Every NFL season, the same pattern plays out. Certain stadiums fill up, certain jerseys fly off the shelves, and certain fanbases suddenly get very loud -- right around the time their team starts winning. Then the losses come, and those same fans go quiet.
That is the definition of a fairweather fanbase. And for the first time, RotoWire.com has the data to rank all 32 of them.
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| # | Team | Score | Fairweather Bar | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cincinnati Bengals | 76.9 | Highly Fairweather | |
| 2 | Miami Dolphins | 71.2 | Highly Fairweather | |
| 3 | Atlanta Falcons | 58.8 | Highly Fairweather | |
| 4 | Los Angeles Chargers | 58.1 | Highly Fairweather | |
| 5 | Tennessee Titans | 57.7 | Highly Fairweather | |
| 6 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 55.5 | Highly Fairweather | |
| 7 | Cleveland Browns | 49.4 | Moderately Fairweather | |
| 8 | Minnesota Vikings | 47.4 | Moderately Fairweather | |
| 9 | Houston Texans | 42.1 | Moderately Fairweather | |
| 10 | Las Vegas Raiders | 41.8 | Moderately Fairweather | |
| 11 | New York Giants | 38.9 | Moderately Fairweather | |
| 12 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 37.7 | Moderately Fairweather | |
| 13 | Detroit Lions | 34.6 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 14 | Carolina Panthers | 31.0 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 15 | Philadelphia Eagles | 30.0 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 16 | New England Patriots | 28.4 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 17 | Washington Commanders | 27.8 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 18 | New York Jets | 26.8 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 19 | New Orleans Saints | 26.1 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 20 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 24.9 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 21 | Indianapolis Colts | 23.5 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 22 | Chicago Bears | 22.5 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 23 | Arizona Cardinals | 22.2 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 24 | Seattle Seahawks | 20.5 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 25 | Baltimore Ravens | 18.2 | Mostly Loyal | |
| 26 | Los Angeles Rams | 15.0 | Die-Hard Loyal | |
| 27 | Buffalo Bills | 14.0 | Die-Hard Loyal | |
| 28 | Kansas City Chiefs | 13.8 | Die-Hard Loyal | |
| 29 | Green Bay Packers | 11.4 | Die-Hard Loyal | |
| 30 | San Francisco 49ers | 10.7 | Die-Hard Loyal | |
| 31 | Denver Broncos | 10.0 | Die-Hard Loyal | |
| 32 | Dallas Cowboys | 3.2 | Die-Hard Loyal |
Methodology
RotoWire.com calculated a Fairweather Score for every NFL franchise using four signals:
- home attendance as a percentage of stadium capacity versus win total across five seasons (2019, 2021-2025, excluding the 2020 COVID season)
- the gap in average home attendance between winning seasons (9 or more wins) and losing seasons (6 or fewer wins)
- the correlation between Google search interest and win totals over those same five seasons
- an editorial assessment of each market's documented loyalty history.
Each signal was normalized to a 0-100 scale and combined into a composite score. Higher scores mean more fairweather behavior.
The Most Fairweather Fanbases in the NFL
1. 
Cincinnati Bengals (Score: 76.9)
The Bengals top the list, and the numbers are stark. Paycor Stadium ran nearly 30 percentage points of capacity higher in Cincinnati's winning seasons -- the 2021 Super Bowl run and a 12-win 2022 -- than it did in 2019, when the team went 2-14 (pre Joe Burrow). That is the largest attendance swing of any franchise in the study. Google search interest for the Bengals tracks their win total almost as closely. The Who Dey revival is real, but it is entirely performance-dependent. One caveat: 2019 was also Zac Taylor's first year as head coach, so some of the empty seats reflect skepticism of a new regime alongside the on-field results.
2. 
Miami Dolphins (Score: 71.2)
Hard Rock Stadium runs roughly 12 percentage points of capacity lower in Miami's losing seasons than in its winning ones, giving the Dolphins the second-largest attendance swing in the study. Their attendance correlation with wins is among the highest in the NFL (r=0.85). None of this is surprising. The Dolphins play in a transient, tourist-heavy market that competes with beaches, warm weather, and perpetual distractions. Fan interest in Miami has always been tied to the standings, and five seasons of data confirm it.
3. 
Atlanta Falcons (Score: 58.8)
Atlanta has the highest Google Trends correlation of any team in the study -- meaning fan search interest tracks the Falcons' win total almost perfectly. Mercedes-Benz Stadium fills up when the team is good and empties when it is not. The Falcons also compete against college football in a market where the ACC and SEC command year-round devotion. When the pros are winning, Atlantans show up. When they are not, there is always Georgia or Georgia Tech.
4. 
Los Angeles Chargers (Score: 58.1)
The Chargers have the most extreme attendance outlier in the entire dataset. In 2019 -- their final season at a converted soccer stadium -- they drew just over 254,000 in total home attendance, barely 45 percent of SoFi Stadium's equivalent capacity. The move to SoFi in 2021 brought a big bounce, but relocation novelty and good seasons drove that surge, not deep-rooted loyalty. The data shows a fanbase that shows up for shiny new things and winning football, and not much else.
5. 
Tennessee Titans (Score: 57.7)
The Titans are the quiet surprise in the top five. Their Google Trends correlation (r=0.82) is the second-highest in the study, meaning Nashville searches for the Titans when they are winning and stops when they are not. Unlike the Patriots -- whose similar Trends score reflects a national brand losing casual fans -- the Titans play in a small, contained market where this signal reflects actual local behavior. Nashville is growing, but its football loyalty is thin.
The Most Loyal Fanbases
Dallas Cowboys (Score: 3.2 — Least Fairweather)
This ranking will raise eyebrows, and it should be addressed directly. AT&T Stadium sells out regardless of whether the Cowboys win 7 or 12 games. National search interest for America's Team remains consistent year-round, not spiking with wins or collapsing with losses. A fanbase that shows up and stays engaged no matter what is, by definition, the opposite of fairweather. The Cowboys are not a good team right now. But their fans have not gone anywhere.
Green Bay Packers (Score: 11.4)
The Packers have a season ticket waitlist of more than 150,000 people. Lambeau Field sells out every game, every season, regardless of the record. No further explanation needed.
Buffalo Bills (Score: 14.0)
Bills Mafia is not a catchphrase. The attendance data shows zero swing between Buffalo's winning and losing seasons. The Bills sold out Highmark Stadium through lean seasons decades before Josh Allen arrived. That is loyalty the data can measure.
The Interesting Middle: Patriots, Eagles, Steelers
Three storied franchises land in the "Mostly Loyal" tier, though each comes with an asterisk.
The 
New England Patriots (Score: 28.4) rank 16th -- not fairweather by the data. Gillette Stadium ran near 100 percent of capacity in every season studied, including back-to-back 4-win years in 2023 and 2024. New England locals did not stop showing up. What collapsed after Tom Brady's departure was the national casual audience that had adopted the Patriots as a bandwagon -- not the actual fanbase in Foxborough. Those are different things, and it is worth saying so clearly.
The 
Philadelphia Eagles (Score: 30.0) and 
Pittsburgh Steelers (Score: 24.9) both show high attendance elasticity scores, which looks like a fairweather signal on the surface. The explanation: both teams have been consistently good throughout the study window, leaving too few bad seasons to generate a meaningful loyalty test. Their Google Trends scores are near zero -- search interest does not track wins -- and their editorial history makes the case. Eagles fans show up hostile regardless of record. Steeler Nation exists on every continent.
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