Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes

Sporting News, The, Oct 4, 1993 by Bruce Schoenfeld

But Atlanta may be the front- runner. It has the population and the affluence, and the luring of the 1996 Olympics proved that it has become a world - class sports town. Also, a new Atlanta team can communicate with its prospective fan base on a level of sophistication that the other Sun Belt cities can't match. When it comes to the NHL, these fans have seen it all before.

Where the action is

Unlike in the NFL, NBA and major league baseball, the NHL does not concentrate its teams in the largest metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada. in fact, it's not even close.

The NFL has at least one team in all but two of the top 25 U.S. markets and soon may increase that number by expanding into St. Louis or Baltimore or both.

Baseball has even better representation in the top American markets. Every American team is located within the top 25 markets; only Washington, Phoenix and Tampa-St. Petersburgs do not field teams. The Blue Jays and Expos are in Canada's two most-populous cities, Toronto and Montreal, the 12th- and 13th-largest metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada.

The NBA is in 19 of the 25 markets and is expected to add Toronto to the league soon.

Then there's the NHL. Although it is the only league to field three teams in the New York area, it has teams in only 13 of the top 25 U.S. markets. On the flip side, the eight Canadian teams are located in Canada's eight largest cities. But as the chart shows, Canada's eighth-largest city, Quebec, is the 73rd-largest in the U.S. and Canada

The chart that follows shows who has hockey, who doesn't and why in the top 25 metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada, Population is in millions and reflects 1990 census figures. ures.

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