It is no secret that the N.B.A. is especially popular among black Americans. About 45 percent of people who watched N.B.A. games during the 2012-2013 regular season were black, even though African-Americans make up 13 percent of the country?s population.
In addition to being numerous, African-American fans also seem to have different patterns to their N.B.A. rooting. Hometown basketball teams tend to earn a lower share of Facebook ?likes? in heavily black areas. Many black fans instead seem to gravitate to teams with national followings, like the Heat and the Lakers, over the local team.
Lower levels of support for the hometown team are especially obvious in
some of the nation?s most racially divided cities. In Cleveland and
Milwaukee, geographic lines of segregation neatly trace the areas where
the hometown team has a smaller share of fans, according to the Facebook
data. Similar patterns are also visible in Memphis, Atlanta and
Chicago.
Read original article at The New York Times.
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