Hartford, New Haven Among Best Mid-Size Cities for Soccer Fans

Photo byHartford Athletic

With professional and college soccer increasing in popularity as the pandemic wanes, Connecticut has a half dozen of the best communities for soccer fans, led by Hartford at #8, according to a new analysis by the financial services website WalletHub. Hartford is home of the Hartford Athletic of the United Soccer League (USL).

WalletHub compared 300 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional soccer team across 52 key metrics. The data set ranges from the minimum season-ticket price to stadium accessibility to performance on the pitch.

The top ten mid-size cities according to the rankings are Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Cary NC, Kansas City KS, Charleston, Birmingham, St. Petersburg, Hartford, Providence, and South Bend.  New Haven ranked #17, among the 77 mid-size cities in the analysis. 

Among 165 small cities, Storrs is ranked #17, Hamden is ranked #29 and Fairfield is next at #30. New Britain is ranked #45.

Hartford ranked #1 for USL fan engagement among the mid-size cities, sixth in USL stadium capacity, 15th in minimum season ticket prices, and 20th in performance level of its USL team, the Hartford Athletic.  Among all cities included in the rankings, including the nation’s largest cities, Hartford earned a place in the top 50, ranking at #46.  The top large cities were Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland OR, Orlando, Washington DC, Kansas City MO, New York, Atlanta, Miami and Cincinnati.  Boston ranked #16.

“America has a late-blooming but clear passion for soccer,” said WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe.  Added University of Michigan assistant profession Mike Lorenc: “Although long-term prospects for soccer remain quite bright, the U.S. soccer landscape faces several challenges: It will continue to compete for U.S. fans' attention (and wallets) with both domestic sports (football, basketball, soccer, and baseball), but also well-established global soccer leagues and teams.”

In the ranking analysis, Large Cities: More than 300,000 people; Midsize Cities: 100,000 to 300,000 people; Small Cities: Fewer than 100,000 people. Data used to create the ranking were collected by WalletHub as of April 23, 2024 from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Collegiate Athletic Association, ESPN, Soccer Stadium Digest, National Soccer Hall of Fame, FlashScore, Google Trends, MLS, Forbes, each team’s website and each team’s social media accounts.