All Ten Big 12 Communities Make Sporting News' Top 100 Best Sports Cities

Sporting News recently published its annual list of Best Sports Cities in America. All 10 Big 12 cities were among the top 100 in the listing of 271 cities around the country, headed by Norman, Oklahoma (as part of the Oklahoma City area), where the University of Oklahoma is located, at No, 26.

Dallas/Ft. Worth, home of the 2010-11 NBA-champion Dallas Mavericks and the Texas Rangers, two-time American League champions, is this year's Best Sports City, according to the Sporting News survey. Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston and Detroit were the previous four winners. Boston and Philadelphia were second and third in the current survey results. This is the 18th year for the Best Sports Cities list, which debuted in 1993 (the survey was not published in 1996).

College Station, home of Texas A&M, was the second most popular Big 12 city, coming in at No. 54 on the Sporting News list. Columbia, Mo. (Missouri), ranked 60th; Stillwater, Okla. (Oklahoma State), 63; Manhattan, Kan. (Kansas State), 74; Austin, Texas (Texas), 76; Waco, Texas (Baylor), 85; Lawrence, Kan. (Kansas), 86; Lubbock, Texas (Texas Tech), 90, and Ames, Iowa (Iowa State), 96.

The Greater Kansas City area, which is considered home to the Royals of Major League Baseball, the NFL Chiefs and Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer, in addition to being close in proximity to three Big 12 Conference schools (Kansas, Missouri and Kansas State), came in 42nd on the list.

In compiling the rankings, the Sporting News editors consider more than just championships by the local teams. The time frame for the evaluation is 12 months, from summer to summer. A point system is applied, with values assigned to various categories, including but not limited to won-lost records, postseason appearances, applicable power rankings, the number of teams (professional and college) in the area and attendance.

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