General manager John Lynch and pretty much anyone with the team will tell you that the San Francisco 49ers have the best fanbase in the NFL. They have to because they — you know — work for the team. While the national fanbase has always seemed strong, which is apparent during many road games, it's not the best in the league, according to a story from Emory University's Goizueta School of Business.
The @dallascowboys, @Patriots, @Eagles, @Giants, & @steelers top this year's #NFL rankings by Prof. Lewis. The @Bengals, @Jaguars, @Titans, @Chiefs, & @RamsNFL are on the bottom of the list. https://t.co/Fe2PePPDKF pic.twitter.com/zHvcmUgVss
— Emory MAC (@Emory_MAC) June 24, 2019
"Each year, I do a quantitative analysis of NFL fandom," writes Michael Lewis. "The analysis is grounded in economic and marketing theory, and uses statistical tools to shed light on the question of which teams have the most loyal or 'best' fans."
The Dallas Cowboys, the self-proclaimed "America's Team," came in at No. 1 in the ranking, which is based on three areas. The first is fan equity or how well fans back the team financially with a focus on home revenue. The second is social equity, which measures the team's social media reach. The third is road equity, which measures the team's fan presence on the road after adjusting for team performance.
The 49ers came in at No. 9 in the survey. While it is not uncommon to see the fanbase take control of an opponent's stadium, San Francisco came in at No. 28 when it comes to road equity, an area that significantly contributed to its lower ranking. Of course, recent on-field struggles may have played a role in that. The team did do well when it comes to fan equity, coming in at No. 2 and just behind the Cowboys. Way to spend your hard-earned money, Niner Faithful.
As far as social equity goes, the 49ers ranked No. 11 on the list.
"My approach to evaluating fan bases uses data on attendance, revenues, social media following and road attendance to develop statistical models of fan interest," added Lewis. "The key is that the models are used to determine which city's fans are more willing to spend or follow their teams after controlling for factors like market size and short-term changes in winning and losing."
Around the NFC West, the Seattle Seahawks came in at No. 15 overall and the Arizona Cardinals came in at No. 25. The NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams came in dead last at No. 32.
You can find the complete ranking for all 32 NFL teams below.
|
Overall Rank |
Fan Equity |
Social Equity |
Road Equity |
|
| Cowboys | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Patriots | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Eagles | 3 | 12 | 4 | 1 |
| Giants | 4 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
| Steelers | 5 | 16 | 2 | 6 |
| Packers | 6 | 8 | 7 | 17 |
| Broncos | 7 | 5 | 6 | 25 |
| Bears | 8 | 4 | 14 | 12 |
| 49ers | 9 | 2 | 11 | 28 |
| Saints | 10 | 9 | 22 | 7 |
| Redskins | 11 | 10 | 28 | 8 |
| Colts | 12 | 11 | 19 | 10 |
| Falcons | 13 | 23 | 9 | 14 |
| Dolphins | 14 | 15 | 20 | 9 |
| Seahawks | 15 | 18 | 8 | 24 |
| Panthers | 16 | 22 | 5 | 27 |
| Raiders | 17 | 31 | 13 | 5 |
| Ravens | 18 | 6 | 18 | 31 |
| Bills | 19 | 17 | 21 | 13 |
| Jets | 20 | 13 | 17 | 19 |
| Texans | 21 | 14 | 12 | 32 |
| Lions | 22 | 20 | 15 | 18 |
| Buccaneers | 23 | 25 | 24 | 11 |
| Vikings | 24 | 21 | 27 | 15 |
| Cardinals | 25 | 19 | 25 | 23 |
| Chargers | 26 | 26 | 23 | 16 |
| Browns | 27 | 24 | 16 | 30 |
| Bengals | 28 | 27 | 26 | 20 |
| Jaguars | 29 | 30 | 30 | 21 |
| Titans | 30 | 28 | 31 | 26 |
| Chiefs | 31 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Rams | 32 | 32 | 32 | 22 |