Why is the difference beetween LA sport teams so big in terms of social media followers? (IG in this case)?
October 31, 2025
Lakers alone have more than all of the other LA sport teams combined how is this possible?
19 comments
Cannot stress enough how big of a brand the Lakers are globally and in the US. They are huuuge. There’s levels to these kinds of things.
Lakers are one of the biggest sport teams globally and basketball is top 3 most popular sports in the world, so that explains it. Baseball and American football ain’t popular globally like basketball. Like my grandpa Asian/European grandpa who is 85 years old and never followed sports ever, when I asked him about which basketball team he likes he said the Lakers and knew Kobe Bryant, he knew them yet he never followed sports or basketball in his life.
Pats only got 5m. 49ers 3.9. Football just isn’t that big globally when it comes to follower counts.
Odell got 17.2m, Brady got 15.2m followers and then you go to Jude Bellingham and he’s got 41.3m and isn’t even the most recognisable person in Futbol. Or you go to Basketball and LeBron has 152m.
LeBron and the Lakers are just a more global brand than the NFL is.
The lakers are a global phenomenon. The dodgers span two counties, one which is basically their feeder nation, and the Rams have bounced around for 50 years and have a very young, emerging fanbase
The Lakers are a top 5 sports brand in the world. You can go anywhere in the developed world and mention the Lakers, Yankees, Cowboys, and any of the top 2 soccer clubs and people will know who you’re talking about. Full stop. Comparing the Rams or Dodgers to them just isn’t fair.
You got a lot to learn about this town sweetie
Because the Lakers are ridiculously more popular (and basketball is more popular) to most of the rest of the world than the Dodgers or Rams (and I say this a a huge Dodgers and Rams fan too)? Baseball and (to a far lesser extent) American Football have pockets of fandom and passion in non-U.S. countries, but basketball is worldwide. I don’t have the numbers on this, but I presume basketball is the second most popular sport worldwide behind soccer/football. And it’s not particularly close.
Chargers not even counted as L.A lol. L.A just isn’t a massive football town due to them not having a team for decades, rams wrecked the fanbase by leaving
The NBA as a sport embraces highlights and uses social media for that. The Clippers have 5m followers which puts them in line with the Dodgers, Yankees and Cowboys.
NBA teams are bigger online and the Lakers are the biggest of them.
Because Dr Jerry Buss one of the greatest team owners in all of sports had the vision to build the Lakers into not just a sports franchise but a globally recognized brand and poured in the resources necessary to build an organization capable of supporting that brand with excellence on the court that brought home championship after championship and ensured that by and large the mere mention of the Lakers name is synonymous with winning and success
Global following plus being more locally established (buying a ticket to a Rams game is also often pretty cheap, I’ve been several times without thinking too hard about it)
It’s because the Lakers are a global brand and have a global presence as Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world
And part of it is due to the NBA being a star driven fanbase if their favourite player plays to a team the fans don’t care much about their own geographical presence . It doesn’t happen that way in the NFL and you’ve probably heard the jokes of how RAMS got some 7 fans in total it’s a longstanding joke because of the moving of Rams from STL to LA which lost us a lot of Fans
Im the only polish guy i know that know any football teams let alone rules and Players. Thats why.
Basketball is big every where now and baseball is big in Asia. Football not yet
You’re comparing maybe the second most popular US sports franchise behind the Yankees to a football team that has played in LA for less than 10 years.
We’re growing the fan base. It feels like we have more of a base each year. We will also never ever be the Lakers
Historic impact, it’s the reason 9er fans “travel” well, meaning they live everywhere on the west coast because the Rams move often, Seahawks aren’t historically good, Cardinals move and aren’t traditionally good, Chargers move, and the Raiders move.
LA went over 20 years without an NFL team, plus the NBA and MLB are much bigger internationally.
I don’t live in the city, but it seems like the sports hierarchy in LA is Lakers & Dodgers 1-2, with every other team far behind
Overlooked in this discussion is that the NBA’s main demographic overlaps with Instagram’s user base a lot more. Also, according to the commissioner of the NBA, it’s a “highlight league,” which lends well to Instagram.
