American Sports Thread

[Club Rossa]

NFLUK ran a poll a couple of seasons ago and the Patriots were the best supported team.

[Minder]

Yeah I don't think it matters who is playing, people just want to go to a bona fide NFL game

[stew]

Pretty sure you wrong on this. I would say the pats and niners have more fans on this side of the pond.

Thats because they win a lot!

The Packers and Dallas are the two biggest teams worldwide.

[gallsman]

Pretty sure you wrong on this. I would say the pats and niners have more fans on this side of the pond.

Thats because they win a lot!

The Packers and Dallas are the two biggest teams worldwide.

No they aren't.

[RealSpiritof98]

 Top supported team done by county in states, Really interesting how the Cowboys have such a spread out fan base.

Over on NFL UK forum they tend to think it's the Pat's that are mostly supported on these shores

[Club Rossa]

In terms of travelling support in the NFL the 3 teams that have the biggest numbers seem to be the Steelers,Cowboys and Packers.That's only my observation from watching on the box.

[AZOffaly]

In terms of travelling support in the NFL the 3 teams that have the biggest numbers seem to be the Steelers,Cowboys and Packers.That's only my observation from watching on the box.

That's not true Rossa. I used to note this when I was in Arizona at the games. Nobody really 'travels' to away games, but the Packers and Steelers have a lot of people who move away from there (largely due to weather or whatever) and maintain their support of the local teams. Therefore whenever the Packers or Steelers play, there's always a fair few supporters even away from home. Also, especially for the packers, they are a popular team, and would be supported a lot out of Green Bay by people who have never been to Green Bay. In many ways, as Stew said, they would be the real 'America's team'. Dallas is another team like this. There isn't a huge Dallas diaspora, or snowbirds, but they are popular throughout the country.

Whenever the Cardinals played at home against Dallas, Green Bay, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, (or even Philly), you could be sure of a significant 'away' following, but most of them lived in Phoenix, they weren't flying in from those places like they do in the UK for soccer.

Over here though, I would be fairly sure that the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, and probably lads like the Giants would be more supported than Green Bay. A lot of that is down to what we saw on the telly, obviously, but it's there nonetheless, and I don't agree that in London the Packers would be a bigger draw than either of the first two.

And if the Packers lost Aaron Rodgers and became an 8-8 ho-hum team like the were before Favre came along (after the Lombardi era I mean), then there would be 10 teams that would have a bigger draw.

[Club Rossa]

Aw,I know that AZ,I didn't word it correctly.I meant fans of the away team.
It's also interesting to note that when the Cowboys are at home there always seems to be a significant number of opposition fans in their stadium.The niners almost took it over on their last visit to it.

[AZOffaly]

Aw,I know that AZ,I didn't word it correctly.I meant fans of the away team.
It's also interesting to note that when the Cowboys are at home there always seems to be a significant number of opposition fans in their stadium.The niners almost took it over on their last visit to it.

Fair enough, you're right so I'd say. But I definitely think the Packers are more popular in America than they are around the world, especially in comparison to the Pats and Niners, at least.

[Clov]

The Packers do seem to have a certain mystique, even for the casual football fans, which i think plays into their popularity. Their community ownership is unique in the NFL. The fact that a major sports franchise exists in such a small town. Their history - one of the oldest franchises, the rivalry with the Bears, the great teams they had in the formative years of the NFL and a legendary coach in Lombardi. They also seem to be a really well run organisation under Ted Thompson.

That said, I agree with AZ, that over here that they're not any more popular than many of the other top NFL teams.

[AZOffaly]

The Packers do seem to have a certain mystique, even for the casual football fans, which i think plays into their popularity. Their community ownership is unique in the NFL. The fact that a major sports franchise exists in such a small town. Their history - one of the oldest franchises, the rivalry with the Bears, the great teams they had in the formative years of the NFL and a legendary coach in Lombardi. They also seem to be a really well run organisation under Ted Thompson.

That said, I agree with AZ, that over here that they're not any more popular than many of the other top NFL teams.

Clov, I think also it's the Lombardi, Bart Starr, Snow Bowl etc trradition around them. That's why, as I said, I agree with Stew about their popularity in the States. But that history and mystique doesn't really cross the ocean when we only really got the NFL in the mid 80s when the Pack were useless. In fact I'd say the aforementioned Bears were more popular over here than the Pack for a long time.

[Clov]

Yes, agree with all that.

For history, rivalry and tradition is there a better division in football than the NFC North?

[AZOffaly]

The AFC North?

There's something about the cold weather up there that leads to that sort of thing. I know the Ravens are a rebirth, but if we consider they are a rebirth of the Browns then the rivalries up there must be intense

All that said, I still think the pro rivalries don't hold a candle to the NCAA football rivalries. Michigan Ohio State, Auburn Alabama, Notre Dame USC, not to mind all the various Arizona/Arizona State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, UCLA-USC, Stanford-Cal, Intra state rivalries. (I know Auburn and Alabama are in the same state, but that transcends intra state level )

[RealSpiritof98]

over on NFL UK someone said they had seen a poll that put the Pats easily in front and the Dolphins easily in 2nd place (they havent even been mentioned on here yet). I suppose a lot of support stems from the popular teams in the 80s and early 90s like the bears/niners.

[gallsman]

Charles Woodson is ageless.