OT: Fan Base Power Rankings

[Brady_to_Moss]

Fan base Power Rankings: Packers, Bills on top - NFL.com


We are bottem tier?

grew up in Western Massachusetts, so I can take the inevitable Patriots fan heat from this. The Foxborough crowd is one of the worst -- and quietest in football. It's a fact. The fact it's true during one of the best runs the sport has ever seen is troubling. Boston also remains a baseball town, the last year notwithstanding. The city's emotion doesn't ebb and flow with the Patriots like it does with the Red Sox. There was always a sense of superiority from Red Sox fans in terms of their knowledge and passion about baseball compared to other fan bases. That's how true football towns feel about Boston. Football is not ingrained in the Massachusetts blood. There is some risk here of spoiled complacency after the Belichick era is over, not unlike what's happened in Dallas and San Francisco.

 

[everlong]

Any article that states Boston is still a baseball town can be discarded. The Bruins during a lockout are more popular never mind the Pats. Granted the crowd could be louder on a more consistent basis.

 

[Kontradiction]

I'm sure it's different when you're actually there (only saw a game at Foxboro when I was a kid), but on TV, that stadium is VERY quiet at times on defense. The only time it's really loud is if it's a big rivalry game (i.e. vs. the Jets). I'm sure the open end of the stadium doesn't help, but neither does the pink hat crowd.

 

[Nikolai]

I keep hearing about how "quiet" it is, but actually being in the seats a couple/few times a year, I'm beginning to wonder if the story of "quiet Gillette" is one of those half-lies that became a truth because it's so often repeated.

I've been to a Redskins game before. Want to talk about quiet?

 

[patfanken]

I have no complaint about anyone complaining about the lack of noise at Gillette, especially when you compare it with other stadiums. However as far a being "fan base" in general it has to be considered among the best when you compare the other metrics beyond just crowd noise. Those being

1. Ticket sales (close 2 decades of sellouts for EVERY game)
2. TV Ratings - Pats games blow up the TV ratings
3. How well the team travels - Pats away games get 4-8K fans on a regular basis
4. Pats gear sales - always in the top tier
5. How well the business community supports the team. At the top in revenue.

So while its justified to say the Pats don't have a great home field advantage in noise. Rosenthal is DEAD WRONG in his description of the Pats fan base in just about every other factor. DEAD WRONG

 

[Nikolai]

I have no complaint about anyone complaining about the lack of noise at Gillette, especially when you compare it with other stadiums. However as far a being "fan base" in general it has to be considered among the best when you compare the other metrics beyond just crowd noise. Those being

1. Ticket sales (close 2 decades of sellouts for EVERY game)
2. TV Ratings - Pats games blow up the TV ratings
3. How well the team travels - Pats away games get 4-8K fans on a regular basis
4. Pats gear sales - always in the top tier
5. How well the business community supports the team. At the top in revenue.

So while its justified to say the Pats don't have a great home field advantage in noise. Rosenthal is DEAD WRONG in his description of the Pats fan base in just about every other factor. DEAD WRONG

He's also wrong to localize it. Whether people want to admit it or not, the Pats are on the the NFL's "national teams". As is the case with Dallas, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and the 49ers, fans come from everywhere now, not just New England.

 

[TheComeback]

I think the crowd noise criticism just one of those myths associated with New Englanders being a bunch of tea-sipping elitists. It's not actually true, it just fulfills people's predetermined stereotypes about Northerners, so they believe it.

I watch the Redskins almost as much as the Pats and I've never noticed a difference in noise level. Also, if you think think NE has pink hat fans, just move down here to DC

 

[PatsSox363804]

I have no complaint about anyone complaining about the lack of noise at Gillette, especially when you compare it with other stadiums. However as far a being "fan base" in general it has to be considered among the best when you compare the other metrics beyond just crowd noise. Those being

1. Ticket sales (close 2 decades of sellouts for EVERY game)
2. TV Ratings - Pats games blow up the TV ratings
3. How well the team travels - Pats away games get 4-8K fans on a regular basis
4. Pats gear sales - always in the top tier
5. How well the business community supports the team. At the top in revenue.

So while its justified to say the Pats don't have a great home field advantage in noise. Rosenthal is DEAD WRONG in his description of the Pats fan base in just about every other factor. DEAD WRONG

Agree with all of this but damn I wish the stadium would get louder. It's embarrassingly quiet compared to some other places.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Weird, Oakland is a top-tier fanbase, yet every other game is blacked out due to lack of fan interest. Tickets cost like $15.

 

[DocHoliday]

$15?

If I was there, I would go every week. Not even a Raiders fan.

 

[PatsSox363804]

$15?

If I was there, I would go every week. Not even a Raiders fan.

