Poll: Phillies rule South Jersey but the Yankees are most popular team in the Garden State

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When it comes to the world of sports the Garden is classic battleground territory. A recent poll from Quinnipiac of 1,650 New Jersey residents finds a state high on the Yankees and positively wild for the Super Bowl.

Without a team to call their own the millions of baseball fans in New Jersey typically split their allegiance between the two clubs in New York City and the Philadelphia Phillies. 55% of the state claims to be at least somewhat interested in the sport and 47% of that group list the Yankees as their favorite MLB team. That’s over twice as many as those who root hardest for the Mets (21%) and Phillies (20%). Nearly nine in ten (88%) New Jersey baseball fans rank at least one of the three teams from large markets bordering their state to the northeast and southwest as their favorite.

These most recent findings are similar to what Quinnipiac found a year ago when a 2003 Sports Illustrated survey of fans from around the country including New Jersey. That poll found the Yankees attracting 44% of the vote for most popular baseball team in the Garden. The Mets were at 23% and the Phillies at 15%. The Bronx Bombers were in the midst of another run to the World Series that season whereas the Mets were in the midst of a last place finish in the NL East, all the while the Phillies posted a solid 86-76 record.

Despite the overwhelming affection for the Yankees over all other competition passions for baseball in New Jersey are regionally divided. Asked who’d they like to see win the World Series this season the Yankees came out on top of the Phillies by a 55-28% margin. Not surprisingly the Bronx Bombers dominate northern Jersey by 71-12% over the Phillies. In South Jersey however it’s neighboring Philadelphia that gets more love by a margin of 63-25%. Central Jersey meanwhile swings heavily for the Yankees again to the tune of 58-22% over their World Series opponent from 2009.

Baseball is popular in the Garden but more residents (65%) claim to be somewhat or very interested in the National Football League. The Giants and Jets while claiming “New York” in their title will christen a brand new stadium in East Rutherford this upcoming 2010 season. 80% of pro-football fans in New Jersey like the idea of the Meadowlands hosting the Super Bowl in 2014. Nine in ten (90%) meanwhile consider having the NFL’s championship game at the home of the Giants and Jets to be a “good thing” for the state of New Jersey.

PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS / Seth Wenig

Poll: Phillies now more popular than Eagles? Philly fans reveal their hometown preferences

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Are the Phillies really more popular than the Eagles? Has their success in recent years turned Philadelphia from a football to baseball town? What is the greatest Philly sports tradition or venue and does our current pro-Phillies bias really hold up against the hard data?

An expansive survey released today by the Philadelphia Daily News looks to answer those questions and many more. Today’s release was the first of a four part series titled the “Philadelphia Fan Project”. Collecting data of 2,300 subscribers on the philly.com website and with assistance from the Sport and Industry Research Center at Temple University the Daily News has presented an informed and thoroughly interesting piece. Below are some of the highlights and critique of a fan study that is sure to settle certain arguments while creating hot topics of discussion around the water coolers and drinking establishments of greater-Philadelphia.

Q: What is your favorite Philadelphia pro sports team?

1) Phillies – 54%
2) Eagles – 30%
3) Flyers – 12%
4) Sixers – 4%

As anyone who is involved in political polling for a living will surely tell you surveys such as these are relevant only within the specific time period they are taken. Surely this set of data collected by the Daily News in mid-March skews favorably towards the Phillies. Coming off of their second consecutive World Series appearance there was significant buzz for the local baseball franchise as they were gearing up for the 2010 season at Spring Training in Clearwater. Counter that with growing criticism of the Eagles who exited the NFL postseason with an embarrassing playoff defeat in January.

March also is not football season and good or bad it would be interesting to see what the results of this poll would have been if the data had been collected between the months of August (NFL preseason) and January (NFL postseason). Still the Phillies considerable advantage over the Eagles is notable and, while no prior studies can be used to compare, it has to mark a considerable turnaround in the appeal for both teams from just a few years ago.

Unsurprisingly the Flyers and Sixers trailed well behind. Not that Philly fans needed a survey to tell them that the Phillies and Eagles were the top dogs in town but that both the hockey and basketball seasons were in full swing by March, unlike football or baseball, ought to come with a growing sense of alarm for the occupiers of the Wachovia Center. The Flyers recent playoff surge belies a relatively disappointing regular season that nearly cost them a postseason appearance. The Sixers meanwhile are trending aimlessly backwards. The faceless franchise is in the bottom-third of NBA attendance, local TV-ratings while finishing high on its list of loses during the 2009-10 season. Amazing to think how different the landscape was for the local hoops team just six or seven years ago.

