New research shows Panthers fans to be the least loyal in NFL

[cdandi1]

i think people who pay an arm and a leg for PSL's are more loyal than your typical season ticket holder for any other team. I'll take our fans over most.

[boo7382]

Update....I know some of you guys don't like Pat Yas...but I like this blog entry/article whatever the f it is

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/19429/carolina-fans-have-no-loyalty

Carolina fans have no loyalty?

By Pat Yasinskas

I just spotted this poll on fan loyalty and instinctively grabbed my cell phone and called Bill Buchanan.

He was sitting at a lake just south of Charlotte and he’d already heard that the Carolina Panthers fan base was ranked No. 1 among the worst when it comes to fan loyalty. Buchanan was mad and he should be.

For background purposes, read this story I did on Bill and his wife, Cindy, and their garage. It’s a shrine to the Carolina Panthers. I’ve met lots of football fans through the years and I don’t know of any more loyal to a team than Bill and Cindy are to the Panthers.

Let’s just say I strongly disagree with the Panthers being ranked with the least-loyal fan base.

Did the team have some major problems last year? Heck yeah. A 2-14 season in John Fox’s last year was an absolute disaster. The Panthers were as dysfunctional as any team in the league. But you can’t point any fingers at the fans.

They still showed up (and we’re not going to take any shots at Tampa Bay fans because there are a lot of factors beyond loyalty that go into why the Bucs had attendance problems last year).

“Yeah, it’s been a perfect storm of bad things recently,’’ Bill said. “But that doesn’t change my loyalty. It’s my team. It’s my home. It bears my name -- Carolina.’’

Yeah, there was a point last season when Bill got so discouraged that he sent an e-mail to the team’s official website and he was venting. Next thing he knew, his phone was ringing.

“Bill, this is Jerry,’’ the caller said.

It was Jerry Richardson, the owner of the Panthers. It’s not like he and Buchanan are close personal friends. But Richardson spent 20 or 30 minutes talking to Buchanan like they were close personal friends. Bill doesn’t want to reveal the exact nature of the conversation and everything that was discussed, but he said it’s safe to say he came out of it feeling more loyal than ever to the Panthers and firmly believing better times were ahead.

“The No. 1 reason I’ve been loyal to the Panthers since the day they started is Jerry Richardson,’’ Buchanan said. “That is a man of character, integrity and honesty. I love football and the Carolina Panthers have been in my blood since the day they came to town. I think about them 365 days a year.’’

I feel Bill’s pain with this slight on Carolina fans. Bill’s a friend, a guy I met soon after I moved to Charlotte to cover the Panthers in 1999. I spent nine seasons living and working in Charlotte and got to know and observe the fan base pretty closely. There were good seasons and bad seasons for the Panthers during that time.

But one thing that never was a question was fan loyalty. I’m not talking just about Bill here. I’ve used him as an example, but I can assure you there are thousands of others just like him. I've been all around the NFL and very quickly can think of a fair number of fan bases that aren't as loyal as Carolina's. I could list them, but I won't. No sense dragging any other fan base into this swamp.

Yeah, the Panthers have had their ups and downs and there’s no question they’re down right now. But through it all, the loyalty from Carolina fans never has been down.

[OchoNueve]

Bill Buchanon died saving the president in season 7 of 24... or so I thought. Turns out he is a super Panther fan with a shrine in his garage. How is that not considered a loyal fan???

[carolinarolls]

who gives a fvck?

"our fans are more loyal than your fans. Yea, here is the survey that PROVES it"

if somebody says that to you...ever, you just punch them in the face, even if its a woman. There is no other response.

ranking fan loyalty = ghey

[Darth Bobo]

The Brand Keys Sports Loyalty Engagement Index® helps professional sports teams increase their broadcast, ticket and merchandise revenues by providing the precise loyalty rankings of fans in the home (and national) market.

The Sports Loyalty Engagement Index gives an apples-to-apples comparison of the intensity with which fans support the home team vs. the corresponding values for the fans of the other teams in the market.

They did not list the survey questions. If the specific language used in the questionnaire is accidentally or deliberately communicated in a biased or persuasive manner, then it is logical to conclude that the answers received would be influenced by the persuasive language used in the survey question. Without seeing the questions, one cannot make a reasonable assumption as to the quality of the answers received.

BOGUS.

[CarolinaVeins]

I noticed in the NFL chats that there are a lot of Panther fans in rural areas like Oklahoma and especially Nebraska

[SCP]

This is why I despise every other sports fan in the world besides me.

I could not have said it better myself.

[1989]

This is the biggest load of bull.

[jtm]

This article is has no credibility.