Top 3 NFL Teams With The Most Fans: Which One Is The Most Popular?

Sally Polly January 25, 2022 | 09:05

With NFL being super popular not in America but around the world, these 3 teams have the most fans and make themselves to the top.

With 8.51 million supporters, the Dallas Cowboys have been the most valued NFL team for 12 consecutive years, and are the NFL team with the most fan base.

The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided equally between the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues and the highest professional level of American football in the world. Its eighteen-week regular season runs from early September to early January, with each team playing seventeen games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference (four division winners and three wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, which is usually held on the first Sunday in February and is played between the champions of the NFC and AFC. The league is headquartered in New York City.

The NFL is not just a sport to Americans; it’s a tradition that has been carried on for decades, within and beyond the U.S. borders.

Out of 32 NFL teams representing 22 different states in the U.S, the Dallas Cowboys are the reigning champions of the NFL team with the most fans, followed by the six-time Super Bowl winners, the New England Patriots.

Here are top 3 best NFL teams with the most fans.

1. The Dallas Cowboys; America’s team

Photo: Dallas Morning News

The proud Texas team play their home games at the AT&T Stadium, and have fans filling the stands game after game with a streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and postseason games (home and away) that started in 2002.

The Cowboys not only have the most followed NFL team Facebook account, but they are also backed up by 8.5 million devotees in total.

Members of the NFC East division, the five-time Super Bowl champions became the most valuable sports team in the world in 2015- as the first sports team ever valued at $4 billion- and a few years later they broke their previous record and jumped into the $5 billion ladder.

They were also the first U.S. team to generate $620 million in revenue, making Forbes' list as the most valued NFL team for the 12th straight year, according to Wikipedia.

Photo: Sports Dallas Fort-Worth

Known as America’s team, the Cowboys have given good reason for their fans to be devoted as they have consistently delivered; they made it to the Super Bowl eight times winning five of those appearances, and they are the only NFL team to record a winning streak of 20 consecutive seasons (1966–85), in which they missed the playoffs only twice, in 1974 and 1984.

The Cowboys are going into Week 11 of the 2021 NFL season where they face off against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Sunday Night Football- 10:25 PM CET.

The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960. The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs. The Cowboys' streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games (home and away) began in 2002. The franchise has made it to the Super Bowl eight times, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances in history, behind only the New England Patriots' record eleven Super Bowl appearances. This has also corresponded to eight NFC championships, most in the NFC. The Cowboys have won five of those Super Bowl appearances, tying them with their NFC rivals, the San Francisco 49ers; both are third to Pittsburgh's and New England's record six Super Bowl championships. The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons (1966–85), in which they missed the playoffs only twice (1974 and 1984).

In 2015, the Dallas Cowboys became the first sports team to be valued at $4 billion, making it the most valuable sports team in the world, according to Forbes. The Cowboys also generated $620 million in revenue in 2014, a record for a U.S. sports team. In 2018 they also became the first NFL franchise to be valued at $5 billion and making Forbes' list as the most valued NFL team for the 12th straight year.

Photo: Architectural Digest

AT&T Stadium, previously named Cowboys Stadium, is a domed stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington. After failed negotiations to build a new stadium on the site of the Cotton Bowl, Jerry Jones, along with the city of Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, funded the stadium at a cost of $1.3 billion. The stadium is located in Tarrant County, the first time the Cowboys will call a stadium home outside of Dallas County. It was completed on May 29, 2009, and seats 80,000, but is expandable to seat up to 100,000. AT&T Stadium is the largest domed stadium in the world.

2. New England Patriots

Photo: Ticketmaster

Established Date: November 16, 1959

Head Coach: Bill Belichick

Titles Received: 6 Super Bowl Championships (as of 2021)

Best Players: Tom Brady, John Hannah, Rob Gronkowski, Andre Tippett, and others.

Coming 2nd on the list, New England Patriots is one of the professional American football teams playing in the NFL league. The Boston-based team is a member of the AFC East division.

