Comparison To Other NFL Fan Bases
Attempts at quantifying the loyalty of Steeler Nation relative to other NFL fan bases have shown mixed results. A 2006 study by the American City Business Journals placed the team's fans 21st out of 32 teams in the league, behind all three of its division rivals in the AFC North. The study found that although the team had been selling out games for years, some fans were not actually attending the games, and Pittsburgh's weekly turnout percentage for home games was 16th in the league. That ranking was down seven slots from the publication's survey conducted in 1997, which ranked Steelers Nation 14th out of 30 teams, partly due to fans leaving nearly 10 percent of the seats in the stadium empty.
Conversely, a 2008 study from Forbes.com ranked Steelers fans 8th overall, citing amongst other things a long season-ticket waiting list. A 2008 article for ESPN.com ranked Steelers fans as the best in the NFL, citing their "unbelievable" sellout streak of 299 consecutive games.
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