This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Is Cullowhee, N.C. better than Salt Lake City? How about DeKalb, Ill.?
According to a new WalletHub study, those cities top SLC in at least one category: The sports scene.
Salt Lake City was ranked as the 59th best sports city in the country by measuring 423 cities across the nation — but fared better as the 10th best midsize sports city. The study was conducted by calculating more than 50 metrics, including performance levels of the city's teams and average ticket prices.
SLC was among the top choices as both a basketball market and soccer market — ranking fourth on the hardwood and 10th on the pitch, but was rated much lower on the heavily-weighted football scale as the 221st best city and finished 161st for baseball.
The midsize cities that beat out Salt Lake City were: Green Bay, Wis., Cincinnati, Ohio, Orlando, Fla., Buffalo, N.Y., Baton Rouge, La., Durham, N.C., Charleston, S.C., Eugene, Ore., and Dayton, Ohio.
Read the entire study results here.
— Brennan Smith
Twitter: @BrennanJSmith