Q: Which team will win the next championship?

1) Phillies – 89%
2) Eagles – 5%
3) Flyers – 5%
4) Sixers – 0%

Energized by the recent success of their baseball team Philadelphia sports fans not only rate the Phillies as their current favorite but also by a landslide believe they have the best shot of any of the four teams to bring another championship parade to the City of Brotherly Love. In 2008 the Fightin’ Phils broke the city’s quarter-century title drought and nearly nine in ten responders to this poll believe they’ll also win the next title. The Phillies success, narrowly missing a World Series title repeat last fall, has seemingly embolden local sports fans with a sense of confidence. For whoever does wind up winning the next championship the average responder believes it will happen within the next two years.

The Eagles are coming off of an 11-5 season in 2009 and reached the Conference Title Game as recently as January of that year. Yet only one in twenty give the Birds, behind new starting quarterback Kevin Kolb, the best shot of winning a championship out of the four major pro teams occupying the sporting landscape in Philadelphia. Equaling their total are the Flyers who are a consistent playoff team but have failed to hoist the Stanley Cup since 1975. Again the Sixers trail the pack in fourth place. Virtually no one assumes an NBA Championship is in the cards anytime soon, much less before another World Series parade, Lombardi or Stanley Cup trophy comes to town.

Q: Philadelphia is a __________ town?

1) Football – 70%
2) Baseball – 27%
3) Hockey – 2%
4) Basketball – 1%

As a team the Phillies may be number one in the hearts of Philadelphians but the sport of baseball remains a distant second to their passion for football. Philly has recaptured some of its long lost recognition as a top of the line baseball city in recent years. In 2009 alone the Phillies had the highest attendance percentage in all of baseball and were third behind the Red Sox and Cardinals in local-TV ratings. Yet football is king in Philadelphia just as it is in most of the country.

Harris polls surveying fans nationwide have shown the NFL as a two to one favorite over the MLB for favorite sports league. Those numbers are even more lopsided in favor of football when the college ranks are included. In Philly football is the choice of seven in ten responders when asked what they consider to be the “biggest” sport in town. The Eagles success in spite of not having won a championship in five decades reflects this passion for pigskins. The Birds have the highest attendance percentage in the NFL since 1990, a season ticket waiting list that stretches over decades and local television fan base that is routinely among the top-tier of the league.

Both Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News have ranked Philadelphia as either the best or one of the top-three hockey cities in America in recent years. None the less the locals defer heavily to football and baseball as the two prominent sports in the City of Brotherly Love. Just 2% of the overall crowd sees Philadelphia as a hockey town. Only 1% consider it to be a basketball-first city despite many great 76ers moments, players and teams and the fabulous local college basketball tradition of the Big-5. The disparity between football and baseball remains large but it’s probably as close as it has been in recent memory. Fueled by the Phillies success baseball has convinced 27% of local sports fans that it is the top sport in Philadelphia.

Q: What is your favorite Philadelphia sports venue?

1) Citizens Bank Park – 74%
2) Lincoln Financial Field – 8%
3) Wachovia Center – 8%
4) Palestra – 8%

Postseason baseball in Philadelphia has become a familiar occurrence in recent years and the fans have responded by routinely packing the seats at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies soaring popularity as reflected in this study has made the “Bank” the place to be in recent years. Yet the success of the team that plays there does not completely explain the massive disparity between it and the other venues as Philadelphia’s favorite place to watch a sporting event.

Nearly three-quarters of responders chose the Phillies home park as their favorite place to watch a game. The accessibility of baseball as a cheaper and more family oriented option always gives baseball an edge in this department. Even during lousy attendance seasons for the Phillies at the often reviled Veterans Stadiums 1.5 to 2-million fans routinely passed through the turn styles each season. Even those totals dwarfed figures for the Eagles, Flyers and Sixers who have fewer games, sell pricier tickets and in the case of hockey and basketball play in a far smaller venue.

