Geographic Information Systems

Map Musing - September 3, 2018

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!

Its September and to many Americans that means one thing…Football season has finally arrived. Whether it’s cheering on your favorite teams, going to games, Fantasy or just hanging out for the wings and pizza…Fall means Football in the United States.

According to the Washington Post, over 37% of Americans said that football is their favorite sport to watch. With 32 teams to pick from in the NFL, there is a wide representation of teams and players across the US from September to February.

Have you ever wondered though who is the favorite team in your state is or who is the most popular player is? You may think “Oh that’s easy” but is it? For example, if you lived in Wisconsin, you would be correct if you guessed that Aaron Rogers was the most popular jersey. But if you lived in Washington and guessed Russell Wilson, you would have been wrong.

This map use data collected by Brad Crawford at 24/7 Sports looking at the most popular NFL Jerseys sold by state for the 2017 NFL Season. Two actions may happen while looking at this map. 1) You immediately go to the state you're from and say “How in the world is that correct? I can’t stand that guy” or 2) you see Marshawn Lynch and Tom Brady are across the map.

For the 2017 season, Marshawn Lynch was the top selling jersey across the United States, especially out West. Tom Brady was next in line. While other players may have not been popular across the country, they remained hometown heroes like Georgia and Julio Jones or Michigan and Matt Stafford.

The 2017 season had many upsets, heartaches and surprises. Now it’s time to move onto the 2018 season. Will Dallas reclaim the NFC East? How much does Tom Brady have left in the tank? With Saquon Barkley, do the Giants have enough to be a playoff contender this year? Will Carson Wentz be back? Is the young Steelers defense ready to the take the next step? On top of all of this, I guess we’ll have to wait and see who emerges as the best and most popular player for each state.

Best of luck to all the NFL teams!