Washington, D.C. ranks fourth among large cities and 13th overall out of more than 280 others on WalletHub’s list of best cities for college basketball fans in 2019.
Ranking third for the number of Division 1 teams, the District landed the eighth spot for the number of conference championships and the 16th for national titles taken.
Philadelphia was included in the top 10 cities as one of the best in America for college basketball fans. It earned the No. 7 overall rank on the list and ranked No. 2 among large cities. Lawrence, Kansas got the top spot nationwide, while Durham, North Carolina, and Los Angeles were ranked second and third respectively among the top 10 cities.
WalletHub analyzed more than 280 U.S. cities using nine key metrics to determine the top rankings, including the number of teams per city, each team’s winning percentage, stadium capacity, and social media engagement.
Cities were also ranked on population size:. More than 300,000 people for large cities, 100,000 to 300,000 people for midsize cities, and less than 100,000 people for smaller cities.
“Basketball is popular pretty much everywhere in the U.S., and it is becoming popular in most places around the world, so it is difficult to pick just one place,” said Brendan Dwyer, Associate Professor, Director of Research & Distance Learning, Center for Sport Leadership, School of Business, Virginia Commonwealth University, when asked about the best cities for college basketball fans.
“But, I have always been impressed with Dayton, OH. They host the First Four of the NCAA Tournament which is played on Tuesday and Wednesday after the games are announced just 48 hours before,” Dwyer added.
Data used for the rankings was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, ESPN, Sports Reference, NCAA.org, and also from the website of each team.