Once upon a time, New York Giants fans were loud, fiercely supportive and made the old Giants Stadium a place no one wanted to play. Fast forward to 2019 and things have changed.

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The Giants’ fan base currently consists of business people who yell, “down in front” at games, sit on their hands during big moments, boo their rookie players who have not taken a single NFL snap, create gimmicks for personal gain and belittle just about everyone on social media.

As it turns out however, that may be a product of the times and not necessarily Giants fans themselves. That’s because, according to a recent study conducted by Mike Lewis of Emory University, Big Blue has one of the top five bases in all of football.

Just as they were two years ago, the Giants rest near the top of the charts alongside the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers and, somehow, the Philadelphia Eagles.

The top five fan bases (team brands if you prefer) are the Cowboys, Patriots, Eagles, Giants and Steelers. This is unchanged from the last two years – leaving me with little to say. The Cowboys have long been NFL royalty and the Patriots are now firmly established at the top of the league. It remains to be seen if the Patriots will remain near the top when Brady and Belichick move on. In past years I have noted that the Eagles are a bit of a surprise. But the strong social and road scores keep the Eagles near the top. The Steelers could probably be a bit higher on the list. The Steelers tend to price near the middle of the league and this limits their Fan Equity score. The Giants are an interesting case. They do well on Fan Equity (especially compared to the Jets) and the Road Equity score is impressive. The Social Equity score suggests that the Giants are more of a regional brand but when your region is NYC it’s not a major problem. The Road Equity score is an interesting one to debate. The teams in the NFC East all do well on this measure. I could adjust for divisional affiliation but the NFC East is, for whatever reason, the glamour division of the NFL. My feeling (like I said it’s debatable) is that the teams in that division should be given credit for the divisions appeal.

Giants fans have have always traveled well — especially during the 2011 season when they took over just about every stadium — but it does seem odd that they’re considered a regional brand. After all, many New Yorkers eventually leave the state and find their way to the Carolinas, Florida or even California. They are also quite popular in Connecticut.

Ultimately, the Giants were fourth in overall equity, just edging out the Steelers, seventh in fan equity, 10th in social equity and third in road equity.