Comments on: Detroit Red Wings rank as highest NHL team on Forbes' Best American Sports Fans list

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:54:22 +0000

I am a Hawks fan from the early 60′s. Their fan base has always been there, waiting for Dollar Bill Wirtz to go. NHL hockey surviving in the U.S. was built on the backs of Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. The number is 16,666. Fans at old Chicago Stadium, every game. My dad scalped (bought) $4.00 tickets for $15.00, IN 1963, to a Christmas night game against Toronto. They ruled Chicago then, and do now.

By: Cody

Cody — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:16:29 +0000

I am shocked that the Blackhawks are on this list. First off they just won a Stanley Cup and the whole time I have lived here no one spoke of the Hawks like they were no longer in Chicago. The Red Wings deserve to be on this list because those are some of the most devoted fans in the world and not just hockey, but sports in general I mean up until last season the Lions were selling out every home game. The Canadians needed to be on the list because they added some great headlines to the NHL and are the Yankees of Hockey (championships and hall of fame personal). Then again this was a US LIST so it did make sense after allowing the US list title sink in.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 02:22:29 +0000

Lol
“Moran”

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:25:36 +0000

montreal is the place with the craziest fans (atmospher in the bell center,attendance,tv…,and hockey knowledge)

By: Doc Emrick

Doc Emrick — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:39:18 +0000

The Black Hawks and Pens on this list. Only on a site from
Nothing
But
Crosby

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:53:38 +0000

These lists should go back over the past 30 years, so the pens 6 successful years are dampened. All you have to do is look at the Pens fans who claim to be Phillies fans as well to see the character of those fans. As someone who went to PSU (right between Philly and Pitt), I saw this every day. Their fans can’t name 5 players from 1995-2005 not named Jagr or Lemieux. My first two years at PSU there were no Pens jerseys, by the end of my final year they were everywhere. What a joke.

By: wingers

wingers — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:35:59 +0000

really?

By: Haha

Haha — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:20:19 +0000

By: James O'Brien

James O'Brien — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:19:15 +0000

I don’t know where to start with that “moranic” comment.

By: Gary Bettman

Gary Bettman — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:16:00 +0000

Read the criteria, haters. Home and away attendance – tell me who gets more fans at away games than the Wings, Pens, and Hawks? Merchandise sales – again, who sells more? Philly should be on the list but you don’t see much Flyers gear outside the greater Philly area, either. Popularity – of course the winning teams now are going to be popular! I’m actually surprised the Yankees aren’t higher on the list.
“For each team, we gathered three different metrics. First, we measured their home and away game attendance, which indicates a team’s drawing power in its home market and nationwide. Then we counted their merchandise sales (Numbers for the NFL, NBA and MLB were provided to us by Sportsonesource, a sporting good industry analyst, and the NHL gave us their own data). Finally, we ranked each team’s in-market popularity, based on surveys of American sports teams by Turnkey Sports and Entertainment. We ranked all of the teams, then took the top four from each of the four leagues.”

By: geography101

geography101 — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:06:13 +0000

You do realize that the United States OF America is only a small part of America? Get a brain moran.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:12:52 +0000

Hawks….”strong fan base for decades”? LMAO!! BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:53:54 +0000

how is chicago on this list. those bandwagon fans just found out about their hockey team 2 years ago

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:18:41 +0000

Leaving the MN Wild off this list (most wildly rabid fans in the NHL along with the Habs) totally blows its credibility in my opinion. Ten straight years of sellouts, MN Wild gear EVERYWHERE in the state, and highly profitable. The Blackhawks just became relevant again 2 or 3 years ago, and until then were running about 25% capacity at home games. This “list” is a joke.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:33:37 +0000

Pittsburgh? Really? A team with 3 bankruptcies on its record? That’s absurd. At least Chicago has an excuse in Bill Wirtz…Pittsburgh let Mario’s franchise die twice, and in 1975 the IRS had to lock the team out of its facilities for not having the money to pay its taxes. Some “great” fanbase…
The teams that I think belong on here are:
1. Detroit
2. Toronto
and in no particular order:
Montreal
Philly
San Jose
Those teams do well every year, even when they’re terrible (though for Detroit and San Jose it’s been a while). You can never really tell how loyal the Rangers fans are considering there’s like 7 million people in NY so they can surely find 20,000 to buy a ticket any given night. Could someone please fire Sather?

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:12:24 +0000

How the Rangers are not on this list is a little crazy. As loyal a fan as any in sports.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:55:25 +0000

Sad excuse for a list. How the Pens are on there, when the franchise has almost died twice, is beyond me. Philadelphia’s a much bigger draw, as we saw during the finals.

By: @keithdotson

@keithdotson — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:06:47 +0000

I agree with the Red Wings being where they are. It is not only the fan base in the city, but next away game, look at all the Wings jerseys in the crowd in places such as Anaheim and the like. One could argue that times are so tough all of the fans had to move out of the state to find jobs and come when the Wings are in town, but you saw this a decade ago and you are seeing it still today.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:42:01 +0000

i definitely think the flyers should have been on the list, theyre constantly on the top 5 for league attendance. no way the pens should b on there, a few years ago you could see tumbleweeds blowing through the stands. ever since they won the cup all the bandwagon fans jumped aboard. theyre basically the phillies, b4 the world series championship nobody wore anything phillies, now all i see is red shirts everywhere.

By: Hoog

Hoog — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:32:09 +0000

Once again, the Hawks have had a strong fanbase for decades. Bill Wirtz did everything he could to destroy the team, and its fanbase. If the owner essentially tells the fans, f.u., what are the fans supposed to do, support him? This isn’t Atlanta, Phoenix, Tampa, or Carolina, where hockey is a new thing. EVERY team has bandwagon jumpers when things are good. EVERY TEAM.