The List of 10 Cities With Best Football Fans That Will Piss Off Denver

Last September, the folks from WalletHub released a study tasked with determining the best U.S. sports cities.

And much to our chagrin, Denver placed second behind (yeesh) Boston, Massachusetts.

Now, just in time for Super Bowl 50, WalletHub has set out in search of the cities with the best football fans — and this time around, Denver did even worse.

Moreover, some of the other cities on the roster (several of which are college towns that have no NFL franchise) seem like ultra-debatable choices — especially one (you'll know it when you see it) that left us absolutely slack-jawed.

Count down the photo-illustrated list below, featuring WalletHub data and a complete methodology. To visit the original post, click here.

Number 1: Green Bay, Wisconsin

Total score: 66.55
Team and performance rank: 2
Costs & fan engagement rank: 2

Number 2: Clemson, South Carolina

Total score: 53.71
Team and performance rank: 38
Costs & fan engagement rank: 1

Number 3: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Total score: 49.53
Team and performance rank: 3
Costs & fan engagement rank: 22

Number 4: Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Total score: 49.38
Team and performance rank: 4
Costs & fan engagement rank: 19

Number 5: East Lansing, Michigan

Total score: 46.72
Team and performance rank: 26
Costs & fan engagement rank: 5


Number 6: Denver, Colorado

Total score: 40.92
Team and performance rank: 12
Costs & fan engagement rank: 40

Additional Denver stats:

1st – Performance Level of NFL Team
21st – Average Ticket Price for an NFL Game
16th – Accessibility of NFL Stadiums
14th – Number of NFL Championship Wins
7th – NFL Attendance
10th – Franchise Value of NFL Teams
70th – Number of Sports Bars per Capita

Number 7: Princeton, New Jersey

Total score: 40.12
Team and performance rank: 10
Costs & fan engagement rank: 111

Number 8: New York, New York

Total score: 40.06
Team and performance rank: 1
Costs & fan engagement rank: 200

Number 9: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Total score: 39.88
Team and performance rank: 6
Costs & fan engagement rank: 186

Number 10: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Total score: 39.52
Team and performance rank: 15
Costs & fan engagement rank: 46

METHODOLOGY

In order to identify the best and worst cities for football fans, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 245 of the largest U.S. cities with at least one college or professional football team based on two key dimensions, “Teams & Performance” and “Costs & Fan Engagement.”

First, we compiled 18 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was given a value between 0 and 100, wherein 100 is the best value for that metric and 0 is the worst.

We then calculated the overall score for each city and finally ranked them using the weighted average across all metrics.

Teams & Performance – Total Points = 50

Number of NFL Teams: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
Number of College Football (FBS & FCS) Teams: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
Performance Level of NFL Team (“number of wins” divided by “total games played”): Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
Note: Past three seasons’ averages were used for this calculation.
Performance Level of College Football (FBS & FCS) Team(s) (“number of wins” divided by “total games played”): Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
Note: Past three seasons’ averages were used for this calculation.
Number of NFL Championship Wins: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
Number of College Football (FBS & FCS) Championship Wins: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
Number of NFL Division Championship Wins: Half Weight (~3.33 Points)
Number of College Football (FBS & FCS) Division Championship Wins: Half Weight (~3.33 Points)
Franchise Value (estimated team value in $million): Half Weight (~3.33 Points)
Note: For NFL teams only

Costs & Fan Engagement – Total Points = 50

Average Ticket Price for an NFL Game: Full Weight (~7.69 Points)
Minimum Season Ticket Price for a College Football (FBS & FCS) Game: Full Weight (~7.69 Points)
Number of Sports Bars per 100,000 Residents: Half Weight (~3.85 Points)
Friendliness & Engagement of NFL Fans (“number of Twitter followers” plus “number of Facebook “Likes” per capita”): Full Weight (~7.69 Points)
Friendliness & Engagement of College Football (FBS & FCS) Fans (“number of Twitter followers” plus “number of Facebook “Likes” per capita”): Full Weight (~7.69 Points)
Accessibility of NFL Stadiums (“stadium capacity” divided by “city population”): Half Weight (~3.85 Points)
Accessibility of College Football (FBS & FCS) Stadiums (“stadium capacity” divided by “city population”): Half Weight (~3.85 Points)
Attendance (“average home-fan attendance” divided by “arena capacity”): Half Weight (~3.85 Points)
Note: For NFL teams only
Popularity Index: Half Weight (~3.85 Points)
Note: For NFL teams only