Atlanta Crowned 'Worst Sports City in America' << Back
By Sportsbook.com Posted: 2006/10/23

Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Twin Cities and Houston round out top five worst cities

New York, NY, October 18, 2006 – Completely unenthused fans, perennially bad NBA and NHL teams, a dearth of team championships and the misuse of the most electrifying player in football has led experts to name Atlanta the Worst Sports City in America Sportsbook.com’s first annual search for best of the worst. This inaugural list, compiled by an expert panel of writers, bloggers and sports know-it-alls, is sponsored by Sportsbook.com, the largest online casino and sportsbook on the planet.

“Despite their 14 straight division championships, the Braves couldn’t sell out playoff games,” explained David Barkoe, Sportsbook.com spokesperson. “The Falcons cannot for the life of them figure out how to successfully use Michael Vick to win games and there’s not much to say about the performance of the Hawks and Thrashers. Atlanta’s sports scene is in shambles and their fans should be overjoyed that, according to our experts, they’ve finally won a championship—Worst Sports City in America.”

The continued absence of an NFL team and the general malaise of most fans has landed Los Angeles in second place. Philadelphia’s ferocious fan base, combined with its longstanding championship drought, puts the City of Brotherly Love in third. College hockey-loving Minneapolis/St. Paul drops in at fourth, while Houston rounds out the top five.

For these rankings, Sportsbook.com’s panel analyzed the following criteria in determining, without a doubt, the Worst Sports Cities in America:
• Recent on-court/on-field successes
• Passion and/or intelligence of fan base
• Condition and appeal of local stadiums and arenas
• TV, print and radio media landscape
• Hurtful and inaccurate stereotypes
• Eligible cities competing for the title of Worst Sports City have at least one professional franchise (NFL, MLB, NHL or NBA)


Finally, when questioned as to why Sportsbook.com would sponsor an annual Worst Sports City award in the first place, Barkoe responded, “There are plenty of lists about which city is the ‘best sports city’ but we never saw anyone go the other way. We know about Philly’s depressed and dejected fan base. We laugh at Los Angeles, our second largest city, which lacks an NFL team to root for on Sunday. Our experts analyzed all these factors and came up with a list that epitomizes the culture of sports the way it is truly experienced across the US.”

And on the experts’ choice of Atlanta? “Atlanta is a great city” says Barkoe. “Midtown and the Buckhead area have great restaurants and bars like Zocalo’s, Prince of Wales and Fado Fado’s. It’s a great city. But when the team added it up, it’s just not a great sports city.”