That's the way it was in New Orleans pre-Katrina. I used to go to a bunch of games buying tickets outside for like $10 right before kick off.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Weird, Oakland is a top-tier fanbase, yet every other game is blacked out due to lack of fan interest. Tickets cost like $15.

That's why i don't get the article

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Let's face it, the Belichick/Brady era is the first time the Patriots Franchise has had anything to compare to the legacies that the Red Sox and Bruins enjoy in legends like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Dit (not to be confused with Mitt) Clapper and Bobby Orr, with rivalries going back nearly a hundred years in the Sox' case and to the "Original Six" of the NHL in the Bruins'.

The Patriots have always had their loyal fans from the dark days of hopping from stadium to stadium to the now glorious days of Patriot Place and Gillette with three recent SB and countless recent division or conference championships at the top of fans' minds.

But professional football at the highest level is relatively new to Boston and New England. Those of us who come to this Board regularly are only too aware that there are many knowledgeable fans posting here, but many more whose knowledge of the game seems to reflect a view that 2001 was the first season of NFL play. The game day threads seem to bring them out in droves.

I'll leave it to the guys with decibel meters to settle the debate about Gillette's noise levels vs. other stadiums', but the author of the article has a point when he raises the question of potential "complacency" and how engaged many who "follow" the Pats today will be in "their" team when Bill Belichick is playing golf on Sundays and Tom Brady is enjoying the good life with his family.

Will Boston be like Pittsburgh or Green Bay and remain passionately involved in the Patriots through what will inevitably at some point be less dramatic and compelling seasons with another HC and QB or will it turn its attention back to the sports that have been in its blood for a century, waiting for the Patriots to engage them again? It's a good, and fair, question.

The commitment of the Krafts to fielding a competitive product makes it unlikely that the Ownership will ever be Missing in Action, but that same kind of commitment from the Rooney's and Mara's didn't keep the Steelers and Giants from years and even decades of drought. That's when we'll find out whether the enthusiasm in the NFL product in New England is a bandwagon or a train steadily moving over a very long track.

 

[pherein]

That's the way it was in New Orleans pre-Katrina. I used to go to a bunch of games buying tickets outside for like $10 right before kick off.

LOL, yep and like $45-85 for a box.

 

[Joker]

I'm an old Patriot fan that's seen the thick and thin...to me, the #1 fan base in the NFL is the Jets...any fanbase that has more than 10 paying customers after 44 years straight of eating shiznit has to be ranked number 1...of course they rank # 1 in a plethora of other dubious categories...

#1 in lowest collective IQ/fanbase

#1 in documented sexual deviance...the worship of and the practice of interchangeable

#1 in Super Bowls won in September at 44 and counting

#1 in collective shooting off at the mouth (Firemutt Ed and Co.)

#1 in landlord complaints(Giants) against.

the list is practically endless...for all you do THIS OG JTSE!!! is for YOU, Jet fan...all the worst...from the bottom of our septic syst....er...hearts....

 

[BlueThunder]

I don't think JO is a J-E-T-S fan..........

 

[pherein]

I dont know how accurate this is, but Id say the emotional level for the Saints is pretty epic. There is nothing but, live and breath Saints, always been like that. We are a football only state, even if we do lose a lot.
At the the end of the season, I think most of us would punch someone in the face for say "Who Dat", it gets annoying.
We have been voted best fans in the world once and other stuff in america, and that was when losing,lol.
But, as it pertains to this pole Id say the only important thing is, we do get emotional about each player, and can come off sometimes as being pride full , and believing in them no matter what.
Sometimes even defend them with out reason. Case in point my Herz Vs David Thomas post. We're fanatical in faith, but not really stupid, and can be talked down to competence.
The love here is so deep for the boys and football, and has nothing to do with Katrina , its always been their, even when we sucked,lol

hmm.. like now. Maybe we are meek and simple, old school or south, but god I love seeing them on the field. Standing their and doing their best to represent us. Im not even sure why I do. I don't think most of us do. Its family, friends, talking, good food, drinking, a chance to welcome another fan, dancing, and a lot of things.
We love the team but the times we create with other fans and our family is really important to us. We are pretty easily embarrassed by our fans if they are rude or not representing us or the team correctly.

But I don't agree with this pole on the idea that NE fans do things differently.
Maybe you don't shout or wear bags on your heads to be vocal. Its a different culture of side talk and forum talk. Talking ball, and not being flashy about it.
Who needs to yell in a stadium ? Someone who needs a edge. You don't need one. Just play good ball and do your job. When I worked in kittery as a ALS for a couple years, I noticed people were more personal and less open than NO, but thats just environment, and family oriented. Saying NE is not as supportive of its team is just saying the writer does not understand the subtle households of Patriots fans.

 

[Gwedd]

Pherein:

Well said, my friend, well said.

I wish I could get down to New Orleans for a few days, just to see the sights and experience the place.

Different teams, different cultures. I think that that's a VERY valid comparison.