They have been playing their home games at Gillette Stadium. Similarly, they are one of the only two NFL teams that represent two states.

The New England Patriots also hold the record for most Super Bowl wins (6), losses (5), and appearances (11), followed by 5 championships to their name.

Some other records held by the Patriots are; most playoff wins (37), most consecutive winning season (19 in total, from 2001 to 2019), a longest winning streak of regular-season, and playoff games (21, from 2003 to 2004). Along with these, the team has more other titles to themselves.

Photo: Gang Green Nation

With all these achievements, there isn’t a doubt that they come with a big fan following. The Patriots have a fan following of 7 million. The Patriots keep getting popular every season, every game. It won’t be long until the Patriots take the number one spot in the most NFL fans list.

The Patriots' professional cheerleading squad is the New England Patriots Cheerleaders which represents the team in the NFL. Notable alumni of the cheerleading squad include wrestler Carmella and model Camille Kostek.

The Patriots' mascot is Pat Patriot, a revolutionary minuteman wearing a Patriots home jersey.

The Patriots also employ a corps known as the End Zone Militia, a group of American Revolutionary War reenactors founded in 1996 by Geoff Campbell, a reenactor for the 9th Massachusetts Regiment (26th Continental Regiment). Consisting of about 30 men and women, they dress 20 for each home game and split themselves into two groups of 10 lining the back of either end zone. When the Patriots score – whether it be a touchdown, field goal, point-after-touchdown or safety – the militia behind the opposite end zone fire a volley of blanks from flintlock muskets. Per an interview with the Loren & Wally Show on WROR 105.7 FM in and around the time of Super Bowl XLIX, said shots use double the load of black powder than a regular historical reenactor does, specifically 200 grains, in order to be heard throughout the stadium. ESPN writer Josh Pahigian named this one of the top ten celebrations in the league in 2007.

Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" has become an unofficial theme song and entrance anthem for the Patriots at their home games and Super Bowls, starting when they hosted the NFL Kickoff at Gillette Stadium on September 8, 2005.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

Photo: Ticketmaster

Established Date: July 8, 1933

Head Coach: Mike Tomlin

Titles Received: 6 Super Bowl Championships (as of 2021)

Best Players: Ben Roethlisberger, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis, etc.

Based in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Steelers is a professional American football team of the NFL league. It is a member of the AFC North division. Established in 1933, the Steelers are considered one of the most successful NFL franchises.

Tied with the New England Patriots, it has the most Super Bowl titles (6). Similarly, the Steelers have played 16 times and hosted 11 times more conference championship games than any other team in the NFL, also winning eight AFC championships.

The reputation of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the love and support they get has reached across the globe. Their fanbase is known as the Steeler Nation. The Steelers have fans from Mexico, Europe, to South America; they number around 6.3 million.

The Steelers can always count on their Steeler Nation. Even though they are not in the game or out of the playoff, fans are always there to cheer for them and uphold them. That’s how strong the Steeler Nation is.

In contrast with their status as perennial also-rans in the pre-merger NFL, where they were the oldest team never to have won a league championship, the Steelers of the post-merger (modern) era are among the most successful NFL franchises. The team is tied with the New England Patriots for the most Super Bowl titles at six, and they have both played in (sixteen times) and hosted (eleven times) more conference championship games than any other team in the NFL. The Steelers have also won eight AFC championships, tied with the Denver Broncos, but behind the Patriots' record eleven AFC championships. The team is tied with the Broncos and Dallas Cowboys for the second-most Super Bowl appearances with eight. They lost their most recent championship appearance, Super Bowl XLV, on February 6, 2011.

