Which Maine community tops Anaheim and South Bend as a sports town? It’s not Portland.

Source: WalletHub

The everyday ranking site WalletHub is back with another comparison of American cities, this time listing which cities across the country are the best and worst for sports fans.

Normally when we hear from WalletHub, it’s because the site’s researchers are releasing broad data analyses comparing states with one another, whether it’s a ranking of states’ education systems, public safety or any of a range of other topics.

Typically, when the site puts out a city-by-city ranking of some sort, no places in Maine make the cut, often because the researchers are only looking at municipalities above a certain size — and even Maine’s largest city, Portland, is something like the 500th largest city in the country.

This time, however, WalletHub went a little deeper in terms of smaller communities, and one Maine town ended up a respectable 127th out of about 350 — easily the top half of the pile, and a higher ranking than both South Bend and Notre Dame, Indiana, towns associated with the storied University of Notre Dame football team.

UMaine fans (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

UMaine fans (BDN photo by Linda Coan O’Kresik)

That Maine community isn’t Portland, however, the city that serves as home to the state’s professional baseball, hockey and basketball teams (although Portland has been lauded in the past as one of the country’s best minor league sports cities, including by sports media giant ESPN).

The Maine town on the list is Orono, home to the state university system’s flagship campus and the Black Bears sports teams, which are popular statewide.

In addition to the home of the Fighting Irish, Orono is ranked higher than the likes of Anaheim, California, which has both a Major League Baseball team and a National Hockey League franchise, as well as Sacramento, California, which boasts its own National Basketball Association team.

Among similarly sized communities, Orono jumps up to No. 55 among 200 entries.

What explains Orono’s relatively high placement?

Presumably thanks to the historical success and loyal followings behind the UMaine hockey and baseball teams, the town placed No. 41 and No. 35, respectively, among all cities in terms of fan experience for those sports.

Those high ranks offset lower rankings in terms of Orono’s football and soccer scenes, while the town scored a respectable top-third finish (No. 108) for basketball fans.

WalletHub crunched numbers evaluating social media activity, ticket prices, stadium accessibility and local team success in each relative sport to arrive at its conclusions.

hockey fans

 

As an added bonus for Maine sports fans, the No. 1 city in the overall rankings was none other than Boston — as the closest large U.S. city, many Mainers root for Boston’s major league sports teams as their home teams.

Of course, I don’t need to remind local sports fans that Boston teams have won nine championships across the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL since 2001.

Following Boston in the top five are Denver; East Lancing, Michigan; Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. New York City is No. 7, if you’re curious.

The bottom five — or the five worst cities for sports fans, by these metrics — are Hackensack, New Jersey; Vestal, New York; Hampton, Virginia; Oneonta, New York; and Catonsville, Maryland.