The Twitter data team released an interactive map of the most popular NFL teams around the country. The map measures teams allegiance by looking at the number of Twitter users in each county who follow official NFL Twitter accounts. The map shows the three most popular teams, broken down by percent, for each county across the United States.
You can explore the map several ways:
By team: See how fans of specific teams are dispersed across the country.
Compare teams: Compare fan bases of two different teams.
Nationally: A snapshot of the most popular (and second-most popular) teams in different areas.
By county: Look at team allegiance in any county.
Of the many interesting takeaways from the map, here are a few things that stand out:
The Cowboys have fans just about everywhere
22 different states have at least one Cowboy-dominant county. 22!
Florida is a melting pot of football allegiances
Within the 67 counties in Florida, there are 12 different “most popular” teams. They include the Dolphins, Bucs, Jags, Saints, Cowboys, Packers, Bears, Falcons, Patriots, Seahawks, Chiefs (really, Sumter County?) and Broncos.
No one really wants to cheer for the Raiders
No county in the United States is dominated by Raiders fans. However, they’re a popular No. 2 pick in California behind the 49ers … so they’ve got that going for them.
There aren’t many Jets fans, but they’re out there
Cortland County, New York and three counties in Alabama (Bullock Count, Pickens County and Butler County) are holding strong as the only Jets-dominant counties in the country.
Cowboys v. Redskins
The Cowboys-Redskins rivalry isn’t much of a rivalry. Even in Virginia, loyalties are split between the teams.
Bears v. Packers
The rivalry is split almost perfectly along the Wisconsin-Illinois state line.
Broncos v. Seahawks
The Broncos and Seahawks are very popular in their home territories … with two clear exceptions. Jefferson County in Washington loves the Broncos and Summit County in Colorado loves the Seahawks.
(Thanks to Twitter for the map.)
