In this episode of the Fanalytics podcast, hosted by Mike Lewis, professor at Emory University, the discussion centers on the state of NFL fandom in 2024. The analysis breaks down fan bases into four quads based on various data components like attendance, pricing, social media following, and economic potential of the markets. Mike reviews teams from each quad, discussing why certain teams excel or struggle in terms of fan metrics. Notable patterns, such as the impact of on-field performance, historical success, and star players, are highlighted. He concludes with reflections on the methodology and the implications of these fandom insights within the broader context of cultural analytics.
NFL Fandom Rankings 2024: Top and Bottom Teams Analyzed!
Join Mike Lewis, a professor at Emory University, as he delves into the world of NFL fandoms in 2024 on the Fanalytics podcast. Discover where each NFL team stands in terms of fan engagement, attendance, social media following, and economic potential. Mike provides a detailed breakdown of teams ranked from the struggling to the elite, and analyzes what makes their fan bases tick. He also explores the methodologies used to gather and interpret the data, ensuring an insightful understanding of the cultural analytics behind NFL fandoms. Stay tuned for a fascinating look into the best and the worst fandoms in the NFL!
00:00 Introduction to Fanalytics Podcast
00:06 Overview of NFL Fandom Analysis
00:47 Methodology Recap
03:15 Quad 4: Teams Driven by Hope
04:49 Quad 3: Transitional Teams
06:43 Quad 2: Solid Performers
25:04 Quad 1: NFL Royalty
36:47 Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Everyone welcome to the Fanalytics podcast. My name is Mike Lewis professor at Emory university in Atlanta. Okay. So we are continuing our countdown, our look at NFL fandom in 2024. A snapshot of, well, where are the best fandoms in the NFL, where the fandoms that are struggling? And, you know, again, this is an important thing.
Looking at fan bases is. You know, it's a, it's a fun topic. It's a fun way of looking at marketing. It's a fun way of understanding branding. But it's also falls into this category of cultural analytics, right? Culture is the thing that really matters culture is the thing that shapes society. And so what can we do to apply, apply analytics, to understand how our culture works?
Okay. Quick recap on the method. So last week I released a part, one of the episode. Where we really delve into the method. And also spend quite a bit of time on the teams in the lower, on the lower quad. I've decided to do it as quads this year, rather than you know, just to put teams in broad categories of fan bases that are really based on hope at this point.
Some that are more of an, in a transitional era. Um, so we went through. A lot of those fan bases in detail and talked about the methods. Okay. So the method real quickly as a recap. Is based on. Couple of components. The first thing is I gather data on each teams, fandom outcomes. So a bunch of frankly, a bunch of data, but the ones I'm spending most of my time talking about during the podcast are. Attendance. You know, the fact that fans come out, spend three hours in a stadium, brave traffic. Pricing. So fans willingness to spend and look pricing is really the gold standard in terms of. An expression of actual consumer preference. And then another one social media following. Now social media following might seem a little bit, a little bit more casual than the other ones.
And it absolutely is. But social media following. Enables us to capture fandom out of the market. People that don't live in the team's metropolitan area. It also enables us to capture fandom from, from younger people. People that don't have the disposable income to actually buy season tickets.
The second part in terms of the data collection is looking at economic potential. So looking at a bunch of demographic information where the two big ones. Our income median income in a city and population. Right. So you've got more potential fans. And you got more disposable income things should work out better in terms of the fandom. Okay.
So the way I do the rankings is I. I gathered the information on fandom outcomes. I gathered the information on market potential, build a statistical model that basically shows how the league works. And then I see using the statistical model, I figure out what each team should do if they just performed at league norms.
And I compare with them what they actually do with what the model predicts. Okay. So it's actual performance versus the prediction from an economic bottle based on data across the league.
Okay, in terms of the results, so in part one, I did quad four. Teams that are really just, all they got going for them is hope at the moment. In Quad 3, the teams that are, tend to be in a transitional state. So in Quad 4, we had the Cardinals, the Chargers, Commanders, Titans, Colts, Jaguars, Rams, and Lions.
