Sports Teams and Radio Market Rankings

In our industry top markets are often equated with Football and Baseball teams. Instead of spelling out a top 30 or top 20 market focus an add-buyer or VC investor might just say all the MLB cities or NFL cities. The wording does not correlate to some kind sports demographic target. It's just jargon for "all the big markets." It's used most often by people who don't know much about radio. I don't know much about sports so let's file this post under irony.

There are 32 NFL teams and 30 MLB teams (counting both American and National Leagues). There is a lot of overlap so many cities have two or more teams while other markets have none. New York City famously has both the Jets and the Giants, and in baseball the Mets and Yankees. So you can imagine the spread isn't' even at all. Also as you well know, multiple cities can comprise an MSA further, compounding the city-to-team imbalance. The correlation craps out inside the top 20 actually.

1. New York: Jets, Giants, Mets, Yankees
2. Los Angeles: Dodgers, Angels
3. Chicago: Cubs, Bears 
4. Philadelphia: Eagles, Phillies
5. Dallas: Cowboys, Rangers
6. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose: Raiders, Giants, 49ers, Athletics
7. Boston (Manchester): Patriots
8. Washington (Hagerstown): Redskins, Nationals
9. Atlanta: Braves, Falcons
10. Houston: Texans, Astros
11. Phoenix-Prescott: Cardinals, Diamondbacks
12. Detroit: Lions, Tigers
13. Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota): Buccaneers, Rays
14. Seattle-Tacoma: Mariners, Seahawks
15. Minneapolis-St. Paul: Viking. Twins
16. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale: Marlins, Dolphins
17. Denver: Broncos, Rockies
18. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourn: NONE
19. Cleveland-Akron (Canton): Indian, Browns
20. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto: NONE
21. St. Louis: Rams, Cardinals
22. Pittsburgh: Pirates, Steelers
23. Portland: NONE
24. Charlotte: Panthers
25. Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville):  NONE
26. Baltimore: Ravens, Orioles
27. Indianapolis: Colts
28. San Diego: Padres, Chargers
29. Nashville: Titans
30. Hartford-New Haven: NONE
31. Kansas City: Chiefs, Royals
32. Columbus: NONE
33. San Antonio NONE
34. Salt Lake City NONE
35. Milwaukee: Brewers
36. Cincinnati: Bengals, Reds,
37. Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson: NONE
38. West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce: NONE
39. Austin: NONE
40. Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek: NONE

That's just the top 40. While they match up 100% in the top 10, they only correlate to 90% of the top 20, and only abotu 85% of the top 30, and a mere 70% of the top 40. It all goes downhill from there.  For the completeists... rather than going long on this market list, here are the small market teams not included above:

Green Bay Packers # 68
Jacksonville Jaguars # 48
New Orleans Saints # 51
Toronto Blue Jays (N/A)
Buffalo Bills # 52