Pittsburgh ranks as best city for football fans for 6th year in a row

Pittsburgh was ranked the best city for football fans — again.

It’s the sixth year in a row Steelers Nation has been at the top of WalletHub’s Best & Worst Cities for Football Fans list.

“Football fans are intensely loyal to their favorite teams, especially when a team comes from their hometown,” WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe said. “Deciding the best football cities ultimately comes down to a combination of how successful the cities’ teams are, how easy it is for spectators to enjoy games and how dedicated the loyal fanbase is.”

WalletHub, a personal finance website, used 21 metrics to arrive at naming Pittsburgh the best city for football fans, with Dallas coming in second.

The Steelers, with their six Super Bowl wins, played a “large part” in Pittsburgh’s top tier ranking. Acrisure Stadium’s more than 68,000-person capacity makes it easy for Steelers fans — and Pittsburgh Panthers college football fans — to attend games, WalletHub said.

WalletHub also credited Pittsburgh for having “some of the most engaged football fans in the country in terms of social media likes and followers per capita,” and by ticket revenues and social media engagement.

The third ranked city was Green Bay, followed by Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Miami and New Orleans. The two cities involved in Sunday’s Super Bowl — San Francisco and Kansas City — placed ninth and 10th, respectively.

The scoring was based on relevant metrics like the performance of each city’s football teams, stadium capacity, attendance, and franchise value.

WalletHub compared 249 U.S. cities with at least one NFL or college football team.