50 replies to this topic

[moleculo]

link a really interesting article and graphics, especially looking at areas changing throughout the playoffs.

...That said, there are people out there using all our Likes and comments and preferences to look at more interesting trends. People like Sean Taylor (who actually works for fb). For instance: according to Taylor, Facebook has roughly 35 million account holders in the U.S. alone who have Liked the page of one of the National Football Leagues's 32 teams. That, he says, represents "one of the most comprehensive samples of sports fanship ever collected." All told, more than 1 in 10 Americans have declared allegiance to one NFL team or another. When he plumbed the depths of Facebook's data wells he came up with a county-by-county map of NFL fandom in the United States: The map lends itself well to analysis. In some cases, Taylor notes, "whole states and even entire regions of the country uniformly support a single team" (looking pretty orange there, Wyoming); in others, individual states are divided against themselves (see Florida). But things get really interesting come playoff season: Nationwide allegiances shift dramatically when you remove non-playoff teams. By early January, for example, Bronco Country had more than doubled in size. Texas, once a nearly solid greyish-purple monster, was suddenly a heterogeneous mixture of red, purple, orange and grey. ...

[Jeff Haseley]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

[cstu]

Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised by the Cowboys' reach. The Steelers aren't too far behind.The Rams and Jags don't seem to have any following outside their metro areas.

[cstu]

Eastern Nebraska is really confused.

[Koya]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Doesn't surprise me. Baltimore is a small market with almost no out of state fans (except for those like me who were born there / have roots in MD). Plus, you have the Ray Lewis hate going on (everywhere but the media that is) and a team that has not exactly been exciting.The 49ers on the other hand still have some national presence from their wins decades ago, don't have much not to like and are a pretty fun team to watch. Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.Would have been curious to see where things stood last week though, because as a Ravens fan, everyone I knew outside of your frontrunning Pats fans was pulling for them to beat Tom Brady and the team formerly known as the next dynasty.

[Sand]

Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised by the Cowboys' reach. The Steelers aren't too far behind.The Rams and Jags don't seem to have any following outside their metro areas.

Houston's area is might small, too. Sad as they have been the better Texas team for a while now.

[Carl Eller's Dead Liver]

This shows a map by area, but I'd like to see what the actual numbers are. Remember a lot of the Midwest and West Coast areas are sparsely populated in contrast to the East Coast. I bet the split is much closer to 50-50 by numbers. None-the-less, extremely interesting to say the least! Thanks for sharing.

Edited by Carl Eller's Dead Liver, 29 January 2013 - 05:11 PM.

[flc735]

The Jets have 1 cube.

Edited by flc735, 29 January 2013 - 04:42 PM.

[by_the_sea_wannabe]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.

this might be a good argument except the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore not SF. That reality is driving local radio hosts nuts.

[Gawain]

The Jets have 1 cube.

That's what I was looking for, just Nassau county, huh?

[Bamac]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.

this might be a good argument except the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore not SF. That reality is driving local radio hosts nuts.

It's misleading to say the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore. The problem with the Super Bowl map -- and the playoff map -- is that it doesn't measure Pittsburgh fans who are rooting for SF. So if 1.5% of Pittsburgh-area fans "Like" the Ravens and 0.7% "Like" the 49ers, Pittsburgh shows purple, even if 50% or more people in the Pittsburgh area are pulling for SF because they hate Baltimore.

[dgreen]

You can easily see why George Preston Marshall (former Redskins owner) really opposed giving Dallas a team. Southern Virginia really has a heavy Dallas contingent. At one point, the Redskins were the team of the south (and stayed white-only longer than any other team because of that). Imagine what that map would look like before expansion to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina. And before Houston moved to Tennessee.It would be nice if they put populations for each team. I'd guess Pittsburgh's counties might exceed Dallas' in population.

[dgreen]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.

this might be a good argument except the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore not SF. That reality is driving local radio hosts nuts.

