The National Football league (or NFL for short) is America’s biggest sporting league. It’s the highest division of American football and is comprised of 32 teams from the United States.
Its popularity in the States is obvious, so there have been attempts to grow the game on the other side of the pond, with regular-season games being played in the UK since 2007.
With Super Bowl LVIII just around the corner, we wanted to learn which teams have managed to win the hearts and minds of the UK public the most.
Using data metrics such as search volume on Google and YouTube, as well as a popularity score from an official YouGov survey, we’ve crunched the numbers to gauge which are the most popular NFL teams in the UK!
Most Popular NFL teams in the UK
Our research found that the Miami Dolphins came first on each metric, leading the way for most searches across Google and YouTube, with 60,000 and 7,000 per month respectively on those sites, as well as a popularity score of 29% in the YouGov poll – the highest score of any team.
The ‘Phins’ were by far and away the most popular team in the UK – perhaps not surprising given they have played six regular season games in the UK, including the first ever International Series event in London in 2007.
The Cleveland Browns were second on the list as they scored 5.69 out of 10 across the data points, with their highlight being the second-most searched team on YouTube, with 6,400 searches a month.
In third position are the Dallas Cowboys, who scored 5.22 out of 10. Nicknamed ‘America’s Team’, they are the joint-second Googled NFL team in the UK, with over 40,000 queries every month.
What’s more, the five-time Super Bowl champs had the joint-third highest popularity score from YouGov’s survey, with 21%.
In addition to this, the current Super Bowl winners, Kansas City Chiefs, were down in 10th place, while six-time champions Pittsburgh Steelers were 15th in our index.
Furthermore, at the other end of the scale, spare a thought for the Tennessee Titans, who are the least popular American football outfit in the UK. The Titans scored 0.95 out of 10 in the index, with just 600 YouTube searches a month, and with little to no popularity in YouGov’s survey.
Most Popular NFL Teams in UK Cities
Most popular NFL teams in London
The most popular NFL team in London based on Google searches is the Miami Dolphins, who accrue nearly 10,000 queries a month in the English capital – which plays host to England’s International Series games.
They are followed by the Buffalo Bills, who are Googled 8,100 times a month in London. The Bills played just their third game in London in October 2023, losing 25-20 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
There was a tie in third place between four teams; the Bears, Cowboys, Chiefs, and Eagles, who are all searched 6,600 times per month.
Most Popular NFL Teams in Manchester
Once again, the ‘Phins’ came out on top in another major UK city, this time Manchester. The team coached by Mike McDaniel receives 720 searches per month in the northern city.
That’s more than joint-second place Bills, Chiefs and Eagles on 590, while Dallas Cowboys get 480.
Most Popular NFL Teams in Liverpool
It’s more of a split decision down the M62 where the Bills, Chiefs, and Dolphins are all tied for first place, with 720 searches apiece.
There’s another tie in second with the Bears, Cowboys, and Eagles all on 480.
While, with 390 searches each, the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks are split in third.
Most Popular NFL Teams in Newcastle
It’s normal service resumed in Newcastle as the Miami Dolphins top the most searched teams with 480 queries a month.
Behind them in second place are the Bills, Chiefs and Patriots on 260.
Furthermore, there’s a group of four teams split in third on 210 searches, including the Detroit Lions.
Most Popular NFL Teams in Bristol
The Dolphins are the most popular team in Bristol, with 590 searches a month. This is followed by a four-way tie in second between the Bills, Cowboys, Chiefs and Eagles. Rounding off the top three are the Packers and Patriots with 390 each.
Most popular NFL teams by UK Country
Most Popular NFL Teams in Scotland
Up in Scotland, it’s the Dolphins who are leading the way, this time with 8,100 searches. They are followed by the Bills and Chiefs on 5,400 each, before a three-way tie in third between the Bears, Cowboys, and Eagles on 4,400.
Most Popular NFL Teams in Wales
Meanwhile, in Wales, it’s the Dolphins at it again, with 3,600 Googles in the country per month. Next are the Cowboys, Chiefs and Patriots on 1,900 each, ahead of the Bills, Bears, Packers, and Eagles on 1,600.
Most Popular NFL Teams in Northern Ireland
Over in Northern Ireland, there’s a three-way tie at the top, with the Chiefs, Dolphins and Eagles earning 1,900 searches. This is ahead of the Bills and Cowboys on 1,600, with the Bears and Packers rounding off the top three with 1,300 queries each.
Conclusion
So, there you have it, the most popular NFL teams in the UK have been revealed. It’s a clear win for the Miami Dolphins, who top not only our index but most of the major UK cities for search volume.
Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, you can shop all the latest American football replica across all the biggest teams over at JD.
Index Methodology:
- NFL teams were chosen from the Official NFL website with data being collected for each team from Google Keyword Planner (Google search volume), ahrefs (YouTube search volume), and YouGov
- Each team was then given a normalised score between 0 and 1 for each metric, before an average normalised score across the three metrics was calculated
- This was then multiplied by 10 to give a score out of 10 for each team