Dismissing Citizens Bank Park as merely the product of a championship caliber team’s success or its accessibility as the home of a fan friendlier sport would be missing the point however. In truth the “Bank” is widely considered one of the best stadiums in all of Major League Baseball. Opened in 2004 the beautiful baseball-only park instantly gave droves of fans a better excuse to attend a baseball game than ever before. Whereas the foreboding Vet was hardly a choice venue even in years when the Phillies played well, Citizens Bank with its beautiful design, fan-friendly arrangements and caveats in tow encourages Philadelphia fans to enjoy a night at the park even if the baseball team is performing below par.

Another state of the art facility is Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Eagles since 2003. Rarely do football stadiums exude the same type of charm or distinction as their baseball-only counterparts however which immediately places the “Linc” behind the eight ball. Furthermore the fan experience while riveting when the local football team is playing well touches far fewer fans. Most of the attendees during each game of each season are among the few dozen thousand season ticket holders and with only eight regular season games scheduled there are ten-times less the opportunities to catch the Eagles than the Phillies. If that weren’t enough the ticket prices surely are. Lower-level tickets at the “Linc” average $95. That’s a far pricier option for a family of four than grabbing decent seats at a Phillies game.

Q: What is the best Philadelphia sports tradition? (Responders allowed to choose up to three)

1) Kate Smith singing “God Bless America” – 43%
2) E-A-G-L-E-S chant – 42%
3) The Big-5 – 39%
4) Army-Navy Game – 29%
5) Penn Relays – 21%
6) Dave Zinkoff intros – 17%
7) Booing – 16%
8) Fireworks night at the Phillies – 16%
9) Tailgating – 14%
10) “Let’s Go Flyers” chant – 12%

Perhaps nothing is more identifiable with the Philly sports scene than a fan “booing” or an E-A-G-L-E-S chant breaking out yet it’s a patriotic anthem that stirred emotions at Flyers games which comes out on top.

Allowing responders to choose up to three famous Philly traditions, fifteen received votes, but none more than 43% who choose Kate Smith’s famous rendition of “God Bless America” at Flyers games. The hockey team went an amazing 81-21-4 when Smith belted out the patriotic standard rather than a Star Spangled rendition at the Spectrum. Smith has been immortalized by a statue outside the famed Philly arena and will also have her likeness placed on a stamp on May 19th – the 36th anniversary of the Flyers first Cup clinching victory in 1974.

The Eagles were a close second on this list with 42% choosing the never mistaken “E-A-G-L-E-S” chant heard for decades. Also prominently positioned was the great Philly college basketball tradition of the Big-5 particularly its history of games at the iconic Palestra. The Army-Navy Game (29%) is a yearly Philadelphia tradition and also cracking the 20% barrier are the nationally recognized Penn Relays. Former 76ers P.A. announcer Dave Zinkoff is remembered fondly by at least 17% of responders most notably for his famous starting lineup introductions including one “Julius Errrrrrvvvvvving”.

If this were a national survey the Philly fan “boo” would have to be the front runner for the top-spot. Local fans disagree however with only 16% identifying the classic phrase as either self defining or worthy of a great local sports tradition. Tailgating, primarily before Eagles games, is highly regarded by 14% of the audience and “Let’s Go Flyers” chants (12%) while popular are around three and a half times less immortalized in the hearts of Philly fans as roars of “E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles”. Missing the top-ten but also receiving votes were streamers and rollouts at the Palestra (10%), Businessperson Specials at Phillies games (9%), boxing fights at the Blue Horizon (4%), the recently participated Broad Street Run (3%), and the Pennsylvania Derby in horse racing (1%).

A: Most popular teams and topics online (Philly.com webpage views for March, 2010)

1) Eagles – 36.8%
2) Phillies – 29.0%
3) Flyers – 17.4%
4) High School Sports – 8.9%
5) Sixers – 7.9%

The Phillies may be the most popular team in town according to polls but the real action shows the Eagles are still getting more attention. The figures above were taken from the Inquirer and Daily News accompanying website www.philly.com. The percentages represent the breakdown of “sub-front” page views by team or topic. There were more than 2.5-million of these page views during the month of March and despite it coming in the midst of the NFL offseason the Eagles remained the topic generating the most attention online.

