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*Ranking ISFL By "Popularity" and Value - Aleris - 05-29-2023
More boredom and I like money so today we’re doing a market analysis of the ISFL teams. I’m going to keep it simple and try to look at metrics of a team's sphere of influence. Obviously there’s a lot of estimation and even bias that will go into an analysis like this so I will give a few numbers to try and figure out which ISFL team is worth the most and which is likely to be relocated. Also to give the S42 rookies an idea of the feel around each team. Are you going to a place where you grew up? A place to become a super star? A place with high expectations or high visibility? Is it freezing (redecated) cold?
To start off, I will be comparing a few metrics.
First I want to define two things:
Major Area of Influence - this is will what the team is named after and that surrounding metro area or state. So for the Cape Town Crash, it’ll be specifically Cape Town metro area. For the Colorado Yeti, the entire state of Colorado. It’s a little biased to teams that are named after states rather than cities, but I think it keeps it easy to track just using the teams name. I sort of look at this as how many die hard fans does a team have.
Minor Area of Influence - this is where some bias would come in. For this I would likely the “regional” area of influence. For example, Cape Town would be southern Africa, including other countries that border South Africa. Baltimore might including the Mid-Atlantic, gathering metro areas like Washington, DC and Philadelphia. These areas may be up for debate. This is more of a TV market for the fandom. These people are unlikely to go to a game in person, but still follow the team religiously.
Now I want to compare metrics in these areas. I think the biggest thing to compare is the population of the Major and Minor areas for each time, and for sort of two “kicker” metrics I will include the teams success in the league and how long the franchise has existed in the league. I choose these two as successful teams and established teams tend to bring in more bandwagon and “out-of-area” fans than others. Also if there’s a DSFL team nearby. To me this shows that there is a nearby pipeline that could feed players and fans into the ISFL teams.
14th Place - Colorado Yeti - S1 Major Area Rank - 5
Minor Area Rank - 12
ISFL Championships - 1 (T-6th)
DSFL Team - Yes
This one hurts, but unfortunately surrounding Colorado there is literally nothing. Over one third of the Colorado fanbase is located in Colorado. Despite being a founding team of the league, they also have only won one Ultimus Bowl in 40 seasons of the league. It’s a tough time being a Yeti fan, however what few fans there are, they would be passionate.
13th Place - Sarasota Sailfish - S22 Major Area Rank - T-12
Minor Area Rank - 10
ISFL Championships - 2 (T-5th)
DSFL Team - No
Sarasota is what you would expect out of a team from Florida. Tourism, beaches, and old people. Sarasota may have the most transient fanbase in the ISFL as most fans are people who went there on vacation and bought a shirt because it looked cool. Players looking for warm weather and golf. Look no further than Sarasota. What is basically boosting them up from Colorado, is that they have won 2 Ultimus Bowls in 18 seasons. Enough to generate hype around the team.
12th Place - New Orleans Second Line - S2 (was Las Vegas in til S5) Major Area Rank - 10
Minor Area Rank - 13
ISFL Championships - 3 (T - 4th)
DSFL Team - No
New Orleans is struggling against a crowded Southeast USA market. To be honest, they might be doing better in New Orleans than Las Vegas as the Southwest USA is even more crowded. Still, the Second Line are sandwiched between Austin and Sarasota and even competes in the north with Chicago and Baltimore. But it’s not all doom and gloom. It’s still a warm weather state and if anything New Orleans knows who to party. Anyone looking to crawl their way down Bourbon Street will love it here.
11th Place - San Jose Sabercats - S1 Major Area Rank - 9
Minor Area Rank - 11
ISFL Championships - 3 (T - 4th)
DSFL Team - Yes
These next few spots are going to be tough and probably a little biased. I think the struggle for them is that they share the state of California with Orange County. While they have a pipeline to the north where the Portland Pythons generate football fans. Still, this is a founding team. Players who value tradition in a team will absolutely fit in at San Jose. It really is a mix of everything. Tourism, history, and a large TV market.
