Each State’s Favorite ‘Away’ NFL Team

Have you ever found yourself cheering for an NFL team that’s hundreds of miles away from where you live? You’re not alone. NFL fans across the nation often show their loyalty to teams far from home.

But which NFL team takes the top spot in each state when local options are off the table? To find out, we analyzed Google Trends data to identify the most popular “away” teams. An “away” team is any team that isn’t the home team for that state or doesn’t have a stadium there. In states without a home team, we even excluded the closest team to uncover which truly distant teams have captured the most hearts. Keep reading to find out which teams have captured unexpected fan loyalty across the country.

Before we explore the most popular “away” teams, let’s first take a look at which NFL teams are the overall favorites in each state, without any exclusions. This provides insight into local loyalties and reveals a few surprising exceptions.

States Whose Home Team Isn’t Their Favorite:

For the most part, states show the strongest support for their home teams, but there are two notable exceptions where this isn’t the case. Ironically, the New England Patriots have some turncoats:

• Connecticut: Even though Connecticut is geographically closer to the New England Patriots, the New York Giants are actually the most popular NFL team in the state based on search data.
• Vermont: Similarly, Vermont is another state in the New England region whose NFL fans stray from their home team, the New England Patriots. The New York Giants also come out on top as the most searched team in this state. 

States with Multiple NFL Teams:

States with more than one NFL team often have divided fan bases, but some clear favorites still emerge:

• California: Home to the Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers, NFL fans in California favor the San Francisco 49ers as the state’s most popular team. 
• Florida: With three teams—the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers—Jacksonville Jaguars lead as the most popular team in the state.
• New York: Officially home to the Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, and New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills take the title of the most searched team across the Empire State.
• Ohio: With both the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns located in the Buckeye State, Ohioans’ top pick is the Cleveland Browns.
• Pennsylvania: Divided between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL fans in Pennsylvania most frequently search for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• Texas: Between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans, it’s the Dallas Cowboys that dominate as Texas’s favorite.
• New Jersey: Although not the namesake of any NFL team, both the New York Giants and New York Jets have their home stadium in New Jersey. Here, the New York Giants are the most popular team.

This breakdown highlights the most popular teams overall in each state, but what happens when home teams are taken out of the equation? Do fans search for their team’s rivals or do they have a second-favorite team across the country?

Which Non-Local NFL Team is the Most Popular in Each State?

To find out each state’s favorite “away” team, we filtered out data from the team(s) that are based in that state or have their home stadium there. For states without a home team or NFL stadium, we excluded the closest NFL teams to get a true picture of non-local fandom.

Most Searched Non-Local Teams Across the Country:

• Los Angeles Rams: Surprisingly, the Rams take the top spot as the most searched “away” team in 18 states. Their recent Super Bowl win and move back to LA from St. Louis seems to have captured the attention of fans far beyond California.
• Los Angeles Chargers: Close behind, the Chargers are the most popular non-local team in 15 states. Also having moved recently, from San Diego to LA, their presence in the state-of-the-art SoFi stadium (along with the LA Rams) has drawn the eyes of fans nationwide.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The Buccaneers are the most popular non-local team in four states. Each of these four states—Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island—are New England Patriots fans overall. Maybe this is a reflection of their attachment to Tom Brady after he left the New England Patriots for Tampa Bay in 2020. It seems they just couldn’t let the “GOAT” go!
• New York Giants: The Giants are the favorite “away” team in three states—Connecticut, Delaware, and Vermont. Even though their home state of New York favors the Buffalo Bills overall, the Giants have managed to garner strong support in these nearby states.

All Eyes on California: While you might expect the Dallas Cowboys to dominate this list with their reputation as “America’s Team,” it appears the LA teams are currently stealing the spotlight across much of the country. Interestingly, while much of the nation is searching for LA teams, California’s most searched “away” team is the Las Vegas Raiders. Despite the Raiders’ move from Oakland, California to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2020, they still occupy a special place in the hearts of many California fans.

From coast to coast, NFL fandom takes many forms, with each state showing love for teams both near and far. This breakdown gives a glimpse into how NFL loyalties extend beyond state lines and home team borders, with a mix of recent successes, player movements, and historic connections potentially driving fan interest to teams across the country. 

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Methodology

To determine each state’s most-searched NFL team, we analyzed Google Trends search volume data collected from the last 5 years (2019-2024). To determine each state’s favorite ‘away’ team, we excluded data from the team(s) that are based in that state or have their home stadium in that state. 

For states that do not have a home team or house an NFL stadium, we excluded the closest NFL teams to that state. For example, the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos were excluded for South Dakota since the Broncos are the closest team to the Western half of the state and the Vikings are the closest team to the Eastern half of the state.