NFL Teams and Their Twitter Followings

In the United States, football is well-known for its devoted fanbase. When I hear fans of a particular team talk about them, they always refer to the team as "we" or "us", as if they were a part of the team themselves and not just a spectator. I always found this rather odd, but I'm sure that fans of other sports teams around the world do the same. Living in Hawaii, it often seems like the most devoted sports fans are football fans.

This got me wondering how this fanbase translated to Twitter followings. Certain teams are noted for their devoted - even fanatical - fanbases and I was curious as to how the teams stacked-up with each other in relation to Twitter followers and what I found was surprising.

I have two lists: one list separates the teams into their respective conferences and the other is the overall listing.

Listed by conference, with the team having the most followers (as of October 27, 2013) in bold:

AFC-North
Baltimore Ravens 383,590
Cincinnati Bengals 206,433
Cleveland Browns 204,235
Pittsburgh Steelers 632,155

AFC-South
Houston Texans 327,196
Indianapolis Colts 208,834
Jacksonville Jaguars 105,208
Tennessee Titans 154,718

AFC-East
Buffalo Bills 199,002
Miami Dolphins 267,389
New England Patriots 715,272
New York Jets 610,366

AFC-West
Denver Broncos 370,355
Kansas City Chiefs 215,431
Oakland Raiders 304,890
San Diego Chargers 243,150

NFC-North
Chicago Bears 377,786
Detroit Lions 277,409
Green Bay Packers 566,598
Minnesota Vikings 271,309

NFC-South
Atlanta Falcons 267,946
Carolina Panthers 194,873
New Orleans Saints 389,343
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 142,918

NFC-East
Dallas Cowboys 703,693
New York Giants 520,862
Philadelphia Eagles 365,680
Washington Redskins 258,255

NFC-West
Arizona Cardinals 71,937
San Francisco 49ers 506,090
Seattle Seahawks 301,360
St. Louis Rams 144,402

Here is the overall listing (as of October 27, 2013):

1. New England Patriots 715,272
2. Dallas Cowboys 703,693
3. Pittsburgh Steelers 632,155
4. New York Jets 610,366
5. Green Bay Packers 566,598
6. New York Giants 520,862
7. San Francisco 49ers 506,090
8. Baltimore Ravens 383,590
9. Chicago Bears 377,786
10. Denver Broncos 370,355
11. Philadelphia Eagles 365,680
12. New Orleans Saints 389,343
13. Houston Texans 327,196
14. Oakland Raiders 304,890
15. Seattle Seahawks 301,360
16. Detroit Lions 277,409
17. Minnesota Vikings 271,309
18. Atlanta Falcons 267,946
19. Miami Dolphins 267,389
20. Washington Redskins 258,255
21. San Diego Chargers 243,150
22. Kansas City Chiefs 215,431
23. Indianapolis Colts 208,834
24. Cincinnati Bengals 206,433
25. Cleveland Browns 204,235
26. Buffalo Bills 199,002
27. Carolina Panthers 194,873
28. Tennessee Titans 154,718
29. St. Louis Rams 144,402
30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 142,918
31. Jacksonville Jaguars 105,208
32. Arizona Cardinals 71,937

So, there it is. I am certain that these teams all have more fans than Twitter followers, so these lists are not actually indicative of each team's true popularity.


Duane Browning