With the COPA América Centenario kicking off on June 3 in the U.S. — the first time in the tournament’s history that it will be held outside of South America — the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2016’s Best Cities for Soccer Fans to go along with its 2016 COPA América Centenario By The Numbers infographic.
To find the best places to be a soccer fan, WalletHub’s number crunchers compared the 296 most populated U.S. cities with at least one college or professional soccer team across six divisions comprising 51 key metrics. Our data set ranges from the minimum season-ticket price for a game to stadium accessibility to the number of championship wins.
Below are some highlights from the report and infographic.
| Top 20 Cities for Soccer Fans | |||||
| 1 | Orlando, FL | 11 | Boston, MA | ||
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 12 | Chicago, IL | ||
| 3 | Portland, OR | 13 | Columbus, OH | ||
| 4 | Kansas City, MO | 14 | San Jose, CA | ||
| 5 | Seattle, WA | 15 | Dallas, TX | ||
| 6 | Washington, DC | 16 | Piscataway, NJ | ||
| 7 | Houston, TX | 17 | Philadelphia, PA | ||
| 8 | Rochester, NY | 18 | Denver, CO | ||
| 9 | New York, NY | 19 | Richmond, VA | ||
| 10 | Salt Lake City, UT | 20 | Hempstead, NY | ||
Comparing the Best & Worst
- The Seattle Sounders FC’s performance level is two times better than the Chicago Fire’s.
- The Seattle Reign FC’s performance level is two times better than the Houston Dash’s.
- The New York Cosmos’ performance level is two times better than the Indy Eleven’s.
- Portland, Ore. has the lowest minimum season-ticket price for an MLS game, which is five times less expensive than in Seattle, the city with the highest.
- Kansas City, Mo. and Rochester, N.Y. have the lowest minimum season-ticket price for an NWSL game, which is two times less expensive than in Boston, the city with the highest.
- Miami has the lowest minimum season-ticket price for an NASL game, which is five times less expensive than in St. Petersburg, Fla., the city with the highest.
- San Jose, Calif., has the highest attendance rate for MLS games, which is two times higher than in Orlando, Fla., the city with the lowest.
By Richie Bernardo, For a WalletHub News Release for SouthFloridaReporter.com, June 2, 2016
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