It's misleading to say the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore. The problem with the Super Bowl map -- and the playoff map -- is that it doesn't measure Pittsburgh fans who are rooting for SF. So if 1.5% of Pittsburgh-area fans "Like" the Ravens and 0.7% "Like" the 49ers, Pittsburgh shows purple, even if 50% or more people in the Pittsburgh area are pulling for SF because they hate Baltimore.

Yeah, I think it would be better if they just made a map of each county's second place team.

[Bamac]

It's misleading to say the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore. The problem with the Super Bowl map -- and the playoff map -- is that it doesn't measure Pittsburgh fans who are rooting for SF. So if 1.5% of Pittsburgh-area fans "Like" the Ravens and 0.7% "Like" the 49ers, Pittsburgh shows purple, even if 50% or more people in the Pittsburgh area are pulling for SF because they hate Baltimore.

Yeah, I think it would be better if they just made a map of each county's second place team.

Or maybe we could read the map as it is and not try to add meaning that's not there.

[dgreen]

It's misleading to say the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore. The problem with the Super Bowl map -- and the playoff map -- is that it doesn't measure Pittsburgh fans who are rooting for SF. So if 1.5% of Pittsburgh-area fans "Like" the Ravens and 0.7% "Like" the 49ers, Pittsburgh shows purple, even if 50% or more people in the Pittsburgh area are pulling for SF because they hate Baltimore.

Yeah, I think it would be better if they just made a map of each county's second place team.

Or maybe we could read the map as it is and not try to add meaning that's not there.

I'm saying there's very little meaning in their playoff and SB maps. I'd find more meaning in a map of the 2nd place teams in each county to go along with the 1st place teams.

[moleculo]

You can easily see why George Preston Marshall (former Redskins owner) really opposed giving Dallas a team. Southern Virginia really has a heavy Dallas contingent. At one point, the Redskins were the team of the south (and stayed white-only longer than any other team because of that). Imagine what that map would look like before expansion to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina. And before Houston moved to Tennessee.

It would be nice if they put populations for each team. I'd guess Pittsburgh's counties might exceed Dallas' in population.

yeah, what's up with that?

it is weird for some areas to be painted a different color than their surroundings and fan-bases not-really connected by geography - Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay all seem to be the biggest offenders.

Carolinas are really messed up. Yes, there is Panther country, but there's a lot of Steeler yellow and Cowboy silver. I would have expected better market penetration here.

The only states that are homogeneous:

Washington - Seahawks
Minnesota - Vikings
Wisconsin - Packers
Massachusetts - Patriots

these states are uniformly for a team not within it's borders:
Rhode Island - Patriots
Wyoming - Broncos
Oklahoma - Cowboys
Delaware - Eagles
Vermont - Patriots
New Hampshire - Patriots
Maine - Patriots


One other oddity - oakland isn't very close to areas that claim to be predominantly raider fans. I'm especially shuked by the raider fans in southern Oregon.

[BRONG]

"This is horse####! if you think Alameda County is filled with 49er faggs then you must have forget Oakland doesn't have Facebook"

[Bamac]

It's misleading to say the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore. The problem with the Super Bowl map -- and the playoff map -- is that it doesn't measure Pittsburgh fans who are rooting for SF. So if 1.5% of Pittsburgh-area fans "Like" the Ravens and 0.7% "Like" the 49ers, Pittsburgh shows purple, even if 50% or more people in the Pittsburgh area are pulling for SF because they hate Baltimore.

Yeah, I think it would be better if they just made a map of each county's second place team.

Or maybe we could read the map as it is and not try to add meaning that's not there.

I'm saying there's very little meaning in their playoff and SB maps. I'd find more meaning in a map of the 2nd place teams in each county to go along with the 1st place teams.

My fault. Thought you were being sarcastic.

[QuizGuy66]

The Jets have 1 cube.

Yup, I think that's Nassau County. Kinda surprised they didn't get Suffolk too. Not surprised that North Jersey is all blue.-QG

[QuizGuy66]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.

this might be a good argument except the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore not SF. That reality is driving local radio hosts nuts.

