Team Colors: Which Cities Are Most Similar?

A brief analysis of team colors for the top leagues in North America.

About This Project

I’ve always been interested in sports aesthetics. Years ago I wondered which cities are the most aligned when taking into account all of their team’s colors, and some random conversations with friends about this topic eventually turned into this project. The following is a summary of the main team colors for each team in the MLB, NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, and NWSL within each North American city (with at least two professional teams). I have listed various important notes about the methodology first, but feel free to skip ahead to the City Color Combinations or Main Findings sections!

Defining Cities: The city ownership of most teams in this study is well-defined, but I did have to make some decisions. Ultimately I ended up grouping teams based on a reasonable commute time. So for example, the Cardinals and Coyotes fall under Phoenix despite playing in Glendale. One exception was made for the Packers/Milwaukee, as a two-hour commute every other weekend seems reasonable to me. The region that gave me the most trouble was the Bay Area. The Warriors and Giants are not too far from the Niners in Santa Clara, but nearby San Jose has two teams of their own. I ended up keeping San Francisco and San Jose separate in this analysis, while poor Oakland is now left out of this study since only the A’s remain.

Methodology: I used a couple of sites (teamcolorcodes.com and sportsfancovers.com) to collect the color codes for most of the teams, and used other reliable sources for teams that have recently changed colors. The first two colors listed for each team in this study are considered their primary and secondary colors, but I also listed a third color for any team that has more than two colors listed. Once I gathered all the colors, I used a Euclidean distance formula to determine the difference in each team’s colors within each city. To do that, I took the difference in the primary color among all pairs of teams within the city. I then did the same for the secondary color. This left me with a difference score for each set of colors for each city. I took the average/median (more on this later) of the scores for the primary and secondary colors and that told me which cities are the most cohesive and which have the most differences among teams.

Color Perception: I did not anticipate just how much I would learn about differences in colors and how the human eye perceives them. I thought I could use a simple formula, but earlier iterations of this project just didn’t sit right with me. I ended up using a simpler version (CIE76) of the “Delta E” model (see the link from the Methodology section), and I think it works quite well. It definitely isn’t perfect though, and I would be interested in hearing if anyone has any ideas on how to closer approximate how the human eye picks up on color differences!

Matching Colors: One thing to note is that I tried my best to get colors to match up as best as possible within each city, so I occasionally switched up the order of a team’s primary and secondary colors. For instance, if most of the teams in a particular city listed some variation of red as their primary color but one team listed red as a secondary, I thought it was fair to switch that team’s primary and secondary colors if it improved the difference formula. My one stipulation with this was that I could only swap colors among a team’s primary colors. The primary and secondary colors, which factor into the overall score, should be the top two colors that come to mind when you think about a team’s uniforms and logo. So when you view a team’s colors, keep in mind that the ordering might have changed to improve the score, not because I didn’t know which color is the true primary color for that team.

Means vs Medians: For cities with many teams, taking the average of their primary and secondary colors actually hurts their scores because one mismatched team has an outsized influence (think about the Chicago White Sox vs the rest of Chicago’s teams). For this reason, if a city has more than three teams, I used medians instead of means to summarize the scores.

City Color Combinations

Click on the tabs below to view each individual city’s color combinations. The Team Color Table shows the number of teams within the city, their primary and secondary color scores, and their overall two-color average. For each score, remember that lower numbers mean the colors are more similar across teams. You can refer to this summary table to get a better idea of where each city ranks:

Summary of Scores

	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Low	8	0.9	6
Median	49.2	38.15	52.4
High	71.2	115.5	108.4

Underneath the Team Color Table are the logos and color combinations for each team, along with their hexadecimal codes. The top two colors are the primary and secondary colors that factor into the two-color score, while I listed out the tertiary colors just for fun. Does any color inclusion or ordering seem wrong to you? Let me know!

Anaheim

Team Color Table: Anaheim

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Anaheim	2	60.8	81.9	39.6

The Angels ditched Anaheim from their name, but that doesn’t mean I have to include them in the Los Angeles bucket. The primary colors of red and gold are among the most dissimilar of all cities while the black secondary color for the Ducks compared to the blue for the Angels is in the top half of similarity. Despite the solid secondary color score Anaheim ranks in the bottom ten in two-color similarity. Among two-team cities, Anaheim ranks ahead of Baltimore and Columbus.

