Max Kellerman would have you believe New England Patriots fans are some of the “dumbest” in all of sports.
Well, Emory University says the ESPN talking head is dead-wrong.
The Atlanta school released its annual fanbase rankings Tuesday, and Patriots fans finished second behind the Dallas Cowboys. Fanbases for the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers rounded out the top five.
So, what makes Pats fans so great?
Three factors were examined: “Fan Equity,” which measures how much revenue fans generate through things like ticket sales and memorabilia, “Social Equity,” which measures how engaged fans are on social media, and “Road Equity,” which measures how well fans travel.
Here’s a breakdown of where each team’s fanbases ranked in the three categories:
Here’s the entire Emory University list of their ranking of NFL fans pic.twitter.com/soWdW3UePo
— Antwan V. Staley (@antwanstaley) June 26, 2018
Study-conductor Dr. Michael Lewis, an associate professor of marketing at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, believes the Patriots’ sustained success likely means their fans will remain loyal for years to come.
“Patriot fans may be bandwagon fans,” Lewis writes. “But they have been on the bandwagon a long time. A couple decades of success likely means that the Patriots will remain NFL royalty even after Tom Brady leaves the game.”
Take that, Max.
As you can see in the tweet, the fanbases for the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee Titans finished at the bottom of the rankings. Perhaps all that noise at Arrowhead Stadium is just a facade.