Okay, so there's a lot of consistency in terms of why these teams have found themselves with fandoms ranked in the lower quarter. Um, or I should really say there's a lot of lack of consistency. A lot of name changes. A lot of city moves. If you look at on field performance, little history of winning.
And I mean, there are some exceptions, right? The, the Washington Commanders, the Washington NFL team is at the bottom because of naming controversies and multiple name changes, but in general, the teams at the bottom are the teams that have not had great performance. They've not won Super Bowls or they've won very few Super Bowls.
Um, and again, a big thing. They don't have the iconic quarterbacks. Now it might seem like I'm a little too obsessed with the quarterback position, but the quarterback is really the leading man of the NFL, which means he's the star of the stories of the narratives that really build a fan base. So these, the, the teams at the bottom are really mostly driven by hope at the moment.
And look, if you look at them, teams like the Jaguars or the Colts, they got young quarterbacks. Commanders, another young quarterback. So, this is, teams that, and look, no bad fan bases in the NFL, but these are teams that really need, they need to have some success. Okay, and Quad 3, Quad 3 was an interesting group.
We had the Bengals, Dolphins, Bears, Vikings, Jets, Buccaneers, Falcons, and Bills. So, a couple major market teams in the Bears and the Jets. And, and look, Great fanbases in a lot of ways, right? Think about the SNL skit Da Bears. Kaditka Fight Godzilla the Jets fans screaming J E T S at the NFL Draft.
So a lot of, a lot of raw energy, but when you look at the metrics and you see how all the teams in this group perform, they just don't do it. Perform as well. At least lately, compared to their NFL peers. Um, again, looking at it, some of the teams in here, the Bengals with Joe Burrow, a lot of potential here, a lot of potential to move up these rankings.
Um, the bills, the bills, mafia, maybe the most famous fan group as of 2024, but probably tends to be a little bit of a small side in terms of the overall fandom. Now, when you look at connects quad three. A lot of failed quarterback picks. And Superbowl losses. Teams like the Vikings and the Bills. A lot of history of Superbowl losses.
When you look at the Bears, recent failures to draft quarterbacks with Trubisky and Justin Fields. Same type of issue with, with the Jets. When you look at the Dolphins, again, some, some of it ends up being mixed, right? When you look at the Dolphins, they have one of the all time great quarterbacks, Moreno, but didn't convert to a bunch of Super Bowls.
So it tends to be teams that have not, they, they haven't been able to turn the corner and have those great runs with, with great quarterbacks, especially not in the last 20, 25 years.
Okay, so moving into Quad 2. So Quad 2, I, I refer to as the solid performers, right? So this is, these are your very good, solid NFL fandoms. Um, but even within Quad 2, as we'll see, there's significant differences in terms of the markets and the teams that make up make up this group. So at number 16, we've got the Cleveland Browns.
Now, the Browns just might be the ultimate hard luck. Team. So when we think about the foundational narratives that connect to fan base, the Browns are an example of a club where much like our number 15, our number 17 team, the bills where they're connected by a history of having to be high character fans to endure.
A lot of losing in a lot of defeats , the history of Cleveland, the history of the, the Browns includes. A lot of failed attempts to come up with that quarterback, the guy that takes them to the next level. Historically, the Browns got, have gotten, in recent, relatively recent history, to someone that's 57, Bernie Kosar, Vinny Testaverde, Tim Couch, Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield Deshaun Jackson, right now, right?
So, the Browns have made a lot of attempts to through the draft, or free agency. To sign a guy that would take them to that, to that next level. And in general, it just doesn't ever seem to, I mean, I'm sure Cleveland fans feel absolutely cursed. The other thing to note for Cleveland, is they even lost their team.
Right? The Browns, the historic Cleveland Browns of Jim Brown, sort of that, that era, that great history, moved to Baltimore and become the Ravens. Now, the one nice thing for the Browns, right, is that they were able to keep the name, the Cleveland Browns. Browns, right? They didn't have to come up with a, the new name and call it the Cleveland Panthers or the Cleveland Guardians.
