Jets fans ranked worst among AFC East teams

Who has better fans than the New York Jets? Well, every other team in their division, according to a new study.

Get ready to rage, Jets fans.

According to a new academic study from the Marketing Analytics Center at Emory University, the New York Jets have the worst fan base among AFC East teams:

The @dallascowboys & @Patriots have best fan bases in the NFL: https://t.co/eOlu0jFE1i pic.twitter.com/wSue4Q1wSl

— Emory MAC (@Emory_MAC) June 25, 2019

The Jets ranked 20th across the entire league, while the New England Patriots came in at No. 2 behind the Dallas Cowboys. The Miami Dolphins ranked 14th, while the Buffalo Bills got in just ahead of the Jets at No. 19.

How does one even compute something like this? Here’s part of the explanation from the study:

This study is about measuring fandom intensity or engagement. The logical foundation is that we attribute over or under performance in revenues or social following to fan engagement. To do this, we have to control for factors like market size and winning. This is the key point. Fan engagement is a little different from brand equity (the value of a brand) because we are controlling for market differences. The preceding results are more about intensity or passion of a fan base rather than the value of the fan base.

Fandom intensity is an important and often overlooked part of brand equity. In a full brand equity analysis, I would want to combine structural elements of a market (population, income, arena, etc…) with a fan engagement factor to assess a team’s brand equity. The value of the fan base is probably best thought of as a product of the passion (or intensity or engagement) and the size of the fan base.

While this may make sense from a business standpoint, it’s hard to imagine a handful of these teams being able to claim a better fan base than Gang Green.

I mean, who else has a Fireman Ed?

Jets fans are a passionate, long-suffering group who ride or die with the team on a yearly basis, regardless of the on-field results. They’ll make their opinions known, often strongly, win or lose. I’m sure every other fan base believes the same thing about themselves, but Jets fans are a unique breed.

What are your thoughts on this study? Where should Jets fans rank compared to the rest of the league? Give us your take in the comment section!