Atlanta

Team Color Table: Atlanta

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Atlanta	5	21.2	22	20.4

Atlanta’s red and blue/black combos for all five teams ranks it in second place in two-color similarity score, behind only Pittsburgh. The primary and secondary color similarity scores for Atlanta are about the same. speaking to an extremely consistent color palette across teams. Each team has a tertiary color listed as well and would do quite well in a three-color score.

Baltimore

Team Color Table: Baltimore

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Baltimore	2	65.4	115.5	15.3

While the secondary color for both the Orioles and Ravens is black, the primary colors of orange and purple really clash. They clash so much, in fact, that they are the least similar city in terms of primary colors by a decent margin. When averaging the two, Baltimore ends up in the bottom five in two-color similarity. Among two-team cities, only Columbus is less similar overall.

Boston

Team Color Table: Boston

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Boston	5	50.2	76.4	24.1

Boston’s secondary color array of blacks and blues ranks in the top half of similarity. The green for the Celtics and the yellow for the Bruins clash with the reds of the other teams, resulting in a primary color score that ranks in the bottom ten. All together, Boston ranks near the middle in two-color similarity and is more similar than fellow five-team cities Denver and Philadelphia.

Buffalo

Team Color Table: Buffalo

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Buffalo	2	52.8	28.6	77

Both the Sabres and the Bills sport blue as a primary color, ranking Buffalo just outside the top ten in that metric. But the secondary colors of yellow and red, respectively, rank in the bottom ten and gives the city a bottom-half two-color similarity score. Among two-team cities, Buffalo ranks as more similar than Anaheim, Baltimore, and Columbus.

Charlotte

Team Color Table: Charlotte

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Charlotte	2	40.1	30.5	49.7

A previous version of this report listed the Hurricanes as one of Charlotte’s teams despite them playing in Raleigh (my bad!). The primary colors for the Hornets and Panthers are in the top half in terms of similarity while the darker secondary colors are near the median of all cities. This adds up to a top-half two-color similarity score, with Charlotte ranking in the top five among two-team cities. Both teams have gray as a tertiary color so Charlotte would rank quite high in a three-color similarity score as well.

Chicago

Team Color Table: Chicago

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Chicago	8	37.8	46.4	29.1

Chicago is one of the cities that benefits the most from using medians instead of averages when looking at the underlying colors. The White Sox hurt the secondary score a bit, but Chicago still ranks just outside of the top ten among all cities in two-color similarity score. This is quite impressive for a city that has eight teams, third most behind New York and Los Angeles. Chicago is in the bottom half in primary color score but ranks just outside of the top ten in secondary color similarity thanks to the abundance of red among the teams.

Cincinnati

Team Color Table: Cincinnati

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Cincinnati	3	31.2	21.4	41.1

Cincinnati has a top-ten primary color similarity score and is in the top half in secondary color similarity. These scores result in Cincinnati ranking in the top ten in two-color similarity. Among the 13 three-team cities, Cincinnati ranks behind just Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, and Indianapolis in two-color similarity.

Cleveland

Team Color Table: Cleveland

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Cleveland	3	39	47.7	30.4

Visually I think Cleveland’s primary colors are fairly similar, but they rank in the bottom half of all cities. I think this speaks to just how similar many cities are in their primary colors. Cleveland’s secondary colors are near the top ten in similarity, however, and this gives the city a top-15 two-color ranking.

Columbus

Team Color Table: Columbus

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Columbus	2	70.3	32.3	108.4

Columbus has fairly similar primary colors, as the blue of the Blue Jackets is not too far off from the black of the Crew. The secondary colors are where things clash, as the red and yellow colors easily place the city in last place in terms of similarity. The secondary color score pulls the two-color score down to second-to-last, more similar than just Kansas City.

