City hailed as best for sport
THE North West is home to the best and worst location to be a sports fan, according to research.
While Manchester was awarded the status as the UK’s Greatest Sporting City 2015, Blackpool was rated the worst out of 48th, according to research from ESPN and the Universitys of Gloucestershire and Bath.
Manchester topped the ranking after scoring highly in most of the 12 factors, which fans identified as key to a great sporting city. Among the categories: value for money, success, atmosphere, history, venues, transport links and more.
It was followed in the North West by Liverpool, which placed sixth nationally. Preston came third in the region, followed by Wigan in fourth.
Despite being home to the winning city, the North West is also the only region to have three cities in the bottom 10 Blackburn (39th), Bolton (45th), and last-placed Blackpool.
Steven Saunders, senior editor at ESPN said: “We set out to examine what really makes a great sporting city and knew that begins with fans. The factors they identified range from classic sporting themes, such as success and history, to more consumer-focused concerns, such as value for money and venues. Manchester adds another trophy to its cabinet and it is well deserved.
“The city scored highest in the country for local talent, showing that it’s not just big name buys like Aguero and Rooney but the likes of (rugby player) Mark Cueto and (Lancashire cricketer) James Anderson as well.”
Professor Andrew Parker from University of Gloucestershire, added:”Our research over several months was comprised of gathering opinions from in-depth focus groups, followed by an online survey of more than 5,000 sports fans from across the UK, which was then cross-referenced with third party data from more than 100 different sources. It was very thorough and the results provide much food for thought.”
