Cleveburgh Showdown

There is a big game tomorrow night for Cleveburgh. The Pittsburgh Steelers are traveling to Cleveland to play the Browns on prime time television. This rivalry, this tradition, has been on the rocks since the Browns franchise picked up and moved to Baltimore. But the hatred is the stuff of Greek mythology. It is a blood feud, a loathing fueled by familiarity. According to DIRECTV, the center of the Steelers Diaspora is in Cleveland:

Below are the U.S. cities/DMAs (Designated Market Areas) featuring the largest out-of-market fan base for each NFL team (based on percentage of NFL SUNDAY TICKET(TM) subscribers in the DMA that have listed the specific team as their favorite). The results exclude all DMAs that are within the home territory of the local team.

1. Arizona Cardinals - St. Louis, MO

2. Atlanta Falcons - Greenville-Spartanburg, SC / Asheville, NC

3. Baltimore Ravens - Harrisburg-Lancaster, PA

4. Buffalo Bills - Orlando-Daytona, FL

5. Carolina Panthers - Norfolk, VA

6. Chicago Bears - Las Vegas, NV

7. Cincinnati Bengals - Charleston-Huntington, WV

8. Cleveland Browns - Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL

9. Dallas Cowboys - Washington, DC

10. Denver Broncos - Las Vegas, NV

11. Detroit Lions - Orlando-Daytona, FL

12. Green Bay Packers - Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

13. Houston Texans - Fresno-Visalia, CA

14. Indianapolis Colts - Knoxville, TN

15. Jacksonville Jaguars - Norfolk, VA

16. Kansas City Chiefs - Des Moines, IA

17. Miami Dolphins - Atlanta, GA

18. Minnesota Vikings - Des Moines-Ames, IA

19. New England Patriots - Orlando-Daytona, FL

20. New Orleans Saints - Jackson, MS

21. New York Giants - West Palm Beach, FL

22. New York Jets - West Palm Beach, FL

23. Oakland Raiders - Las Vegas, NV

24. Philadelphia Eagles - Baltimore, MD

25. Pittsburgh Steelers - Cleveland, OH

26. San Diego Chargers - Las Vegas, NV

27. San Francisco 49ers - Portland, OR

28. Seattle Seahawks - Portland, OR

29. St. Louis Rams - Fresno-Visalia, CA

30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Greenville-Spartanburg, SC / Asheville,
NC

31. Tennessee Titans - San Antonio, TX

32. Washington Redskins - Raleigh-Durham, NC

Methodology

-- To be considered "out-of-market" or "displaced," the
customer's favorite team must be out of state and more than
100 miles away from the customer's location

-- An "out-of-market" or "displaced" fan must not be within the
Home Team Territory (based on zip codes)

-- The criteria used to determine the largest out-of-market fan
base was the percentage of specific team fans within the DMA

-- Percentages of fan base were used to balance the distinct size
of each DMA consumer base and eliminate bias based on raw
number of fans

Source: DIRECTV

I included the entire results and methodology for my future reference, but champions of other domestic urban diasporas might make use of the information. The out-of-market designation is of great interest to me and I need to further explore that metric. Relevant to this post is the result for the greatest concentration of displaced Steelers fans: Cleveland.

Okay, so displaced Browns fans are significantly pooling in Tampa/St. Pete. Are Steelers fans taking over Cleveland? No, that's not the case, but there is substantial churn of human capital between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has an impressive economic geography that overalys a contiguous region including Cleveland, Columbus, Youngstown, Akron, Erie, Morgantown, and even Washington, DC.

That's Cleveburgh.