One thing that makes the NFL unique is that the best teams don’t always play in the biggest markets. Consider that the Seahawks, the reigning Super Bowl champions, play in Seattle.
The Chiefs, winners of three Super Bowls since 2019, play in Kansas City. In addition, the team with the longest active streak of seasons reaching the Playoffs is the Bills, who play in Buffalo. Seattle (13th), Kansas City (33rd), and Buffalo (54th) are all outside the Top 10in the 2025 Nielsen DMA (Designated Market Area)
Rankings, according to the United States TV Database.
This is why the NFL is the greatest league in the world. You don’t have to be in a big market to have the best fanbase. The Seahawks, the Chiefs, and the Bills all have great fanbases. As do the Bengals, with Cincinnati ranking 37th in the aforementioned rankings.
The Nielsen Scarborough NFL Fandom Index recently unveiled its top five teams, with the Bengals checking in at No. 4 on the list.
It’s the first year of the study, which, as Cincinnati Enquirer Sports Editor Jason Hoffman notes, is a “comprehensive study that moves beyond simple headcount to identify where the sport’s pulse beats strongest, revealing that America’s most avid fans are often found in the heart of its mid-sized legacy markets.”
Also in the top five are Buffalo, Kansas City, Green Bay, and Philadelphia. The Packers are as historic a franchise as they come, but they play in Green Bay, the 68th market in the USTVDB rankings. That’s how great the NFL is.
The fact that the Bengals are in the same top five as Philadelphia is impressive, considering it’s Philadelphia (the No. 5 DMA market), and the Eagles’ fanbase is, for my money’s worth, the most passionate fanbase in America.
According to Nielsen, both cities are in the top five because “Neither market leads a single metric outright, yet both land in the top five on five of the eight questions the index tracks. That breadth, rather than any one standout behavior, is what pushes the two cities to No. 5 and No. 4 overall.”
The eight metrics used to compile these rankings include: apparel purchases, general interest levels, live event attendance, betting intent, social media engagement, radio listenership, streaming habits, and linear TV viewership.
Social media engagement and radio listenership are very strong parts of the Bengals’ fanbase. Bengals’ Twitter is incredibly passionate, and their radio network is incredible. In addition, Paycor Stadium has seen strong attendance in recent seasons due to the popularity of Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. That attendance will only continue to grow with the ongoing renovations.
This is a great list for the Bengals to be in the top five on, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they rank next year.
