With another NFL season on the horizon, Nielsen — the market research firm known for its measurement of TV ratings — has dipped its feet into ranking the passion of NFL fan bases.
Nielsen’s methodology is based on eight metrics: apparel purchases, live attendance, linear TV viewership, streaming habits, radio listenership, betting intent, social media habits and general interest levels. It is not clear how the latter three categories were measured.
Because Nielsen measured by market, rather than team, 30 markets were included.
And, as is often the case with these rankings, Arizona came in near the bottom, placing 25th. Two of the Cardinals’ division rivals, though, came out even worse, as they were among the five markets ranked below Arizona (from 26th to 30th): Tampa, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles and New York.
The top of the rankings were filled by small markets with two or fewer ‘Big Four’ sports teams. Buffalo led the way, followed by Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Among major markets, Philadelphia unsurprisingly ranked the highest, in fifth place.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: See where the Arizona Cardinals sit in the NFL fan base ranking