wildcats20 wrote: ^^People think Cavs fans are bandwagon because most of them came out of the woodwork when Bron was drafted.

That's true. It happens everywhere though. I've been a Cavs fan all my life, but I only went to a handful of games before Lebron. It's just funny when people single out Cleveland just to bash their fans.

IMO, The Cavs, Jazz, Portland and Golden St.

This list should be unanimous for other.

Utah and Sacramento are the top 2 fan bases. After that, I would say LeBron, Dallas, and Portland round out the top 5 in no specific order.

Edit: Cleveland wasn't the right word.

Get the fuck out... I hate when people say "LeBron is the only reason..blah, blah, blah..."

Notice the crowd here in the 90's..



1976



The Cavs went through a putrid stretch in the late 90's to the early 2000's.. Of course the fans aren't going to show up like they are now..

Utah has only had ONE losing season in 22 years.. I wonder why their fan base is so great?

Sacramento had TERRIBLE attendance issues last season... So much so, that the team almost went bankrupt. In fact, they could be relocated.

Dallas? LMAO. If you complain about Cleveland, how can you put Dallas on this list?

Sacramento has a smaller arena. They had poor attendance last year, but still filled 72.6% capacity. This year, a losing team that went 17-65 last season is filling 77% capacity. That's nowhere near as bad as the Cavs at their low points.

And when they win they don't just sell tickets, they sell OUT every single game.

Obviously the Cavs attendance isn't all because of LeBron now. Fans always support a winning team (although they might not be winning without LeBron so it technically COULD still all be because of him). But it was all because of LeBron to get the ball rolling.

The only proof you should need is that attendance jumped from dead last in the NBA (55.9% capacity and under 12k per game) from the year below LeBron arrived to 88.9% his rookie year. If the rookie was ANYONE other than LeBron attendance would have continued sucking until they won. DaJuan Wagner isn't putting 6000 more people in the seats per night.

And the Cavs still didn't sell out consistently until they starting winning big, even with LeBron. They didn't average over 95% attendance per home game until his 4th season.

95% is very good, but like I said, when Sacramento was winning (even without a hometown hero and possibly the best player in the NBA) they still sold out every game for several years in a row.

And Dallas has been in the top 4 in attendance for at least the last 8 seasons. ESPN doesn't go back any farther than that.

By the way, I didn't complain about Cleveland at all, I just think (and the statistics would agree) that there are far more passionate LeBron fans in Cleveland than Cavs fans.

LTrain, good pick with Golden State. I would include them as an addendum to my original fan "report" above. Can't believe I left them out. The Warriors have always had a great basketball following. East Bay is definitely hoops crazy.

dave wrote: detroit fans are bandwagon fans just like almost everyone else. the end of last year nobody was at the games, id say they are more loyal than cavs fans though.

Detroit fans must be real bandwagon fans seeing as they led the league in attendance almost every season of the past decade. The economy in Detroit hurt attendance a bunch and trading Billups lost them some fans as well. And yet they are still 9th in the league this year. Let's see how many fans are still going to Cavs games next year if Lebron decides to leave. Since no one was at Cavs games before he got there, wouldn't surprise me at all if it went right back to that if he leaves.

Utah has some of the best fans in the league. Always there, tough place to play, and great atmosphere. Spurs fans have been very good as well over the years.

Id say the Jazz, but its a little bit skewed as its the only professional...and for all intents and purposes, team in general (no college)...for the people to root for.