The high attendance at Carolina Panthers games, Lowe's Motor Speedway, college football games and basketball events in Charlotte apparently hasn�t gone unnoticed.
Men�s Health Magazine ranked Charlotte as the No. 9 sports-obsessed city in the United States. The ranking of 100 major U.S. cities appears in the July/August issue of the magazine.
The magazine counted how many people in a given city attend college and professional baseball, basketball and football games in a given city. NASCAR attendance, the number of people vying for sports tickets and team apparel and the number of fans calling themselves foam-finger-waving fanatics also was taken into account, according to a news release from Men�s Health.
Arlington, Texas, was rated No. 1, followed by Aurora, Colo.; Colorado Springs; Indianapolis, and Columbus, Ohio. Miami was ranked last in the survey.
In the Carolinas, Raleigh (18), Durham (33), Greensboro (35) and Columbia (83) also were included in the rankings.
Charlotte�s passion for the Panthers, auto racing and college sports apparently more than offset the Bobcats� struggles. But before Charlotte civic leaders pump their chests up too big over the ranking, they need to look at the entire list.
Coming in at No. 10, just one spot behind Charlotte, was the thriving sports metropolis of Anchorage, Alaska
