Saints deemed third-highest passionate sports fan base in America
Forbes recently released their most passionate sports fans in America of 2020, which has the New Orleans Saints sitting at third-highest behind the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers. The study evaluated all 123 pro teams across the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB in North America. Television ratings, game attendance, merchandising sales and social media reach were key factors in the ranking. Here's what was said about the black and gold.
TEAM OWNER & NET WORTH: Gayle Benson ($3.2 billion)
TEAM VALUE: $2.275 billion
SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING: 5.4 million
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE: 73,082
CHAMPIONSHIPS: 1
A full 75% of New Orleans residents identify as Saints fans—second in the NFL to Green Bay’s 82% with the Packers—helping to make the “Who Dat” nation’s social media following four times as big as the city’s population of 1.3 million.
It's hardly a secret, but Saints fans consistently kill the local broadcast ratings. They have also finished as having the best overall fan experience in the league for three straight seasons (2017-2019). What backs that data up is the NFL’s League Observation Program and a third party Expert Review Audits of all 32 NFL Teams. They concluded that the Saints had the highest overall score for Fan Gameday Satisfaction in the NFL.
One thing that is good for the Saints in particular is that they worked very hard to identify ticket brokers who just purchased season tickets and sold them. Those tickets were revoked by the team and were offered up to the huge waiting list. It will be interesting to see what happens across stadiums for the new season, as COVID-19 looks to put a damper in potential travel plans and how games are presented.
If we can get things back to normal, then it should be an interesting year for professional sports. In turn, there's little doubt that the Saints won't continue their success.
