# "Atlanta Worst Sports Town" - DC writer



## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

http://www.ajc.com/falcons/content/sports/falcons/0903/16fans.html



> If it's not college football, they couldn't care less


Is that supposed to be a BAD thing??  College football is the #1 sport in America, stats-wise.


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## NugzFan (Jul 26, 2002)

atlanta has long been considered the worst sports town. nothing new here.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

nobody follows nba anymore........ hockey in the south was bad idea....... falcons sold out 70,000 season tickets. You have bad arguement. UGA sells out 93+ thousand every home game, dont matter if it's Florida or Middle Tennessee State


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## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

Maybe Georgians don't follow the NBA, but a lot of other people do.


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## Siouxperior (Jan 15, 2003)

The owner should move the Hawks out of ATL, move them to a City who will support them (St.Loius, Vegas) Im sure those cities would love to have the Hawks.


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## Crossword (Jun 7, 2002)

Or OKC... that's a candidate, and they have the facility too.

There's always Montreal too... there should be another Canadian team... 

But the Expos will definately scare people off from moving or expanding an NBA team in Montreal. Of course if I ever have enough money I'll start a team there. :yes:


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## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Siouxperior</b>!
> The owner should move the Hawks out of ATL, move them to a City who will support them (St.Loius, Vegas) Im sure those cities would love to have the Hawks.


That brings up a good question...why no sports teams in Las Vegas? I guess the population doesn't warrant a team, and maybe because of the fact that there are better things to do in Vegas.


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## HEATLUNATIC (May 27, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>compsciguy78</b>!
> 
> 
> That brings up a good question...why no sports teams in Las Vegas? I guess the population doesn't warrant a team, and maybe because of the fact that there are better things to do in Vegas.


Im pretty sure its cuz of the gambling!


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## ToddMacCulloch11 (May 31, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Mike luvs KG</b>!
> Maybe Georgians don't follow the NBA, but a lot of other people do.



I remember during allstar weekend, they were interviewing the players, and all of them basically said they love atlanta, its a great city, but wouldn't want to play there in a million years cause the fans have no interest.


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## MJG (Jun 29, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>compsciguy78</b>!
> 
> 
> That brings up a good question...why no sports teams in Las Vegas? I guess the population doesn't warrant a team, and maybe because of the fact that there are better things to do in Vegas.


Though it may not be the only reason, I'm pretty sure that gambling (as Heatlunatic said) is the main reason. I believe Stern said he wouldn't want an NBA team there unless they dumped NBA gambling, which isn't happening.


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## xubrew (Dec 17, 2002)

georgia tech does pretty well. 

cincinnati is pretty bad. university of cincinnati football has had a grand total of ONE, count 'em, ONE home sellout in their 100+ year history. the stadium doesn't even hold 40,000 people. the ohio state vs cincinnati game sold out, but that was at paul brown stadium, not on campus and half the people there were for ohio state. 

the bengals stink, have a smaller stadium than the georgia dome, and i guarantee sell out fewer games.

the reds stink, NEVER sell out accept opening day, and even with the new ballpark this year rarely sold out any games accept the yankees and indians. 

cincinnati basketball does pretty well, but even they didn't sell out half their games the year they earned a #1 seed in the ncaa tournament. 

xavier gets good attendance, but it is a small arena. (10,200).

there is no nba team, and even if there was, i'd be surprised if anybody went. 

when it comes to sucking, we here in cincinnati have atlanta beat hands down.


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## Siouxperior (Jan 15, 2003)

The ATL Hawk fanbase is....well, pathetic. They draw as many fans as an avg WNBA games does, which isn't very much. As great a city Atlanta is, I bet hardly any player would want to go play for that franchise, knowing that fans don't support that team there.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

Come on now. Can you blame Atlantans for not supporting the team? the team itself blows donkey balls and the NBA as a whole is in a serious period of decadence as far as attendence is concerned.

The fans wont go to games cause the team doesnt win and isnt fun to watch. The players dont wanna play here cause they dont win games and dont play good basketball. So how you gonna go and blame the fans, like myself!? that makes no sense


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## Siouxperior (Jan 15, 2003)

There not that bad. Their not the Cleveland Cavaliers. But I agree, they aren't that good, but still.... I bet they have the lowest fan turnout per game in the NBA....Pathetic. Who ever buys that team would be smart if he moved 'em out of that place.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

C'mon now.... Cleveland has Lebron James!! He could play in Alaska and they would sell out


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## NugzFan (Jul 26, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>GeorgiaSports</b>!
> nobody follows nba anymore........ hockey in the south was bad idea....... falcons sold out 70,000 season tickets. You have bad arguement. UGA sells out 93+ thousand every home game, dont matter if it's Florida or Middle Tennessee State


atlanta has widely been considered a very bad sports town for a while now.


