It's long been a dream of mankind to put together a map showing the geographic locations of NFL fanbases. The CommonCensus map tried to do it though polling; we took a crack at one based solely on proximity. But all previous efforts have been self-selecting or otherwise flawed. If only there was a massive database, with precise geographic information, of Americans identifying their favorite teams.
This is exactly that. Facebook's Data Science team has combed the more than 35 million users who have "liked" a team's fan page, and put it into graphic form, down to the county level. Sean Taylor, who headed the research and analysis, was kind enough to send along the high-resolution maps. Click the overall fandom map above to enlarge.
Takeaways?
Alaska is confused.
New England owns New England, and pockets around the country.
The Jets have just one countyNassau County, on the western end of Long Island.
Florida, home of expats, contains pockets of Giants, Patriots, Steelers, Packers, and Bears fans
The lightly populated Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions, far from any team, transition from Vikings fandom in the east to Broncos fandom tounexpectedlyCowboys fandom in Idaho, Utah, and Nevada.
Oakland has impressive penetration on the periphery of 49ers country, even into Nevada and Oregon.
Four more maps, each showing the country's fandom prior to each round of the playoffs, only including the teams still alive. Allegiances remain largely geographical, but Patriots fans gradually spread across the nation like mange.
@ Illinois cheering for the packers in the playoffs