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Wall Street Journal: St. Louis Is the Top Sports City in 2015

Despite what Rams owner Stan Kroenke says, St. Louis is the best sports city in America, according to a new ranking.

By Lindsay Toler January 7, 2016 10:00 AM

St. Louis was the winningest sports city in North America last year, despite the Rams' 7-8 season.

Three days before St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke trashed our city for being too small and poor to support any NFL team, the Wall Street Journal named St. Louis the No. 1 sports city in North America.

Take that, Silent Stan.

The WSJ studied the 21 North American cities with at least three major-league teams (sorry, Kansas City) and ranked them according to their total winning percentages across the four major-league sports—baseball, football, hockey, and basketball—during the calendar year 2015.

Even without a basketball team, St. Louis stands firmly in first place, with a .622 average winning percentage. In second place is Pittsburgh, with a .581 score, followed by Dallas, at .566. Philadelphia comes in last, at .375.

A cursory look at the numbers shows that St. Louis reached the top spot thanks to strong performances on the diamond and in the rink, not on the gridiron. In 2015, the Cardinals went 100-62 and the Blues had a 52-25-8 record; the Rams went 7-8, with a winning percentage that is .155 below St. Louis’ average score.

“The Cardinals and Blues helped propel St. Louis to the top of the heap in 2015,” the WSJ proclaims.

This isn’t the first time the WSJ has covered St. Louis’ reputation as a dynamic and supportive sports city. On the eve of the Cardinals’ first 2015 playoffs game, reporter Matthew Futterman called the ‘Lou “the ultimate baseball town” thanks to its die-hard fans, high game day attendance numbers, and legacy of professional baseball players who choose to make St. Louis their home.

“Here, even the yoga instructors wear Cardinals jerseys,” Futterman said. “The players work in a love bubble.”

In the story, former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa explains why he thinks St. Louis is such a great sports town. His answer stands in stark opposition to the picture painted by Kroenke months later:

“St. Louis is the only place where—if you try—the fans are with you whether you win or lose.”

This is hilarious. A lot of St. Louis backers throw this out as contradicting what Kroenke said.

But what is it based on? St. Louis is the best sports town to be a fan because their teams win the most.

Yet they tell us they can't go see the Rams because they don't win enough? No fans have it better overall when it comes to winning teams.

And of course, nothing the WSJ says contradicts a single claim Kroenke made...

So basically the WSJ is calling St Louis fans band wagon fans?

The timing of all of this is almost comical. Watch Fabianos use this to go to town.

It says St. Louis is the best city to be a fan in because of the teams.

It doesn't say St. Louis is the best city to be a team in because of the fans.

Kroenke should have cited it in his proposal...

It's based off of regular season winning percentages. They didn't even factor in playoffs.

It's also kind of a misquote by the author of his own work. What he's really saying is the best city to be a fan in is St Louis. He's not saying the best city for sports teams is St Louis.

Not sure how STL folks can claim this as a victory. Looks at the Blues, been winning but they still lose money and have for the last 9 years.

This is funny...

Even without a basketball team, St. Louis stands firmly in first place, with a .622 average winning percentage. In second place is Pittsburgh, with a .581 score, followed by Dallas, at .566. Philadelphia comes in last, at .375.

How does adding a basketball team improve your chances getting a higher winning percentage?

Another math school dropout.