Dallas

Team Color Table: Dallas

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Dallas	6	58.5	26.9	90

Despite the prevalence of different shades of blues, Dallas ranks in the bottom ten in two-color similarity score. The reds for the Rangers and FC Dallas cause the secondary color score to be in the bottom three in similarity, but the primary colors are quite similar and just barely miss out on the top ten. Among cities with at least six teams, Dallas places ahead of just Minneapolis in two-color similarity.

Denver

Team Color Table: Denver

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Denver	5	52.7	49.6	55.8

Denver ranks in the bottom half in similarity for both primary and secondary colors. The primary colors are mostly blue, though the purple of the Rockies makes the combination more dissimilar. The Rockies are the culprit again for secondary colors, as their black clashes with the red/orange of the other teams. All of this combines to give Denver a two-color similarity score that ranks in the bottom half overall, placing the city barely ahead of Philadelphia among five-team cities.

Detroit

Team Color Table: Detroit

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Detroit	4	55.5	57.4	53.6

I sparingly used white as a color, but in the case of the Red Wings it makes total sense. The Lions are the only team lacking red, and this results in a primary color similarity score in the bottom ten. The Red Wings are the oddballs when looking at secondary colors, as every other team has blue listed. Detroit ranks in the middle in secondary color similarity and places near the bottom ten in two-color score.

Houston

Team Color Table: Houston

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Houston	5	29.9	43.6	16.2

Houston is one of the most similar cities when looking at two-color score. Orange and red dominates the array of primary colors yet the city is a bit more dissimilar than the median in this metric. It makes up for it with a secondary color score that is just outside the top five in similarity. Houston ranks behind just Atlanta in two-color similarity among five-team cities.

Indianapolis

Team Color Table: Indianapolis

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Indianapolis	3	30.2	0.9	59.5

Look at that array of blues! Indianapolis secures the honor of top-ranking primary color similarity, beating out Pittsburgh’s yellows and Vancouver’s blues. The secondary colors are more dissimilar than the median city, however, thanks to the white from the Colts clashing a bit with the yellows of the Pacers and Fever. Still, Indianapolis ranks in the top ten in two-color similarity. The city ranks behind only Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City among three-team cities.

Kansas City

Team Color Table: Kansas City

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Kansas City	3	71.2	73.5	68.9

Kansas City has one of the most dissimilar primary color scores, mainly thanks to the red of the Chiefs. The secondary colors are similarly-clashing, ranking among the bottom ten in that metric. Add these two scores together and you have your most-dissimilar two-color score!

Las Vegas

Team Color Table: Las Vegas

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Las Vegas	3	38.8	18.4	59.3

The Raiders have moved out of Oakland, and they fit right in color-wise with the Aces and Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The shades of black for the three teams rank the city just outside of the top five in primary color similarity. The secondary colors are in the bottom half in similarity, however, giving the city a top-15 two-color similarity score on balance.

Los Angeles

Team Color Table: Los Angeles

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Los Angeles	9	50	38.8	61.2

Los Angeles has the second-most teams of all cities, behind only New York. With so many teams it is rather difficult to be completely matching, but the city ends up near the middle in the two-color score rankings. The blue/purple primary colors rank right around the median, and just look at all those yellows in the secondary color array! The Clippers, Kings and Dodgers do some damage to the secondary color score, yet the city still avoids the bottom ten. Quick note on the Dodgers: I think people consider blue and white to be their top two colors so I assigned red (which is the color of their front numbers) as the tertiary color.

Miami

Team Color Table: Miami

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Miami	5	49.2	52.7	45.8

I think Miami wins the award for brightest colors across all teams, and overall this places this city smack in the middle in terms of two-color similarity. The primary colors rank in the bottom ten in similarity, while the bright seconday colors sneak into the top half among all cities. Miami ranks ahead of Boston, Denver, and Philadelphia in two-color score among five-team cities.

Milwaukee

Team Color Table: Milwaukee

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Milwaukee	3	43.1	39.1	47.1

I don’t think anybody will object with me including the Packers in this grouping. Milwaukee ranks in the top half in two-color similarity but the primary color score is in the bottom half of all cities. The secondary color score is in the top half, however, and the city would rank even higher if not for the secondary color of the Bucks (“Cream City Cream”) compared to the yellow for the other two teams.