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## NugzFan (Jul 26, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>GeorgiaSports</b>!
> Come on now. Can you blame Atlantans for not supporting the team? the team itself blows donkey balls and the NBA as a whole is in a serious period of decadence as far as attendence is concerned.
> 
> The fans wont go to games cause the team doesnt win and isnt fun to watch. The players dont wanna play here cause they dont win games and dont play good basketball. So how you gonna go and blame the fans, like myself!? that makes no sense


yes...thats EXACTLY what we are doing...blaming the fans in atlanta. thats 100% precisely the point. many other fans of bad teams still support their teams. at least to a small degree. atlanta does not. they have bad fans. not all of them. but most. dont make excuses.


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## *The1 (Mar 11, 2003)

The Vancouver Grizzlies had higher attendance their last 3 years then the Atlanta Hawks have had the past 3 years. Vancouver supported the Grizzlies up until Heisley announced his intentions to move the team. And look what it got them...I would not be suprised if the Hawks left Atlanta but at the same time I don't think Stern is interested in anymore franchises moving it looks bad for the league as a whole.


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## Siouxperior (Jan 15, 2003)

Yeah, I feel sorry for players like Rahim and Terry. They may not be a powerhouse, but their not like the Cavs or the Griz.. And yet, the Cavs and Griz have better fan support. The Hawks need to 'fly' off to another city, just get out of Atlanta...Go to Sioux Falls,SD lol..atleast fans will support 'em there lol.


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## Nate505 (Aug 22, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>HEATLUNATIC</b>!
> 
> 
> Im pretty sure its cuz of the gambling!


Nobody's ever made a compelling argument on why gambling would be an issue to a team that's geographically located in a place that allows gambling.


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## Im The One (Sep 1, 2002)

Hey Georgia, and other people from the area let me ask you a question, what do you think it would take to increase fan attendance. I mean look at the Bulls a few years ago they were horrible but fans still supported them, so I dont think it's all the teams fault.

I'm not a huge baseball fan but from what I understand the Braves do very good every year as far as standings go but have horrible attendence. The Hawks have improved since Vick came. Would It take a exciting player like Vick but a B-ball player to gain interest. Maybe Howard will draw some fans if he get's half the hype Bron got. He is from the ATL. Maybe ATL is just a bad sports town, I dont see how though.


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## Hotlantadude198 (Jul 12, 2002)

The Braves attendance started to
decline when AOL took over the teams
two or three years ago. That's when
the fans stopped going to Braves games.

Plus baseball has suffered a loss of
fanbase over the last few years period.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Im The One</b>!
> Hey Georgia, and other people from the area let me ask you a question, what do you think it would take to increase fan attendance. I mean look at the Bulls a few years ago they were horrible but fans still supported them, so I dont think it's all the teams fault.
> 
> I'm not a huge baseball fan but from what I understand the Braves do very good every year as far as standings go but have horrible attendence. The Hawks have improved since Vick came. Would It take a exciting player like Vick but a B-ball player to gain interest. Maybe Howard will draw some fans if he get's half the hype Bron got. He is from the ATL. Maybe ATL is just a bad sports town, I dont see how though.


I dont see a good reason to pay for a Hawks game. They arent fun to go to, it's a long drive, it costs alotta money. I think an exciting player would create more interest, but would it mean more attendance? Maybe, but I wouldnt start goin to games. Like I said they arent fun, costs money and is inconvenient. I would much rather watch it on my couch. 

About the Bulls, Chicago is freakin' HUGE! They support 2 baseball teams for god sakes. Atlanta's population, not including Metro atlanta, is under 600 thousand people. So the majority of the people live in Metro Atlanta, and dont wanna drive thru all the traffic for a boring 2 hour NBA game.

The Braves have GREAT interest, not so great attendance. Same for the Falcons. There is huge interest in those teams but sometimes they dont show up in the attendance.

BTW, Hawks will definately not be moving away anytime soon. The new owner is from Atlanta, he has Atlanta connections. The mayor and governer were all at the press conference, it's staying in the City.

Anyone see the irony in a Denver guy talking about poor attendance? LOL. Diss Houston fans for averaging 13k/game, diss Orlando fans for averaging 14k/game. Those teams have SUPERSTARS, and Orlando made the playoffs. What else is there in Orlando? Disney world and thats it, its there only sports team. No college sports there either. At least Houston has the Texans which gets great interest.


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