How New Yorkers Pick Their Team

How New Yorkers Pick Their Team

this is New York City a Sports Fan’s Paradise among a concrete jungle oh my goodness it also has one of the most unique fan Dynamics in the world no other metro area boasts nine professional teams spread across four major sports leagues competing in seven Arenas and stadiums and they all have one thing in common they’re competing for attention fandom here goes beyond just geography or team success it’s woven through timing history and traditions passed down through generations these overlapping influences explain why certain patterns of loyalty seem to emerge why are jets fans often Mets fans do the Islanders really consider themselves as a New York City team and does anyone even support the Nets in New York City choosing a team isn’t as simple as it seems It’s not Chicago where the Cubs and White Socks split the city by the North and South sides and it’s not La where one franchise almost always outshines the other here phandom is carved by overlapping histories burough rivalries old versus is new and a healthy dose of disdain for the other side this is a city where every team has a backstory and so do their fans but what is it that makes a New York Sports Fan let’s start with the foundations to understand how New York’s fan base became so intricate you have to go back way back to when it all started in the early days of American Sports by the late 19th century New York had already established itself as a national hub for Commerce and culture and naturally professional sports followed suit baseball led the way the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers were among the national League’s headlining franchises and the Yankees though a later addition quickly Rose to dominance in the American League these teams didn’t just represent the city they embodied it tyed themselves to specific neighborhoods and buroughs Brooklyn lived and breathed the Dodgers while the Yankees and Giants vied for the attention of fans across Manhattan the Bronx and much of Queens initially the Yankees and Giants shared the Polo Grounds but as the Yankees popularity surged thanks to Babe Ruth and the team’s growing success they made a bold move across the Harlem River and established their new home in the iconic Yankee Stadium situated in the Bronx there the Yankees firmly established themselves as a bronx team and the dominant force of New York baseball this is all thanks to an unparalleled string of World Series victories immediately after moving to the new ballpark meanwhile Brooklyn remained fiercely loyal to the Dodgers while the Giants were becoming overshadowed by the Yankee success with the Pinstripes amassing plenty of titles they claimed the Lion Share of New York Baseball fans that lived outside of Brooklyn this entire Dynamic would change dramatically when two of these three teams left New York but more on that later baseball may have dominated New York Sports scene at the time but it wasn’t the only game in town in the NHL and NBA the Knicks and the Rangers made mass in Square Garden their shared home cementing basketball and hockey as fixures in the heart of Manhattan meanwhile football grew in popularity with the NFL’s Giants who started out at the Polo Grounds before moving to Yankee Stadium ium sharing a home with both ball clubs allowed the football franchise to grow its fan base especially among fans who already supported the baseball team with the same name having a single home for mid 20th century New York had firmly become a professional sports Capital there were plenty of baseball teams to choose from basketball and hockey teams shared an arena in the Heart of the City and the consistent success of the NFL’s Giants was the cherry on top but then everything changed from the 1950s to the early 1970s New York Sports landscape underwent a seismic transformation teams left new ones arrived and the Region’s fandom both expanded and fragmented this era marked the beginning of distinct patterns where fans grappled with choosing between old loyalties and new arrivals or simply they embraced the abundance of options available in the late ‘ 50s baseball’s Dodgers and Giants simultaneously left for California their departure created a massive void in New York’s baseball scene particularly on the other side of the East River but that didn’t mean that Giants and Dodgers fans would all of a sudden cheer for the Yankees after all they played in an entirely different league and had enough success to become hated among those who had separate loyalties of their own this hole in New York baseball paved the way for the Mets a franchise that embraced Giants and Dodgers fans by repping both teams colors and also simply by just not being the Yankees the newly formed Mets set up at Shas stadium in Queens not long after the Jets an upand cominging football team from the AFL moved in and shared the venue for two decades the two teams both representing a break from the city’s traditional Sports Powers naturally became Linked In fans Minds sharing the same home and arriving as fresh alternatives to the city’s established franchises made them symbols of a new era in New York Sports for Baseball fans disillusioned by the departure of the Giants and Dodgers the Mets offered a fresh identity and an outlet to support anything but the Yankees meanwhile the Jets captured the imagination of a younger more spirited fan base especially after Joe neth famously LED them to a Super Bowl victory in 1969 the New York Jets are the world champions so over time New York’s Sports loyalties have split along familiar lines the Yankees and Giants shared one side of the city while the Mets and the Jets established themselves on the other these divides shaped the city’s fan culture it Blended Legacy with fresh allegiances now bear in mind this Dynamic of sports fandom isn’t entirely black and white some fans will support the Giants and Mets others the Yankees and jets there’s plenty of combinations to go around that’s the beauty of sports everyone