Photo: Skysports

The Steelers, whose history may be traced to a regional pro team that was established in the early 1920s, joined the NFL as the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 8, 1933. The team was owned by Art Rooney and took its original name from the baseball team of the same name, as was common practice for NFL teams at the time. To distinguish them from the baseball team, local media took to calling the football team the Rooneymen, an unofficial nickname that persisted for decades after the team had adopted its current nickname. The ownership of the Steelers has remained within the Rooney family since the organization's founding. Art Rooney's son, Dan Rooney, owned the team from 1988 until his death in 2017. Much control of the franchise has been given to Dan Rooney's son, Art Rooney II.

The Steelers enjoy a large, widespread fanbase nicknamed Steeler Nation.[6] They currently play their home games at Heinz Field on Pittsburgh's North Side in the North Shore neighborhood, which also hosts the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. Built in 2001, the stadium replaced Three Rivers Stadium, which had hosted the Steelers for 31 seasons. Prior to Three Rivers, the Steelers had played their games in Pitt Stadium and at Forbes Field.

Reasons Why American Football Is the Best Sport in the World

1. Tailgating

Rain or shine, day or night, hail or sleet. Does it matter what the weather is? Of course not, because tailgating is all about having fun no matter what Mother Nature throws your way.

A great stadium tailgate is a sight to behold—any unhealthy, fatty and grilled food you could ever want in all of its amateur goodness, tents with multiple flat screen televisions, recreational vehicles holding dozens of drunk people who have only partying and football on their minds.

You can even play football with strangers and have your own Tailgating Bowl.

2. Cinderella Stories

Cinderella stories are seen throughout all sports but football has some really good ones that the fans can truly identify with.

Take quarterback Kurt Warner, for example. He was an Arena League flameout bagging groceries at a local store before the St. Louis Rams called him up. The rest is history: Warner led one of the greatest offenses in NFL history, won the Super Bowl in 2000 and led the laughingstock Arizona Cardinals to a stunning Super Bowl appearance in 2009.

How about Vince Papale, the Philadelphia Eagles walk-on forever immortalized by the movie "Invincible"?

Or even Patriots future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady, who was a sixth-round pick and only got a chance to play when incumbent starter Drew Bledsoe was injured?

The NFL is chock full of Cinderella stories that we all know and love.

3. Rivalries

Admittedly, other sports may have the more historically appealing rivalries. But in football, they are at their most intense because, well, the point of the game is to hit the other team in the mouth as hard as you can. In football, rivalries bring out the best in both teams to the extent that it feels like a playoff atmosphere.

Put it this way: if the Yankees and Red Sox cleared their benches and fought amongst one another after a batter was intentionally hit by a pitch, it would be an event.

In football, every play involves someone getting in a dogfight—and that's more exciting than any other sport can offer up.

4. Defensive Excitement

In no sport is defense more intriguing than football. In basketball there are blocks and in baseball there are diving catches, but no sport can match football for its overall defensive excitement.

While offense is and always will be king, defense in football can generate just as much of a reaction as a touchdown or long pass can. Defensive touchdowns are among the most exciting plays in football and there is nothing that jacks up a team's collective adrenaline like a monster hit.

The fact that defense in football can impact a game in such a strong way is the reason why it makes football so exciting.

Also, consider this: in other sports, defense can lead to scoring opportunities. In football, the defense can simply take the ball and score itself.

5. Fantasy Football

The fact that every other sports' attempt at creating a successful fantasy game is a direct result of the success of fantasy football should be the only reason you need to know why fantasy football is important. Football gave birth to an industry of armchair quarterbacks just dying to one-up their friends while following their favorite players at the same time.

Fantasy football is no longer just a hobby. It is a multi-million dollar industry that is given life simply because football exists.

6. Thanksgiving Traditions

There are many great American traditions, but none as exciting as Thanksgiving football. Let's be honest: there are no single days of the year where we get our families together to play baseball or basketball simply because its a holiday.

But on Thanksgiving, families across the nation go out, rain or shine, to play America's favorite sport and it has become a tradition that everyone looks forward to every year.

Have you played enough football? Then run into the house, grab some turkey and plop down in front of the TV to watch football for the rest of the day.

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