How that translates into overall popularity is the subject of debate. News for an organization can be good, bad or just plain interesting. Although their season was over by two months during this online measurement cycle the Donovan McNabb trade situation had remained a hot topic on the minds of local sports fans well before he was officially dealt to Washington. Still the Eagles impressive showing beating the Phillies by nearly eight-percentage points despite being up against Spring Training fever is revealing. It also perhaps serves as a counterpoint to the perception that the Phillies are now the city’s most popular team based off of ever changing fan polling.

The Flyers stretch run began in earnest during the month of March meanwhile. It was as previously eluded to a rather ordinary and uneventful regular season for the Flyers yet a significant percentage of Philly sports fans still kept up with the latest news on their team. Sadly for the Sixers when it comes to this measurement of fan enthusiasm they couldn’t even crack the top-four. That position goes to the philly.com section titled “Rally” that focuses on local high school sports. With their lifeless 2009-10 season winding down the Sixers ultimately scored 7.9% of the total page views in March. That’s more than four and a half times less the attention the Eagles received despite it being arguably the least eventful of NFL months.

PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS / Matt Slocumb

Poll: Only 7% of baseball fans pick Phillies to win World Series, public critical of McNabb trade

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Just 7% of baseball fans think the Phillies will win their second World Series title in three years this season. Joe Torre is the early favorite to be the new baseball commissioner, Duke is narrowly favored to win their fourth ever NCAA championship and fans react to the Donovan McNabb trade.

With the Major League season underway as of last night Rasmussen Reports surveyed baseball fans on their championship picks and who they would like to see succeed Bud Selig as the league’s commissioner. An additional poll asked adults to predict who will win tonight’s NCAA Championship Game in men’s basketball, as well as share their preferences for either Duke or Butler. Turning the attention to unscientific fan polling on ESPN Sunday’s Donovan McNabb trade from Philadelphia to Washington is being viewed, by and large, as a mistake for the Eagles and an upgrade for the Redskins.

The New York Yankees who defeated the Phillies last season to capture their 27th World Series title are the pick of 29% of MLB fans to win it all again in 2010. Following the “Bronx Bombers” in second place are the Boston Red Sox (17%) who defeated New York 9-7 to open the season last night. Despite not winning a single playoff game in 2009 the popular St. Louis Cardinals are the pick of 11% of baseball fans. The Phillies meanwhile capture just 7% of the public’s confidence in spite of their great success from recent seasons.

Baseball insiders seem to like the Phillies chances of winning it all more than the general pool of big league fans. Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci picked the Phillies to win the World Series in the magazine’s feature article and baseball preview from last week. ESPN the Magazine meanwhile is picking Philadelphia to advance to the “Fall Classic” for the third straight season but lose to the Red Sox in the Series. Of the 36-analysts who made their season predictions on ESPN.com no team was given a better chance to win their division (33-picks), reach the playoffs (34), capture their league’s pennant (20), or win the World Series (11) than the Phillies.

What is particularly interesting about the fairly low percentage of baseball fans thinking Philadelphia will win another title is the lack of confidence coming from Phillies fans themselves. Whereas Yankees (83%) and Red Sox (82%) loyalists are overwhelmingly confident about their team’s chances barely more than half (52%) of Phillies fans think their favorite team will be the last standing this fall. Prior to last season the Boston Red Sox at 22% were the team most predicted to win the World Series. Boston reached the playoffs but they were ousted in the first round by the Los Angeles Angels.

Fewer baseball fans are rooting for the Yankees (21%) to succeed in their quest for back-to-back championships than those who think they will win. 15% are pulling for the Red Sox meanwhile, 12% the Cardinals, 6% for both the Phillies and Minnesota Twins and an additional 5% are rooting for the Atlanta Braves.

In another polling done by Rasmussen on the topic of baseball 30% of fans would like to see former player and current manager Joe Torre succeed the aging Bud Selig as MLB commissioner. Former home run king and baseball legend Hank Aaron is the next most popular choice at 23%. Former President George W. Bush (14%) also receives consideration. Bush was the former owner of the Texas Rangers. Senator George Mitchell who released a report in 2007 detailing his 21-month investigation of steroids in baseball is the pick of 8% of the public for the job. Lastly Hall of Fame journalist and longtime ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons receives 6% of the support from fans.