chooses their own Allegiance so if you trend was more pronounced decades ago it hasn’t completely faded generational loyalty plays a significant role in maintaining these patterns as many fans inherit their allegiances from their parents over time this trickle down effect has kept these connections alive even as New York Sports landscape has continued to evolve but about a decade after the emergence of a new wave of franchises in the NFL and MLB the NHL followed suit by introducing a new team to the area unlike the Mets and the Jets however this franchise would be unique it didn’t represent New York City proper but would instead anchor itself in Long Island established in the early ’70s the New York Islanders were strategically placed in Nassau County specifically to avoid competing directly with the New York Rangers whose fan base was deeply rooted in Manhattan and the surrounding buroughs the Islanders branding colors and identity were tailored to appeal to Long Island residents which extended their reach to Nassau and suffk counties this Geographic distinction allowed the Islanders to carve out a fan base of their own which was supported by a Suburban population that was eager for a team luckily for the Islanders their early success helped cement their identity winning four consecutive Stanley Cups in the early 80s brought immense Pride to Long Island and fostered a strong loyal fan base some of which extended to Queens while the franchise popularity could only compete so much with the Rangers who are to this day the more popular NHL team in and around New York’s metro area the Islanders took the unusual route to plant its flag in an underrepresented region meanwhile on the other side of the Hudson River New Jersey expanded its presence in professional sports with the addition of the Nets in the NBA and the devils in the NHL both franchises established themselves firmly in North Jersey a region that overlaps significantly with the New York City metro area however despite this geographical proximity these team primarily cultivated fan bases within New Jersey’s borders creating distinct and clearly defined territories that rarely overlap with New York Sports Market this separation allowed the Nets and the Devils to grow their own identities without directly competing with New York’s established hockey and basketball teams that Dynamic shifted in 2012 when the Nets relocated to Brooklyn staking their claim as New York City’s second NBA team while the move brought the franchise Into the Heart of Brooklyn and led to a brief surge of excitement thanks to high-profile players and ownership the Nets have faced a steep uphill climb in popularity the Knicks with their ingrained Presence at Madison Square Garden Remain the default team for generations of basketball loving New Yorkers which leaves the net struggling to carve out a significant share of the city’s loyalty although their impact within Brooklyn is growing every year over the decades there have been shifts that subtly reshaped the City Sports map the Giants and the Jets now share Stadium across state lines in East Rutherford New Jersey while still representing New York by name and the Islanders have moved closer to the city with their new home in UBS Arena located at the border of queens and Nassau County so what makes a New York Sports Fan is it where you live the team your parents rooted for or maybe it’s something more a unique combination of History culture and personal identity that only exists in a city of this magnitude New York’s fandom isn’t just about teams it reflects the city’s Soul each franchise carries a cultural and psychological weight that often transcends burrow lines but not all the time the Yankees represent a legacy of dominance while the Mets embody reinvention the Rangers might exude Manhattan’s Prestige but the Islanders are Long Islands beating heart but being a New York Sports Fan is also about the moments that unite the city and it’s H Deep to left Center this one has a chance to after 9/11 the Yankees and Mets provided more than entertainment they became symbols of Hope Mike Pat’s Unforgettable home run at sha stadium and the Yankees near World Series win gave New Yorkers something to rally around during one of the city’s darkest chapters these moments reveal how fandom here isn’t just about rivalry it’s about shared meaning today though fandom in New York is evolving social media and digital access has given younger fans unprecedented exposure to teams and players outside of their immediate geography proximity still matters but it’s no longer the only driver someone in the Bronx may have picked the Nets because of the buzz of the brief big three experiment a fan in Queens might cheer for the Yankees not because of accessibility but because Aaron home run highlights flooded their social feed the way fans discover and connect with teams is Shifting making fandom more fluid than ever yet for all the modern changes traditions still hold strong the Yankees and Giants benefit from generations of loyalty passed down like family heirlooms while teams like the Nets and the Jets work to carve out their own spaces in an already packed landscape these generational ties provide a sense of continuity but they also highlight the uphill battle for newer teams looking to win over a city that already has so much to choose from being a New York Sports Fan is about embracing the complexity it’s old versus new burough rivales versus Digital Trends and a city with too many teams for anyone to truly own and if you’re from New York City or thanks for watching [Music]

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With so many teams to choose from in the New York City area, what drives fans to pick one over the other?

#explained #sports #newyork #newyorkcity #yankees #giants #jets #mets #rangers #islanders #devils #knicks #nets #nyc #sports

0:00 Intro
1:11 The Foundations
2:40 Multi-Sport City
4:27 New Era
7:16 Nearby Neighbors
9:35 What to Make of it All

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