Out-of-State NFL Support

The rise of modern sports broadcasting has allowed games to be shown all across America, and social media allows fans to voice their support from the other side of the country. So which teams get the highest percentage of their support outside their home state?

To determine where fans are supporting their teams from, Betting.com have compiled 1,000,000 tweets from NFL hashtags and analyzed the geotagged information to compile where fans are tweeting from. 

Where Are Fans Tweeting From?

Team	State	% of Tweets	State 2	% of Tweets	State 3	% of Tweets
Arizona Cardinals	Arizona	53.54	Virginia	7.65	Colorado	6.12
Atlanta Falcons	Georgia	60.24	California	5.90	Florida	4.82
Baltimore Ravens	Maryland	47.11	New York	5.87	Texas	5.39
Buffalo Bills	New York	38.55	Pennsylvania	8.29	Maine	6.49
Carolina Panthers	South Carolina	32.25	North Carolina	29.90	Georgia	8.17
Chicago Bears	Illinois	62.47	Indiana	3.76	Arizona	3.47
Cincinnati Bengals	Ohio	25.20	Kentucky	15.94	New York	9.26
Cleveland Browns	Ohio	74.44	Pennsylvania	3.72	Tennessee	3.04
Dallas Cowboys	Texas	36.00	California	8.27	Florida	8.18
Denver Broncos	Colorado	47.91	Nebraska	5.71	Ohio	4.52
Detroit Lions	Michigan	42.68	Iowa	11.26	Ohio	6.35
Green Bay Packers	Wisconsin	35.82	Illinois	9.73	California	7.47
Houston Texans	Texas	80.43	Tennessee	2.72	Illinois	2.45
Indianapolis Colts	Indiana	48.07	Texas	9.79	Iowa	9.14
Jacksonville Jaguars	Florida	33.14	New York	8.84	Kansas	5.48
Kansas City Chiefs	Kansas	31.77	Missouri	14.02	Texas	5.37
LA Chargers	California	36.08	Washington	10.28	Nevada	6.60
LA Rams	California	55.98	Florida	6.63	Nevada	4.32
Las Vegas Raiders	California	31.35	Nevada	20.08	Colorado	7.62
Miami Dolphins	Florida	32.34	New York	11.72	Pennsylvania	7.70
Minnesota Vikings	Minnesota	43.96	South Dakota	10.48	Illinois	4.89
New England Patriots	Massachusetts	37.70	New York	7.52	California	5.30
New Orleans Saints	Louisiana	52.43	Pennsylvania	7.68	Florida	4.72
New York Giants	New York	35.23	New Jersey	15.37	Pennsylvania	10.36
New York Jets	New York	42.27	New Jersey	18.61	Florida	6.55
Philadelphia Eagles	Pennsylvania	39.14	New Jersey	7.61	Maryland	4.98
Pittsburgh Steelers	Pennsylvania	32.34	Ohio	6.40	Georgia	6.32
San Francisco 49ers	California	39.42	New York	7.26	Pennsylvania	6.64
Seattle Seahawks	Washington	48.64	California	11.53	New York	4.93
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Florida	54.50	Missouri	12.03	Ohio	5.05
Tennessee Titans	Tennessee	57.30	Mississippi	8.75	Texas	3.91
Washington Commanders	Virginia	37.54	Maryland	26.99	Pennsylvania	6.53

For most teams their home state is the place that most fans are tweeting from but this is not always the case. The Packers vs Bears rivalry is renowned as one of the most competitive in the NFL, the neighbouring states have been battling for years. However, Green Bay natives are making the move to Chicago with 9.73% of Green Bay tweets originating from the city, close to a third of the number tweeting from the home state. 

The Giants and Jets share a stadium but differ in where their fans are found. The Giants extra success means they are drawing in more fans from across the US, in contrast the Jets have 10% more fans from within New York and New Jersey.  The Giants also find 10% of their fanbase in the state of Pennsylvania, home of rivals the Eagles.

Despite their hometown of Kansas City being in Missouri the Chiefs have double the number of fans, 31.77%, tweeting from the other side of the border in Kansas. A city so close to a state border will always mean fans are divided, but with no other teams close to the state it isn’t a surprise Kansas natives root for the team across state lines.

Another border city is Cincinnati, with fans mostly tweeting from their native Ohio, its close proximity to Kentucky means Bengals fans are spread across the two states. With 15.94% of tweets coming from Kentucky, the state is only 10% behind Ohio in its share of fans. 

How Many Fans Stick By A Moving Franchise?

Franchises moving to new cities will always change the dynamic with fans, the new city has to adapt to having a new team to support. So for some teams, their move can result in a fanbase spread across state lines.

The Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas in search of a new stadium back in 2020 but data reveals their fans are still most prominent in California. With 10% more support coming from the Golden State than from Nevada where the team currently resides. The most recent team to have moved perhaps over the coming years Nevada may overtake California and be the fanbase of the Raiders moving forward.

Conversely, the Rams returned to LA in 2016 following a 20-year stint in St Louis. However, their support is firmly located in their now-home state with 55% of tweets being from California. Missouri doesn’t even rank second on the list for tweets about the team, St Louis seemingly forgetting its Ram’s history quickly.

The NFL’s newest franchise, the Houston Texans, can definitely count on their fans being local. 80% of the tweets were sent from within Texas, over double the percentage of local support received by fellow Texas-based franchise the Dallas Cowboys. 

The franchise that left Houston for Memphis in 1996 hasn’t managed to generate the same kind of passion from fans. The Titans receive only 57% of their tweets from Tennessee, with a further 9% coming from neighboring Mississippi. Their old home in Texas contributed just 4% of tweets. 

European Support For Patriots

Team	% of tweets from Europe
New England Patriots	9.43%
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	8.28%
LA Rams	7.26%
New Orleans Saints	5.72%
New York Giants	5.02%

With more and more NFL games being played across the Atlantic, Europeans are choosing which franchise they want to get behind. With four games taking place in 2022 and more to come in 2023 there is a big market for teams to appeal to prospective new fanbases.

The New England Patriots are the most supported side, close to 10% of tweets about the team were from Europe. With so much recent success it is unsurprising that fans are flocking to the team. 

Just behind the Patriots are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It may be surprising for a team with relatively small levels of success compared to other franchises to rank so highly but Tom Brady’s time out of retirement has brought worldwide attention to the Florida team, UK Google searches for him skyrocketed during March as he made his announcement.

Another unsurprising European favorite are the LA Rams. 2021 Super Bowl champions and located in one of the most well-known cities on earth it is no surprise the Rams are being cheered on by fans outside the US.

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