Sports Fans in the San Jose Metropolitan Area
Within the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (San Jose) metro area, 62.9% of respondents noted that they are sports fans. Sports fans are individuals who watch professional and/or college sports at least several times a month and/or follow athletes or coaches on social media. Within the San Jose metro area, 18.8% of respondents connect with and/or follow athletes or coaches on social media.
The top five athletes or coaches’ respondents living in the San Jose metro area follow on social media include:
- Steph Curry
- LeBron James
- Steve Kerr
- Michael Jordan
- Lionel Messi
College Sports
With regard to college sports, 61.3% of respondents in the San Jose metro area watched college sports on television or attended a college sports event in the last year. While slightly more than half (56.5%) of women watched or attended a college sports event in the last year, this percentage is significantly higher among men (66.7%). The most frequently watched college team is Stanford University (31.9%).
Professional Sports
Similar to other metro areas, there are higher shares of respondents in the San Jose metro area who watch professional sports (80.8%) compared to college sports. Overall and among women and men, the top three teams watched are the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, and San Francisco Giants.
Women were not only more likely to watch the San Francisco Giants compared to men (10.9% vs. 9.2%), but women were four times more likely to watch the San Jose Sharks (10.2% vs. 2.7%). However, men had higher shares of watching the Golden State Warriors (33.8% vs. 29.3%), Las Vegas Raiders (6.3% vs. 4.9%, and Oakland Athletics (3.4% vs. 1.3%) compared to women.
When examining sports viewership and race, respondents who identify as white were 1.5 times more likely to watch the San Jose Sharks. Although comprising a small share across all groups, respondents who identify as Black reported watching the Oakland Athletics at higher rates compared to all other respondents. Additionally, among respondents who identify as Asian, 38.7% watched the Golden State Warriors and one-quarter (25.3%) watched the San Francisco 49ers. This is significantly higher compared to all other respondents.
Lastly, approximately one-third of respondents across all age groups watched the Golden State Warriors. Furthermore, as a proportion of their age group, respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 years old were two times more likely to watch international soccer, as well as the Las Vegas Raiders and San Jose Earthquakes compared to all other respondents. One in seven (15.5%) respondents between the ages of 35 to 54 years watched the San Francisco Giants. This is significantly higher compared to respondents between the ages of 18 to 34 years old (4.0%) and respondents over the age of 55 (8.0%). Additionally, respondents over the age of 55 watched the San Francisco 49ers at higher rates (24.2%) compared to respondents who are between the ages of 18 to 34 years old (15.3%) and respondents between the ages of 35 and 54 years old (19.1%). Additionally, respondents who are over the age of 55 were more likely to watch the San Jose Sharks and the Oakland Athletics.
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