Best Two-Sport City? Ranking All 11 Places With Two Big-Four Franchises

Across the four major professional sports leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB), there are 48 different cities with a team. The two biggest cities, New York and Los Angeles, have multiple teams in each league while smaller cities, like Sacramento and Columbus, have just one team. There are 19 different cities that have one team and 29 multi-sport cities. The most common theme, though, is that of the two-sport city. Most have an NFL team and one of the other three, except for St. Louis,  who recently lost their NFL team, and Milwaukee, who has the nearby Green Bay Packers.

Fun Fact: Green Bay is the smallest of all 48 cities with a pro franchise, and it’s not even close. In fact, the next smallest city with a big-four team is Winnipeg and they have more than twice the population of Green Bay.

Here, we’re going to rank those 11 two-sport cities based on current attendance (two most recent seasons), championships (post 1980), and ESPN the Magazine‘s Ultimate Team Rankings. Each category was scored, then ranked 1-11 and combined — lowest score wins!

The pool: Baltimore, Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Nashville, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Seattle

Power Rankings For All 11 Two-Sport Cities:

T-10: Buffalo (Bills, Sabres)
-Attendance Rank: 5
-Title Rank: T-11
-ESPN Rank: 11
-Score: 27

While Buffalo did have O.J Simpson back in the day, they haven’t had a major star in their market in years. Plus, the Bills have made the playoffs just once since 2000 and the Sabres have missed out every year since 2011.

T-10: Milwaukee (Brewers, Bucks)
-Attendance Rank: 7
-Title Rank: T-11
-ESPN Rank: 9
-Score: 27

Things could change for Milwaukee very soon. The Brewers are the best team in the National League right now, despite having the fifth-lowest payroll, and the Bucks have a legitimate superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo.

9: Nashville (Predators, Titans)
-Attendance Rank: 2
-Title Rank: T-11
-ESPN Rank: 10
-Score: 23

Like the city of Milwaukee, Nashville is on the rise in the sports world. The Predators made the Stanley Cup last year and are a bonafide contender these days. The Titans also deserve some credit, as starting quarterback Marcus Mariota is a legit franchise guy.

8: Cincinnati (Bengals, Reds)
-Attendance Rank: 11
-Title Rank: 4
-ESPN Rank: 7
-Score: 22

Cincinnati, unfortunately, hasn’t had a lot to cheer for recently with their two teams on the downslope. Both the Bengals and Reds were perennial playoff teams for good portions of the last decade but have been awful for the last few seasons. With little help on the way, it could be a few years before things turn around.

7: Charlotte (Hornets, Panthers)
-Attendance Rank: 6
-Title Rank: T-11
-ESPN Rank: 3
-Score: 20

You’ve gotta be happy for Charlotte; they got their Hornets back, have a franchise quarterback in Cam Newton, and could be the destination for an MLB expansion team. While they suffered in these rankings from their lack of titles, the Panthers have appeared in two Super Bowls even though they were introduced in 1995.

6: Seattle (Mariners, Seahawks)
-Attendance Rank: 6
-Title Rank: 4
-ESPN Rank: 9
-Score: 19

Unfortunately, the Mariners pulled the Seahawks down here. And while the Mariners are currently rolling without their best player (Robinson Cano), they are still searching for their first-ever World Series appearance.

5: Kansas City (Chiefs, Royals)
-Attendance Rank: 8
-Title Rank: 3
-ESPN Rank: 7
-Score: 18

The Chiefs have made the playoffs five times since 2010 but have just one victory to show for it. On the bright side, the Royals spent time building their team organically and wound up securing a World Series trophy in 2015. However, because they’re a small market, the core-group was split up in order to keep their payroll down.

4: Baltimore (Orioles, Ravens)
-Attendance Rank: 10
-Title Rank: 1
-ESPN Rank: 4
-Score: 15

Despite being an awful team this year, the Orioles made the postseason as recently as 2016 and have one of the best ballparks in the country. While it looks bad now, I’m confident they’ll be contending again after tearing things down and begin their official rebuild. On the NFL side, the Ravens remain one of the most valuable and best-run franchises in the league.

3: New Orleans (Pelicans, Saints)
-Attendance Rank: 3
-Title Rank: 5
-ESPN Rank: 4
-Score: 12

The Pelicans get a lot of flack for not being a serious NBA franchise — even Bryan Curtis of The Ringer wrote about how they have part-time beat writers. Still, the numbers prove that people are going to their games (over 95-percent capacity from 2016-18). As for the Saints, well, NOLA loves them some Saints…and no one will argue that.

2: Indianapolis (Colts, Pacers)
-Attendance Rank: 4
-Title Rank: 4
-ESPN Rank: 2
-Score: 10

Indy ought to thank their lucky stars for Peyton Manning, and they’ll eventually need to do the same thing for Andrew Luck. Basketball-wise, they’ve been competitive for years but haven’t won a title since their ABA days in the 1970s. Still, in 49 states it’s just basketball, but this is Indiana.

1: St. Louis (Blues, Cardinals)
-Attendance Rank: 1
-Title Rank: 1
-ESPN Rank: 1
-Score: 3

Well, St. Louis pulled off the clean sweep of all two-sport cities, and it really is no surprise. After all, they had supported three pro sports for a long time until the Rams fled town for the bright lights of Los Angeles. Either way, the town is great for sports, especially baseball. Folks always say that Busch Stadium has the best fans and is one of the premier places to watch a game. Although I’ve never been, all this info proves that we should believe them.

Below is the spreadsheet used to rank the cities.