Quote Originally Posted by MrRedLegger View Post
Cincinnati is a major city there's no doubt. I think the OP was trying to touch on the size of the fan base and home game attendance.


Consider geographics. Cleveland attracts pretty much all of Ohio fan bases minus Cincinnati through the south side of Columbus. Indianapolis is only 2 hours away, and although there is a big chunk of the fan base there I'd say thar Indiana's fan market also shares with one of Chicago's two teams, Milwaukee, and/or Detroit. To the east you have Pennsylvania which is home to 2 professional traditioin-rich ballclubs in cities with huge populations. Kentucky supports the Reds (and Louisville bats) but we all know that Cats Basketball is the blood type of 95% of Kentuckians.

For what it is, I think Cincinnati is thriving as a city and is doing very well as a fan market for their sports. The Cyclones have won the Kelly Cup twice in the last 4 years and their games are GREAT to go watch. UC football has had success despite Brian Kelly's antics. The crosstown shootout is as fired up as it could be.

Look for Reds attendance to go up yet again next year. No one is looking more forward to opening day than Reds Nation.

Besides, in case you didn't know, Lonely Planet Travel Guide ranked Cincinnati USA as a top 3 travel destination. So let's go! "Book your stay at Cincinnati USA dot commmmm!!"

you all just sang that song in your head when you read it.
I just wanted to clarify this. I would say Indianapolis is almost exclusively Reds/Cubs. You may see small factions of White Sox/Cardinals fans, but Tigers fans are rare. In the early 2000s, especially after the Cubs had a run, I would say Reds fans were diminishing. Even though Indy has always gotten WLW, no games were televised (not even nationally because the Reds stunk and weren't featured) and even if you wanted to see games, they were blacked out by all the available packages. Cubs games, by contrast, were still televised pretty frequently on WGN and as mentioned previously, the Cubs were a very good team. It was depressing in 2003. I had never seen so many Cubs come out of the woodwork as I had then and they were annoying.

In either 2006 or 2007, Fox Sports Indiana began televising most Reds games, which has been a huge boost, while WGN televises fewer Cubs games. It also doesn't hurt that the Reds are now good and the Cubs are lousy. Even the local Indianapolis Sports Radio shows now talk about the Reds in their commentary. I'd guess the majority of fans in Indy are now Reds fans, with Cubs fans being secondary.