NFL teams with the most bandwagon fans

Watching the NFL can be full of highs and lows – but not for everyone! New data shows that some fans simply prefer to support whoever is winning.

New research from the Betway team has revealed which NFL teams have the most BANDWAGON FANS.  Predictably, the follower counts for the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles propelled to new heights in the lead-up to Super Bowl Sunday.

You may, however, be surprised how quickly fans hopped on other franchise’s bandwagons. In some cases, two or three consecutive wins earned NFL teams thousands of new followers looking to come along for the ride.

It also turns out that many fans of the sport can be fickle when it comes to loyalty. A bad month or a heavy defeat cost franchises tens of thousands of followers on multiple occasions across 2024.

Which NFL team has the most bandwagon fans?

It’s not easy to single out which team has the most bandwagon fans of all, but there were some obvious trends which helped to inform our results.

To do this, the Betway team analysed a month-by-month datasheet showing NFL teams’ Instagram follower counts and explored the reasons behind major changes.

Take for example, the Detroit Lions. In January 2024 their Instagram following grew by a staggering 166,745 people and it was no coincidence that the same month saw them celebrate their first play-off win in three decades.

 
More obviously, the Kansas City Chiefs follower count saw an almost 30% spike in January and February 2024 as they took on the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. 988,577 football fans started following the account in that period.

 
You can find the full table of NFL teams and the change in their social media follower numbers below: 

 
More Observations

 A similar spike occurred for the Kansas City Chiefs in advance of their 2025 Super Bowl appearance, and it was the same for their opponents and eventual champions the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles won 198,614 new followers in January 2025 as excitement built towards their big day

 
What was fascinating to analyse in the data was the number of followers lost by underperforming teams after disappointing seasons. When the dust settled on the 2024 campaign, the New England Patriots, who were beaten thirteen times, lost 18,099 followers, and the New York Giants, who lost eleven times that season, saw 11.441 people unfollow their official account.

 
But on the other hand, a string of positive results can be worth thousands and thousands of new bandwagon followers. Just look at the Houston Texans who earned 105,775 new followers in January 2024 – that was after a CJ Stroud-inspired performance earned them a play-off place with a victory over the Colts. That’s an increase of 6.899% in just one month.

 
Perhaps the most blatant case of bandwagon-ing, however, could belong to the Seattle Seahawks back in September 2024. After winning their opening three games of the season for the first time in four years, their number of Instagram followers increased significantly. 27,411 new people followed the franchise that month, a percentage increase of 0.826%.

 
Close competition comes from the Jacksonville Jaguars but for all the wrong reasons. One particularly embarrassing defeat to the Detroit Lions saw no less than 1,474 people hop off the bandwagon in November 2024 and another 1298 unfollowed the account in December. That works out as a net total of 2,772 unfollows!

It shows that losing 52-6 is – unsurprisingly – not a very good strategy for sports franchises hoping to build their social media presence!

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