The regular season is obviously over and even the post-season ends tomorrow. But for true football fans, the NFL season runs all year long. At this point they have already begun assessing their team’s most dire needs for next year and listing the prospect they hope to see acquired from colleges via the NFL draft (or free agency).
So the question of which city has the best — and worst — fans is relevant. Here is the breakdown via WalletHub, which notes that 49% of the 168 million adults in the U.S. are loyal football fans.
To arrive at their numbers, the experts use the following methodology to assign points to teams along several scales:
- Number of NFL & College Football (FBS) Teams: 1
- Performance Quality of Teams (No. of Wins/Total Games Played): 2
Note: Past three seasons’ averages for NFL and NCAA Division 1 FBS teams was used for this calculation. - Average Ticket Price for an NFL Game & Minimum Season Ticket Price for a College Football (FBS) Game: 2
- Stadium Accessibility (City Population/Stadium Capacity): 0.5
- Number of Championships Won: 1
- Number of Division Championships Won: 0.5
- Number of Sports Bars per Capita: 0.5
- Fan Friendliness and Engagement per Capita (Number of Twitter Followers + Number of Facebook Likes): 1
- Franchise Value (Team Estimated Value in $Million): 0.5
Note: For NFL teams only - Attendance (Average Home-Fan Attendance/Arena Capacity): 0.5
Note: For NFL teams only - Viewership Rankings (Percentage of Adults in Team’s Market Who Have Watched, Listened to or Attended a Game in the Past 12 Months): 0.5
Note: For NFL teams only
So which cities made the cut? Here are the top five:
1. Green Bay
2. East Lansing, Mich.
3. Pittsburgh
4. Denver
5. Tuscaloosa, Ala.
