Murray State University Athletics
The best little sports city in the OVC
8/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Welcome to Murray, Ky.: The Best Little Sports City in the Ohio Valley Conference. It's not just Murray citizens or Murray State fans saying that. It comes right out of The Sporting News's annual poll of the best sports cities in America.
The weekly sports magazine issued its 369-city listing this week. To make the list, a city must have at least an NCAA Division I basketball team or Class A minor league baseball team, or must score in other select categories, like being the site of an NFL training camp or Major League Baseball team, a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, a DIvision I-A bowl game, a PGA Tour event or a Triple Crown horse race. The ranking is taken over a one-year period, roughly July 2003 through July 2004.
Among the 369 cities listed, Murray ranks 134th, above No. 151 Bowling Green, Ky., No. 154 Chattanooga, Tenn., and No. 162 Little Rock, Ark. While Murray ranks third among the OVC cities listed, it is the top non-metropolitan city in the OVC, or the highest-ranking city in which the OVC school is the top sports draw.
Among cities with a population of less than 20,000 (according to the 2002 census), Murray (15,099) ranks fourth in the nation, behind No. 61 Clemson, S.C. (11,967); No. 62 Oxford, Miss. (12,487); and No. 102 Troy, Ala (13,833).
Contributing to Murray's ranking were the Racers' NCAA appearances in men's basketball and women's volleyball and hosting the 2004 NCAA Rifle Championships.
"This is not only a measure of our strong fan support, but also of our athletic success, which go hand-in-hand," said MSU director of athletics E.W. Dennison. "That Murray placed ahead of other regional college sites such as Bowling Green, Ky., and Springfield, Mo. (No. 146), and larger cities like Little Rock; Mobile, Ala. (No. 177); and Montgomery, Ala. (No. 207), says a lot about our university and our city."
Here is a look at how the OVC teams ranked in this year's Sporting News Best Sports Cities Ranking:
No. 19: Nashville, Tenn. (Tennessee State)
No. 49: Birmingham, Ala. (Samford)
No. 134: Murray, Ky. (Murray State)
No. 144: Clarksville, Tenn. (Austin Peay)
No. 175: Morehead, Ky. (Morehead State)
No. 189: Richmond, Ky. (Eastern Kentucky)
No. 192: Cookeville, Tenn. (Tennessee Tech)
No. 195: Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Southeast Missouri State)
No. 205: Jacksonville, Ala. (Jacksonville State)
No. 217: Martin, Tenn. (Tennessee-Martin)
No. 239: Charleston, Ill. (Eastern Illinois)
Regional cities of note included Memphis, Tenn. (No. 30); Louisville, Ky. (No. 81); Lexington, Ky. (No. 87); Bowling Green, Ky. (No. 151); and Evansville, Ind. (No. 187). Boston, Mass., was the No. 1 team in the ranking, while Pine Bluff, Ark., bottomed the list at No. 369.
