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- A year into a life in Boston I blog about my experience as a sports fan in Titletown USA
- From my experience – Boston really is a proper ‘sports city’ – fans take their sports very seriously. “The Hub” as Boston is also called is a hub for sports and sports culture
- Also, after another year of Business Of Sport – update on some exciting developments
A year into life in Boston there’s one thing I’m sure of – this place is a sports city. More than anywhere else I’ve ever lived before. I previously blogged on my initial experience of moving to Titletown USA here also.
Boston fans are deadly serious about their sports teams and the success and failures of the city’s beloved teams fill the airwaves, the TV and online chatter.
Coming directly from London where I previously was, which boasts 13 football clubs (or soccer clubs depending on your terminology), this might seem strange. Countless times I saw sports fans, from all nations in England’s capital for games and events. Yet, maybe due to the vastness of London, all it can offer – from food, to culture and a population of eight million to boot, it never felt like a city fueled by sports solely. It always offered sports, but so much more.
Yet coming to Boston, a much smaller city, this place does have that a feeling of being a collective of sports obsessives. Again, there’s no science behind this, my viewpoint is built from my experience here solely and this blog post reflects this.
The thing that has become most obvious to me regarding Boston’s love for its teams is that many fans are into nearly all the major sports. An NBA fan will also support the Red Sox (the MLB) as well as The New England Patriots (the NFL). Contrast this to the European experience, most sports fans will of course support other sports, but countless numbers of my friends really only follow their football teams with regular devotion.
It also helps that Boston teams have consistently been extremely successful in the “major” sports leagues that Americans care most about.
- The Boston Celtics, Boston Bruins, Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots can all boast a championship win since 2011.
- Beyond this, The Celtics are one of the most storied franchises in the NBA.
- The Boston Bruins are one of the “Original Six” teams to found the NHL.
- The Boston Red Sox had until 2004 the most famous curse in all of sports (now replace, in my opinion by Mayo’s Curse of 51) and won a World Series as recently as 2018.
- In the span of 20+ years, The New England Patriots transformed from the “Patsies” (due to how bad they always were) to six-times Super Bowl winners.
So why might this be such a sports-obsessed place? Disclaimer again here, I’m no sociologist, I’m just calling it as I’ve seen it in over a year here. Do we call this type of thing a hot take these days?
Here in Boston, it seems to be a collective support for all their teams, even the MLS’ New England Revolution, which is by far the least supported of all the Boston teams. It is nearly like a collective pride for each sport which these teams represent and by extension, pride in their city.
In a city also referred to, by its own inhabitants, as The Hub (not, famously and erroneously Beantown), pride in all things Boston is important to people here. Even the nickname of The Hub gives an indication of this. It came from an essay in 1858 from Oliver Wendell Holmes in which he wrote: “Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system”. As detailed by this article by Boston’s own WGBH, “the solar system quickly graduated to the city of Boston as the hub of the whole universe. The written record suggests that phrase was adopted quickly and widely.” Yet Holmes was a satirist!
One unique thing also about American sports is the volume of games that teams play in a season. While in football/soccer, teams could play close to 60+ games in a season (including European games, leagues and cups), in baseball, the regular-season consists of a whopping 162 games. In the NBA, it can consist of 72 games, before the Playoffs even hit.
This means, for me anyway, as a sports fan you’ve got plenty of games, across the major sports to devote your time and attention to. Red Sox games from March, Patriots games from September, Celtics and Bruins games from October. Even the exotic New England Revolution team traditionally kicks off its season from March for those true diehard fans. Supporting each Boston team is a serious, year-long commitment.
The Latest Business Of Sport Posts
- Why you should visit the College Football Hall Of Fame In Atlanta
- Home run! What it’s really like at a Boston Red Sox baseball game
- How the American Cornhole League is turning the sport pro
This blog is written during the age of Covid-19 when I haven’t even had a chance to visit Fenway Park, or enjoy the delights offered by the TD Garden for Bruins or Celtics games, or even get stuck in a two-hour traffic jam leaving Foxboro Stadium after a Patriots or Revolution game.
For Business Of Sport, it’s been a great experience moving over here.
Firstly, to be in a country where football/soccer results aren’t even mentioned on the news has been a serious switch from my European-focused sporting mind. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen rugby mentioned! While football/soccer is a global game (and is increasing in popularity rapidly in the US), you wouldn’t know it from American media – the NFL, followed by the NBA, followed by the MLB/NHL dominate here.
Also, the way fans view their sports superstars is quite different. While Barcelona fans fret about Lionel Messi leaving his only club (and expect him to stay), in American sports, it is expected star players will just automatically go where the money is, regardless of any intercity rivalries. Fans here understand their sports are just driven by money and that’s the way it is. Take the case of superstar baseball player Mookie Betts – traded from the Boston Red Sox, following a World Series win to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Money was heavily involved (along with a whole host of reasons), especially with Betts earning a contract worth an eye-watering $365 million over twelve years, yes twelve years. For a European, this still somewhat seems like a strange concept. Some degree of loyalty, even in money-mad football/soccer does still exist (read this blog post for more about that).
The Boston sports, Covid-experience included, has been amazing. I still struggled with the rules of ice hockey and baseball to be honest, but there’s no doubt I’m a converted Boston sports fan for life now. Much of this has to do with how important the sports team are to people in this great city. It really feels like a community experience cheering these teams on. For that, I’m thankful.
Also, a significant thank you to my friends at Feedspot. Business Of Sport was featured as one of Feedspot’s Top 10 Sports Marketing Blogs – see it here. It is very prestigious to be included in such an auspicious list of top-tier bloggers and commentators which I aspire to.
Four years into this journey, we’re still going strong, thanks to support from loyal readers like yourself. You’ll see some exciting developments in the coming weeks, including the launch of a podcast. The details are still underwraps but it should debut at some stage this month.