They got to be able to connect connect to the past glory by keeping the name, keeping the uniforms, keeping the colors. In terms of the fan metrics, I've got Cleveland at 15. In terms of um, In terms of pricing, 19 in attendance, 22 in terms of social media for a market like Cleveland, that's pretty good.
It's a solid performer. So like I'll keep using the word, it's a solid performance. in a market that's a little bit below average in NFL terms. No disrespect to Cleveland, but below NFL averages in terms of population and income. So, summing it up, it's a high character fan base in a hard luck sports city.
Now, I don't think Cleveland gets everything right. For example, while I love when the Bills fans crash through the table Right? It's a great spectacle, the flaming tables. I hate when Cleveland has a celebrity break a guitar, right? Seems incredibly inauthentic. My advice to Cleveland would be to really lean into the high character nature of your fanbase and go out of your way to always remain authentic and true to that Cleveland Browns fan spirit.
At number 15, we've got the Houston Texans. This one's a surprise to me, but you gotta remember that these rankings are not based on judgment. The rankings are entirely driven by the numbers, by the data. The Texans only 23 seasons, no Super Bowls. Right, so this seems like a club without a lot of, a lot of lack, lacking history and lacking Super Bowls and lacking really great quarterback, elite quarterbacks that would be a quad four type team.
Now, the one thing, the only thing I can come up with is that maybe Texas is the opposite of Florida. That Texas is such a, www. fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Professors. fm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, www. fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Professors. fm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, Like I said, the Texans almost really fit the bill for the Quad Four team, where they've got a lot of hope, not a lot of payoff just as yet.
Um, maybe the all time great Houston Texan is J. J. Watt. The record over their 23 seasons is 152 202. So, there's really not much in terms of the foundational stories. Now, , When you look at fandom outcomes They're number 17 in pricing, number 9 in attendance, number 16 in social media.
So they, they draw the fans into the building. And you think what that means, right? And again, stadium size has some impact on this, but the Texans are out drawing. Last year, all but, eight other NFL teams. So the passion embodied in Houston for football really makes you ask the question of, should the Oilers have stayed?
Where would the Oilers be at if they had remained in Houston for all these years?
The number 14 team are the Baltimore Ravens. 29 seasons, former Browns franchise of course, but no connection to Browns history or, and again think about the market structure here, also no connection to Colts history. So the Ravens are a relatively new franchise and of the new franchises they've been incredibly successful in terms of the fandom outcomes.
16th in terms of pricing, so just about average. 11th in attendance, so pretty, pretty far above average. 13 in social media. This is really a great way to start. Painkillers, thiambul names, NOAA Panth150, www.
painkillers. com, Michi P, os. com Salviwon. KX Raider, Hill. Wei Cherry M Egg Right there Quesch Egg Egg Quesch And this is where the Ravens have done so very well. You've got truly all time great players in Lamar Jackson, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed. You have two super bowl victories. You've got a fairly iconic rivalry with the Steelers.
So, they've been able to create the foundational stories fairly quickly. Fairly quickly. And so they're a great organization that has been able to produce a, a great fandom. The, the real question for them is if Jackson can get a couple of Super Bowls, where does this fandom, where does this fandom go?
Can you, with only 30 years of history in a Baltimore market, become one of the iconic NFL brands? It's an interesting question.
Number 13, we've got the new Orleans saints. The saints are the classic over performer. I have them ranked near the bottom of the league in terms of the economic value of the market, the economic potential of the market. It's relatively small. It's also a relatively low income market. The average median income, the median income in San Francisco is in fact more than twice that, of, of new Orleans.
Now, despite these economic limitations, The saints perform pretty well in fandom outcomes. I've got them ranked as the 16th best performing. Fandom in terms of things like social media pricing and attendance. And again, the saints are the saints. Aren't interesting. Fandom because they've been built through a combination of community involvement. And on field success.
