We’re still more than four months away from the opening kickoff of the 2023 NFL regular season, but now’s the perfect time to assess where fans stand entering the new year.
In the Tar Heel State, where movement towards online North Carolina sports betting is heating up, it seems like fans of the Carolina Panthers are left in a bit of football-imposed limbo, as the franchise reels through a five-year stretch of missing the playoffs.
With the 2023 NFL Draft scheduled to start on Thursday, it seems like a good time to reevaluate where Carolina fans hold their team emotionally as the new league year begins (with the No. 1 overall pick, no less).
When it comes to the NFL offseason, only the true diehard fans of teams are keeping up with every move that their franchise makes for the next season. So, what fanbases are the most obsessed with their team?
BetCarolina.com, home to the best coverage of incoming North Carolina betting apps, utilized Statista’s 2022 “Attitudes Of NFL Teams” survey of NFL fans with 1,239 respondents to find who currently are the most obsessed fans in the NFL. To do so, we noted the NFL fanbases who responded the most positively to the following statements:
Statement 1: I do not want to imagine my life without my NFL team.
Statement 2: My NFL team is part of my day-to-day life.
NFL’s Most Obsessed Fans
Note — Survey is a sample size of individuals who claimed to be a fan of a NFL team.
MORE: Guide to NFL Betting in North Carolina
Panthers Fans Among Most Obsessed In NFL
Fans of the Panthers seem more worried about their team’s place in the league, with supporters ranking fifth in the NFL in the three categories that were surveyed.
Overall, 29% of Panthers fans said they did not want to imagine life without the team, while 23% said the team is part of their daily life and 26% had an average positive response to statements overall.
Carolina ranked in a tie with Bills fans in the first category for second overall (behind Bears and Ravens supporters), while partisans of the Panthers were tied with the Chiefs and Broncos for the lowest percentage in the second category and fifth overall in the average positive response bracket.
Leaguewide, Panthers fans were sandwiched between supporters of the Cowboys (who had percentages of 28%, 28% and 28%) and the Bengals (26%, 25% and 25.5%). They also ranked ahead of Packers, Cardinals, Giants, 49ers, Chiefs and Broncos fans on a league-wide basis.
The overall leaders in terms of obsession were the Bears, Bills and Ravens, with average positive response percentages of 31%, 30% and 29.5%.
Keep it here at BetCarolina for more Panthers coverage ahead of the Draft, such as whether presumed No. 1 pick Bryce Young has a shot at the Rookie of the Year Award.
This site is also home to an updated page on the Panthers playoff chances.