10th Place - Austin Copperheads - S16 Major Area Rank - T-12
Minor Area Rank - 3
ISFL Championships - 1 (T - 6th)
DSFL Team - Yes
Austin is a weird market to dissect. It’s one of the smaller markets in the state of Texas, so locally one of the smallest markets in the ISFL, but when you include the TV market of Texas and some of Mexico. They are huge. Another hit to Austin is that the team has only won one Ultimus. Unfortunately it suffered more due to its proximity to the more successful ISFL teams. There is a DSFL team in Texas and if Texans love anything, it’s football. Players should expect high pressure on them to win here as well as a history of the sport. I also imagine there’s a bit of a homegrown feel to the team, as players from Texas are celebrated.
9th Place - Honolulu Hahalua - S22 Major Area Rank - 11
Minor Area Rank - 8
ISFL Championships - 3 (T - 4th)
DSFL Team - Yes (Kinda)
Honolulu just suffers from the fact that it’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. However, as this is the “international” sim football league. I gave them a huge following in New Zealand. Which has a lot of people. Also helping Honolulu is 3 Ultimus Bowls in 18 seasons. Very impressive. I have to imagine this is the most bandwagon’d team in the ISFL. Just an easy team to cheer for with a fun atmosphere. Plus every ISFL YouTuber out there is doing “ISFL Honolulu Rebuild but only players from Hawaii” or something for videos. Definitely a team on the rise and a team with a culture of winning. Expect very high pressure here as a player to perform, despite the Aloha vibe of the fanbase.
8th Place - Yellowknife Wraiths - S1 Major Area Rank - 14
Minor Area Rank - 14
ISFL Championships - 5 (3rd)
DSFL Team - No
Probably the team you’ve all been waiting for. Yellowknife. Why is there a team in Yellowknife. The town is last in every population metric and it’s not even close. Even with the population of Canada and Alaska, it’s still one fifth of the next closest market (New Orleans). Now if we're going by area covered? Yellowknife wins. One thing Yellowknife has going for it is it's a founding team that has won the Ultimus 5 times. This is team with a lot of history and I guess if you like cold weather games, then go here. If this team was literally anywhere else in the world. It would be higher on this list.
7th Place - Berlin Fire Salamanders - S25 Major Area Rank - 3
Minor Area Rank - 1
ISFL Championships - 0 (7th)
DSFL Team - Yes
This is a tougher team to place. Berlin has the largest market in the ISFL and I didn’t even give them all of Europe, and it’s not even really close to 2nd place either (Cape Town). The league was smart in putting a team out in Europe. They probably saw the success of the London Royals in the DSFL and said “Ahhhhhooooogaaaa $$$$$$$$”. Now unfortunately the team has an empty trophy case to back that up, but who cares when an entire continent will see you play every week. If you became a star here, your face will be everywhere in Europe. You’ll be a mega star. And who knows, maybe your name will go down in history as a player that led them to their first Ultimus.
6th Place - Baltimore Hawks - S1 Major Area Rank - 8
Minor Area Rank - 9
ISFL Championships - (T - 4th)
DSFL Team - Yes
Another founder team in Baltimore Hawks. This where I’m thinking San Jose might be too low, as Baltimore has the same Ultimus wins as them, but Baltimore reaches almost 10 million more people, having a sizable chunk of the Mid-Atlantic. And before New York existed it was even larger. It helps that Norfolk exists in the DSFL, generating a lot of football star in nearby Virginia. LIke San Jose, the team is a good jack of all trades. Great exposure for players, great history for the team, and a large fanbase to fill out the stadium. Overall, just a solid franchise.
5th Place - New York Silverbacks - S25 Major Area Rank - 6
Minor Area Rank - 2
ISFL Championships - 2 (T - 5th)
DSFL Team - No
The New York Silverbacks have the largest Major Area. The stadium is packed every week and the fans are rabid as 19 million people have access to be able to go to games regularly. The next closest team basically has half that. On top of that, in the 15 seasons of existence, New York has won 2 Ultimus Bowls. I would say for a new player, New York has the most pressure to succeed. Expect radio analysts to talk about every mistake you make. Your blunders will be shown in Time Square. The fans will expect you to succeed and it will not be easy.
