Is Atlanta the most important city in the South? - Page 3

TexasPlaya · #41 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:03 AM**

ATL= king of the Southeast
Houston = king of the Gulf Coast

DFW= the new Chicago? I think DFW is probably the most important "southern city" with the brightest future. But their sports teams make me sick

BnaBreaker · #42 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:12 AM**

Is Atlanta the most important city in The South?

Yes... and also no! The most important city in The South is whichever southern city you live in or is your personal favorite. There. Everyone satisfied? Good... then let's move on.

wwmiv · #43 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Is Atlanta the most important city in The South?

Yes... and also no! The most important city in The South is whichever southern city you live in or is your personal favorite. There. Everyone satisfied? Good... then let's move on.

In that case: Jacksonville, Florida is the most important city in the south.

DCReid · #44 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:22 AM**

I would say the south will be multimode with no cities dominating like Chicago or NYC. Most of the major southern cities are really dominated by their suburbs. DFW is really dominated by the cities between D and FW, and most of the explosive growth and business relocations are in the suburbs. Atlanta city is only 500K in a metro over 5 million. Houston city at 2.2 million is major for the metro but it seems that most of the business growth is now occurring in the suburbs. Miami metro sprawls up through West Palm Beach...it's possible that a certain industry cluster catches fire and gives the metro more prominence. Houston was that way, certainly in the 80s and early 2000's with oil/gas, and the SF Bay area is obviously like that now with the tech titans. Of course fortunes can change and the metros can lose prominence, like Detroit has. It's hard to say how Houston will fare in the future - it's probably being cushioned and benefiting from the growing and prominent state of Texas.

Quixote · #45 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 5:35 AM**

How many times has this topic come up? Texas and Florida are their own regions; DC/NoVA/MD is sort of its own little entity... not quite Northeast, but too Northern to be truly Southern.

Atlanta is the clear hub and geographic crossroads of the South, with Georgia being the state most people (myself included) readily associate with the region. It's equidistant to two other booming "new South" cities in Charlotte and Nashville and, driving-mile wise, is also (relatively) equally proximate to DC, Miami, Dallas, and Houston. Atlanta is also a big college football town and home to an SEC (absolutely synonymous with Southern US culture) powerhouse in the UGA Bulldogs (technically Athens, but same metro area).

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-in-the-south/

lio45 · #46 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 7:47 AM**

11% of respondents don't consider Georgia part of the South?!? Where did they find those people?

llamaorama · #47 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 2:37 PM**

Some cities are good candidates for being called "capital" of a geographic region while others can be important places but not have that kind of relationship with their surroundings?

Atlanta has been such an important hotbed of culture and politics and economic activity in the South that you could call it the capital of the south.

To me, the things that make Houston important or famous are sort of stand-alone in nature, like the energy industry, medicine, nasa, tech, etc. I think being in proximity to Austin and Dallas diminishes how Texan we can claim to be while being in proximity to New Orleans means we can't really claim to be Southern/Gulf Coast either.

Sport teams allegiance could be a proxy:

Not saying it isn't just because the Texans are a younger expansion franchise but still...

source: Gizmodo, "A County-By-County Map Of NFL Allegiance"

Steely Dan · #48 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 2:50 PM**

^ with the Rams move to LA and the Raiders move to Vegas, we need a new NFL fandom map.

My guess is that nevada will cease to be cowboys country very soon, if it hasn't happened already.

And LA is obviously Rams country again, as it always should have been.

And STL is probably now part of chiefs nation, especially with the recent SB win (everybody loves a winner).

brickell · #49 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Some cities are good candidates for being called "capital" of a geographic region while others can be important places but not have that kind of relationship with their surroundings?

Yes, and I think Atlanta draws the most from what most people consider the South and deserves that title. Miami on the other hand draws from the world but I doubt people living in Dothan or Florence think about it very much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Sport teams allegiance could be a proxy:

Not saying it isn't just because the Texans are a younger expansion franchise but still...

source: Gizmodo, "A County-By-County Map Of NFL Allegiance"

I thought about using this too. But baseball is probably more accurate.

pj3000 · #50 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:25 PM**

^ There's definitely not that many Pirates fans. Northern PA is mainly Indians and Yankees.

And for the NFL allegiance, Steelers territory is also definitely not that large across PA. Northern PA is a big mix of Browns, Bills, Steelers, Eagles, and Giants.

Steely Dan · #51 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 3:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by brickell

jeez, the braves have an absolutely gigantic hinterland for a team east of the mississippi.

MLB's northeast/midwest legacy bias is on full display in that map.

excising the florida and texas extremities, the braves are the lone MLB team for the balance of the south, an absolutely huge and very populated swath of the nation!

the NFL and NBA both have 4 teams in that same geography (the NHL only has 2, but the sunbelt has been a mixed-bag for the NHL for obvious reasons).

pj3000 · #52 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 4:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

jeez, the braves have an absolutely gigantic hinterland for a team east of the mississippi.

excising the florida and texas extremities, the braves are the lone MLB team for the balance of the south, an absolutely huge and very populated swath of the nation!

