When the Patriots and Giants face off on Sunday in Indianapolis to repeat their epic Super Bowl match-up of four years ago, New York and Boston will reignite what is one of the fiercest rivalries in sports (and civic boosterism).
Working with Patrick Adler, UCLA urban planning doctoral student, Florida took a scientific approach to solving the debate. Unfortunately for boosters of either city, using a 'success rate index', "Boston and New York are indistinguishable, each having earned championships in roughly ten percent of the seasons they have competed in."
However, depending on how you adjust the time frame and parameters of the analysis, an argument can be made by each city for its dominance.
"When it comes to total championships across the major professional sports leagues, the advantage is New York's. The Big Apple's teams have won more in the long run, taking home 59 championships since 1903, nearly one in five of all championships (17 percent), compared to 33 for Boston, (or 9 percent)."
"But Boston has performed much better in the short-run. 'Every Boston professional sports team has outperformed its New York counterpart over the last decade,' according to ESPN's Gordon Edes. "Even if you combine the Jets and Giants and Yankees and Mets, the Patriots and Red Sox have won more titles than all four of those New York teams combined since 2001."