Minneapolis

Team Color Table: Minneapolis

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Minneapolis	6	61.8	34.2	89.4

Minneapolis is similar to Miami in that it has a lot of different colors going on. Despite purple (Vikings) and green (Wild) in the mix, the primary color score actually ranks in the top half. The secondary colors clash, however, and that’s why Minneapolis is in the bottom five of two-color score similarity. Minnesota is also the least similar city among those with at least six teams. But here’s a fun fact: the Timberwolves and Lynx have almost-identical color combos and logos!

Montreal

Team Color Table: Montreal

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Montreal	2	52.1	29.5	74.7

The primary blues for the two Montreal teams gives it a high-ranking primary color score, but the secondary color score is in the bottom ten, as the black for the Impact and the red for the Canadiens clash. This balances out to give Montreal a two-color score that is slightly more dissimilar than the median city.

Nashville

Team Color Table: Nashville

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Nashville	3	55.6	15.9	95.3

Nashville has a top-five primary color score, as each team wears dark blue. The secondary colors are not very similar, mainly thanks to the Titans not sporting any yellow in their jersey or logo. Ultimately Nashville’s secondary colors pull the two-color score down to the bottom ten in terms of similarity.

New Orleans

Team Color Table: New Orleans

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
New Orleans	2	21.6	27	16.2

New Orleans is just barely behind Atlanta in two-color similarity, good enough for third place overall. The dark blue of the Pelicans matches well with the black of the Saints, and both teams sport gold as a secondary color (though red makes a strong case as secondary color for the Pelicans). The city is just outside of the top ten in primary color similarity and ranks fifth in secondary color similarity.

New York

Team Color Table: New York

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
New York	13	54.4	46	62.7

New York has 13 teams, enough for multiple teams in almost every league in this study. Despite so many teams potentially clashing, the city manages to avoid a bottom-ten two-color score. There’s a lot of blue going on among primary colors, and many of the secondary colors are some shade of red or orange. What was interesting to me in looking at the array of colors is that there are separate matching subsets of teams in the city. Teams like the Yankees, Nets, and Jets match quite well because they all share white as a secondary color, while almost every other team has a blue/black+red/orange combo. The number of teams in this area is so large that there are potentially multiple subsets that could be analyzed. Which groupings of teams should I look into?

Orlando

Team Color Table: Orlando

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Orlando	3	59	50	68.1

Orlando is an interesting case because pairs of teams share colors, but nothing is present across all three teams. The soccer clubs share purple as their primary colors but the city’s primary color score is in the bottom ten because of the Magic. Likewise for the secondary colors, the Pride and Magic both have shades of blue but Orlando City SC does not. Orlando is a color tweak away from having really similar color combos, but instead the city settles in the bottom ten in two-color similarity.

Philadelphia

Team Color Table: Philadelphia

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Philadelphia	5	53.6	34.8	72.5

Philadelphia has a primary color score that ranks right around the median, but the secondary colors are among the least similar. The Eagles and the Union are the culprits here, clashing with the red/orange array of the other teams. The city ranks in the bottom half in two-color similarity and is the most dissimilar among all five-team cities. Among cities with five or more teams, Philly is more similar than New York, Dallas, and Minneapolis.

Phoenix

Team Color Table: Phoenix

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Phoenix	5	37.6	39.4	35.8

The Suns and Mercury are both orange, and those go fairly well with reds of the other teams, giving the city a primary color score near the median. The purple and black array of secondary colors is quite similar, ranking in the top-15. This combines to give Phoenix a two-color score that ranks just outside the top ten in similarity. Phoenix is behind just Atlanta and Houston in two-color similarity when looking at five-team cities.

Pittsburgh

Team Color Table: Pittsburgh

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Pittsburgh	3	8	3.1	12.9

When I tweeted out the first version of this analysis, many people assumed Pittsburgh would be the most similar before even looking at the numbers. They were incorrect, but only because I listed gold as the primary color for the Penguins. My apologies to the city of Pittsburgh. With the updated color combos, Pittsburgh easily wins the award for most similar team colors. The primary yellow colors are only beaten in similarity by the blues in Indianapolis, and the secondary blacks trail only the blues in St. Louis and the blacks in San Jose.

