The Kansas City Chiefs have earned plenty of currency among their fans in recent years – and that has them well ahead of the pack when it comes to assessing the most loyal sports supporters in Missouri.
With sports fans now able to capitalize on the best Missouri sportsbook promos as the Show Me State prepares to welcome legal sports betting on Dec. 1, Covers polled more than 1,300 Missouri sports aficionados – spread evenly across the state's nine notable teams – to see which fanbase is the most supportive.
And while there was little doubt about which team would land at the top, the rest of the results might surprise even the most die-hard Missouri sports nuts.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Chiefs fans dominate engagement, emotional loyalty and public pride en route to an easy No. 1 showing as MO's most loyal supporters
- Ohio Valley Conference's Lindenwood Lions finish a surprising second, while leading all Missouri teams in financial loyalty
- NHL's St. Louis Blues edge out MLB's Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals as the No. 2 most loyal major pro sports fans
- MLS's St. Louis City SC and NCAA's Missouri State Bears both register negative scores in team color/merchandise participation
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Missouri Sports Loyalty Index Scores
| Rank | Team | League | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas City Chiefs | NFL | 56 |
| 2 | Lindenwood Lions | NCAA (OVC) | 39 |
| 3 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 38 |
| 4 | St. Louis Cardinals | MLB | 37 |
| 5 | Kansas City Royals | MLB | 35 |
| 6 | Missouri Tigers | NCAA (SEC) | 34 |
| 7 | Sporting KC | MLS | 33 |
| 8 | St. Louis City SC | MLS | 30 |
| 9 | Missouri State Bears | NCAA (C-USA) | 25 |
It's not at all surprising to see the Chiefs as the No. 1 franchise in Missouri, though even the most ardent Patrick Mahomes supporter might be a little surprised to see such a large gap between the four-time Super Bowl champions and the rest of the field.
Even more stunning: The OVC's Lindenwood Lions, the only private college in the conference, comes in with the second-highest loyalty score. The Lions easily outpace the other two collegiate teams on this list, with Mizzou placing sixth and Missouri State ranking ninth.
The state's two MLS franchises are back-to-back on the list, with the more-established Sporting KC edging out rival St. Louis City SC. And Missouri's three non-NFL major pro teams are also bunched together, with the St. Louis Blues of the NHL finishing just ahead of MLB's St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals.
Missouri Sports Loyalty Index: Engagement
- How often do you watch the game, live or on TV?
- How often do you interact with the team's content on social media?
- How often do you talk about this team with friends, family or coworkers?
🥇 Kansas City Chiefs: 57
🥈 Lindenwood Lions: 31
🥉 Missouri Tigers: 24
Seeing three football programs top this list probably won't shock anyone; after all, the weekly game cadence creates more of an "appointment viewing" feel that surely generates more chatter, whether your team is successful or not. Lindenwood's presence here serves as a strong example of how, in many cases, smaller fan bases are among the most passionate given the more intimate relationship they have with their teams of choice.
Missouri Sports Loyalty Index: Emotional Loyalty
- How strongly does being a fan of this team feel like part of your identity?
- How much does the performance of this team affect your mood?
- If this team went on a losing streak, how likely would you be to continue supporting them?
- Would you ever root for a rival team if winning a game was beneficial for your team?
- Is your fandom inherited primarily from family?
- How likely are you to be supporting this team in five years time?
🥇 Kansas City Chiefs: 63
🥈 St. Louis Cardinals: 50
🥉 St. Louis Blues: 45
While the Chiefs' fan base runs away with this category, as well, it's notable that the Cardinals rank second here. Known colloquially in MLB spheres as the "Best Fans in Baseball", Cards survey respondents come by that moniker honestly, posting a strong score based on positive results around the questions "Is your fandom inherited primarily from family?" and "How likely are you to be supporting this team in five years time?"
Missouri Sports Loyalty Index: Public Pride
- How likely are you to recommend supporting this team to others?
- How often do you wear your team's colors/merchandise?
- Would you support another team if you moved out of Missouri?
🥇 Kansas City Chiefs: 64
🥈 Kansas City Royals: 45
🥈 St. Louis Blues: 45
Behold another one-sided Chiefs result – and the real dominance here stems from Kansas City NFL fanatics saying they're three times more likely to wear their team colors or merch on game day than any other fan base in this survey. On the flip side, fan bases for both St. Louis City FC and the Missouri State Bears registered negative overall scores when it comes to sporting team apparel or colors; perhaps those teams' marketing departments might want to consider a logo change.
Missouri Sports Loyalty Index: Financial Loyalty
- How much have you spent on this team in the past 12 months?
🥇 Lindenwood Lions: 43
🥈 Kansas City Chiefs: 40
🥉 St. Louis Blues: 37
🥉 St. Louis City FC: 37
The simplest of the four categories also produces the most surprising result. The Lions, whose last college bowl appearance came at the 2012 Mineral Water Bowl (yes, this was a real thing), have the Missouri fan base that claims to have spent the most money of any other sports fan in the state. The Chiefs come in second (and if you've ever bought NFL playoff tickets before, that won't surprise you), while SLCFC makes this list in a mild shock.
Methodology
We asked 1,350 Missouri-based sports fans, from an even distribution of nine college and pro teams across different sports, questions relating to their fandom.
Using a weighted scoring system for Likert scale and a point scoring system for binary questions, we created an loyalty index based on their emotional attachment, financial investment, pride in the team and overall engagement.
