DMN: Study - Patriots fans are better than Cowboys fans

Study: Patriots fans are better than Cowboys fans

By SportsDayDFW.com

Are New England Patriots fans better than Dallas Cowboys fans?

That's the results of the latest study by Mike Lewis and Manish Tripathi at Emory Sports Marketing Analytics. The authors define "best" fans as "the most avid, engaged, passionate and supportive fans."

The study ranks teams based upon fans' willingness to spend and social media support.

According to Lewis: "The Patriots victory is driven by fans willingness to pay premium prices, strong attendance and phenomenal social media following. The final competition between the Cowboys and the Patriots was actually determined by the long-term value of the Patriots greater social following. The Patriots have about 2.4 million Twitter followers compared to 1.7 for the Cowboys. Of course this is all relative a team like the Jaguars has just 340 thousand followers."

Lewis also notes something interesting about the Cowboys' NFC East rival Philadelphia:

"The Eagles are the big surprise on the list. The Eagles are also a good example of how the analysis works. Most fan rankings are based on subjective judgments and lack controls for short-term winning rates. This latter point is a critical shortcoming. It's easy to be supportive of a winning team. While Eagles fans might not be happy they are supportive in the face of mediocrity. Last year the Eagles struggled on the field but fans still paid premium prices and filled the stadium."

Here are the full results of the study:

1. New England Patriots
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Denver Broncos
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. Philadelphia Eagles
6. New York Giants
7. Chicago Bears
8. New Orleans Saints
9. Baltimore Ravens
10. Carolina Panthers
11. Green Bay Packers
12. Indianapolis Colts
13. Seattle Seahawks
14. Houston texans
15. San Diego Chargers
16. Washington Redskins
17. New York Jets
18. Pittsburgh Steelers
19. Atlanta Falcons
20. Tennessee Titans
21. Detroit Lions
22. Minnesota Vikings
23. Cleveland Browns
24. Tampa Buccaneers
25. Arizona Cardinals
26. Cincinnati Bengals
27. Miami Dolphins
28. Buffalo Bills
29. Los Angeles Rams
30. Kansas City Chiefs
31. Oakland Raiders
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Thankfully Dallas hasn't had any experience with mediocrity

I'm surprised that Steelers and Raiders fans were ranked so low.

another one of those beautiful offseason articles. this article is so bad the author didn't even put his actual name on it.

Carolina fans? 10th? They disappear in every non-playoff year.

It doesn't shock me that Oakland is that low. It's hard to buy merchandise and use social media while in the clink.

It's probably a little easier to be passionate about your team when it has performed at a consistently high level for most of the last fifteen years while winning four Super Bowls. Compare that to a team that's mostly been consistently mediocre for the last twenty years while winning what, three playoff games in that time? That Dallas is ranked second is a testament to how good its fans are in that time.

Plus, how many of their fans are bandwagon fans that will jump off when the party is eventually over?

I'm guessing around 40% are more "Tom Brady winning" fans than patriot fans

Eh, the whole list is pretty bogus in all honesty. Not that I really give a shit if Dallas was ranked 1st or 31st. I'll take the loud and crazy fans that pack Seattle's stadium over the guys in Dallas any day of the week. Of course the problem with the Cowboys is that a huge group of there fans don't actually live in or near Dallas.

Where were all these great NE fans 15 years ago i wonder?