It was early 2024, as if the universe had conspired me to the thrilling world of American sports. The introduction started from 2024 Super Bowl between Kansas City Chief and San Francisco 49ers. Suddenly, I found myself transported into a diffend kind of game, as football-obsessed fan in ages, I was sucked into a realm where adrenaline-pumping action and heart-stopping plays collided in a symphony of athletic excellence.

49ers started the game very well, as Christian McCaffrey, the explosive running back for the Niners danced before my eyes. I felt an excitement during every downs coursing through my veins. Led by ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ Brock Purdy on quarterback position, Niners dazzled me with their relentless drive and bravery in every duels,had me on the edge of my seat with each exhilarating running and passing play.

But McCaffrey and cos were against the inevitable Pat Mahomes. Niners lost on overtime in a nerv-wrecking game against the back-to-back champion Kansas City Chief. But the team clad in their iconic red and gold uniforms, the 49ers caugh my full attention.

American football, with its mindboggling play calls, exquisite route-running, bone-crunching tackles and gravity-defying catches, seized my obsession from football that day.

But the thrill of American sports didn't stop there. It was merely the beginning of an odyssey that would lead me down the rabbit hole of the NBA. I couldn’t explain how I watched in awe even as the Golden State Warriors experiencing their downturn; they missed the playoffs after losing in the play-in tournament.

It was the Zidane of his game, a maestro orchestrating symphonies of three-pointers and no-look passes —Steph Curry. His basketball brilliance left me spellbound. The sharpshooting maestro for the Warriors that change the history of the game entirely, became my McCaffrey of this game. He is a cornerstone of the Warriors’ dynasty over the past decade.

I added touchdowns and three-pointers after golazo into my infinity stones, my love for the games.

And then, I came to the revelation that both the 49ers and the Warriors represent the same city—San Francisco. It is crazy to think that these two incredible teams I support was intertwined with the same ground.

So, the concept of 'The Winningest Cities' intrigued me. How many times had San Francisco teams been crowned champions? I found the perfect in The Pudding's article, "The Winningest Cities in North American Sports." The article examines total championships won by metro areas across both college and pro levels from 1870 to 2018.

It also provide a dataset includes winners, runners-up, and semifinalists for each title, categorized by level, sport, and league. It covers elite pro leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, CFL) and college (NCAA), listing every team and their respective metro areas.

Note: In the U.S., a metro area (or metropolitan statistical area, MSA) is a region with a high population density and close economic ties. These areas, used for statistical purposes by the U.S. Census Bureau, are not legally incorporated cities or towns, nor administrative divisions like counties.

The 49ers and Warriors are based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and their suburbs.

Using The Pudding's dataset, I began a data analysis and visualization project, using Excel and Tableau. Here's what I found:

From 1870 to 2018, Greater Los Angeles, CA emerged as the city with the most championships across all sports, winning 74 titles. It is followed by the New York Metro Area with 58 titles, Greater Boston, MA with 46 titles, San Francisco Bay Area, CA with 41 titles, Toronto, ON with 40 titles, Greater Raleigh, NC and Montreal, QC with 36 titles each, Chicago, IL with 32 titles, Greater Philadelphia, PA with 26 titles, and Metro Detroit, MI with 22 titles. These metro areas are the top 10 winningest in North American sports.

We can see the dominance of these metro areas in the final stages of tournaments, even when they ended up as runners-up. The New York Metro Area lost in the finals 68 times, followed by Greater Los Angeles, CA with 44 times, Greater Boston, MA with 33 times, Chicago, IL with 30 times, and the San Francisco Bay Area, CA with 28 times.

Interestingly, the dataset includes only one NBA team (excluding the Clippers for unknown reasons) and two NFL teams in Greater Los Angeles, CA. The Los Angeles Lakers have won 11 NBA championships, and the Los Angeles Rams have won one Super Bowl.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the 49ers have won five Super Bowls, finished as runners-up once, and reached the semi-finals nine times. The Golden State Warriors have won four NBA championships, finished as runners-up once, and reached the semi-finals twice.

Golden State Warriors fans enjoyed a golden era from 2015 to 2018, winning three titles (missing only the 2016 season). On the contrary, 49ers fans are still waiting for another Super Bowl win since their dynasty in the '80s and '90s, when they won five Super Bowls.

There’s much more to explore in this dataset, but note that it only includes information up to the end of the 2018 season.

I have built a data visualization dashboard based on the dataset on Tableau Public. Check it out from the link below!

Unraveling the North American Sports Metropolises