I mean, if I just look at the foundational stories in terms of what's happened on the field, the saints are probably a little bit light. The all-time great quarterback is obviously drew breeze. You've also got, you know, Peyton and Eli's dad in there in the mix. But there's not, there's not a whole litany of legendary players that have played for the saints, especially not at the glamor position of the quarterback. There's one Superbowl. Now the Superbowl occurred. In an important time, right?
So in the post-Katrina period, Where that city was truly decimated. The St. Started to perform very well. Go on playoff runs, culminating in a Superbowl. And so the, the saints were, are truly more than most. I mean, look, all the NFL teams are integrated with our communities. But the saints integration feels even closer. And particularly because they had their success when the team, when the city was recovering from, from you know, a disaster. And an epic disaster. So the saints are an example of a fandom that has, and this is fairly rare that has created a lot of passion and engagement. As much through being a part of the community. As as much as for winning on the field.
I've got the Seahawks at 12th and I think this is the tale as much of a city as as of a team. The Seattle market has been flooded with tech money and population and has become a great place for sports. Remember it's not that long ago. When Seattle was losing their basketball team, but now you know that fandom has really come together for the Seahawks and even the Ms.
L, the m, the MLS team. So I've got Seattle ranked as the eighth best NFL market in terms of economics and in in fandom outcomes. I've got them at number 11. So a very solid performance on a, a solid performance, almost top 10. For one of the better markets in the NFL they're in fact top 10 in terms of pricing power and social media.
They look, the fan base is very enthusiastic about themselves, right? They are, which is an indication of how engaged they are. They claim loudness records, um, the, the franchise. Talks a lot about the Twelfth Man. The team even pays Texas A& M some royalties so they can use the Twelfth Man, right? So they've gone out of their way to really say the fanbase is part of the is part of the team.
The 2013 Super Bowl victory is probably the key moment in the franchise. They've lost a couple of others, the Mount Rushmore of players, Kenny Easley. Walter Jones, Steve Largent, Russell Wilson. Now, Russell Wilson, is a sign of a little bit of current weakness for the team, right? So when your all time great quarterback is also a guy that you essentially pushed out the door, it's not a great sign.
The Carolina Panthers are number 11, and on this one, I'm not even going to really defend this one. This is, like when you're working with data, sometimes you get results that you can't really explain. I don't believe that the Panthers are the number 11 fandom in the NFL. If this were true, I think they would be a much better team.
Just the reality check, the face validity of saying, Do you want to put the Panthers on national TV? And I think the answer would be no. It doesn't, it doesn't, I've met very few Panthers fans in real life. So, the question becomes, well, what is it in the data that's driving these results? So the Panthers claim number 18 in ticket prices.
Number eight in attendance, and that's where I struggle with it, right? So when I look at, think of some of the video last season, seemed to be a lot of empty seats in Carolina. They're also number nine in social. They're number nine in social, dating back to some great social media efforts and enthusiasm when Cam Newton was the quarterback.
So you start to see, you question, are the attendance numbers truly legit? You question the value of social media and something like this. Right? People tend to follow things that are exciting. They don't tend to unfollow things that have fallen off. So with the Panthers, I think it's, it's one of those things where we've got to understand the models that we're using and the data that we're using to say, well, sometimes some things are, some things are going to happen that might be just a little bit weird in terms of the team itself.
They're 0 2 in Super Bowls, which is not bad. That they've been in two Super Bowls. Cam Newton is the headline performer. There's some other players like Julius Peppers, but it's not a team that has had wild on field success, that has really built the, the stories and the narratives that are gonna connect a fan base.
They probably belong more in, in Quad four. They've got a. www. fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Professors. fm,
Okay, at number 10, we've got the New York Giants. This might be a story about expectations. www. fandomalytics. com, www. kawhii. com, www. fandomanalytics. com, www. kawhii. com, www. kawhii. net. www. fandomanalytics. com, www. fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Professorsfm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, Outcomes.
