Emory University conducted a study to determine which NFL fan markets would be the most receptive to having a gay player on their team. The study, which analyzed tweets mentioning Missouri defensive end Michael Sam after his coming out announcement, listed the Tennessee Titans as the least receptive market for a gay athlete.
New York, home to the Jets and Giants, ranked first in terms of being most receptive; Nashville, home to the Titans, ranked last.
Another interesting find of the study was the NFL's two markets in California -- San Diego and Oakland -- both ranked in the top 5 for cities with the worst twitter sentiment for Sam.
Per Emory Sports Marketing Analytics department :
"We were interested in looking at how the fans in NFL cities feel about Michael Sam. In order to do this, we collected all tweets mentioning 'Michael Sam' in the 31 NFL markets for the past 2 days (2/9 morning - 2/11 morning).
"The tweets were sorted by market, and analyzed for positive, negative, or neutral sentiment. Looking at the ratio of positive, negative, and neutral tweets allowed us to compare Twitter sentiment for Michael Sam across NFL Markets."
Cities with Top Twitter Sentiment for Sam:
1. New York (Jets, Giants)
2. St. Louis (Rams)
3. Chicago (Bears)
4. San Francisco (49ers)
5. Boston (New England Patriots)
6. Kansas City (Chiefs)
7. Washington (Redskins)
8. Philadelphia (Eagles)
9. Tampa (Buccaneers)
10. Seattle (Seahawks)
Cities with Worst Twitter Sentiment for Sam:
1. Nashville (Tennessee Titans)
2. Oakland (Raiders)
3. Green Bay (Packers)
4. Pittsburgh (Steelers)
5. San Diego (Chargers)
6. Jacksonville (Jaguars)
7. Cleveland (Browns)
