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Bulls Are City's Most-Liked Team, at Least According to Facebook

By Tanveer Ali | October 21, 2014 5:19am
 The Chicago Bulls are the city's most liked sports team, at least as far as Facebook data is concerned.
The Chicago Bulls are the city's most liked sports team, at least as far as Facebook data is concerned.
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DNAinfo/Tanveer Ali

CHICAGO — This city really loves its sports teams. Way more than New York City, at least according to Facebook.

In the nation's largest city, only about 25 percent of Facebook users profess to liking any pages related to its eight professional sports teams. In Chicago, 39 percent of Facebook users like the city's five sports teams.

"In New York or L.A., the celebrities are the Hollywood-type actors," said Grant DePorter, CEO of the Harry Caray Restaurant Group, which runs the Chicago Sports Museum. "In Chicago, the real celebrities are the athletes."

HERE'S AN ANALYSIS OF SPORTS FANS IN NEW YORK CITY

The statistics were compiled by looking at data in Facebook's Ad Manager, which allows targeting advertising toward people based on a variety of factors including ZIP code and pages liked.

Here's how that data looks plotted on a map of Chicago:

• The Bulls are the most beloved team in Chicago, based on Facebook data that concludes that 28 percent of Chicagoans like pages associated with the Bulls.

Part of that can be considered a carryover from 1990s — we all know what Michael Jordan did — but the Bulls are also just really good at social media.

"The Bulls are always looking for ways to deepen engagement with our existing fan base and connect with new fans," said Jeremy Thum, the team's digital director, in a statement. "The rapid increase in the variety and adoption of digital and social platforms has given us a powerful set of tools to reach fans locally and globally."

The Bulls have more than 16 million likes on Facebook and have the highest number of followers of Chicago's five sports teams on Twitter as well. On Sept. 29, the Bulls unveiled their SnapChat account and got 35,000 followers within two days.

• As expected, the North Side is full of Cubs fans while the South Side is all about the White Sox, with a few exceptions. West Lawn residents lean toward the Cubs, while Austin, East Garfield Park and North Lawndale residents just can't decide.

• Edison Park and Norwood Park can claim to being home to the highest concentration of Cubs fans. Just more than 20 percent of Facebook users in the 60631 ZIP code professed to liking the Cubs one way or another on Facebook.

Tanveer Ali breaks down the surprising aspects of the Chicago fan map:

What other interesting things about Chicago's relationship with its professional sports teams did you find in the map?