Switching gears to college basketball Friday polling from Rasmussen showed that the Duke Blue Devils were favored to win the NCAA Championship Game even before they defeated West Virginia to reach the Finals. Duke earned the confidence of 31% of the public while their opponent Butler attracted 13%. Recently ousted West Virginia came in second with 28% meanwhile and Michigan State, the other defeated Final Four team, was third with 15%. The Duke-Butler matchup does represent the most attractive final game scenario involving any of the four teams. 33% would like to see Butler, a relatively low number five seed in the tournament, come away as winners. Duke earns the support of 24% of the public while 18% were previously cheering for either West Virginia or Michigan State to win the championship.

Lastly we head to ESPN.com and check out some fan polling on the subject of the recent Donovan McNabb trade from the Eagles to their division rival Washington Redskins.

Over 53,000 votes were cast as of earlier today on the question of who is the best team in the NFC East. Even with the McNabb acquisition by Washington a large plurality (46%) believes the Dallas Cowboys, last season’s division champions, are still the team to beat. The Redskins who finished in last place in 2009 have spring boarded into second position at 24%. The New York Giants are in third place meanwhile attracting 17% of the vote with the Eagles lingering in last at 13% despite tying the Cowboys with eleven-wins last season. The Redskins were the most popular choice in the states of Maryland, Virginia and Wyoming as well as Washington D.C. The Cowboys meanwhile were the top choice in every other state including Pennsylvania where, not surprisingly, the Eagles did their personal best attracting 33% of the early predictions.

In other polling a whopping 80% of the sports public on ESPN thinks the Eagles will come to regret their decision to trade McNabb to a division rival. There was no question that asked whether the Eagles would regret trading McNabb in general as it appeared before the weekend that the out of conference Oakland Raiders were the front runners to obtain the veteran quarterback. Personally McNabb is viewed as a borderline Hall of Fame QB by most. 39% believe him to be good enough for induction to Canton already but 43% thinks he needs to make at least one more Super Bowl appearance to solidify his position as an all-time great. Just 19% don’t consider him Hall worthy either way.

Kevin Kolb will take over the reigns as the Eagles starting QB heading into the 2010 season. Kolb has already had periodic success playing in place of an injured McNabb in the past but much of the sports world remains skeptical as to whether the Eagles can continue to have success under his guidance. Envisioning the rest of his career in Philadelphia 39% of the public actually believes Kolb will never be able to lead the Eagles back to the postseason. 37% think he more or less will match McNabb’s recent production as having “minor postseason successes”. Just one in four (25%) think the Eagles will eventually reach the conference championship or Super Bowl again so long as the new QB Kolb is at the helm.

PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS / SHARON ELLMAN

Poll: 17% of baseball fans expect Phillies to win World Series

Many will bark jinx at the mere mention of another Phillies trip to the World Series before they have officially taken care of business against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It looks more and more likely however that Philadelphia is on a Fall Classic collision course with the New York Yankees.

In addition to sports fans in the Delaware Valley the folks at Rasmussen Reports are gearing themselves up for the World Series. A just released survey of 1,650 Major League Baseball fans nationwide was conducted on October 17-18. This came after the Phillies and Dodgers had split their first two meetings in Los Angeles and the Yankees captured a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Angels.

41% expect the Yankees to win their 27th World Series this year. The Phillies and Dodgers closely split public opinion with 17% and 16% support respectively and the Angels come in at a distant fourth with just 7%. This is somewhat reflective of polls from late-August that showed 25% of fans thinking the Yankees would win the World Series against 10% who picked the Phillies, 9% who went for the Dodgers and the Angels scoring 6% of voter opinion.

Phillies fans have reason to mock such perceptions of their title chances having already overcome some negative polling in the last two seasons.

Prior to the start of the National League Championship Series unscientific polls of several dozen thousand ESPN members were evenly split on whether they believed the Phillies or Dodgers would reach the World Series. As of this morning 63% of nearly 56,000 votes cast on the ESPN website think the Phillies will win game five tonight and the NL pennant accordingly. Only in California (55%) do a majority of fans from any state side with the Dodgers chances of winning this evening. Not surprisingly Pennsylvania (87%) and Delaware (84%) are most confident for the Phillies.


The results of an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey conducted in late-September foresaw a Yankees-Cardinals World Series match up and the Bronx Bombers three times more likely to win a championship over either St. Louis or the Boston Red Sox. The Phillies chances were not mentioned in a follow up article on ESPN.com but the poll did offer baseball some sobering information in their battle for autumn viewership against the NFL. 41% of self-described baseball fans would rather watch a regular season NFL game than an MLB playoff match up.

