Niners only 8TH most popular NFL team in fan poll

This ESPN poll is clearly east coast fan influenced

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/66383/where-every-nfl-team-ranks-in-popularity
sorry forgot to link

Wow there are more 9er fans than Rams, Cardinals, and Seahawk fans combined. That's insane. The teams above us don't really surprise me. All of those teams are east coast teams and/or perennial playoff contenders. There are a lot of bandwagon fans and we've only been good one year, and still haven't won a superbowl recently. I'm perfectly fine with the size of our fanbase, we have a lot of diehard fans and loyal fans vs bandwagoners.

Lol, jags. what an awful franchise....

Yeah you got the Cowpies who didn't see that coming at #1? I think most of their fans outside of Texas just attract to the big blue star... stars are coolzz deeerrrppp.


Giants again no surprise they just won the superbowl and are from the biggest city in the country.

Packers got that whole small town thing going which attracts hicks and fans from a lot of places plus having the superbowl trophy named after one of your coaches doesn't hurt.

The steelers won 6 superbowls they were bound to pick up some band wagon fans along the way and enough of them to land them #4

The Patriots have some Johnny come lately fans. They sprout up everywhere I think they like the look of the Jerseys or are Brady band wagoners, or more likely part of that whole Boston sports fan thing.

The Bears? IDK wtf that is. Maybe they are like Cubs fans and love their s**tty lovable loser bears.

The Saints is a really surprising one. Rigged or something? Idk how they ended up up that high.

The 49ers at 8 surprises me since I usually get the feeling that everybody everywhere hates our guts. Outside of Frisco I thought we were the most hated team ever. That is the impression I get whenever I travel out of state anyway.

Weird list though. I didn't get to vote so how can it be accurate?

This list is not surprising at all guys.

About what I'd expect. This poll taken in the mid 90's would have us ranked in the top 2 or 3 most likely.

Surprised to see the Saints at #7. I'm willing to bet over half of those fans are bandwagoners. Same thing with the Lions at #15. Hard to believe there's that many true fans oustide of Detroit.

Send ESPN and it's East Coast fluffers my regards

You have to adjust the list accordingly though. Giants just won the SB, so all the bandwagoners are on board right now. The Saints wouldve been middle to bottom 4 years ago. Pats are up big because of the last decade. Overall i think the list looks a little more like this when everything balances out:

Cowboys
Packers
Steelers
49ers
Raiders
Bears
Giants
Eagles
Jets
Broncos

Next tier would include Redskins, Pats, Vikings, Dolphins, Bills, etc.

I just dont buy the Saints having a top 10 fanbase. They invented the bags over their heads thing. You have to have a national following to be that high. The top 10 i listed all have tons of fans everywhere around the US and worldwide.

Originally posted by H41L5ATAN:
Send ESPN and it's East Coast fluffers my regards

First of all, I'm pretty sure this is a warnable GIF. Just an FYI.


Second, I have no idea what you guys expected to see from a poll like this.

1. COWBOYS - Um yeah. That's a known fact. They have the biggest fanbase, mostly because they are in the gigantic state of Texas and came to prominence at the beginning of the modern era with the triplets. It's also why they're always on TV... lots of fans = big ratings.

2. PACKERS - Massive fanbase that travels well. Have been consistently good for some time now. FAVRE. One of the oldest teams in the league. Title town. Recent Super Bowl victory.

3. GIANTS - This is the only moderate surprise. But when you take the state of New York and add two recent Super Bowl victories, there's not much mystery left with this one.

4. STEELERS - I'm surprised they aren't higher. Great team history and a massive fanbase that travels extremely well. Two recent Super Bowl victories. The fact that there's not much else to do in Pittsburgh than watch the Steelers.

5. PATRIOTS - Boston sports. Belichick & Brady's evil empire. Three Lombardi trophies. Tom Brady being one of the best in the sport and also the most marketable.

6. BEARS - Kind of a surprise, but when you factor in the team history and the size of Chicago as a city, it makes sense. Bears fans are usually pretty die-hard... people are always proud to say they're from Chicago.

7. SAINTS - Here's your bandwagon team. This is pretty much your modern day Greatest Show on Turf. Before Katrina, no one was proud to be a Saints fan. Just take in account their recent success and move on.


Pretty simple fellas. The Eagles are right where I'd expect them to be. The Redskins and Raiders would be higher if their teams would get into the playoffs once in a while, because both fanbases are large and very passionate.

Biggest surprises... the Detroit Lions at #15. Pretty quick turnaround for the Motor City. And the Ravens are pretty low for being consistently good.

You determine the credibility of a poll by the way the question is asked, and among whom.

I suspect more east coast fans were included in the "random sampling" and likely more cities than rural areas. This skews the results toward the big cities (Dallas, NY) and the recent SB teams (Pats, Saints).

ESPN has little if any credibility with such matters, so why worry about it?

Originally posted by longtime49erfan:
You determine the credibility of a poll by the way the question is asked, and among whom.

I suspect more east coast fans were included in the "random sampling" and likely more cities than rural areas. This skews the results toward the big cities (Dallas, NY) and the recent SB teams (Pats, Saints).

ESPN has little if any credibility with such matters, so why worry about it?

Not really. The majority of fans in rural areas are cowboy fans or packers fans. Trust me, I live in a rural area in Northern California and there are a bunch of Cowboys fans here. The majority is still 9ers/Raiders fans but not by too much. People in America like the Cowboys because they're cool and people want to fit in. Same with the Giants and Packers.

This list is about accurate but I know both the patriots and saints have "bandwagon" written all over them.

Originally posted by defenderDX:
Lol, jags. what an awful franchise....

I know Florida has a big football fanbase there, but is Jacksonville really a good "football market"? Kind of odd to me that the NFL decided to put an expansion team there.