Manchester has ranked as the U.K.'s Greatest Sporting City 2015, according to research from ESPN, the University of Gloucestershire and the University of Bath. The accolade for the city comes after ESPN commissioned the original research project to discover the U.K.'s top city in which to be a fan. Manchester topped the ranking after scoring highly in most of the 12 factors that fans identified as key to a great sporting city. Among the categories: value for money, success, atmosphere, history, venues, transport links and more. Further detail about the research is included below. Manchester was followed by London in second and Glasgow in third. Completing the top five were Sunderland in fourth and Leeds in fifth. At the other end of the list, Blackpool came last, behind Luton in 47th, Stoke-on-Trent in 46th and Bolton in 45th. Despite being the U.K.'s "second city," Birmingham came in 17th place. There is also a northern dominance in the top 10, with six of the top-ranked cities located in the north of the U.K.
National
Ranking
|
City |
Total Score
(Out Of 100)
|
Notable Facts
|
| 1 |
Manchester
|
67.77
|
First for Local Talent and Venues |
2
|
London
|
65.09
|
Rated first for Choice, and second for History |
| 3 |
Glasgow
|
62.67
|
Ranked first for History, and second for Success |
| 4 |
Sunderland
|
58.86
|
Scored highly for Value For Money and Transport |
5
|
Leeds
|
56.86
|
Highest score was for Success |
| 6 |
Liverpool
|
53.32
|
Scored highly for Community |
7
|
Bristol
|
52.76
|
Ranked first for Success |
| 8 |
Derby
|
51.24
|
Rated as best city for Value For Money |
9
|
Edinburgh
|
50.66
|
Best rating was in Transport |
10
|
Cardiff
|
50.30
|
Rated well for Venues and Participation |
Source: ESPN UK
