NFL's popularity in Philadelphia average, survey says
The popularity of pro football in Philadelphia is about average for an NFL city, according to a new survey.
Part 2 of a series about Philadelphia sports fans.
The popularity of pro football in Philadelphia is about average for an NFL city, according to a new survey.
Philly's not in the Top 10 for percentage of fans interested in the National Football League, and when a degree of passion is factored in, its rank drops even lower, Scarborough Research found.
Wait. Say what?
Relax, we'll get to how the survey might sell Philly short.
As reported last week, Philadelphia ranked No. 10 among U.S. media markets for interest in the four biggest team sports, and was second to Boston among the nation's 10 biggest metropolitan areas.
Focus just on pro football, and the city's rankings sink.
At first blush, that flies in the face of ample evidence. The Eagles have sold out every game for a dozen straight years, fans flocked for 17 years to training camp an hour from Philadelphia, and the Birds have long dominated local sport-talk radio, even in the offseason.
"Our fans, they're the best fans in the country. We say that a lot," said owner Jeffrey Lurie in December, when announcing the firing of head coach Andy Reid.
But, sorry, Jeffrey, other cities apparently embrace the NFL as much or more - at least in general popularity.
The degree of maximum intensity - and fan knowledge - weren't measured.
READ: 20 way Philly sports fans made history
About 210,000 people across the country, after being phoned by Scarborough, agreed to fill out detailed questionnaires about all sorts of consumer interests and habits. The results became available in February, though the data collection process lasted from August 2011 to September 2012.
Respondents were asked if they were "very," "somewhat" or "not at all" interested in the National Football League, and finishing first was Green Bay, Wisc., with 86 percent expressing interest, and 56 percent choosing "very interested."
New Orleans (81 percent interested, 51 percent very interested), Pittsburgh (81 and 47), Baltimore (74 and 43) and Cincinnati (72 and 37) rounded out the Top 5, counting only the 30 markets with NFL franchises. (The York and San Francisco/Oakland areas each have two teams.)
Philadelphia tied for 15th (with Atlanta) with 66 percent interested, and tied for 19th (with Nashville) with 31 percent very interested - though a single percentage point behind a half-dozen NFL cities, including Washington and Dallas.
Think of it this way: In Philadelphia, roughly a third of fans are "very interested," a third are "somewhat," and a third don't give it hoot.
That's all kinds of local NFL fans, not just Eagles fans, which means those coworkers and neighbors who root for the Cowboys or Giants got tallied, too.
The who-cares group isn't all women, by the way. About 30 percent of the ignorers are men. Put another way, about 10 percent of area males might hear "Roethlisberger" and think McDonald's.
A big flaw, fans are likely to suspect, is that this data fails to look at better, more objective measures, like attendance, TV viewership and merchandise sales.
Forbes considered those factors and came up with a different ranking last September. Dallas came out No. 1, with Green Bay and Pittsburgh tied for second.
Philadelphia finished higher, but still landed at only No. 10, its ranking of No. 6 for attendance and merchandise dragged down by television rank (16), and two lesser weighted factors, social media (15) and fan clubs (11).
Notice, though, those high scores for fans who go to games and purchase gear - the true hard-core fans.
By these "hard-core" measures, Philadelphia is well above average, Scarborough agrees. Nationwide, 13 percent of Americans 18 and older bought NFL apparel in the previous 12 months, while 29 percent of avid NFL fans in Philadelphia did. Nationwide, about 7 percent expressed an interest in buying season tickets, but 14 percent of avid NFL fans in Philadelphia did.
One suspects Philly's rankings might have improved if Scarborough added an "intensely interested" category, or asked about attending or watching, say, 8 or more games.
In a way, the survey asked about "warm" and "very warm" but forgot about "hot." Perhaps that's where Philly sizzles.
It would also help to check back when the Eagles are winning - even if Cincinnati did make Scarborough's Top 5 without ever becoming Super Bowl champs.
Eagles fans have declined in Philadelphia since the Super Bowl appearance in 2005. That year, 65 percent of area residents polled said they had watched, attended or listened to at least one Eagles game (yes, just Eagles this time), the highest percentage over the last dozen years, according to Bill Nielsen, head of Scarborough's sports marketing division.
For 2011-2012, the number was down to 58 percent.
Notice there's a gap between NFL and Eagles fans. About 66 percent here said they were interested in the NFL, but only 58 percent watched, attended or listened to an Eagles game. That 8 percent difference might measure fans who root for other teams (though it's hard to imagine a Dallas or Giants fan not watching any Eagles games), or enjoy the NFL in general. But it also could include lip-service/fair-weather Eagles fans, who wait for the playoffs to watch, or who have been on the sidelines, say, because of Michael Vick's dogfighting rap sheet.
Next part of series: Who has more fans, Eagles or Phillies?