Their logic is flawed in that there's no volume indicator. Vikings fans aren't magically donning cheeseheads, they're probably just tuning out or not opting to "like" either.The 49ers have their golden age and I think impacts the map more than anything else. The fans of that era are more dispersed than the Ravens faithful (which makes further sense as they've not been in Baltimore all that long in the scheme of things).The initial map is the most interesting.-QG

[QuizGuy66]

You can easily see why George Preston Marshall (former Redskins owner) really opposed giving Dallas a team. Southern Virginia really has a heavy Dallas contingent. At one point, the Redskins were the team of the south (and stayed white-only longer than any other team because of that). Imagine what that map would look like before expansion to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina. And before Houston moved to Tennessee.It would be nice if they put populations for each team. I'd guess Pittsburgh's counties might exceed Dallas' in population.

Before the Panthers, the NFC game would always be the Redskins in North Carolina.-QG

[Tom Servo]

You can easily see why George Preston Marshall (former Redskins owner) really opposed giving Dallas a team. Southern Virginia really has a heavy Dallas contingent. At one point, the Redskins were the team of the south (and stayed white-only longer than any other team because of that). Imagine what that map would look like before expansion to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina. And before Houston moved to Tennessee.

It would be nice if they put populations for each team. I'd guess Pittsburgh's counties might exceed Dallas' in population.

yeah, what's up with that?

it is weird for some areas to be painted a different color than their surroundings and fan-bases not-really connected by geography - Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay all seem to be the biggest offenders.

Carolinas are really messed up. Yes, there is Panther country, but there's a lot of Steeler yellow and Cowboy silver. I would have expected better market penetration here.

Part of the Steeler penetration in other places is that many people had to leave western PA in the 80s to look for jobs. They took their fandom with them. You'd be hard-pressed to find a large city that doesn't have a Steelers bar.

[Koya]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.

this might be a good argument except the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore not SF. That reality is driving local radio hosts nuts.

Really? Interesting. Maybe "real" pittsburgh fans vs. the bandwagoners around the nation see it different?

[Tom Servo]

That's pretty interesting. Lots of people pulling for the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

Add to that the lack of that much animosity toward the 9ers in terms of rivalry, but strong hate for Baltimore from the expansive Steeler nation (bunch of bandwagoners outside of PA, but there none the less) and this is what I'd expect. In fact, surprised there is that much support for the Ravens.

this might be a good argument except the Pittsburgh area is pro Baltimore not SF. That reality is driving local radio hosts nuts.

Really? Interesting. Maybe "real" pittsburgh fans vs. the bandwagoners around the nation see it different?

Some Steeler fans will root for Baltimore because they don't want SF to have 6 titles like Pittsburgh.Some Steeler fans will root for San Fran because they absolutely despise Baltimore and Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and the other jagoffs on that team.

[moleculo]

for the playoffs - I think what they are doing is eliminating all fans that root for someone not there - in Denver, for example, after the Broncos were eliminated, all Bronco fans didn't turn in to Patriot fans, rather there are more Patriot fans in Denver than there are 49ers, Ravens, or Falcons fans.

seems some bad logic by the authors when they claim fanbases swapped out en masse.

[moleculo]

You can easily see why George Preston Marshall (former Redskins owner) really opposed giving Dallas a team. Southern Virginia really has a heavy Dallas contingent. At one point, the Redskins were the team of the south (and stayed white-only longer than any other team because of that). Imagine what that map would look like before expansion to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina. And before Houston moved to Tennessee.

It would be nice if they put populations for each team. I'd guess Pittsburgh's counties might exceed Dallas' in population.

yeah, what's up with that?

it is weird for some areas to be painted a different color than their surroundings and fan-bases not-really connected by geography - Dallas, Pittsburgh and Green Bay all seem to be the biggest offenders.

Carolinas are really messed up. Yes, there is Panther country, but there's a lot of Steeler yellow and Cowboy silver. I would have expected better market penetration here.