In Philadelphia however there seems to be a shift in the attention and support of many local sports fans. Long known as one of the nation’s premier football towns Philly has shown hints of recent disillusionment with the Eagles just as they have gone wild for their “Fightin’ Phils”. After all the Phillies are reigning National League and World Series champions. They polished off last season’s Dodgers in five games and are hoping for a repeat performance that could conclude tonight at Citizen’s Bank Park. Their likely opponent the Yankees meanwhile are winners of twenty-six World titles and their stellar 103-59 regular season record was tops in Major League Baseball.

Rasmussen shows a closer gap in the preference baseball fans have towards the four playoff finalists. 27% are rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series, 21% for each the Phillies and Dodgers and another 18% would like to see the Angels take the title.

Harris Interactive conducted some of their own polling around this season’s All Star break. The Yankees were ranked as the most popular MLB team for the seventh straight season. Baseball should expect a boost from dreadful World Series ratings last year as both the Dodgers (fourth) and Phillies (seven) rank high on the list of most popular teams. Despite playing in the large market of Los Angeles the Angels struggle with fans nationwide, ranking just 27th out of thirty teams. Harris estimates that 41% of adults, a common theme in this article, follow Major League Baseball “somewhat” or “closely”.

The assumed Phillies-Yankees series would prove both exciting and intriguing filled with storylines that could carry well into November. While confident nearly half of Phillies fans couldn’t be termed cocky just yet. 51% of them believe their Phillies will win the World Series, but that’s a far cry from the three-quarters of Yankee fans who feel the same about their favorite club.

Poll: Yankees are World Series favorites, Patriots or Steelers to win Super Bowl

For certain sports fans September is the most wonderful time of the year.

This weekend the college football season begins, followed quickly by the start of the 2009 NFL campaign. For baseball fans September also marks the stretch run where pennant races heat up and great divisional match ups are plentiful. Rasmussen Reports recently conducted some annual surveys on pro-football and baseball as we move closer to the fall.

Heading into the last month of the regular season the New York Yankees have eclipsed the Boston Red Sox as the team most baseball fans interview in this poll of 1,797 responders think will win the World Series. This represents a large shift from mid-July when the Bo Sox were the choice of 20% of MLB fans against just 11% for the Bronx Bombers. Now the two arch rivals are shown to have swapped positions. 25% of responders pick the Yankees to win the Fall Classic and confidence in Boston’s chances has dropped to 10%.

The Red Sox are in a distant second place three-way tie with the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies good play of late and addition of starter Cliff Lee has no doubt bolstered their chances in the court of public opinion as their percentage has increased two-points to 10% since mid-July. That’s also three percentage points better than the results gathered in a July Harris poll. Like Philadelphia the Cardinals enjoy a comfortable lead in their division and have been the National League’s hottest team over the past month. The Red Sox meanwhile linger 6.5 games behind a Yankees team who has posted baseball’s best record at 84-48. The Los Angeles Dodgers who have struggled since the All Star break have dropped to 9% in the poll.

In terms of confidence in their favorite team the Yankees also have baseball’s most optimistic fan base. 71% of Yankee fans think their team will win the World Series. Perhaps oddly 68% of Detroit Tigers fans, second most of any team, think their team will win it all in October. Only 4% of baseball fans league wide have confidence in the Tigers who never the less lead the mediocre American League Central division by 3.5 games. Majorities of Red Sox (58%) and Phillies fans (51%) have confidence in their team’s chances to take the crown. In spite of being in the heat of the NL Wild Card race just 7% of San Francisco fans meanwhile think their young Giants team can win the Series.

Shifting attention from the diamond to the gridiron NFL fans are split between reigning champion Pittsburgh and previously undefeated New England for who will win this season’s Super Bowl. Winners of two of the past four Lombardi Trophies the Steelers bring in 14% of football fans, whereas the Patriots no doubt benefiting from the return of star quarterback Tom Brady match that figure.

The tough NFC East features three teams garnering measurable confidence from observers. The 2007 Super Bowl champion New York Giants rank third in the survey overall with just over 8% of NFL followers thinking they can win their second title in three years. Perhaps do to their overall popularity the Dallas Cowboys also draw support from 8% of the football community. The Cowboys missed the playoffs last season and are without star receiver Terrell Owens for 2009. The Philadelphia Eagles meanwhile draw just 4% of those polled in spite of some big preseason expectations and the signing of QB Michael Vick.

