Florida's Best Cities For Soccer Fans: WalletHub

LAKELAND, FL — Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville and other Florida cities all made the list of 2019's Best Cities for Soccer Fans even as Miamians await next year's debut of the city's much anticipated Major League Soccer franchise.

"To find the best places for loving on the world’s favorite sport, WalletHub compared nearly 300 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional soccer team across five divisions comprising 52 key metrics," the website said in releasing the list on Wednesday. "The data set ranges from minimum season-ticket price for a game to stadium accessibility to number of championship wins."

Los Angeles topped the list of the best U.S. cities for soccer followed by Orlando, which had the lowest minimum Major League Soccer season ticket price anywhere in the country.

At $149, Orlando's price was 3.6 times less expensive than Atlanta, where the minimum season minimum ticket price came in at $540.

St. Petersburg was ranked 43rd on the list of America's best soccer cities followed by Fort Myers at 95th place, Tampa at 102nd, Jacksonville at 119th, Miami at 133rd, Gainesville at 146th, Tallahassee at 203rd, Boca Raton at 210th and DeLand at 220th.

WalletHub noted there has been higher attendance at soccer events throughout the United States since the U.S. National team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup earlier this summer.

In Chicago, the Red Stars saw around 13,000 fans more than average shortly after the U.S. win. As another indication of soccer's growing popularity in the United States, the average MLS team was worth $240 million in 2018, up 7.6 percent from 2017.

FC Barcelona drew a crowd of 57,062 soccer-loving fans in Miami last week when the club faced SSC Napoli at Hard Rock Stadium.