So a very solid performance, but again, the Giants, especially of late, probably have not achieved the greatness necessary to really get the New York fans on board, to really engage the New York fans. I mean, New York is probably a double sided blade, where it's got a great history of sports, great fans, but there's also a ton of competition.
Now, one of the things that, of course, sets the NFL Apart from other leagues is that there's so much revenue sharing that you can actually have your biggest brands in places like, and I think you should also add that it's such a TV driven league that you can have your biggest brands in places like Green Bay, let's say, rather than in New York, but it's still a little bit of a funny situation in terms of the foundational stories, Giants have four Super Bowls.
They've been to five so they do have that absolute history. Now, it is a little bit funny, and again, maybe this is what, maybe I don't talk about quarterbacks too much. When you think about the Giants iconic quarterbacks, www. fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Professors. fm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, Doug Battle, www.
fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Professors. fm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, Doug Battle,
At number nine, we've got the Denver Broncos, Broncos or 14th and market potential. Denver is sort of an average NFL market, maybe a little less competition historically from other pro sports franchises. But. You know, now the nuggets are champion champions. Rocky's well-established. The Broncos come in ninth in outcomes. And look, I, I referenced the history of the market because the Broncos had a lot of time to be the big dog in that market.
And to really develop that, that core fandom. What leads them to be ninth in fan outcomes, fifth and attendance, sixth and pricing. So very solid. Marketing metrics for the Denver Broncos. Eight super bowl appearances three wins. So a real history of success on the field where the teams are making those deep post-season runs, which again is where fandom has created a Marquis player. Is obviously John Elway. One weakness might be the asking the question of, well, who's the second quarterback, we'd say Peyton Manning, but you know, again, Manning was finishing his career in Denver.
As in quad three, we've got a lot of variety. In terms of how teams end up in, in quad two, we've got some very good fandoms with deep traditions in Denver and the Giants. We've got fandoms that have been built by very solid organizations in the Ravens and Seahawks. The Saints and Browns are perhaps based more on community involvement, where the teams are really at the heart of the local cities.
Um, we also got some data. Some, some outcomes that give you a little bit of pause and that really highlight and look, this is true in anything in analytics. Has nothing to do with this being in sports. Whenever you're working with data, you've got to understand the context. In this case, there's a couple of representatives in team, in quad two, the Panthers and the Texans that make you go hmm, and really, really reveal the importance of having a human, Human guiding the decision.
Like if you're a TV network and you think about what teams to put on. Yeah, absolutely. The Texans make sense. Cause CJ Stroud is there at the moment, but the Panthers, you probably go, well, let's see how this plays out a little.
This brings us to quad one. So now we're talking about NFL royalty, the premier fandoms in the, the premier fandoms in the premier American sports league at number eight. Again, we're talking about NFL royalty. We've got the Pittsburgh Steelers, eight Super Bowl appearances. 1 6. The legendary players for the Steelers might have the greatest list of legendary players.
Terry Bradshaw, Ben Roethlisberger, Franco Harris, Heinz Ward, Jerome Bettis, Lynn Swan, Joe Green, T. J. Watt, James Harrison, Jack Hamm, Mel Blunt. It goes on and on and on. So there's probably no team that has a better Foundation of stories and narratives. Now look, you can even add to the coaching ranks for the Steelers.
Chuck Knoll. Cowher, Tomlin, right? So, the Steelers as an organization have developed great players. They've won Super Bowls. They've had incredible stability in the leadership ranks. And so they have ended up as one of the truly elite. Fandoms, and one with an amazing national fan base and this is all done in Pittsburgh, which I have ranked as the 25th best market economically, but I got the Steelers as 10th best in outcomes, highlighted by being number four, and again, this is out of the Pittsburgh marketplace, number four in social media followings.
Number 7, we've got the New England Patriots, a fandom built by one guy in some ways, Tom Brady. Up until the Brady Belichick era, the Patriots were nowhere near being an elite or premier NFL brand. Now, this is a little bit of an interesting case because Boston Like, I'm not a Boston guy, but Boston probably does have the best sports fans in America.