Part of the Steeler penetration in other places is that many people had to leave western PA in the 80s to look for jobs. They took their fandom with them. You'd be hard-pressed to find a large city that doesn't have a Steelers bar.

yeah, I know. Couple of points to take here:

1. Pittsburgh isn't the only area that has had hard times and have had people move out, yet Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Dallas are the only areas that seem to have successfully exported their teams. My theory on that is that these are three franchises that were successful in the 60's and/or 70's but also good enough in recent years to strengthen ties. Between 1967 and 1981, only five franchises won a SB that wasn't among these three: oakland, KC, Baltimore, Miami, and NYJ, and none of these five have won a SB in their home town since.

2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas? How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

[dgreen]

for the playoffs - I think what they are doing is eliminating all fans that root for someone not there - in Denver, for example, after the Broncos were eliminated, all Bronco fans didn't turn in to Patriot fans, rather there are more Patriot fans in Denver than there are 49ers, Ravens, or Falcons fans.

seems some bad logic by the authors when they claim fanbases swapped out en masse.

Yes, that's what they are doing. It doesn't really tell us anything interesting, IMO.

[dgreen]

2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas?

Could be. North Carolina has become a pretty popular retirement area and has had a lot of job growth over the years. Their population has almost doubled since 1970.

How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

Doubtful for that part of VA. The Norfolk area, which I assumed was heavy Redskins country could have a lot of Texans since it's a very transient area due to its military presence. But, the rest of VA that appears as Cowboys territory probably isn't due to migration.Dallas was called America's Team for a reason. Their fanbase spanned far and wide, full of people who have never been to Dallas. It's a running joke in DC area about all the Cowboys fans who have never been to Dallas. You win a bunch and people who don't have a team affiliation will gravitate towards you. It's very popular for people in Redskins territory to grow up Cowboys fans as a way to be different, but not too different.Also, as I mentioned, there's the whole thing about the Redskins owner being racist. If that was a topic that guided someone's fandom, Dallas was seen as the alternative team in the South to the Redskins. No other teams were in the South for a while.

[TobiasFunke]

2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas?

Could be. North Carolina has become a pretty popular retirement area and has had a lot of job growth over the years. Their population has almost doubled since 1970.

How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

Doubtful for that part of VA. The Norfolk area, which I assumed was heavy Redskins country could have a lot of Texans since it's a very transient area due to its military presence. But, the rest of VA that appears as Cowboys territory probably isn't due to migration.

Dallas was called America's Team for a reason. Their fanbase spanned far and wide, full of people who have never been to Dallas. It's a running joke in DC area about all the Cowboys fans who have never been to Dallas. You win a bunch and people who don't have a team affiliation will gravitate towards you. It's very popular for people in Redskins territory to grow up Cowboys fans as a way to be different, but not too different.

Also, as I mentioned, there's the whole thing about the Redskins owner being racist. If that was a topic that guided someone's fandom, Dallas was seen as the alternative team in the South to the Redskins. No other teams were in the South for a while.

This was a huge deal in DC and parts of the south that were otherwise Redskins territory. The Cowboys were seen by a lot of people in the black community as the non-racist alternative to George Preston Marshall's Redskins teams.

Can't really fault anyone whose family long ago picked the Cowboys based on this logic. But I think we can all agree that if you live in Oregon or Arizona or something and you root for the Cowboys you're a thousand times worse than Hitler.

[dgreen]

2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas?

Could be. North Carolina has become a pretty popular retirement area and has had a lot of job growth over the years. Their population has almost doubled since 1970.

How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

Doubtful for that part of VA. The Norfolk area, which I assumed was heavy Redskins country could have a lot of Texans since it's a very transient area due to its military presence. But, the rest of VA that appears as Cowboys territory probably isn't due to migration.

