Study finds Chiefs' fan base ranks 30th best in the NFL

This can’t sit well with Chiefs fans, who are being compared with supporters of the Jaguars and, ugh, the Raiders.

A year after a study said the Chiefs fan base was the 27th best in the NFL, the news is even worse this year. Michael Lewis of Emory University recently released his rankings and Chiefs fans slumped to 30th, ahead of only the Raiders and the last-place Jaguars.

That is one spot behind the Rams, whose lack of support forced the franchise to move from St. Louis to Los Angeles.

So what gives?

“The Chiefs struggle because the fan support doesn’t match the team’s performance,” Lewis wrote. “The Chiefs capacity utilization rate ranks 17th in the league despite a winning record and low ticket prices.”

The Business Dictionary defines capacity utilization rate as the “extent or level to which the productivity capacity of a plant, firm or country is being used in generation of goods or services.”

Lewis’ rankings are determined by two factors.

“Fan Equity focuses on home box office revenues (support via opening the wallet) and Social Media Equity focuses on fan willingness to engage as part of a team’s community (support exhibited by joining social media communities),” Lewis wrote.

The New England Patriots fan base is the new No. 1, while the Dallas Cowboys dropped to No. 2. The Denver Broncos checked in at No. 3.

“The Patriots victory is driven by fans willingness to pay premium prices, strong attendance and phenomenal social media following,” Lewis wrote. “The final competition between the Cowboys and the Patriots was actually determined by the long-term value of the Patriots greater social following. The Patriots have about 2.4 million Twitter followers compared to 1.7 for the Cowboys. Of course this is all relative a team like the Jaguars has just 340 thousand followers.”

The Chiefs have a tad under 633,000 followers on Twitter.

There was no word on Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook followers in Lewis’ study, which you can read here.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 11:54 AM.