Easily. In North America, sports are defined differently than in other parts of the world. In America, "sports" are referring to basketball, baseball, football and hockey. Melbourne is not a good city for any of those "sports". To an American Melbourne is shit for sports, and since the article we are discussing is coming from America, the cities within it's borders are the places that were competing for the title.
I'm sorry, I didn't see the "American" part in the thread title
Melbourne has a championship winning rugby league team, a soccer team, an aussie rules team, a super 15 rugby team, a cricket team..... all with their own seperate home stadiums. It has one of the most famous cricket grounds in the world (MCG) and hosts a tennis grand slam event.