Dallas was called America's Team for a reason. Their fanbase spanned far and wide, full of people who have never been to Dallas. It's a running joke in DC area about all the Cowboys fans who have never been to Dallas. You win a bunch and people who don't have a team affiliation will gravitate towards you. It's very popular for people in Redskins territory to grow up Cowboys fans as a way to be different, but not too different.

Also, as I mentioned, there's the whole thing about the Redskins owner being racist. If that was a topic that guided someone's fandom, Dallas was seen as the alternative team in the South to the Redskins. No other teams were in the South for a while.

This was a huge deal in DC and parts of the south that were otherwise Redskins territory. The Cowboys were seen by a lot of people in the black community as the non-racist alternative to George Preston Marshall's Redskins teams.

Can't really fault anyone whose family long ago picked the Cowboys based on this logic. But I think we can all agree that if you live in Oregon or Arizona or something and you root for the Cowboys you're a thousand times worse than Hitler.

Agreed. I'd like to see the breakdown for PG county. I work in PG county and see tons of Cowboys decals/flags/etc on cars and know tons of Cowboys fans. (For those who don't know, Prince George's county has a predominantly black population and is a Maryland suburb of DC.)

[cvnpoka]

amazing that cleveland area prefers baltimore. almost has to be an error.

[moleculo]

2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas?

Could be. North Carolina has become a pretty popular retirement area and has had a lot of job growth over the years. Their population has almost doubled since 1970.

How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

Doubtful for that part of VA. The Norfolk area, which I assumed was heavy Redskins country could have a lot of Texans since it's a very transient area due to its military presence. But, the rest of VA that appears as Cowboys territory probably isn't due to migration.

Dallas was called America's Team for a reason. Their fanbase spanned far and wide, full of people who have never been to Dallas. It's a running joke in DC area about all the Cowboys fans who have never been to Dallas. You win a bunch and people who don't have a team affiliation will gravitate towards you. It's very popular for people in Redskins territory to grow up Cowboys fans as a way to be different, but not too different.

Also, as I mentioned, there's the whole thing about the Redskins owner being racist. If that was a topic that guided someone's fandom, Dallas was seen as the alternative team in the South to the Redskins. No other teams were in the South for a while.

This was a huge deal in DC and parts of the south that were otherwise Redskins territory. The Cowboys were seen by a lot of people in the black community as the non-racist alternative to George Preston Marshall's Redskins teams.

Can't really fault anyone whose family long ago picked the Cowboys based on this logic. But I think we can all agree that if you live in Oregon or Arizona or something and you root for the Cowboys you're a thousand times worse than Hitler.

very interesting. Thanks.

[Chase Stuart]

The Jets have 1 cube.

Yup, I think that's Nassau County. Kinda surprised they didn't get Suffolk too. Not surprised that North Jersey is all blue.-QG

Here's a better picture.https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/296360783808450560/photo/1The Jets cube is Queens, which is where they used to play.

[Tom Servo]

Part of the Steeler penetration in other places is that many people had to leave western PA in the 80s to look for jobs. They took their fandom with them. You'd be hard-pressed to find a large city that doesn't have a Steelers bar.

yeah, I know. Couple of points to take here:1. Pittsburgh isn't the only area that has had hard times and have had people move out, yet Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Dallas are the only areas that seem to have successfully exported their teams. My theory on that is that these are three franchises that were successful in the 60's and/or 70's but also good enough in recent years to strengthen ties. Between 1967 and 1981, only five franchises won a SB that wasn't among these three: oakland, KC, Baltimore, Miami, and NYJ, and none of these five have won a SB in their home town since.2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas? How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

1. Probably not. I would suspect whereas (and I'm speculating and as such could be wrong) some fans of the Browns stayed in the area and changed jobs in the region due to diversity of occupations. OTOH, Pittsburgh was more heavily involved in one industry - steel - and when that went belly up there were no alternatives of note. Even in my little town 90 minutes north of there we lost a RR car building plant, a vacuum tube manufacturer, and another heavy industry all within 2-3 years. I would agree that the teams stayed decent enough to maintain the flame - the early 80s notwithstanding for Steeler fans Another thing to consider is that this 80s migration would have taken place pre-Panthers, Jaguars, Texans, etc. so these fans would have moved into heretofore "unclaimed" territory and could influence others to come in behind the Steeler banner. If you were a fan of no particular team but your new neighbor/co-worker/best bud was a die-hard Steeler fan, you might be inclined to follow them to have something in common. :shrug:It's interesting, regardless.

