some infinitesimal chance the I.R.S lost the case, they would be high-fiving John Doe with big smiles on their faces.

[Can_of_corn]

Miami

Tampa isn't a lot better.

[Slappy]

The team with the *most* fair weather fans in sports, hands down, are the Dallas Cowboys.

[weams]

Washington, and Boston.

[OrangeJerseys]

Chowderheads and it's not close. After that it's the Dodgers.

[waroriole]

Philly

[glenn__davis]

I have to go with Boston, but I'll also say that they do have a very large and passionate legitimate fanbase.

But in terms of people who claim to be a fan of the team but only really follow them when they're good, I'd say Boston.

[DrungoHazewood]

The Red Sox have a large, loyal, knowledgable fan base that's matched by their swarming infestation of pink-hatted, green-third-alternate-jersey-wearing bandwagoners.

I think Philly has to be pretty close. They boo their own players, throw snowballs at Santa, and don't turn up in down years ('99 they were 12th in the NL in attendance, only got to fourth the year after they were in the Series in a huge metro area). Now they're everywhere.

Of course the Yanks always have their massive and devoted core of people who root for them despite absolutely no connection to NY besides their love of whoever has the most recognizable stars and money.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Tempted to say Atlanta Braves, but they can't even sell out playoff games...

Agree with whoever said Tampa/Miami. Any nice weather team better be decent or iconic (Lakers) -- too much other stuff to do in those towns.

[TonySoprano]

Although I wouldn't put Baltimore at the top of the list (that spot is held by Boston, followed by Tampa), we have to be in the discussion. Let's be honest, this town loves the Ravens first because they're winners, whereas the Orioles haven't been a draw for several years. Sure it makes us feel better to point out that when the Red Sox and Yankees had their share of losing (last century), they had their attendance problems; we're no different today. Believe me, I understand why this is here; just as it is in most cities you can name. I totally get what the Orioles have done to create this situation. As I noted in a thread yesterday, attendance this year is up significantly, and that has to be due, in part, to a better product on the field. Even if attendance maintains a stunning 20% increase for the year, it'll still be lower than it was only five years ago, and 44% below 1997 attendance. It will take more than one season to get the, dare I say it, largely fair-weather fan base back into the stands.

[glenn__davis]

Although I wouldn't put Baltimore at the top of the list (that spot is held by Boston, followed by Tampa), we have to be in the discussion. Let's be honest, this town loves the Ravens first because they're winners, whereas the Orioles haven't been a draw for several years. Sure it makes us feel better to point out that when the Red Sox and Yankees had their share of losing (last century), they had their attendance problems; we're no different today. Believe me, I understand why this is here; just as it is in most cities you can name. I totally get what the Orioles have done to create this situation. As I noted in a thread yesterday, attendance this year is up significantly, and that has to be due, in part, to a better product on the field. Even if attendance maintains a stunning 20% increase for the year, it'll still be lower than it was only five years ago, and 44% below 1997 attendance. It will take more than one season to get the, dare I say it, largely fair-weather fan base back into the stands.

I hear what you are saying - but we are talking about an extremely prolonged period of losing here, coupled with terrible public relations.

Not only have the Orioles not had a winning season in 14 years, they haven't even played a meaningful game in August that entire time, let alone September. They have been completely non-competitive, and have had the owner of the team make several major PR gaffes in the process.

I do not blame any fan for losing interest during that timeframe, and I think that's a different situation than the fan whose team is good for a few years, then bad for a few years, etc.

[Sanfran327]

Boston. Not sure how it's a question.

They might also have the most die hards, too. But they absolutely have the most fair-weather fans.

[square634]

There are two separate questions at work here: which team has the largest number of fans who can be classified as "fair-weather", and which team's "fair-weather" fans exhibit the most strongly "fair-weather" tendencies. For the first question, I would say Boston, likely because of all of the local universities up there which generate many new "fans." I'm not sure about the second question, but it might be somewhere like Miami.

[DrungoHazewood]

Although I wouldn't put Baltimore at the top of the list (that spot is held by Boston, followed by Tampa), we have to be in the discussion. Let's be honest, this town loves the Ravens first because they're winners, whereas the Orioles haven't been a draw for several years. Sure it makes us feel better to point out that when the Red Sox and Yankees had their share of losing (last century), they had their attendance problems; we're no different today. Believe me, I understand why this is here; just as it is in most cities you can name. I totally get what the Orioles have done to create this situation. As I noted in a thread yesterday, attendance this year is up significantly, and that has to be due, in part, to a better product on the field. Even if attendance maintains a stunning 20% increase for the year, it'll still be lower than it was only five years ago, and 44% below 1997 attendance. It will take more than one season to get the, dare I say it, largely fair-weather fan base back into the stands.

I hear what you are saying - but we are talking about an extremely prolonged period of losing here, coupled with terrible public relations.

Not only have the Orioles not had a winning season in 14 years, they haven't even played a meaningful game in August that entire time, let alone September. They have been completely non-competitive, and have had the owner of the team make several major PR gaffes in the process.

I do not blame any fan for losing interest during that timeframe, and I think that's a different situation than the fan whose team is good for a few years, then bad for a few years, etc.

I think that 90% of the differences attributed to the strength or weakness of a fanbase is actually factors related to team success, stadium accessablity, number of years team has been in place, size and layout of metro area... things like that. The talk of good and bad fanbases is largely after the fact rationalization.