In what shouldn’t be considered surprising, keeping in mind Green Bay’s long and proud history of having some of the most devoted, if a bit unusual, fans in the NFL, a new study revealed this week that based on the analytics used, Green Bay does have the best fans in pro football.
Forbes ranked all 32 NFL teams’ fan bases and evaluated them based on attendance, merchandise sales, percentage of population that had either watched the games live or on television, and TV ratings. According to the publication’s study, which was conducted in conjunction with market research firm Nielsen Scarborough, 84 percent of adults in Green Bay can be considered fans of the hometown NFL team; the study defines that 84 percent as anyone who had “watched, attended, and/or listened to the team’s games this year.”
The Forbes/Nielsen Scarborough study further broke down the analytics it used to rank the NFL’s teams, explaining that Green Bay Packers fans were tops in all metrics except TV ratings and merchandise, where the city placed second and seventh respectively. This, however, can partially be attributed to Green Bay having the smallest market in the NFL, with a metro population of 306,241 and no other major sports teams. “ But then again the team has 4.4 million Facebook fans and over 701,000 Twitter followers,” Forbes continued. “Clearly its fandom extends beyond Green Bay; members on (fan website) Packer Backer live across the country.
Other teams in the top ten included the Denver Broncos at second, the New Orleans Saints at third, the New England Patriots at fourth, the Baltimore Ravens at fifth, the Indianapolis Colts at sixth, the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers tied at seventh, the Seattle Seahawks at ninth, and the Chicago Bears at tenth.