We are three weeks away from 2013 NFL Kickoff, and while fans are eagerly waiting to see where their favorite team stacks up this season, we already have an answer to where the fans themselves stack up. According to a new study by TicketCity, the fan bases of all 32 teams were ranked based on who is engaged most frequently with their team both online and offline. So, factors such as attendance and ticket prices were combined with Facebook and Twitter statistics, in order to come up with an overall engagement score. Here’s the breakdown of the scoring metrics and the corresponding weight each piece of data was given (based on the 2012 season):
– Average total attendance, all games (5)
– Average home attendance (10)
– Average ticket price, all games (5)
– Average home game ticket price (10)
– Percentage of stadium capacity filled at home games (10)
– Facebook likes (3)
– Twitter following (3)
When it was all said and done, the dominant winner of the study was … Dallas Cowboys fans. That’s right, “America’s Team” still has a strong following, despite some recent poor seasons, beating out New England Patriots fans by more than 10 points in their engagement score. Rounding out the top five fan bases were Green Bay Packers fans at #3, NY Giants fans at #4, and fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers coming in at #5 by less than a point over Chicago Bears fans. The complete rankings can be seen below, but first, here are some more interesting finds from the study:
There’s a high correlation between team record and fan engagement in the NFL. Looking at the top teams on the list, there were no losing records in the 2012 season until the Saints at #8. Comparatively, Cincinnati was the only team in the bottom 10 to have a winning record in 2012. After a series of disappointing seasons, it may be taking Bengals fans awhile to regain interest in their team.
Along with ranking first overall, the Cowboys have led the NFL in attendance since 2009 (in large part due to their new stadium) and are in the top five for average ticket price. They also have the most Facebook fans of all 32 teams.
Most teams with a strong social media presence dominate across fan engagement metrics, except for Oakland. The top 10 teams in terms of Facebook following all rank in the top 15 overall excluding Oakland, which ranks near the very bottom of the full list largely due to the fact that fans simply aren’t going to Raiders games.
The NFC East leads the NFL in attendance. The top three teams in average home and road attendance are the Cowboys, Giants and Redskins. The Packers, however, are a huge draw away from Lambeau. The Packers jump from 4th to 1st in ticket price, once you consider away games.
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See the full results of the study at TicketCity. Photo credit: AP Photo/Gus Ruelas
