Best Cities for Soccer Fans? Hartford Ranks #8 Among Mid-size Cities

Professional soccer’s return to Hartford may be only months old, but the city is already gaining notice. A new national survey ranked Hartford as 8th best in the nation for soccer fans, among midsize cities hosting soccer franchises or with college soccer teams.

The website WalletHub compared nearly 300 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional soccer team across five divisions comprising 52 key metrics. The data set ranges from minimum season-ticket price for a game to stadium accessibility to number of championship wins.

Hartford Athletic is Connecticut’s new professional soccer franchise, which began play this spring in the United Soccer League. The club’s home field is a refurbished Dillon Stadium in Hartford.

Hartford ranks 40th overall and 8th among midsize cities. Among the individual categories, Hartford ranked:

• 31st – Min. Season-Ticket Price for USL Game

• 7th – USL Stadium Capacity

• 13th – USL Fan Engagement

Among mid-size cities, the “best” for fans, according to the analysis, were: Orlando, Salt Lake City, Cary (NC), Cincinnati, Charleston, Irvine, and Reno. Just behind Hartford on the list are Kansas City, KS, and St. Petersburg.

Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta and Kansas City, MO were the top large cities; New Brunswick, NJ and Bethlehem, PA were the leading small cities.