Where Do Minnesotan’s Rank As Passionate Football Fans?

We’re coming up on the Super Bowl on Sunday, which means there will be a lot of football talk and focus this week. Businesses are trying to find ways to tie-in to the theme of the week, to attract as many customers as possible. 

Among all the talks, there will be bragging right for fans of certain teams, much to the chagrin of fans from other teams. Bragging is a big part of being a sports fan. 

I came across an article from Wallethub which took bragging to a different level, they studied major cities around the country to see which city was the best football city in America.  

I was a little shocked to see Minneapolis came in 12th, and that Pittsburgh was crowned the winner until I looked at their breakdown a little closer.  

Get our free mobile app

I was thinking of this study being focused on Pro Football only, and they also took into consideration support of college football as well. There’s no doubt that the Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the most passionate fan bases in the NFL, but their fans usually have a strong allegiance to a college team there as well. 

No matter if it’s Pitt, or Penn State, or even some of the other college teams from that region, folks in Pennsylvania love football.  

To prove that point even more, fans in Pittsburgh were seen as the #1 fans in the NFL and the 12th best for college football. Minneapolis was 12th for NFL fans but ranked 201st when it comes to college teams.  

There is a point that may sting Vikings fans more than Pittsburgh being #1, and that’s the fact that Green Bay came in 3rd. I’m not sure all the math that went into these findings, but Packers fans were found to be the 3rd best fans for NFL but tied for 241st for college action.  

The top 10 Cities in this Wallethub study were Pittsburgh, Dallas, Green Bay, Boston, Kansas City, New York, L.A., San Francisco, New Orleans and Miami.  

The NFL support had to carry so much more weight. Support for college teams in Boston is meniscal in comparison to other cities. And to that point even more, Charlotte came in 27th, and but 233rd in support of college teams.  

I’m from N.C. and the colleges in Charlotte don’t have the history for football, but the passion for teams from the Carolinas like North Carolina, N.C. State, Clemson, Appalachian State and East Carolina is pretty darn strong.  

To further the make the point, Clemson S.C. was named the Best Football Small City in America, and it's just a few hours away from Charlotte. 

It’s not completely fair to lump all of Minnesota into Minneapolis, especially when it comes to passion for college football, but that’s the major market here so that’s going to happen a lot in these types of studies. But I do think it’s a good gauge of how this state loves their the Vikings.