Most folks looking ahead to the 2026 NFL season have the Miami Dolphins on the bottom looking up. Unfortunately for their fans, the same holds true. According to the inaugural "Nielsen Scarborough NFL Fandom Index" from media audience research firm Nielsen, the Dolphins fans scored an 87 - two spots from last-place New York and its Giants and Jets fans. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills have the best fandom in the league. Bills fans scored 208 on the new index, which takes into account eight key metrics, Nielsen announced Monday in a press release. Buy Miami Dolphins tickets on StubHub The key metrics, all from Nielsen's own data, are apparel purchases, event attendance, streaming, social media following, TV viewership, radio listening, betting intent and overall interest level.
On the flip side of the Bills, the local markets with the lowest ratings on the new index after the Dolphins: Los Angeles and New York. We all know L.A. remained without an NFL team for years and no one seemed to notice. But New York? Of course, both Los Angeles and New York now have two NFL teams - the Rams and Chargers out west, the Jets and Giants back east. Nielsen's press release hypothesized that the split fandoms in each city were part of the reason for the lower rankings in the index. The firm also said in its release that fans in New York and L.A. – two of the top media market in the world – may be "saturated with other entertainment options," which "likely dilutes per-capita NFL intensity."
Perhaps they should have included South Florida in the Giants/Jets fan index as many of their fans now live in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Here's a look at the full ranking of every NFL fan market, according to Nielsen's new "Fandom Index": Nielsen 'Fandom Index' rankings
Other notes from Nielsen 'Fandom Index'
Nielsen did not provide the full index rankings for each of its key categories in its initial press release on Aug. 17, but it did share some notable takeaways from those metrics.
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Philadelphia, Houston, Boston and Chicago made up the top five of sports betting intent, in that order. Philadelphia is the only market in that group that ranks in the top 10 overall. Nielsen notes that "betting tracks with large, legalized-market populations and disposable income, NOT legacy passion," which could explain why none of the top three (Buffalo, Kansas City, Green Bay) crack the top five in sports betting intent.
Indianapolis ranks much higher than its overall rank (17) compared to its social media engagement ranking (fourth). Denver and Jacksonville are standout markets for streaming their teams' games. Nielsen credits this trend to "younger or more digitally-native fan bases relative to their peers." Detroit and Green Bay "rank well ahead of what their market size would suggest" in terms of what Nielsen calls "merchandise/apparel culture." The firm points to both fanbases' "strong regional identity" as a possible reason for why they rank so high in the apparel purchase key metric despite smaller market sizes.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nielsen's new 'Fandom Index' ranks Miami Dolphins fans near the bottom