Football fans are EXYREMELY split because of team movement, baseball fans are much older on average. Lakers have had the most stability and success in Los Angeles and they’re the most popular team internationally.
19 comments
Cannot stress enough how big of a brand the Lakers are globally and in the US. They are huuuge. There’s levels to these kinds of things.
Lakers are one of the biggest sport teams globally and basketball is top 3 most popular sports in the world, so that explains it. Baseball and American football ain’t popular globally like basketball. Like my grandpa Asian/European grandpa who is 85 years old and never followed sports ever, when I asked him about which basketball team he likes he said the Lakers and knew Kobe Bryant, he knew them yet he never followed sports or basketball in his life.
Pats only got 5m. 49ers 3.9. Football just isn’t that big globally when it comes to follower counts.
Odell got 17.2m, Brady got 15.2m followers and then you go to Jude Bellingham and he’s got 41.3m and isn’t even the most recognisable person in Futbol. Or you go to Basketball and LeBron has 152m.
LeBron and the Lakers are just a more global brand than the NFL is.
The lakers are a global phenomenon. The dodgers span two counties, one which is basically their feeder nation, and the Rams have bounced around for 50 years and have a very young, emerging fanbase
The Lakers are a top 5 sports brand in the world. You can go anywhere in the developed world and mention the Lakers, Yankees, Cowboys, and any of the top 2 soccer clubs and people will know who you’re talking about. Full stop. Comparing the Rams or Dodgers to them just isn’t fair.
You got a lot to learn about this town sweetie
Because the Lakers are ridiculously more popular (and basketball is more popular) to most of the rest of the world than the Dodgers or Rams (and I say this a a huge Dodgers and Rams fan too)? Baseball and (to a far lesser extent) American Football have pockets of fandom and passion in non-U.S. countries, but basketball is worldwide. I don’t have the numbers on this, but I presume basketball is the second most popular sport worldwide behind soccer/football. And it’s not particularly close.
Chargers not even counted as L.A lol. L.A just isn’t a massive football town due to them not having a team for decades, rams wrecked the fanbase by leaving
The NBA as a sport embraces highlights and uses social media for that. The Clippers have 5m followers which puts them in line with the Dodgers, Yankees and Cowboys.
NBA teams are bigger online and the Lakers are the biggest of them.
Because Dr Jerry Buss one of the greatest team owners in all of sports had the vision to build the Lakers into not just a sports franchise but a globally recognized brand and poured in the resources necessary to build an organization capable of supporting that brand with excellence on the court that brought home championship after championship and ensured that by and large the mere mention of the Lakers name is synonymous with winning and success
Global following plus being more locally established (buying a ticket to a Rams game is also often pretty cheap, I’ve been several times without thinking too hard about it)
It’s because the Lakers are a global brand and have a global presence as Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world
And part of it is due to the NBA being a star driven fanbase if their favourite player plays to a team the fans don’t care much about their own geographical presence . It doesn’t happen that way in the NFL and you’ve probably heard the jokes of how RAMS got some 7 fans in total it’s a longstanding joke because of the moving of Rams from STL to LA which lost us a lot of Fans
Im the only polish guy i know that know any football teams let alone rules and Players. Thats why.
Basketball is big every where now and baseball is big in Asia. Football not yet
You’re comparing maybe the second most popular US sports franchise behind the Yankees to a football team that has played in LA for less than 10 years.
We’re growing the fan base. It feels like we have more of a base each year. We will also never ever be the Lakers
Historic impact, it’s the reason 9er fans “travel” well, meaning they live everywhere on the west coast because the Rams move often, Seahawks aren’t historically good, Cardinals move and aren’t traditionally good, Chargers move, and the Raiders move.
LA went over 20 years without an NFL team, plus the NBA and MLB are much bigger internationally.
I don’t live in the city, but it seems like the sports hierarchy in LA is Lakers & Dodgers 1-2, with every other team far behind
Overlooked in this discussion is that the NBA’s main demographic overlaps with Instagram’s user base a lot more. Also, according to the commissioner of the NBA, it’s a “highlight league,” which lends well to Instagram.
Football fans are EXYREMELY split because of team movement, baseball fans are much older on average. Lakers have had the most stability and success in Los Angeles and they’re the most popular team internationally.
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