[footballnerd]

according to the map the Raiders have no fans in the bay area?

[dgreen]

according to the map the Raiders have no fans in the bay area?

No, that's not what it says.Specifically, it says there is not a county in the area where facebook users liked the Raiders facebook page more than any other team's facebook page.The map makers use this to suggest that there are more 49ers fans than Raiders fans in Alameda county. I have no idea if that's a legit conclusion or not. It's possible since the Raiders won their last Super Bowl while residing in Los Angeles. During their LA time, the 49ers won 4 Super Bowls.Also, since this is by county, it's definitely possible the Raiders win the city of Oakland, but lose to the 49ers for the entire county. Oakland has about 400,000 people and Alameda County has about 1.5M.

[moleculo]

according to the map the Raiders have no fans in the bay area?

No, that's not what it says.Specifically, it says there is not a county in the area where facebook users liked the Raiders facebook page more than any other team's facebook page.The map makers use this to suggest that there are more 49ers fans than Raiders fans in Alameda county. I have no idea if that's a legit conclusion or not. It's possible since the Raiders won their last Super Bowl while residing in Los Angeles. During their LA time, the 49ers won 4 Super Bowls.Also, since this is by county, it's definitely possible the Raiders win the city of Oakland, but lose to the 49ers for the entire county. Oakland has about 400,000 people and Alameda County has about 1.5M.

I think it's more likely that the Alameda County Prison system doesn't allow facebook access.

[dgreen]

Was there an explanation of the white counties? Ties?

[DLR]

Golf fans.

[mcintyre1]

Eastern Nebraska is really confused.

I'd always thought that Nebraska had no consensus pro team to follow, but I hadn't ever seen proof outside of anecdotal evidence.

[The Ref]

these states are uniformly for a team not within it's borders:Rhode Island - PatriotsVermont - PatriotsNew Hampshire - PatriotsMaine - Patriots

Well.... not to nit pick but they are the NEW ENGLAND patriots.

[Bamac]

Did anyone notice the "Fan Friendship" chart? Further evidence of Steelers' and Cowboys' nationwide presence. Either of those teams would have dominated the playoff map had they made the playoffs.

[Ned Ryerson]

Seems like there are a few weird non-steeler/non-cowboy geographical outliers of interest.Central FLA is the Giants (hard to tell between vikings/giants/bears)NW FLA- Packers?Hawaii and Alska are interesting- truly remote locales going hard for Steelers and packers

[QuizGuy66]

The Jets have 1 cube.

Yup, I think that's Nassau County. Kinda surprised they didn't get Suffolk too. Not surprised that North Jersey is all blue.-QG

Here's a better picture.https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/296360783808450560/photo/1The Jets cube is Queens, which is where they used to play.

I always forget Queens is actually physically part of Long Island But that means they lost Nassau to the Giants too which is kinda surprising TBH.-QG

[QuizGuy66]

Part of the Steeler penetration in other places is that many people had to leave western PA in the 80s to look for jobs. They took their fandom with them. You'd be hard-pressed to find a large city that doesn't have a Steelers bar.

yeah, I know. Couple of points to take here: 1. Pittsburgh isn't the only area that has had hard times and have had people move out, yet Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Dallas are the only areas that seem to have successfully exported their teams. My theory on that is that these are three franchises that were successful in the 60's and/or 70's but also good enough in recent years to strengthen ties. Between 1967 and 1981, only five franchises won a SB that wasn't among these three: oakland, KC, Baltimore, Miami, and NYJ, and none of these five have won a SB in their home town since. 2. Was there a large amount of folks that moved from western PA to the Carolinas? How about Dallas to VA? Dallas to Idaho?

