With the NBA Finals prepping to come to a close and the league allowing teams to sell ad space on uniforms as of 2017, estimated to generate $100 million to $150 million in yearly revenue, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2017’s Best & Worst Cities for Basketball Fans.

To find the best cities for professional- and college-basketball fans, WalletHub’s analysts compared 293 of the largest cities across 17 key metrics, ranging from the performance level of each city’s NBA and NCAA Division 1 basketball teams to ticket prices to stadium accessibility.

Best Cities for Basketball Fans Worst Cities for Basketball Fans
1 Los Angeles, CA T-284 Poughkeepsie, NY
2 Boston, MA T-284 Ithaca, NY
3 Oakland, CA 286 Lynchburg, VA
4 San Antonio, TX 287 Riverside, CA
5 Salt Lake City, UT 288 Hackensack, NJ
6 Oklahoma City, OK 289 Clinton, SC
7 Cleveland, OH 290 Daytona Beach, FL
8 Miami, FL 291 Peoria, IL
9 Chicago, IL 292 Tampa, FL
10 Orlando, FL 293 New Britain, CT

Best vs. Worst

  • New Orleans has the lowest average ticket price for an NBA game, $30.20, which is 3.2 times less expensive than in New York, the city with the highest at $97.77.
  • Chicago has the highest attendance rate for NBA games, which is 1.5 times higher than in Detroit, the city with the lowest.
  • The Golden State Warriors have the highest performance level among NBA teams, 77.64 percent, which is 4.1 times better than that of the Philadelphia 76ers, the team with the lowest at 19.11 percent.
  • The Villanova Wildcats have the highest performance level among college basketball teams, 88.15 percent, which is 5.7 times better than that of the Grambling State Tigers, the team with the lowest at 15.57 percent.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-cities-for-basketball-fans/11034/