Every team has the best fans in the world. Know what I mean?
That’s a load of crap, of course. I mean, Minnesota Vikings fans. They’re literally the worst in every possible way, so it’s physically impossible for them to be the best.
But once in a while, we get rankings. Let’s rank every team’s fan base using some secret formula!
We got one of those this week from Emory University. Yeah, that’s right. It’s a scientific ranking.
Because science, motherfucker!
And guess what.
You ain’t No. 1.
And by you, I mean Green Bay Packers fans.
Nope.
The shitbags who like the Dallas Cowboys are No. 1.
Surely, you’re No. 2, though?
Fuck no!
No. 7.
Seriously.
Feeling slighted? Yeah, you probably should be.
So how did these mongoloids arrive at such a conclusion?
Here’s some explanation.
In particular, we are focused on market outcomes like attendance, prices or revenues. A lot of marketing research focused on branding issues relies on things like consumer surveys. This is fine in some ways, but opinion surveys are also problematic. It’s one thing to just say you are a fan of a local team, and quite another to be willing to pay several thousand dollars to purchase a season ticket.
Well, shit. The Green Bay Packers have the longest season ticket waiting list in the history of history!
Not good enough.
These particular rankings are based heavily on revenue. Like are fans willing to pay a lot of money to support this team? Or, do fans shell out dough to support this team even when they’re crappy?
Well, the answer for the Packers is yes and yes, but the problem is, the Packers’ ticket prices are lower than a lot of NFL teams. So when you do a study that puts a premium on revenue, especially ticket revenue, the Packers won’t fare well.
Essentially, the rankings then aren’t “best fan base,” they’re “fan base most willing spend money on team.”
And that’s probably not even accurate. Packers fans will literally buy anything Packers-related.
Family Night and Brett Favre’s Packers Hall of Fame induction ceremony (where people actually bought tickets to watch something on TV that’s happening in the next room) are two prime examples.
Would the fucking Cowboys sell out crap like that?
Highly doubt it.
But stuff like that doesn’t matter when your data is based on pricing.
So if the Packers priced higher, then you’d be No. 1, according to these people.