There’s No Way This is the Most ‘Popular’ Sports Team in Iowa

If you were to guess what is the most popular sports team in Iowa, which team would you guess? It doesn't necessarily have to be an instate team either. It could be the Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, St Louis Cardinals, or the Chicago Blackhawks. Maybe it's not even a team that's near the state of Iowa. Could it be the Cowboys or the Miami Heat?

If I were a betting man, I would've placed my bet on the Iowa Hawkeye football team or the Iowa Hawkeye women's basketball team. Turns out that I would've lost that bet. It's not a college team or a team that plays in Iowa. There is a Triple-A affiliate that plays in Des Moines. Maybe that's the reason for this surprising discovery or maybe I'm just completely out of touch.

Are the Chicago Cubs really the most "popular" team in Iowa? According to Lucky Gambler's research, it is.

Lucky Gambler analyzed search volume data, for 2023, from Google, to determine which sports teams are the most searched-for aka most "popular" in America. Chicago Cubs was ranked number 1 in Iowa.

Hear Me Out...

Before you call me stupid for not knowing that the Cubs are popular in Iowa...I know there are Cubs fans here. Lots of them. The Chicago Cubs Triple-A team plays in Des Moines, which I'm sure has some carry-over to the professional team but this is Iowa we're talking about.

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Baseball isn't exactly the most popular sport in the world right now much less Iowa. The MLB 2023 World Series was the least-watched World Series on record. How could a baseball team possibly be the most popular here?

What is one thing Iowans are always proud of? Repping their home state and seeing Iowa do well. Iowa gets forgotten about when it comes to the national landscape and pop culture. We're a "flyover state." We know that most of the nation is wrong and Iowa has plenty of great opportunities and tourism for people.

We love telling people "they're from Iowa" whenever someone famous is brought up who was born here. Not only that but Iowa is a football/basketball state. Iowans love the Hawkeyes. We're literally nicknamed the Hawkeye State. How is the football team or women's basketball team not the number 1 Google search in Iowa?

After all of that ranting, it's also possible that Lucky Gambler did not include college teams in their analysis. I'm not sure why that would be the case because if Iowa Hawkeyes football or Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball was ranked ahead of the Chicago Cubs...wouldn't they just put that in the results?

Maybe I'm insane but I'd like a look at some of this data collected by Lucky Gambler.