How passionate are New Jersey’s NFL fans?
Founded over 100 years ago (then named the APFA), the NFL has a long history of captivating fans. Across the 2021 NFL season, over 67,000 fans on average attended each NFL game, with 17 million more watching on television.
The Super Bowl itself was watched by over 96 million fans in 2021 and 99 million people in 2022, so the extent of the fanbase is clear. But which team has the most passionate fans?
To find out which fanbase is the most passionate, BetNJ compiled over 10,000 fan comments for each team from official social media game day threads. These posts were then analyzed to assess the strength of their passion sentiment.
The analysis uncovered how fans of the Giants and the Jets, the two teams that play their home games in New Jersey, compare to other teams. Here’s what we found.
The results: which NFL franchise has the most passionate fans?
| Team | Compared to NFL Average | Passion % |
|---|---|---|
| Patriots | 11.2% | 41.3% |
| Giants | 6.9% | 39.7% |
| Dolphins | 3.5% | 38.5% |
| Packers | 3.5% | 38.5% |
| Eagles | 3.2% | 38.4% |
| NY Jets | 2.8% | 38.2% |
| Ravens | 2.6% | 38.2% |
| Browns | 2.4% | 38.1% |
| Seahawks | 2.4% | 38.1% |
| Titans | 2.1% | 38.0% |
| Cowboys | 1.3% | 37.7% |
| Buccaneers | 0.8% | 37.5% |
| Chargers | 0.3% | 37.3% |
| Chiefs | 0.2% | 37.2% |
| Broncos | 0.1% | 37.2% |
| NFL- Average | 0.0% | 37.2% |
| 49ers | -0.2% | 37.1% |
| Steelers | -0.5% | 37.0% |
| Bengals | -0.6% | 37.0% |
| Jaguars | -0.8% | 36.9% |
| Bills | -1.0% | 36.8% |
| Panthers | -1.9% | 36.5% |
| Bears | -2.0% | 36.5% |
| Lions | -2.2% | 36.4% |
| Raiders | -2.5% | 36.3% |
| Commanders | -3.4% | 35.9% |
| Cardinals | -3.5% | 35.9% |
| Colts | -4.6% | 35.5% |
| Falcons | -5.0% | 35.3% |
| Rams | -6.4% | 34.8% |
| Texans | -7.4% | 34.4% |
| Saints | -7.8% | 34.3% |
| Vikings | -11.6% | 32.9% |
New York Giants take second place, following New England Patriots
Just beating the New York Giants to first place is six-time Super Bowl champions, the Patriots. Unsurprisingly the successful team have a host of passionate fans. As of 2023, the Patriots are the most-followed NFL team on Twitter and Instagram with over 4.7 million followers on each platform.
The team believes that bringing back the much-loved red throwback jerseys in 2022 helped the Patriots’ case for ranking so highly. Their fans are 11.2% more passionate about their team than the average NFL fan, with their comments being an average of 41.3% passionate.
The New York Giants take second place, with their fans’ comments not far off the Patriots at 39.7% passionate. This was 6.9% more passionate than the NFL average. As well as showing clear support on social media, they also ranked in the top three teams for average game attendance for the 2022 season – a sign of commitment and passion for the team.
The Miami Dolphins came in third place, with their comments being 38.5% passionate, still 3.5% higher than the NFL average. They ranked sixteen places above fellow Florida natives the Jaguars.
The second of the New York teams, the Jets, also features in the top 20% of teams, ranking 6th overall. Whilst the Jets had the second-most fans in attendance in the 2022 season, they didn’t quite show the same commitment on social media.
However, comments from Jets fans were still 38.2% passionate, closely following the Eagles. Despite not winning a Super Bowl since 1969, the Jets can count on their fans’ passion for the team.
New York rivalries
NFL team rivalries have existed since the beginning of the league and often transcend the football field. The study analyzed some of the biggest rivalries of the New York NFL teams and compared the passion of each fan base to see who comes out on top.
| Team | Compared to NFL Average | Passion % |
| Patriots | 11.2% | 41.3% |
| Giants | 6.9% | 39.7% |
| Eagles | 3.2% | 38.4% |
| Cowboys | 1.3% | 37.7% |
New York Giants vs Philadelphia Eagles
New York outdoes Philadelphia when it comes to fans’ passion. Their rivalry extends to social media, where both teams show high levels of passion. Giants fans came out on top by only 1%, however, so the rivalry is well-matched.
New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys
The Giants and the Cowboys have a decades-old rivalry that dates back to the 1960s. Despite the Cowboys boasting the largest victory (52-7, 1966) and holding the current win streak, it’s the Giants that have proved to be the more passionate fans. Giants fans (2nd) sit nine places higher in the passion rankings than Cowboys fans (11th).
New York Jets vs. New England Patriots
The rivalry between the New England Patriots and New York Jets reached its most bitter point when then-Patriots coach Bill Parcells left to coach the Jets. Unfortunately for the Jets, their fanbase can’t quite compete with the passion of Patriots fans, who ranked 1st overall.
Methodology
We compiled over 10,000 comments per team from fans on official Reddit game-day posts from each football franchise. For each of these posts, we analyzed the strength of their sentiment using a natural language toolkit model which gives a passion value between 0 and 1. This was then converted to a percentage and used to compare the level of passion demonstrated by each team in the NFL.