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Each summer, Emory University's Michael Lewis compiles a list of the top fan bases in the NFL heading into the upcoming season. To come up with his lists, he uses a series of models and studies to determine which fans follow their teams the most no matter the size of the market. These models are Fan Equity, Social Media Equity and a model he added for this year, Dynamic Fan Equity.
Michael Lewis explains each Equity, "The DFE (Dynamic Fan Equity) measure leverages the best features of the two measures. Fan Equity is based on the most important consumer trait-willingness to spend. Social Equity captures fan support that occurs beyond the walls of the stadium and skews toward a younger demographic." He goes on to say that they are "working with 15 years of attendance data and 4 years of social data." For more on his study, click on the article here https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/esma/
With the combination of all of Lewis's Equity's, the Ravens fan base lands at #9 on his list, right in the top 10, and for good reason. Ravens fans are one of the most passionate and loyal in the NFL. Its one of the reasons why M&T Bank Stadium is one of the best football environments out there and one of the toughest for any road opponent to leave with a win. Its not just that though, it goes back to all those years ago to the Baltimore Colts. When the Colts left town in the middle of the night, it left the hearts of all Baltimoreans shattered and professional football would be absent for 12 years. Ravens fans appreciate every season of pro football in Baltimore and the fan base has continued to grow every year and it is a tradition that is now expanding to generations young and old.
Even in a down year like 2015, The Ravens fans still showed up to road games to support their team and the total attendance figures for the 8 home games was 568,018, which adds up to 100.0% capacity. From the social media perspective the Ravens have 824,000 followers on Twitter and 2,338,819 likes on their Facebook page. The full top 10 fan bases according to Michael Lewis's study is:
1. Patriots
2. Cowboys
3. Broncos
4. 49ers
5. Eagles
6. Giants
7. Bears
8. Saints
9. Ravens
10. Panthers
Keep doing what your doing Ravens fans! Lets keep supporting our team no matter the result. Whether its winning a Super Bowl or ending up with the #1 overall pick, keep rocking the Ravens gear every Sunday and root the team on.
Oh and just so you guys know, Steelers fans were ranked 18th.
Just throwing that out there.