Are you ready for some football? The fans of this team sure are.

Emory University professor Michael Lewis conducted a study in which he ranked fans of NFL teams from best to worst. Yeah, he's working very hard in academia on important issues.

Because Lewis is a learned man living in the world of education he created the list devising a formula more complex than anything you'll find in a playbook:

In past years, two measures of engagement have been featured: Fan Equity and Social Media Equity. Fan Equity focuses on home box office revenues (support via opening the wallet) and Social Media Equity focuses on fan willingness to engage as part of a team’s community (support exhibited by joining social media communities).

This year I have come up with a new method that combines these two measures: Dynamic Fan Equity (DFE). The DFE measure leverages the best features of the two measures. Fan Equity is based on the most important consumer trait – willingness to spend. Social Equity captures fan support that occurs beyond the walls of the stadium and skews towards a younger demographic.

Okay, enough with the background. Which team's fans are the best? Why, the New England Patriots, of course. Winning means your fans are willing to cough up big bucks and then chat about it all over social media (not to mention defending your team when it's accused of cheating). Coming in last place are the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team so lacking in identity that we bet you'll stumble trying to figure out the starting quarterback (it's Blake Bortles).

Best NFL Fans

1. New England Patriots
2. Dallas Cowboys
3. Denver Broncos
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. Philadelphia Eagles
6. New York Giants
7. Chicago Bears
8. New Orleans Saints
9. Baltimore Ravens
10. Carolina Panthers
11. Green Bay Packers
12. Indianapolis Colts
13. Seattle Seahawks
14. Houston Texans
15. San Diego Chargers
16. Washington Redskins
17. New York Jets
18. Pittsburgh Steelers
19. Atlanta Falcons
20. Tennessee Titans
21. Detroit Lions
22. Minnesota Vikings
23. Cleveland Browns
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
25. Arizona Cardinals
26. Cincinnati Bengals
27. Miami Dolphins
28. Buffalo Bills
29. L.A Rams
30. Kansas City Chiefs
31. Oakland Raiders
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

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