So, in terms of building a fandom, you combine Brady's two decade run 11 Super Bowls, seven victories for the club, and you are going to end up with a, with a fandom That is truly impressive on just about every metric. I've got Boston as the 7th best market, and I've got the Patriots with the 4th best outcomes.
Now, I will say this, there are some interesting questions surrounding the Patriots. And look, as in, if I was a Boston guy, maybe I would know this, I have a strong opinion. But as an outsider, I come up with a funny question and all that. If Tom Brady is the face of the franchise, Maybe the face of the NFL.
If we're talking about the New England Patriots, and we take Brady out of the equation, who's the second guy that steps up to be the face of the franchise? And I don't know that. So, the Patriots are an amazing fandom, with an amazing set of stories, and a legendary player, but maybe not as much depth as some of the other teams.
Remember when we were talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was player after player after player. With the Patriots, it's not clear who follows Brady in second place.
At number six we've got the Oakland, I mean Las Vegas Raiders. Okay, I got mixed feelings on this one. The Oakland Raiders. are one of, in some ways, in terms of the foundational narratives and the stories, are one of the great NFL fandoms. I mean, especially when you go back to the 1970s, and you've got Kenny Stabler, Fred Belitnikoff, um, and critically, You've got the best known coach in all of America and John Madden.
I mean, some of this may be via the video game. All sorts of other iconic players, Marcus Allen, Tim, Tim Brown, Harry, Howie Long three Super Bowl victories and a total of five. And remember, the Raiders also had One of the most famous or infamous fandoms within their stadium, the Black Hole fans. So the guys that were all painted up, wearing spikes, shoulder pads, helmets.
A full face paint. So the Raiders had a lot going for them. All the major markers, markers of fandom. Now where this gets a little odd, is that I don't think anyone necessarily puts the Las Vegas Raiders into that category. So again, we've got something, something strange possibly going on in the Las Vegas market.
Now the Raiders score so highly because they have the highest prices in the league. So, think about how strange that is. You've got the highest prices in the league, in a second tier market, not a lot of population, not an amazing amount in terms of median incomes in Las Vegas, but I just question if something else is going on.
Are a lot of the tickets purchased by casinos? Is a lot of the, the money, maybe the money that supports the team isn't from the people that live there, it's from the folks that are flying in on vacation? So, there's something strange going on in the data. I don't necessarily think the Raiders are an elite NFL fandom at this point, but they're a funny one because they do have the depth of stories.
Hell, I could add one more thing. They've got one of the most famous NFL owners of all time in terms of Al Davis in the quote of just win baby, right? So the Raiders have a ton going for them, but this result doesn't feel quite right.
At number five, we've got the San Francisco 49ers. In a lot of ways, I put the 49ers next to, next to the Pittsburgh Steelers in terms of legendary names and performances. They've won five Super Bowls, Ade appearances, Montana ste Terrell Owens, Ronnie lot top tier NFL Hall think where it gets differ Obviously, is I have San F third best market.
This re able to have the second h The second best fan outcomes, second highest prices, for example, just following the Las Vegas Raiders. So this is an incredibly effective organization in a market that has become incredibly lucrative and economically valuable over time. I think the one thing that Look, as a football fan, it seems like football fandom belongs more in Pittsburgh than San Francisco.
But in 2024, in looking at marketing metrics, economic power and the economic potential of market ends up being incredibly important.
And number four, we've got the Kansas City Chiefs. This one reminds me a lot of the Patriots story, where this is a dynasty, this is a fandom that is really being built by one key individual, and that's Patrick Mahomes. So the Chiefs have some tradition, four Super Bowls, six appearances, but if you start to look into the www.
fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Professors. fm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, Doug Battle, A dynasty that is being built at the moment. The real question is where are they going to end up, right? Obviously, so much excitement around this team. I have them in 20th in market potential, 6th in fan outcomes.
