NFL Fans Ranked Worst to Best: The Tailgate Behavior Index

By Christopher Boan

May 4th, 2026 4:45 PM EDT

Packers fans at Lambeau Field have turned tailgating into a weekly welcoming party. (Samantha Madar/USA Today Network)

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The 2026 NFL regular season is months away, but it’s never too early to look at which franchises have the best pregame culture.

The team at Bookies.com, your source for top sports betting promo codes, set out to do just that.

We broke down each fanbase’s NFL tailgating scene based on four factors to come up with this interactive graphic, detailing where every team’s fanbase finished. The full methodology is below.

Our four factors that we used to make these NFL tailgating rankings were: Behavior safety (stadium-area crime, 40%), visitor safety (how risky it is to wear opposing colors, 20%), tailgate culture quality (25%), and hospitality (15%). The weighted scores combine into a single Tailgate Behavior Index, where higher equals better overall tailgate experience and lower equates to worse-behaved fanbases.

Being hospitable and being hopeful are two different things, which is why we also analyzed Most Hopeful NFL Fanbases Heading Into 2026 at Bookies.com.

NFL Tailgating Cities Scoring Poorly Based on Four Factors

Despite the franchise’s recent renaissance, it seems like the Detroit Lions’ fanbase still has some work to do. The NFC North stalwarts had the worst score of any team by our tailgating metrics, with 22.9 points.

Head coach Dan Campbell’s arrival in 2022 coincided with Detroit’s first playoff victories in 32 years (when they reached the NFC Conference Championship Game in 2023-24). But our statistics say their fans need to work on their behavior. Detroit scoring just better than the Baltimore Ravens (25.0 points) leaguewide.

Detroit football fans can take solace, at least, in the team’s sunny prognosis on the field this season. DraftKings Sportsbook gives Campbell’s bunch the top odds to win the NFC North, at +180.

NFL Super Bowl Odds 2026-27

As for the Ravens, their Super Bowl LXI odds on FanDuel Sportsbook are also strong. Baltimore holds the No. 3 spot on the New York-based sportsbook’s odds board, at +1000, behind the team that is third from the bottom in our tailgating standings.

That would be the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks, whose fanbase scored the third-worst Tailgate Behavior Index score leaguewide, with 26.8 points.

The NFC West club in the Pacific Northwest enters the 2026 season with the second-best Super Bowl LXI odds, at +900, to repeat as NFL champions with bet365 Sportsbook.

The NFL team that’s pretty much the consensus preseason Super Bowl LXI betting favorite across a host of U.S. sportsbooks (the Los Angeles Rams) ranked 17th leaguewide.

Their TBI score at SoFi Stadium is 48.1 points in the runup to a season where L.A. has outsized expectations. The BetMGM Sportsbook gives Sean McVay’s club +800 odds of winning the Big Game this year.

Best NFL Tailgating Fanbases in 2026: Who Is No. 1?

When you set the bar for fandom by being the lone publicly owned team in the league, it’s natural to have the best score in the NFL.

That is exactly where the Green Bay Packers rank.

We give the Packers a TBI score of 83.2 points for games at legendary Lambeau Field. Green Bay is a club that’s literally owned by their supporters and not by any lone person, helping breed passion and a fantastic tailgating culture in the Upper Midwest.

The next-best TBI score was for the Carolina Panthers, at 78.7 points. Are the team’s fortunes looking up after the 2025-26 season, when Carolina made the postseason for the first time since 2017?

The Miami Dolphins had the third-best TBI score by our count, with 75.0 points, and the other AFC team in Florida, the Jacksonville Jaguars, were No. 4 at 72.7 points.

Green Bay is a Super Bowl contender once again in 2026-27, with Fanatics Sportsbook giving the Packers +1700 odds of winning it all this season. The other bona fide contender at or near the top of our tailgating list was the Buffalo Bills, who finished fifth leaguewide with a TBI score of 68.0. Caesars Sportsbook has the Bills third leaguewide on the odds board, at +1000, to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy in February 2027.

Regardless of where Bills Mafia circles the wagons this season, they can take pride in being named one of the best in the NFL when it comes to pregame culture, as they look for Josh Allen and company to lift that elusive first Vince Lombardi Trophy in February.

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