SANTA CLARA, Calif. — About 1 in 5 National Football League (NFL) followers say their loyalty played an extremely significant or highly significant role in their home search process, and a majority (55%) say that supporting a local team helps them feel more connected to their community and neighborhood, according to new research from Realtor.com.
Among NFL fans surveyed, 18% say their loyalty highly or extremely influenced their search for specific home features, such as a covered porch or built-in bar, 20% say the same about house layout or rooms, such as a basement or theater room and 18% say the same about specific locations, such as a certain city or neighborhood near a stadium.
The survey found that community plays a large role in football fandom. Among NFL fans, 66% say that having people in their community or neighborhood support the same team makes watching football feel more fun, 61% say supporting a local team was important to them and 55% say they feel connected to their community and neighborhood because they support the same team.
“When it comes to NFL fans and the teams they support, a connection to their community is a major driving force and influence,” said Charlie Lankston, executive editor and real estate expert at Realtor.com. “Creating a home is about so much more than buying a physical property – it is also about the community that we build around it. Our new survey shows that football and NFL play a vital role in how we see that community. And that team loyalty is actually less important to most people than their home and the people who surround it. So much so that nearly one-third of NFL fans would actually change teams if they moved to a new city or state.”
Team loyalty
While good team performance is the reason most cited by NFL fans for supporting a team (44%), personal reasons matter almost as much. Among fans, 40% say the team represents the city or state where they were raised, 39% say their team loyalty was a family tradition, 38% say the team represents the city or state where they currently live, and 29% say their friends or community follow the team.
Where are they watching?
The survey found that most NFL fans watch games at home. Of all followers, 67% report watching games in a shared or multipurpose room, such as a family room or living room, while 29% say they have a dedicated space for watching games, such as a finished basement or theater room and just 4% say they don’t watch games at home.
Super fans
About 1 in 5 who follow the NFL are what’s considered super fans, and their fandom was more influential in their home search. When asked to think back to the last time they searched for a home, 20% of respondents were either extremely or highly influenced to look for a home with a layout or rooms conducive to watching football, like a home theater, basement or multi-purpose room, 18% were extremely or highly influenced to look for a home with specific home viewing features such as covered porch or built in bar, and 18% were extremely or highly influenced to look for a home within a specific location, for example neighborhoods close to stadiums or specific cities.
Generational loyalty
Gen Z and millennial followers were the most likely to say that their fandom influenced their home search. Some 28% of Gen Z followers say they were highly influenced to search for specific home features, while 29% of millennials say they were highly influenced to look for specific house layouts or rooms.
Methodology: This poll was conducted on August 22-24, 2024, among a national sample of 2,201 adults ages 18+. The survey was conducted online, and the data was weighted to approximate a target sample of adults in the U.S. based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region.
Source: Realtor.com
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