By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College
Weatherhead Professor of Public Policy Todd Rogers determined the partisan distribution of NFL fanbases, and finds that the Atlanta Falcons fans are among the most bipartisan in the entire league. But Rogers, who teaches at Harvard University, finds that overall, most sports fans are among the best at reaching across party lines to cheer on their team.
I first became aware of this research through Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, the “Aldi-Brand Obama” who posted Rogers’ data on all fanbases on his Twitter account. And this is what they find.
The two most bipartisan fanbases in the National Football League go to the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers. Right behind them is the Cleveland Browns. Tied for the fourth most bipartisan fanbases include the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers. Seventh on the list is the Detroit Lions, while the Denver Broncos finished eighth among bipartisan fanbases. Others on the list are Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans, the only teams with a single-digit gap between the parties among their fans.
Those football teams with larger fanbase gaps where Democrats outnumber Republicans include the Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders and the Buffalo Bills. The most conservative fanbases among the NFL teams are found among the Tennessee Titans, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It’s a relatively mixed-bag of results, if you want to look at Super Bowl wins, recent playoff success, or even whether an AFC or NFC team is more likely to be partisan or not. But those factors may not be the ones that matter the most.
Rogers relates how he read the book Fans Have More Friends by David Sikorjak and Ben Valenta. Those authors write, “being a sports fan is good for you, good for others, and good for society.” In a Harvard Magazine article by Andrés Muedano, Rogers notes that he thought “Oh my God…that’s exactly it.”
From the NBA to the MLB to the WNBA and World Cup, sportswatching cheering is a unifying concept, not a divisive one, Muedano writes. “The energy of chanting and attending and focusing together,” says Rogers, who is a hardcore fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, transforms individuals into a community. “That’s exactly what we do in stadiums with teams, and that is what we do with our friends when we watch games together.”
Muedano concludes “Since then, Rogers and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) doctoral student Audrey Feldman have authored a study analyzing, among other things, how belonging to the same sports fandom may reduce hostile attitudes across partisan divides. According to their findings, being a fan of the same team as someone who holds different political views increases feelings of mutual warmth while reducing political polarization. What’s more, these benefits are greater among those who care more about their teams. The more passionate the fan, the stronger the depolarizing effect.” And for the franchise which have among the most bipartisan fans, like Atlanta’s, the benefits are likely to be stronger.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu or on “X” at @johntures2. His first book “Branded” a thriller novel where corporate greed, media manipulation and academic intrigue collide in a deadly game of product placement, has been published by the Huntsville Independent Press (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/product-page/branded). His second novel, “Independent Thought,” about a third-party candidacy that brings America to its knees, is published by HIP (https://www.huntsvilleindependent.com/product-page/independent-thought).