I mean, on top of everything else, right? We've got the Taylor Swift issue, where she is probably leading to them having higher social media following. So the Chiefs are, look, they're a top tier brand at the moment. The big question for the Chiefs is, are they permanently moving into this territory? Another Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, or is this a temporary visit to the top tier of the NFL?
And look, I suspect, I mean, this is all going to come down to what does Mahomes deliver for the second half of his career?
I've got the Eagles at number three. Now, I grew up a Steelers fan, and so this is an unexpected result. Again, this is what the data is saying. Now, unlike some of the other anomalies. I tend to trust the data on this one. I think Eagles fandom is that powerful, that strong. The Eagles actually have more social media followers than the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And again, I think everyone would, the casual fan, before looking at the numbers, www. fandomanalytics. com, Kawhii Leonard, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Professors. fm, Caitlin Clark, Doug Battle, Doug Battle, Ron Jaworski, Randall Cunningham, Jalen Hurts. So it's not a background that you would think would put a team in the top three of NFL fandoms.
I think this is more a testament to the engagement and quality of Philadelphia sports fans.
Okay, at number two we got the Green Bay Packers. Now, I grew up in Chicago, so I'm well aware of Green Bay Packers fans, the infamous Tease Head hats Aaron Rodgers flippin off the Bears fans as he leaves Soldiers Field. The Packers are the Packers are in some ways the premier fandom, because they're Number three overall in fan outcomes, but they're doing it out of the 29th best market economically.
So the ultimate in small market Green Bay has probably the most national following of any team and it manifests itself in great tradition. Great rivalries. When you look at the, the iconic players, you got Brett Favre, Brett Favre Aaron Rodgers, Bart Starr. You, you got a legendary coach that the Super Bowl trophy is named after.
So it's really a fandom with absolutely everything.
At number one, we've got the, the only team left, Dallas Cowboys, biggest stadium, highest attendance, number one in fan outcomes. And this is in Dallas market, which I have ranked as number 10. Now, look, I mean, just to clarify something, um, I'm saying that the Cowboys operate, there are nine teams with more market potential than the Cowboys.
Not that there are nine better markets, right? Cause you've got two teams in New York and two in LA. So the Cowboys have. Look, it's self described America's team. They've got a cheerleading squad that is known worldwide. Um, they've got a great Mount Rushmore of players. Troy Aikman. Roger Staubach Tony Romo, Dak Prescott, Prescott and the quarterback, um, all, all, Emmett Smith, Tony Dorsett.
It's one of these teams, like the 49ers and the Steelers, where the legendary players go on and on. It's also, look, they've also got the highest profile owner in the NFL at this point, which means that there's constant media coverage and constant controversy. One, I mean, one small thought. Just as a curiosity is, how much did Dallas benefit over time by being in the NFC East?
Sort of having their main rivals be the, the teams located in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D. C. Sort of the heart of the East Coast media markets.
Okay, so that brings us to the end of the countdown. Now, a couple of final comments. First thing, and as we went through the list, I tried to talk a little bit about the limitations. Whenever you're working with real data and only data, letting the data speak, you're prone to get some results that may seem a little bit strange because of the, so the strangeness of data, right?
So if the Las Vegas Raiders are now able to do deals with hotels and put Extra or artificially high price ticket prices out there. You're going to get strange signals. Likewise, if, if some teams are doing different things in terms of reporting attendance than others, maybe you get signals from the marketplace that just aren't completely, completely accurate.
So there are issues with. Using a purely database approach. Now, the that the downside to bringing in more human insights or human uh, human thoughts on the matter, human expertise, is that when we're just looking at the data, we're avoiding a certain kind of bias. Right, we are avoiding the bias of, hey, I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers guy, and I can't imagine having the Steelers fandom being ranked below the Eagles.
So, there's pluses and minuses to each of this, and from my mind, the key is to always just think through what the limitations to a purely data based approach are going to be. Now, another thing that will inevitably come up in this type of analysis, is that I am unable to get at sort of the intangibles, right?
