Good morning and happy Thursday!

With the atmospheric river pouring rain over California, it's the perfect time to throw on your slippers, snuggle up on the couch, and catch up on this week in sports. Today we have:

🏈 🚗 💵 How hard is it to go to a real-life NFL game?
🔁 🏀 💯 A repeat scoring performance
☕️ ❄️ 👰 Real Housewives x NBA

LEARNING MODULE 💡 

Are we there yet? 🏈

As San Francisco “natives”, we’ve been following the 49ers pave their way to the Super Bowl this year like Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi paving their way to stardom. ⭐️

Every Sunday, the city comes alive with fans. Bars are full, wings are ordered, girlfriends are avoiding boyfriends, and the energy around the 49ers is evident.

But rarely are people we know ever actually going to the games.

That’s because 49ers games are so strikingly inaccessible to the people of San Francisco ❌. First, the stadium is in Santa Clara 43 miles away from SF. Second, the average ticket price is $410. That combo is a mocktail of unavailability that only the most seasoned Hinge users can attain.

This prompted us to investigate the accessibility of NFL teams for fans wishing to enjoy games in person. We compared and ranked them based on ticket prices, distance to the stadium, and factored in team success. Here are the findings. ⬇️

Easiest In-Person Experiences 😀

🦁 Detroit Lions: The Lions were one of the best 4 teams in the league this year. Their stadium is right in the downtown city center and average ticket prices were cheaper than 18 other teams in 2023. That’s good value.

🟫 Cleveland Browns: The Browns were in the top 5 of affordability and distance from the city center, only a 10-minute walk. They were also a playoff team this year. Wait, is Cleveland cool?

Hardest In-Person Experiences 😡

🤠 Dallas Cowboys: Everything’s bigger in Texas. Tickets are an average of $497 and it’s the only team that literally has no possible way of using public transit to get there. So beautifully American.

🌉 San Francisco 49ers: The stadium is 43 miles from San Francisco and the furthest in the league, over 50% further than the second team on the list. And at over $400 for the average ticket, you may as well go the other way from SF to Napa for the day to save money.

🏟️ New England Patriots: Small caveat because this is a “regional” team but it’s top 3 in distance and ticket prices. It doesn’t help that they had a terrible season, only adding salt to the wound.

Why are the 49ers so far away?

So what happened to make San Francisco such an outlier for distance-accessible games? Here’s a quick recap of what went down to get to this point ⬇️

To oversimplify things, the decision to move was aided by a couple of factors:

1. The land was cheaper and more bountiful down south.

2. Santa Clara is closer to Silicon Valley, home of the biggest tech companies in the world and big spenders for season tickets and boxes.

3. Probably dozens of other reasons we won’t be trying to uncover in SportsBall 🤷

While this analysis started with the SF commute, I was surprised to see how accessible a lot of stadiums are.

30% of stadiums are within 2 miles of city centers and 73% are within 10 miles. The only problem is that the average ticket price across the league is 347 dollars…

We still choose a day in Napa. 🍷

THIS PAST WEEK ⏮

Super Bowl setup 🏈

Chiefs 🔴 vs. Ravens 🐦‍⬛

It must be nice to be Taylor Swift, who started watching football in a year when her chosen team reached the Super Bowl – a feat most fans wait a lifetime to see. ⏰

As you could infer, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs secured a victory on Sunday, making it to their fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last five years.

CONVENIENTLY the NFL takes a one-week break before the Super Bowl. And what will be aired next Sunday instead of football? The Grammys. An event Taylor will also be center stage for. It’s all part of her master plan. 📝

49ers 🌉 vs. Lions 🦁

The Chiefs featured in the most-watched non-Super Bowl football game since 1992, only to be eclipsed two hours later by this game. Over 57 million Americans tuned in, meaning that statistically, at least one in every six people you see in the street was watching.

Though they were favorites on paper, the 49ers overcame significant fandom adversity, with the majority of the country seemingly rooting against them. They triumphed with a remarkable 34-31 victory, fueled by an incredible second-half comeback.

Now what?

In two weeks, the Chiefs and 49ers will face off in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl in what’s slated to be the most popular football game maybe ever. 📈

We’ll see if more people end up watching than the number of people who voted in 2020 (157 million). I’m worried it might be pretty close…

Groundhogs Day 🏀

Last week we talked about two players having 60-point games on the same day. This week we’re doing it again.

Luka Doncic clocked a 73-point game and Devin Booker had 62, making it only the 5th time it’s happened on the same day ever!

Below is a look at all the 60-point games in NBA history and how they’re trending. Curious what happened in 1962? a quick “Wilt Chamberlain” google will catch you up.

Hockey Canada back in the news 🏒

In a story that has rocked the hockey world, five Canadian hockey players, four of whom are NHL players, have been instructed to surrender to the police concerning an ongoing sexual assault case.

In 2018, during their participation in the World Junior Championships for Team Canada, these players were implicated in the sexual assault of a woman in a hotel room.

While the case was initially 'settled' out of court with the victim in 2018, it resurfaced in 2022 amid public outcry over Hockey Canada's alleged attempts to downplay the incident.

This past week, after the second investigation, the five players were instructed to turn themselves in to the police in Ontario, CA. The players were:

Alex Formenton - Former NHL player
Mike McLeod - New Jersey Devils
Cal Foote - New Jersey Devils
Carter Hart - Philadelphia Flyers
Dillon Dube - Clagary Flames

You can find more information regarding the incident and trial process here.

Sponsorships done right 🏀

As someone who may or may not have just watched the last season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake 🎿, I can certainly appreciate this news.

The Utah Jazz just released a limited-edition Stanley Cup to their fanbase, proving they’re exceptionally in tune with their audience. Lead poisoning allegations aside, this is a must-have piece. 🥤

This could be a where-were-you type moment for the ladies of Utah and if you get your hands on one of these, please send in your receipts 👏 proof 👏 timeline 👏 and screenshots 👏.

SPONSORED

This week’s email is sponsored by Polk Street Barbershop 💈. Lulu - a San Francisco-born and raised practitioner - and crew are the only barbers trusted by SportsBall. The Russian Hill location just relocated to a new space at 2217 Polk St so stop by on the way to or from Boy’s Deli. 🥪

Book an appointment here and tell them SportsBall sent you for some free stickers and a high five.

THIS NEXT WEEK ⏭

This week is one of the most sports-light weeks of the year. The NFL is on a 1-week break before the Super Bowl, the NHL is on its All-Star break for a week, and the MLB is in the off-season.

That just leaves some NBA and college basketball. We are rapidly approaching the always fun March Madness so catch up on your bracketology if you can.

Also, the Grammys are this Sunday so tune in to watch Zach Bryan sweep the awards. 🎵

Have a great weekend!

— Claire and Riley

Keywords: NFL game accessibility, Super Bowl, NFL tickets, San Francisco 49ers, NFL stadiums, NFL accessibility, NFL ticket prices, NFL fan experience, sports economics, NFL teams, Super Bowl setup, Chiefs vs. Ravens, 49ers vs. Lions, NFL fandom, NBA scoring records, Luka Doncic, Devin Booker, NHL sexual assault case, Hockey Canada, Real Housewives x NBA, Utah Jazz, Stanley Cup, sports sponsorships, Polk Street Barbershop, March Madness, Grammys, sports news