Super Bowl LVI: A look at the fans who love the game

With the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 13, we look at the NFL’s passionate fans – and compare them to those of other sports.

Where’s the love?

In 2016, 65% of U.S. adults said they follow the NFL in some form, with 56% watching games on television and 9% tuning in via the internet.Globally, 38% of adults are fans, with particularly notable peaks in Mexico, India and China. Overall, that means there are four times as many NFL fans in the rest of the world as there are in America.American men (74%) are more likely than women (56%) to be fans, with 25-34 the leading age group.

Favorite league

Home Team Sports, a leader in sports marketing, commissioned a joint study with Wakefield Research Partners and YouGov to better understand the roots of fandom. They surveyed 2,462 fans representative of the U.S. adult population who selected a favorite league.

What it costs

The Super Bowl’s prices are setting records. As of Wednesday, a report by CBS said the average ticket price is $8,772 and top VIP suite level tickets were priced at $100,000.

The regular season

The average cost for a family of four to attend an NFL game in the 2021 season was $568.18, an increase of $14.05 over 2020, according to Team Marketing Report’s NFL Fan Cost Index. The average NFL ticket was about $107.The Raiders, in their new Las Vegas home, topped the list for average ticket price at $153.47. The lowest average ticket price was for those watching the Buffalo Bills, at $74.95.

 

According to the National Retail Federation, of the 184.5 million expected to watch the game, $78.92 will be spent on average, most on food and beverages. About 40% of viewers say the game is most important. About 21% of viewers say the commercials are most important. About 18% of viewers say the halftime show is most important. In 2022, 90 million people are planning to throw or attend a party, up from 62.8 million last year.

Ratings game

The 2021 NFL regular season averaged 17.1 million viewers (TV and digital), which is the highest regular-season average since 2015 and up more than 10% from 2020.The Cowboys accounted for five of the top 10 ratings.Throughout the season, there were 370 billion total minutes consumed, which is up 18% more in 2020. The NFL added one more regular-season game, stretching to 17 games.

The past 10 Super Bowls rank as the 10 most-watched all-time, and the past eight rank as the eight most-watched programs in U.S. television history. However, the total viewership of the 2021 game declined nearly 10 million viewers from the previous year. The amount of people streaming the game has increased from 3.4 million in 2020 to 5.7 million in 2021.

NBC will receive about $6.5 million for a 30-second commercial during the 2022 Super Bowl, up about $900,000 from last year. Each year there are typically 80 to 90 commercials during the game.

The league made an estimated $12.2 billion during the 2020 season, which represented a drop from the approximately $15 billion-plus believed to have been generated in 2019.The NFL currently has TV deals in place with Amazon, CBS, ESPN/ABC, FOX, and NBC running through the 2033 season estimated to be more than $100 billion.

Generation Z

According to a 2021 Next Gen Fandom Survey from Emory University, Generation Z has the least amount of avid fans for the NFL and all sports. But women in Gen Z expressed a higher level of fandom than their male counterparts for all sports except Esports.

Super fans

Each NFL team selects a fan of the year in November.The contest celebrates extraordinary fans who inspire others through their love of football and show what it means to be a fan. NFL collected nearly 35,000 submissions from fans vying for the chance to represent their team as a nominee.In partnership with the league, each club has now selected their 2021 Fan of the Year, who will attend Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium and represent their team in the stands.

Rams: Amanda Filimon

Filimon, a 15-year combat veteran who served in Iraq, is currently a registered nurse with Cedars-Sinai. Filimon continues to put the needs of others above her own and takes care of COVID-19 patients during surgery.

Cincinnati Bengals: Jimmie Foster

Foster rarely misses a Bengals game, traveling in his bus to watch his favorite team play. He’s a philanthropist for many charities supporting the Cincinnati area and Who Dey nation.

Thirsty and hungry?

Levi’s Stadium, where San Francisco plays, has the most expensive beer at $14. Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Atlanta plays, has the cheapest beer — the only team that charges just $5 for a beer, according to OnlineGambling.com’s Gameday Calculator. Atlanta’s stadium is known for its low-priced food, with hot dogs about $2. M&T Bank Stadium, where Baltimore plays, sells hot dogs for $3.

Most emotional fans

StatSocial, a social media data company, used IBM Watson Personality Insights to rank NFL fans on emotions using factors that included language people use to express themselves, frequency of communication and interaction with others.

 

Sources: NFL, Emory University, The Associated Press, StatSocial, GlobalWebIndex NFL audience report, Forbes, CBS, Team Marketing Report’s NFL Fan Cost Index, National Retail Federation

Source: Orange County Register