4th Place - Cape Town Crash - S2 (was Philadelphia Liberty til S38) Major Area Rank - 1
Minor Area Rank - 6
ISFL Championships - 1 (T - 6th)
DSFL Team - No
These next two might be interchangeable, but I gave Chicago an edge I’ll discuss there. Cape Town is the second truly international team in the ISFL, however, the team has a reputation of the bad guys after ripping out the hearts of so many Philadelphia fans (Conner Snooks loved the Liberty). That said, the team does still have that new car smell and still has history and good solid bones despite the fresh coat of paint. Also the market is huge, and again I didn’t include all of Africa, but your name and face will be everywhere if you play in Cape Town.
3rd Place - Chicago Butchers - S16 Major Area Rank - 2
Minor Area Rank - 4
ISFL Championships - 1 (T - 6th)
DSFL Team - Yes
I’m not sure how a franchise like Chicago with only one Ultimus win snuck in this high on this list. (acutally, I know exactly why, it's because NO ONE LIVES IN YELLOWKNIFE). I gave Chicago the leg over Cape Town really only because there is a DSFL team in Minnesota which is close enough for me to consider a pipeline. Chicago has the second most fans who can walk to a game and one of the largest TV markets in the country. The team has a lot of history, even if it’s not winning, and a lot of fans. It’s really a good place for a player.
2nd Place - Arizona Outlaws - S1 Major Area Rank - 3
Minor Area Rank - 7
ISFL Championships - 7 (2nd)
DSFL Team - No
These last two teams are a little like splitting hairs. Don’t let that 7th position in TV market fool you. It’s not by much. There’s still 55 million people tuning into Outlaw games. The team in first only edges out Arizona barely. Arizona and the first place team combine for almost one third of Ultimus Bowl wins. Truly and incredible and historic franchise to be able to play for. Arizona also has the bragging rights of winning the very first Ultimus. Warm weather climate and good football. Can’t ask for much more.
1st Place - Orange County Otters - S1 Major Area Rank - 6
Minor Area Rank - 4
ISFL Championships - 8 (1st)
DSFL Team - Yes
I lied. You can have warm weather and great football AND ask for more. You could play near beautiful Los Angeles, California and hang with the movie stars, and play with the most successful franchise in the ISFL (and be a cute otter and wear orange). Really Orange County is a dream destination for ISFL players and is likely the most popular team in the world. The edge over Arizona is they have the most successful DSFL team as their feeder team as well just bringing a ton of good football to Southern California (and Baja California).
It was a blast to do this list. It’s pretty subjective though. But this would be a rough estimate of how valuable each ISFL team is (mostly compared to each other). The only other thing I would add is an overall Sim League universe aspect and see which of these markets has multiple sports teams and are true sports cities. Below is a screenshot of the metrics I used. A lot of the data was from wiki or something I got from google. Let me know your thoughts, did your player grow up cheering for one of these teams cause of where they were born? Or went to college? Let me know.
![[Image: image.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/869696154311458816/1112849456786853940/image.png)
*ALSO* Cape Town probably jumped to third after winning this last Ultimus but I wrought this article before then
RE: Ranking ISFL By "Popularity" and Value - DeadlyPlayer - 05-29-2023
@slate will love this media haha, great article
RE: Ranking ISFL By "Popularity" and Value - WildfireMicro - 05-29-2023
Good article, I feel like Yellowknife are the Packers of the ISFL
RE: Ranking ISFL By "Popularity" and Value - Aleris - 05-29-2023
(05-29-2023, 04:13 PM)WildfireMicro Wrote: Good article, I feel like Yellowknife are the Packers of the ISFL
Yeah I tried my best to not directly compare them to NFL teams, which was pretty hard.
RE: Ranking ISFL By "Popularity" and Value - aeonsjenni - 05-29-2023
![[Image: smadge.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1108043843556884560/1112892124497719326/smadge.png)