1. Probably not. I would suspect whereas (and I'm speculating and as such could be wrong) some fans of the Browns stayed in the area and changed jobs in the region due to diversity of occupations. OTOH, Pittsburgh was more heavily involved in one industry - steel - and when that went belly up there were no alternatives of note. Even in my little town 90 minutes north of there we lost a RR car building plant, a vacuum tube manufacturer, and another heavy industry all within 2-3 years. I would agree that the teams stayed decent enough to maintain the flame - the early 80s notwithstanding for Steeler fans Another thing to consider is that this 80s migration would have taken place pre-Panthers, Jaguars, Texans, etc. so these fans would have moved into heretofore "unclaimed" territory and could influence others to come in behind the Steeler banner. If you were a fan of no particular team but your new neighbor/co-worker/best bud was a die-hard Steeler fan, you might be inclined to follow them to have something in common. It's interesting, regardless.

Here's a profile of the one "Steeler" county in Alabama. Don't really know what to make of it Linky I think there's no doubt that there's still major demographic skews in facebook data, to say the least (which is not connected to my prior paragraph btw) -QG

[QuizGuy66]

Seems like there's no correlation with the famous athletes of Coosa county though: Linky -QG

[Regis]

The Jets have one county. Does Sportcenters producer live there? LolOn the chart that takes out the non-payoff teams, I notice a lot of support in Oklahoma for the Vikings. I think that's Adrian Peterson love there. There's one red county in Alaska, but I'm having a hard time determining the shade. Too many red teams. I thought it was 49ers but now it's nuetral in the Super Bowl graph. Does that mean it was Atlanta? Or Houston?

[dgreen]

Seems like there are a few weird non-steeler/non-cowboy geographical outliers of interest. Central FLA is the Giants (hard to tell between vikings/giants/bears) NW FLA- Packers? Hawaii and Alska are interesting- truly remote locales going hard for Steelers and packers

Here's a map showing county-to-county migration during 2008. Looks like a lot of people going from the NY area to Osceola County. But, my guess would be that's retirement migration and I would have assumed old people wouldn't have a huge impact on facebook likes. That map doesn't help explain the Packers in NW FLA. Looks like 2008 showed some people going from Brown County, WI, to Florida, but not that part of FLA.

[moleculo]

Seems like there are a few weird non-steeler/non-cowboy geographical outliers of interest. Central FLA is the Giants (hard to tell between vikings/giants/bears) NW FLA- Packers? Hawaii and Alska are interesting- truly remote locales going hard for Steelers and packers

Here's a map showing county-to-county migration during 2008. Looks like a lot of people going from the NY area to Osceola County. But, my guess would be that's retirement migration and I would have assumed old people wouldn't have a huge impact on facebook likes. That map doesn't help explain the Packers in NW FLA. Looks like 2008 showed some people going from Brown County, WI, to Florida, but not that part of FLA.

I think that is more an oddity of small populations. A single family, all on facebook, could really influence where the data says a counties loyalties lie. What I find interesting is when you have multiple congruent counties favoring a non-local team. That, to me, is more indicative of a trend.

[BRONG]

according to the map the Raiders have no fans in the bay area?

No, that's not what it says.

Specifically, it says there is not a county in the area where facebook users liked the Raiders facebook page more than any other team's facebook page.

The map makers use this to suggest that there are more 49ers fans than Raiders fans in Alameda county. I have no idea if that's a legit conclusion or not. It's possible since the Raiders won their last Super Bowl while residing in Los Angeles. During their LA time, the 49ers won 4 Super Bowls.

Also, since this is by county, it's definitely possible the Raiders win the city of Oakland, but lose to the 49ers for the entire county. Oakland has about 400,000 people and Alameda County has about 1.5M.

"This is horse####! if you think Alameda County is filled with 49er faggs then you must have forget Oakland doesn't have Facebook"