2006 Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts rank fifth overall at 7%. Also now ahead of the Eagles are the Minnesota Vikings (5%) the team the Birds knocked off in the first round of last year’s playoffs and who have recently added future Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre. Last season the Arizona Cardinals nearly won the Super Bowl, but a 9-7 record didn’t instill much confidence that they can climb to the summit in 2009 as just 3% of football fans like their chances to win it all. In fact 82% of Cardinals fans think their team will take the title, the most optimistic lot in all of football meaning very few outside of the Arizona fan base give this team much of a chance.

In terms of fan base confidence, the Patriots and Steelers rank second and third with percentages of 79 and 77% respectively. The Giants and Cowboys also have very optimistic fan bases as 60% of each think their team will take the title. Lastly when asked the question of who NFL fans would like to see win the Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers were tops at 12%, followed by the Patriots and Cowboys at 10%, the Giants at 8% and 6% of football fans pulling for an Eagles or Colts victory.

Poll: Phillies are seventh most popular team in baseball

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A season after winning the World Series the Philadelphia Phillies rank as the seventh most popular team in baseball.

This is according to the results of a July Harris Interactive poll surveying 2,177 adults nationwide. Another recent Harris study finds that Tiger Woods is America’s favorite athlete and a six-month old poll shows professional football claiming the crown as the most popular sport in the United States now for nearly a quarter-century.

Harris Interactive is one of the few major national polls that track the opinions of sports fans in addition to their regular list of surveys on political, economic and social issues.

The Phillies number seven ranking is behind high profile teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Cubs, Dodgers and Cardinals. Oddly the Phils placement is actually down one spot, from sixth place in 2008 in spite of their World Series Title from last October. That sixth position was also achieved back in 2004 the year the Phillies moved into Citizens Bank Park and is up from 18th in 2007, the team’s lowest ranking of the past decade.

The least popular team according to the survey is the Toronto Blue Jays, although Canadian fans were not polled by Harris. Amongst American teams the Kansas City Royals at 29th overall were lowest supplanting last year’s bottom feeder the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

41% of adults say they follow Major League Baseball although the overall impact of the Harris study remains skewed towards non-fans who accounted for the other 59%. Baseball is most popular amongst older males residing in the eastern United States, generally well educated and with higher than average income levels.

The New York Yankees rank as the most popular team for the seventh straight year. The Boston Red Sox however at 21% are the team a plurality of those polled said they believe will win the 2009 World Series. The Yankees and Dodgers ranked a close second and third at 19% and 18% respectively with the Phillies coming in a distant fourth accounting for 7% of the predictions.

For the fourth straight year golfer Tiger Woods holds the honor of America’s favorite sports star. Woods wins amongst most key demographics with only younger voters choosing Michael Jordan. Amazingly some eleven years since his final game played as a Chicago Bull Jordan still ranks second on the list ahead of current favorites Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter, Jeff Gordon and Peyton Manning. No female athletes cracked the overall top-ten but Serena Williams and her sister Venus rank one and two respectively amongst the women. Also on the list are racecar driver Danica Patrick, WNBA star Candace Parker, soccer player Mia Hamm and tennis player Maria Sharapova tied for sixth with golfer Annika Sorenstam.

The NFL meanwhile continues its dominance as the most popular sport in America. Its popularity has ranged between 29-33% each year since 2003, currently situated at 31% in this most recent Harris poll. Coming in at a distant second place baseball with 16% is at its highest point of popularity in over a decade, but well below the mid-20 percentiles achieved in the early-80s. College football ranks a healthy third with 12% of those claiming it to be their favorite sport with auto racing, men’s pro basketball, hockey and men’s college basketball between percentages of eight and five percent.

While interesting and well researched the Harris poll does fail to offer clarity in one important area. The overall popularity of a sport cannot be measured simply by how many individuals claim one particular as their favorite. Questions to their large sample of 2,388 adults did not ask what sports each responder is a fan of. This might help explain while professional basketball ranks just a single percentage point ahead of hockey (6-5%) despite it being vastly more popular in terms of overall revenue and market share.

Still Harris Interactive is one of the precious few giving us insight to public opinion on topics outside of the world of politics and weighty social issues.