Missoula Is A Better Sports Town Than Bozeman

Missoula > Bozeman.

It's not just me saying Missoula is a better sports town than Bozeman. The financial analysis website conducted their "Best Sports Cities 2024" study and found that Missoula was ranked higher than Bozeangeles.

No. 160: Missoula

No. 191: Bozeman

via GIPHY

That's right, baby! Missoula reigns supreme just as they did in last year's Brawl of the Wild, and just as they have in 74 out of the 121 all-time Griz-Cat gridiron meetings.

WalletHub "compared 400 cities across more than 50 key metrics related to the five largest sports in the U.S.: football, baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey."

As expected, Missoula ranked much higher in the football category than we did in any of the other sports. We were the 65th-best city with football. We were DEAD LAST in hockey and baseball. That seems too low considering we at least have a baseball team (Paddleheads) and a hockey team (Griz Hockey Club).

Missoula ranks 210 in basketball and 273 in soccer. I think those are low, as well. Lady Griz basketball is a historic women's basketball program with a following, unlike 90% of women's basketball teams in the country. The men's teams made two NCAA Tournament appearances in the last decade and have several NBA draft picks over the years. Don't even get me started on soccer. Grizzly Soccer set a record with 1,973 people crammed into South Campus Stadium last year. They've won back-to-back regular season Big Sky Championships. Come on, soccer should be higher.

Other noteworthy findings from WalletHub's study showed Los Angeles as the best sports city in America followed by Boston, Pittsburgh, New York and Dallas. Green Bay, Wisconsin (Go Pack Go) was deemed the best Midsize Sports City and Clemson, South Carolina was garnered as the best small sports city.

The absolute worst sports city in the U.S. is poor ole' Rochester, Michigan. I have no clue what is in Rochester, Michigan so good call, WalletHub.