Portland

Team Color Table: Portland

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Portland	3	40.5	29.8	51.2

Portland settles in the top half in two-color score thanks to a primary color score that is surprisingly high. I believe this might be an artifact of the equation used vs the human eye’s perception of difference in color - Portland ranks as more similar in primary color score than Charlotte and Milwaukee but it doesn’t seem like it should when I compare the three cities. The Thorns and Trail Blazers share red while the Timbers clash a bit with gold, but ultimately Portland ranks near the median in secondary color similarity.

Raleigh

Team Color Table: Raleigh

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Raleigh	2	28.4	25	31.9

The Hurricanes are joined in Raleigh by the Courage, and the two teams match quite well. The Courage sport blue uniforms but there’s plenty of red in the logo. The primary colors are close enough to place the city in the top ten in that metric, while the secondary colors are in the top-15 in similarity. Raleigh just barely misses out on the top five in two-color similarity and trails only New Orleans among two-team cities.

Salt Lake City

Team Color Table: Salt Lake City

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Salt Lake City	3	24.9	19.9	29.9

I was not aware that Salt Lake City had MLS and NWSL teams before doing this analysis, but was delighted when I saw how well they match the colors of the Jazz. The primary blues are in the top ten in terms of similarity, and the secondary yellows sit just outside of it. Put these together and you have a top-five city in two-color similarity.

San Francisco

Team Color Table: San Francisco

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
San Francisco	3	68	78	58.1

The Bay Area made things really interesting for me. If I did this analysis several years back, the Niners would be playing games in San Francisco and not next door to San Jose, the Warriors and Raiders would be in Oakland, and the A’s wouldn’t be left out of this analysis. But, alas, there’s been a ton of movement and I’ve had to rearrange some things. The Niners and Giants are joined by the Warriors, who recently moved back to San Francisco. Their primary color scores are very dissimilar, but the secondary colors are decently close. San Francisco’s two-color score ends up in the bottom-three in similarity, edging out Kansas City and Columbus.

San Jose

Team Color Table: San Jose

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
San Jose	2	29	46.2	11.8

San Jose is right next door to San Francisco, but the city has two teams to its name and they are very much in sync! The blue and green primary colors are not too far off the median in primary color similarity, but it’s the secondary color score that gives the city its top-ten two-color similarity ranking. San Jose is behind only New Orleans and Raleigh among two-team cities, and would do quite well if I measured the similarity across all three colors.

Seattle

Team Color Table: Seattle

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Seattle	5	46.2	37.5	54.9

The mostly blues and greens of the Seattle teams mesh quite well. Both the primary and secondary color scores settle in around the median for all cities, leading to a top-half two-color similarity score. Seattle settles in behind just Atlanta, Houston, and Phoenix in two-color score among five-team cities.

St. Louis

Team Color Table: St. Louis

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
St. Louis	2	49.2	92.4	6

St. Louis settles in near the middle in two-color similarity, but gets there in an interesting way. The Cardinals are primarily red, while the Blues have a lighter blue as their primary. This results in a primary color score that is only more similar than Baltimore’s orange/purple combo. On the other end, both teams share a dark blue that ranks as the most similar secondary color combo. The tertiary yellows are also very similar, which means the city would do quite well in a three-color score.

Tampa Bay

Team Color Table: Tampa Bay

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Tampa Bay	3	60.4	61.1	59.6

The Buccaneers recently changed up their colors a bit, but that actually made Tampa Bay more dissimilar in their color combos. The Rays and Lightning have primary blues, but the red from the Buccaneers gives the city a bottom-ten primary color similarity score. The light blue secondary color of the Rays is not too far off from the white of the Lightning, but again the Buccaneers mess things up by throwing pewter into the mix. Tampa Bay settles in as a bottom-ten city in two-color similarity.

Toronto

Team Color Table: Toronto

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Toronto	4	50.2	40	60.4

Toronto’s primary color similarity is near the median but the secondary colors are firmly in the lower half among all cities. The Maple Leafs are blue and white, so their secondary color really conflicts with the reds that the other teams sport. Toronto ends up around the median in two-color similarity.

