I'm old enough to remember when a fan's connection to a sports team was largely dependent on where he or she grew up or was influenced by family or friends. Increasingly, there has been a movement of fans becoming displaced and jaded in there home town loyalties.
Sometimes this is based on the lack of a team present (for example, Los Angeles has no current NFL team to call its own since both the Rams and Raiders left town. In addition, Seattle is without an NBA team since the Sonics left and moved to Oklahoma City).
Other times, however, it centers around team performance (see the Los Angeles Clippers) that prompts fans to bolt for greener pastures.
My feeling though is this: Athletes, regardless of professional sport, have become larger than life personalities and hometown loyalties have given way to rooting for whoever is your favorite player or players.
An example of this is that, although I root for the Lakers and Dodgers (since I grew up in Southern California), I have many players I root for in the NBA and in MLB that aren't playing in LA. As much as I like the Dodgers, I'll watch the Yankees because of Jeter and A-Rod. As much as I love the Lakers, I like watching other NBA teams too because of guys like Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan, etc.
That is not to say that people, millions of fans, don't root for the home team because many do. I'm just saying that you'll be more apt to find sports fans looking beyond their own hometown for teams they like and want to follow and cheer for.
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