The study by onlinecasinos.com, which helps players find the best online casinos worldwide, analyzed Google searches for 50 different terms related to the National Football League, such as “NFL”, “NFL scores” “NFL schedule” and “NFL draft” to discover which state had the highest rate of searches for the league, and therefore the most NFL-obsessed population.
Delaware topped the rankings with a massive 60,582 searches per 100,000 people, making it America’s most NFL-obsessed state, despite the fact it isn’t home to an NFL team. In total there are 616,974 searches for the top 50 NFL-related terms on average every month.
Out of the 50 terms that were used in the analysis, the most common search in Delaware over the past 12 months was “NFL score”. That makes it just one of six states where the top league-related search is for “NFL score”, rather than simply “NFL”. The other states that follow the same pattern are South Carolina, Mississippi, West Virginia, Montana and Wyoming.
Second place in the NFL-obsession top ten goes to Nevada, whose population of around 3.17 million produce a monthly average of 1,871,688 NFL-related searches – that equates to 58,899 per 100,000 people. The state is set to hold the Super Bowl for the first time ever in February 2024, when the Allegiant Stadium in Nevada will host the showpiece event.
Maryland takes third place when it comes to NFL interest, with 56,891 monthly searches per 100,000 people. The top three most common National Football League searches are for “NFL”, “NFL scores”, and “NFL schedule”.
Pennsylvania is fourth overall, based on 54,402 average monthly searches per 100,000 people, while North Dakota is in fifth with 54,389 per 100k, making it the second state in the top five which isn’t home to an NFL team.
At the other end of the scale, Alabama registers the lowest search levels for NFL-related terms, on a monthly average of just 19,348 per 100,000 people. The low ranking for interest in the NFL is likely due to the state being one of the country’s college football hotbeds, and home to the all-conquering Alabama Crimson Tide – winners of six national championships in the past 15 years.
Oklahoma, another state with a proud NCAA football history, ranks in 49th for NFL obsession. The state is home to around four million people, and there are an average of 894,347 NFL searches each month, which adds up to 22,248 searches per 100,000 people.
Arkansas is in 48th place with 24,363 searches per 100k, while Kentucky is 47th (25,153 per 100,000) and Louisiana is 46th (30,060 per 100,000).
The lowest ranked state which also has an NFL team is Tennessee. Despite the Tennessee Titans calling the state home, the seven million population produced 2,179,055 NFL-related searches on average over the past 12 months, which works out at 30,902 per 100,000 people – the 45th lowest in the country.
A spokesperson for onlinecasinos.com said: “NFL is America’s favorite league, so it was interesting to delve into the data and find out where it’s loved more than anywhere else. Nationally the figures show that there each month there is an average of 137,621,053 searches for the top 50 most common NFL-related terms. The true scale of the country’s love for NFL becomes even clearer when you consider that those 50 search terms don’t even include any team-specific searches.”
America’s top ten most NFL-obsessed states
| State | Average monthly NFL-related searches | Population | Searches per 100k | |
| 1 | Delaware | 616,974 | 1,018,396 | 60,583 |
| 2 | Nevada | 1,871,688 | 3,177,772 | 58,899 |
| 3 | Maryland | 3,507,188 | 6,164,660 | 56,892 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | 7,057,152 | 12,972,008 | 54,403 |
| 5 | North Dakota | 423,836 | 779,261 | 54,389 |
| 6 | New Mexico | 1,124,380 | 2,113,344 | 53,204 |
| 7 | Colorado | 3,046,784 | 5,839,926 | 52,172 |
| 8 | Hawaii | 743,901 | 1,440,196 | 51,653 |
| 9 | South Dakota | 468,519 | 909,824 | 51,496 |
| 10 | Minnesota | 2,931,387 | 5,717,184 | 51,273 |
