The Kansas City Chiefs have long been known to have one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL, even when the team isn’t playing so well. Arrowhead Stadium can be a house of horrors for opponents, like it was for the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks last year.
Much of this can be attributed to the noise factor set forth by the fans. The Chiefs faithful set a world record against the Patriots on Monday Night Football last season, reaching over 142 decibels. Before that, no outdoor stadium had ever gone over 140. Still, a recent study by Emory University ranked the Chiefs fans 27th in the league in what can only be called stunning. Here’s the link to the entire report, and the thoughts of Joel Thorman over at Arrowhead Pride.
The study used a variety of principles including the team’s performance over the last 15 years, the record at home, and the market measurables among other things. What I don’t understand is while Kansas City has been pretty bad over that time period, the fans have still come out in droves. Shouldn’t that support the idea that the Chiefs have great fans? However, the home record has not been great. In 2010, Kansas City was 7-1 at home but since have been middling. In 2013, the Chiefs were 11-5 overall but only 5-3 in Arrowhead. Last year, they were 6-2, a very solid mark.
However, Emory won’t be enraging only Kansas City fans. The Seahawks check in at 26th while the Buffalo Bills are lagging at 28th. The worst fan base in the league? The Miami Dolphins. That seems about right considering the stadium is almost empty half the time. The Cleveland Browns are 31st, while the Oakland Raiders are 30th.
The best fans? The Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, the same team that was basically playing on the road last year because all the fans thought they were going to suck and sold all their tickets before the season. Somehow, the 34 San Diego Chargers fans still remaining were ranked 17th, while the Denver Broncos came in 13th. If you want to check out the full list, here you go.