Braves territory includes much of Florida too, with more Floridian allegiance to the Braves than either the Marlins or Rays.

Florida definitely had a hodgepodge fandom, given the state's transplant nature, but the Braves with Ted Turner's WTBS Superstation really made a push to grow a fanbase there in the 1970s and 80s, which became strong enough with a winning franchise to gain a foothold and continue to supersede the Marlins and Devil Rays, which didn't arrive on the scene until the early and late 90s, respectively. Florida was always Braves and Yankees turf before the local expansion teams came into being. Most of the state was Braves, with Miami area mainly being a mix of Yankees (due to NY transplants and snowbirds and Cubans) and other northern hometown teams.

The two most popular teams in Florida: the Braves and the Yankees
https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2015/03/26...d-the-yankees/

brickell · #53 Posted **Jan 5, 2021, 4:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj3000

Braves territory includes much of Florida too, with more Floridian allegiance to the Braves than either the Marlins or Rays.

I didn't grow up a baseball fan, but if baseball was on it was either Braves (TBS), Cubs (WGN) or Yankees (everything else). So I was more or less a Braves fans, especially during the Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz era. Only turned on to the Marlins when I started actually going to games down here (2001ish).

Also you can hear Yankee radio broadcasts in Palm Beach, Tampa and Honolulu.
https://www.mlb.com/yankees/schedule/radio-network

Braves Radio stretches from the Florida Panhandle to Virginia
https://www.mlb.com/braves/schedule/radio-affiliates

Mets have one in Port St Lucie
https://www.mlb.com/mets/team/broadcast-information

Cubs can be heard in Naples
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicag..._Radio_Network

Anyways, always thought that was weird Florida quirk

Buckeye Native 001 · #54 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 1:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Is Atlanta the most important city in The South?

Yes... and also no! The most important city in The South is whichever southern city you live in or is your personal favorite. There. Everyone satisfied? Good... then let's move on.

Is Atlanta being the best Atlanta it can be?

mrnyc · #55 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 1:20 AM**

bs -- i never saw a steelers fan in toledo in my life.

and while se ohio may be right, they are just traitors -- i bet they were never fans before the mid-1970s when the steelers were losers for like 50yrs.

some of that is just random fair weather fans silliness.

oh right, the south, sorry.

ChiSoxRox · #56 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 2:27 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYbyWAYofGA

Hell, even the New York area feel slightly southern in the summer. I was absolutely shocked how humid it was when I first started living here. The humidity was absolutely hellish and subtropical. It was totally unexpected.

Fun bit of trivia: New York City is classified as a subtropical climate. Its winters are just mild enough that it clears the requirement to be subtropical (coldest month has average lows above -3 C/27 F) by a fraction of a degree.

proghousehead · #57 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 2:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiSoxRox

Fun bit of trivia: New York City is classified as a subtropical climate. Its winters are just mild enough that it clears the requirement to be subtropical (coldest month has average lows above -3 C/27 F) by a fraction of a degree.

I thought it was based on NYC having an above 32 degree average temperature for the coldest month to be classified as sub tropical. First I’m
Hearing of 27 being the coldest average temp in coldest month.

The North One · #58 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 4:05 AM**

If the South excludes Texas and Southern Florida, then yes without a doubt.

Buckeye Native 001 · #59 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 4:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrnyc

bs -- i never saw a steelers fan in toledo in my life.

and while se ohio may be right, they are just traitors -- i bet they were never fans before the mid-1970s when the steelers were losers for like 50yrs.

some of that is just random fair weather fans silliness.

oh right, the south, sorry.

I think a Bengals fan sold his fandom/allegiance on Ebay about a decade ago. The Steelers were the winning bid.

Considering the complete and utter lack of success and decades of futility from both of Ohio's professional football teams, I don't blame him. I was at the Bengals-Ravens game in Cincinnati last year. Way more Ravens fans (as well as a large group of Louisville fans because Lamar Jackson).

The Browns are beloved despite their awfulness. As a Bengals fan, I'm actively rooting for them to leave Cincinnati (my money's on either San Antonio or San Diego) and maybe, hopefully, Paul Brown Stadium can be demolished and repurposed for something useful.

The Falcons have Megatron's Butthole despite the Georgia Dome being a perfectly fine venue so...yay? Yay.

lio45 · #60 Posted **Jan 6, 2021, 5:12 AM**

Most important city in the south would be Houston, most important metro area in the South would be DFW.

East Texas and Northern Florida are Southern. Miami in this discussion is the equivalent of El Paso, not of Houston.