Vancouver

Team Color Table: Vancouver

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Vancouver	2	38.4	5.1	71.7

Vancouver trails jus Indianapolis and Pittsburgh in primary color similarity but is on the other end of the rankings when looking at secondary colors. The light blue and green secondary colors lead to a bottom-ten similarity score, but the strength of the primary colors leads Vancouver to a top-15 two-color similarity score.

Washington

Team Color Table: Washington

City Info		Overall Score	Underlying Scores
City	Teams	Two-Color Score	Primary Score	Secondary Score
Washington	7	22.4	16.6	28.2

The City of Champions is in the top five in primary color similarity thanks to a consistent array of reds. The secondary colors are also quite similar, though the football team decided to go with gold and inflate the score a bit. DC ranks fourth in two-color similarity, which is quite remarkable considering it has seven teams. The city has the most similar two-color, primary, and secondary scores among cities with at least six teams.

Main Findings

Overall Thoughts: I had a lot of fun putting this together, and it was cool verifying with numbers some of the cities that I figured would score well (like Pittsburgh, DC and Atlanta). But I was also surprised with some of the cities that didn’t rank as high or low as I would have thought (Milwaukee and Portland come to mind). I think that color similarity overall is pretty common within cities, with only a handful of examples of teams completely mismatching. By no means do I think cities should match colors for their teams, but I think it’s pretty cool when they do!

Geographic: Looking at the cities geographically (see map below), I was drawn to just how well the midwestern cities coordinated. Chicago and Indianapolis crush it, but you also have Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Cincinnati matching quite well. Good work, Midwest!

Most Similar: The city with the best two-color score is Pittsburgh, with Atlanta and New Orleans coming in second and third.

Least Similar: On the other end of the spectrum, it was a close race between Kansas City and Columbus for least similar, with Kansas City taking the title. San Francisco and Baltimore are also in the bottom five in terms of two-color similarity.

Cities with 2 Teams (11): 11 of the 40 cities in this analysis have just two teams.This can either be an advantage or a disadvantage when it comes to similarity scores. New Orleans, Raleigh and San Jose are the most similar while Columbus, Baltimore and Anaheim clash the most.

Cities with 3 Teams (13): There are 13 cities with three teams, with Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and Indianapolis coming out on top in two-color similarity. On the other end, Kansas City, San Francisco and Tampa Bay are the least similar.

Cities with 4 or 5 Teams (10): Just Detroit and Toronto have four teams, so I lumped them in with five-team cities. Atlanta, Houston and Phoenix lead this group in two-color similarity score, While Detroit, Philadelphia and Denver are the least similar.

Cities with 6+ Teams (6): There are six cities with at least six teams. Despite the challenge of coordinating many teams, Washington and Chicago score really well in two-color similarity. Dallas and Minneapolis are the least similar of the group. The cities with the most teams, Los Angeles and New York, are in the middle of this group in team color similarity.

Summary Table and Map

Use this summary table to view the scores for all cities. You can filter by number of teams in the city and sort by two-color or either of the underlying color scores. For comparison purposes, the median two-color score is 49. The median for primary colors is 38 and the median for secondary is 52.

This is a map of two-color scores for each city, with the color of the dot representing the score (brighter colors represent cities that are more similar) and the size denoting the number of teams in the city. The map is interactive, so you can zoom in on a particular region or hover over the dots to see the actual two-color score and number of teams in each city. Besides the Midwest doing a great job of matching, what other patterns can you pick out?

Teams not included in this analysis: The following teams were not included in this analysis because they do not play in cities that have two or more teams: Oakland A’s, San Diego Padres, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators.

Help me improve this report: Did I leave any team out or misclassify any teams/cities? Are there any color inclusions that don’t make sense or should be changed? I’d be happy to update the formulas wherever necessary, so just let me know!

Additional anaysis: Are there any groupings of teams that you’d like to see added to this analysis (e.g., the entire Bay Area or a subset of the New York teams)? Let me know at mbswatek@gmail.com and I’ll look into it!

Previous version of this report: I have made many changes to this report leading up to this version. The previous version of this report that I published did not include women’s teams and also incorporated the tertiary colors into the scores. You can find that version at this link.