I truly do think that the reason the Cubs are so popular is having every game on WGN on national cable for so long. The Marlins have no tradition. The White Sox aren’t a regional draw like the Cubs. The Yankees and Red Sox are the only teams that come close to having the Cubs fan base.

you’re likely to catch flack for lumping us in with this awful “nation” business, which might be the most irritating name for a group ever.

The Yanks and Red Sox have been on national TV for years, especially in August and September and lots of Octobers. The Cubs on WGN, the Braves who used to be nothing in attendance get on cable and become a big deal. Used to be able see the Braves on TV everyday for years Here in western Michigan, not everyone is a Cub fan, but lots of ppl watch the Cubs because they are on TV most of the time. Also, radio has something to do with it. The only ball club that comes in as clear on the radio here in west Michigan as the local station carrying the Tigers is… WGN. Half the summer I can get the Yanks on the radio after 8pm. The Red Sox stations plaster New England with radio waves all summer. Another part of it is history. The Cubs go back to the beginning of the National League, Boston had a team also (now in Atlanta), NY had teams shortly after. In LA for years they had the minor league powerhouse Angels. So, if your grandfather/mother, your dad/mother were fans you have a good chance also. The White Sox have a slight following here since winning the big one, but you can’t hardly hear them on the radio ever, and the TV coverage since increasing has helped. But, they don’t get the media coverage here that the Cubs do. Although, it might interest all of you in Chicago, when the local stations in Grand Rapids give the sports scores for local teams they give the Tigers, the Cubs and the White Sox . I remember when it was only the Tigers, then the Tigers and Cubs having scores given. Cleveland and the Reds have had teams for a long time. But neither is carried by a media powerhouse. Milwaukee isn’t very far from here and I can hear Ueker (sp?) doing the play by play everyday if I wanted too. But, no media powerhouse so not a big following here where I live either. The final part is winning. While the Cubs haven’t won the big one sine 1908, they’ve been in situations where if they woulda….. that gets them media exposure. Plus, as the years pile up of not winning the big one teams get exposure for that. Look at the Red Sox and White Sox. Everyone knew they hadn’t won in a long time and the media played it up and ppl watched them when they would get into the playoffs rooting for the guys who hadn’t won it in a long time. The Yanks, well they are in the playoffs almost every year, the Red Sox got on Tv for years because of the rivalry with the Yanks and now because they are in the hunt every year, the Braves had a long streak of post season exposure, the White Sox who used to draw next to nothing in the late 80’s started winning and are getting more exposure now, the Indians used to have a bigger following when they were winning, etc.
So, I think its a combination of things gets some teams huge draws. Going back to the Cubs and their 96% attendance rating. In the midwest who has the media coverage the Cubs have? The only club coming close now is the White Sox and it had definitely helped them. But, Detroit, Cincy, Cleveland, St. Louis, the Twins and the Brewers do not have half the coverage outside their localities the Cubs do. I can see the Cubs on TV as often as the Tigers, more than the White Sox and I never hardly ever see any of the other midwest teams on Tv, except the Dirty Birds because, well they win a lot of ballgames. Just a insight. When walking around in Grand Rapids the team hat I see most in the summer is the Yankees. This is followed by the Tigers and then the Cubs. This is a great question and I am interested in seeing other ppl’s insights. Thanks for posting this. :)

Just look at recent history. Elia’s tirade was focused almost squarely on a vocal minority, i.e. the fans who bothered to show up, and there weren’t many. The Cubs are experiencing an “up” cycle in popularity, perhaps due to their promising trend toward winning, which, let’s face it, nobody wants to miss. The allure of Wrigley, one of baseball’s holy shrines, cannot be discounted either. With the demise of Yankee Stadium this year, Fenway and Wrigley will stand alone atop the mountain of ballparks as the last bastions of history. Florida is another matter entirely. Who wants to go see baseball played in a football stadium? Attendance figures in Miami will serve as my answer.

I would submit that baseball is, for whatever reason, a primarily Northern/Midwestern tradition, and although popular in other regions, doesn’t have the deep impact there that it does in the older markets. The Dodgers have their fan base, to be sure, but do people in Cali live and die by their boys in blue as they once did in Brooklyn? No way. Ditto the Giants after their move from New York. Traditions with a rich history tend to flourish best where their roots lie. NASCAR anyone? Count the racing fans in Boston and Atlanta and you will see a marked difference, I imagine.

As for the Cubs and Red Sox, I agree that both have a shared history of being the underdog, while the Yankees attract frontrunner-type fans outside of their geographical areas. It’s a great American tradition to root against the odds, for the impossible to become possible, because legends are made of such stuff. This may explain the worldwide Cubs love to a degree. Now that Boston is the so-called “City of Champions,” will their allure diminish? Time will only tell.

Here’s MiCubsFan’s post, with a little reformatting:

It’s already been coined and used for a few years. You’d better get used to it.

I’ve been posting as Cubnational ever since being here and don’t expect to change it anytime soon. I am just one of the Many – as are you. Let me explain why I think we should take the name and run with it.

Of all three of the fan bases mentioned above, only the Cubs Nation – I think – truly has national appeal for all of the reasons mentioned above. The national media, MLB romanticism and the Nation diaspora all over have pretty much made recognition of the Cubs a nationwide affair. The Yanks/Red Sox shtick has been an ESPN delight for years and a New England institution .. but the saga of the Cubs’ eternal quest for the WS has transcended their own rivalry and entered into national consciousness like never before – for good or for bad. And I think, of them all, we hearken from a sports fan culture that exhibits more tenacious loyalty for their team then any other. It could be said that the fan bases have the same kind of diasporae – but none, I feel, as true blue to their team, year in and year out, then the Cubs Nation itself ..

Two years ago, it wasn’t too cool to be a Cubs fan, was it? Heck, just five years ago, who cared? Now, with the lame “anniversary” year at hand, and the Cubs enjoying their moments in the full sun of national attention, the diehard, longtime Cub base is finding itself basked in baseball glory. To me, to be called a member of a “Cub Nation” means being a member of a fan base that has stuck together around a common passion, a unified social contract celebrating baseball at Clark/Addison, that has made us the best fan base around. I could care less if the Red Sox or Yanks call themselves a “nation” or not. We are still a group of fans who I think have more moxie and more resilient dedication to our team then theirs will ever have. The Cubs Nation stuck together, endured and even prospered during the most dismal of times – which these certainly, for now, certainly are not.

The Cherokee nation called itself “the principal people” in comparison with the other Native American tribes around it when it was first contacted by American settlers. As far as I’m concerned, the Cubs Nation fills the bill about being “the principle fan base” around. I’m not going to go around using the term to beat it over the head of anyone, but I like the idea of being part of a great sports fan family … and the Cub Nation is how I look at it. I’m grown up enough to recognize, however, that it’s in the end all just labels.

In the ultimate scheme of things, I’m a diehard, lifelong, irresistably dedicated Chicago Cubs fan, as is my family. But I do like the thought of being a “Nation.” Works for my romanticism. Of course, I’m shamelessly biased, but that comes with the territory.