Michigan Cities Ranked Among Best + Worst For Basketball Lovers

Happy friends or basketball fans watching basketball game on tv and celebrating victory at home.

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The ongoing NBA playoffs started on April 15th, with many basketball enthusiasts eagerly following the games. A recent report by the personal finance website WalletHub has identified cities that are both ideal and not-so-great for basketball lovers.

To determine the top cities for basketball enthusiasts, they conducted a comparison of over 290 of the largest cities, utilizing 21 key metrics. These metrics included the performance of both NBA and NCAA Division 1 basketball teams, as well as factors such as ticket prices and stadium accessibility.

Detroit ranks number 24.

Detroit has an overall rank of 24 with a total score of 33.04. The website also ranked Detroit for having one of the worst-performing NBA teams just below Orlando. They calculated this by dividing “Number of Wins” by “Total Games Played” and using the past three seasons’ averages. As far as college basketball, Ann Arbor Michigan fell a bit lower in the ranking and was placed at number 44 with a total score of 21.49. Meanwhile, its rival East Lansing ranked at number 31 with a total score of 27.74.

Several cities in Michigan were also ranked, such as Mount Pleasant (ranked 180), Rochester Hills (ranked 192), Ypsilanti (ranked 171), and Kalamazoo (ranked 280).

Highlights from the study.

The average ticket price for NBA games in Charlotte, North Carolina is only $32.82, the lowest in the league. In contrast, San Francisco has the highest ticket price at $139.49, which is 4.3 times more costly.

Among NBA teams, the Milwaukee Bucks have the highest performance level at 67.60%, which is 2.4 times higher than that of the Detroit Pistons - the team with the lowest performance level at 28.71%.

According to the study, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have the most impressive performance level out of all the college basketball teams with a percentage of 92.77, which is 10.9 times greater than the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils - the team with the lowest percentage of 8.49.

Interestingly, the NBA team in Miami has the most engaged fans with a score of 43.96, which is significantly higher than the city with the lowest score, New York, at 1.47.

View the full report and see how other cities ranked here.

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Kayla MorganEditor

Kayla is the midday host on Detroit’s 105.1 The Bounce. She started her career in radio back in 2016 as an intern at another Detroit station and worked her way here. She's made stops in Knoxville, TN, Omaha, Ne and other places before returning to Detroit. She’s done almost everything in radio from promotions to web, creating content on social media, you name it. She’s a true Michigander, born and raised. So, you can catch her camping or vacationing up north to exploring the downtown Detroit or maybe even catching a sports game. During her free time, Kayla enjoys watching movies, roller-skating, crafting, and music festivals. She and her husband together dip into many of the great things Michigan has to offer. Together they also like to travel. A few hobbies of hers include wine and beer tastings, crafting, hiking, roller skating, movies, home improvement projects, gardening, and festivals. She’s always looking to take on more local events happening in the community. She loves connecting with the community. When writing, Kayla covers topics including lifestyle, pop culture, trending stories, hacks, and urban culture.