The emotions. So one of the things that most fanbases will think is, look, there might not be a lot of us that are fans. But our fandom is really pure and it's really intense. And so we've got actually more pure love for our team. The fan base that always takes a beating in this discussion is the Dallas Cowboys.
A lot of NFL fans will say Cowboy fans are the ultimate in casuals, right? They'll just pull up just before game day, um, in air conditioned, sitting in air conditioned boxes. And they're not true passionate fans like the Cleveland Brown fans. And they're not true passionate fans like the Cleveland Brown fans.
I'm waiting out early in the parking lot, sitting in the freezing stadium, and I'll be honest, right, I'm not going to be able to capture that. So a lot of what my approach does is rely on the market signals being a proxy for the fans emotions. Now look, at the end of the day, fans emotions are only valuable to teams when they end up being transferable to economic outcomes.
So it's just something to keep in mind. I don't think it's a really important issue. Now, the one issue that I have gone back and forth on over the last few years is whether or not to control for winning. So in past analyses, I would, when I'm doing the statistical analysis, and so this year, I'm doing some controls for market size to get a sense of how good the fan outcomes really are, I would also control for winning, right?
Because it's very easy to fill up a stadium when the team is winning. So, that was that approach, gives me something that I think is really interesting, and that, that gives me something closer to this idea of what is the core passion for the fanbase. Are there fandoms out there that, even if they were losing, right?
The Cleveland Browns, so even if we're not making the playoffs, we're still selling out the stadium, or nearly selling out the stadium. So, there's some, there's huge positives to that. Now the downside to controlling for winning, is it tends to devalue fanbases that are in the process of being built. So the Bills, for example.
So the Bills now go to the playoffs just about every year. The Chiefs are another example. The Chiefs go to the playoffs every year and often go to the Super Bowl. And so those clubs have been doing things like increasing pricing. The social media has been growing. But sometimes the market outcomes Sometimes the market outcomes are a little bit on the slow side.
And so if you control for winning, some of the teams that are having recent success might get a little bit beat up in the rankings because, look, the Bills are winning, but they're still pricing in the lower quarter of the league. So it, it really amounts to a question of what are the results going to be about?
So if I control for winning. Then yeah, I'm getting a better measure of the core fan engagement and passion, independent of winning, right? And that's a big thing. If I do it the way I did it this year, I'm getting a better signal of just what are the best brands at the moment, right? Kansas City Chiefs have a great brand and part of that is because they are winning.
So again, nothing is, um, none of the assumptions are either wrong or right. It's just important to understand the meaning of the assumptions for what the results are.
The last thing I want to mention is where this fits into the big picture, right? So the NFL is important, and how fan bases rank within the NFL is important for understanding the NFL. But this type of analytical approach to fandom is pretty unusual, and I tend to think it's actually a very important direction.
If you guys listen to the podcast, you know that I think Cultural passion or fandom is incredibly important because our society is really a reflection of what the people within it are passionate about. So being able to understand how a culture works analytically and through data is incredibly powerful and helpful for understanding.
Look, thinking about this NFL analysis, And these, the insights I'm about to drop on you are not particularly surprising. The teams at the top where there is the most passionate fandoms are the teams that have won a lot of Super Bowls and have had a lot of legendary players. So the teams that have developed the strongest, most powerful stories are the ones that are able to collect the most engaged and passionate fandoms.
Right, so I'll often talk about how stories are the foundation of fandom. That in the NFL. Now sports are better for analytics than most cultural sectors. Because there is so much data on things like attendance and, critically, things like, Winning, right? We don't know who the best symphony orchestra is, right?
You're purely in the realm of judgments when you're talking about orchestras or ballets. Look, even in my main line of business, universities, when you start talking about rankings, It's really subjective, right? You're often just relying on surveys, but in sports, we get to see very clean outcomes. And we also tend to be able to see very clean, clear measures of things like market potential.
So we're able to really understand what creates a fandom. Okay, guys, I will leave it there. I hope you have enjoyed the 2024 rankings. As always, Much more content at www. fandomanalytics. com. And you can also find me on social even on TikTok these days, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. Thank you.