Your Michigan County Of Residence Likely Predicts Your Favorite NFL Team

It would be a very basic assumption to say much of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan would default to Detroit Lions fans while much of the Upper Peninsula would begin to migrate to being fans of the Green Bay Packers. But this county-by-county map shows the much more complicated situation of NFL fandom for Michiganders.

Credited to VividSeats and shared on social media widely shows that across the state of Michigan, you'll find the not surprising dominant areas of Lions and Packers fans, but surprisingly some areas where the Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings are dominant. Perhaps equally surprising is that there is no county on the west side of the state where the Chicago Bears are the dominant team.

Here's a look at the map, zoomed in on Michigan:

So first, the not surprising: Nearly all of the Lower Peninsula is dominated by Lions fans. Only Cass County is credited with having a fan base dominated by Colts fans. The Lions fandom does slip out of state, but just slightly. Steuben County, Indiana and the county or two around Toledo in Ohio are given to the Lions.

But where are the Bears? Southwestern-most Michigan around Berrien County is dominated by Chicago media and vacationing Chicagoans. There are most certainly Bears fans in that corner of the state.
There is a blank county in the northeast corner of the Mitten. Perhaps somewhere around Montmorency County (?) - there may just be too little data to state definitely that the Lions are the top team there. But they most certainly are.

NFL Fan Bases in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

It's the UP where NFL fan bases get a bit interesting. The Eastern UP, Chippewa and Mackinac Counties around Sault Ste Marie and St Ignace are Lions County as is Alger County and Munising as well as a pocket of the Western UP around Ontonagon. The Wisconsin border counties and Marquette are Packer Nation. And then there's the Keweenaw Peninsula. Houghton and Keweenaw Counties are dominated by Vikings fans.

See the full national map of NFL fan bases by county here.

Remember, though, no matter who you cheer for, the winners are the NFL owners who rake in money through media rights and merch sales. Some of those riches get passed on to the players: