Austin and San Francisco have two very different outlooks on sports. Austin sports fans, usually UT Longhorn fans, are fanatical. They eat, sleep, live and breathe their favorite sports teams, winning or losing. San Francisco sports fans are more fair weather fans and go to the games when their teams are winning, not so much when they’re losing.
Austin High School Sports
If you’ve seen the movie or TV show, Friday Night Lights, you have an idea how high school football is in Texas. And, after living here for a while, I can tell you the show is accurate. In the city of Austin, the whole city doesn’t come out to every high school football game, but travel a little out of town to, say Dripping Springs, and the entire city is most definitely at the games on Friday nights. There is no comparison between Austin and San Francisco when it comes to high school sports. Austin wins.
San Francisco High School Sports
Having attended a Bay Area high school myself, I can tell you high school sports in San Francisco are not as well loved as they are in Austin. When I was in high school, there would often only be a handful of kids attending Friday night football games.
Austin College Sports
With the majority of the city having some sort of connection to the University of Texas, you’ll find a lot of the city migrate towards campus on game day. Student football tickets are not cheap and sell out quickly. You’ll usually see a packed stadium, though, no matter if they’re winning or losing.
San Francisco College Sports
San Francisco college sports are not as popular as Austin’s college sports. Even though there are two major colleges in the San Francisco area, Stanford and Cal, most fans tend to be alumni and that’s about it. Often, you’ll find half empty stadiums and half empty student sections. You will see an increase in attendance when teams are winning, but when they’re just average, you will definitely see a drop off in attendance.
Austin Pro Sports
One area Austin is lacking over San Francisco is in the professional sports departments. They have a few minor league teams, but not one single professional sports team. The closest professional sports can be found in Dallas and Houston, over 3 hours away. Thus, Austin sports fans seem to focus on High School and College sports much more.
San Francisco Pro Sports
Perhaps the one area of sports San Francisco tops Austin is in the pro sports department. Austin does not have a single major professional sports team. San Francisco, on the other hand, has two pro football teams, two pro baseball teams, one pro basketball team and one pro hockey team. San Francisco area fans have grown up on pro sports and seem to prefer it to High School and College sports.
Like to Play Sports?
Austin has all sorts of leagues you can get involved in and you can play just about any sport you desire. The leagues range from super competitive to casual have fun and go for a drink afterwards type of game.