Thunder Fans Ranked 8th “Most Passionate”

“Cheeseheads,” “the 12th man,” Red Sox Nation and now, Loud City.

In a recent article from Forbes, the Oklahoma City Thunder ranked eighth out of 123 professional sports teams for their fan bases’ passion.

While it’s difficult to quantify passion, Forbes says it does it using a variety of factors.

“Measuring passion is a tricky thing,” the article read. “Crazy certainly helps, but Pope hats, gold and black death paint, and gladiator getups aren’t the reason New Orleans Saints fans rank third on our list. We look at more concrete evidence, including television ratings, game attendance, merchandise sales and social media reach. We evaluated every one of North America’s 123 professional teams in the NBA, the NFL, the NHL and MLB.”

When discussing the Thunder, writer Christina Settimi noted their unique position as the state’s only professional team and sellouts as a huge factor.

“The Thunder have reliably sold out the Chesapeake Energy Arena since 2012, even without All-Star Russell Westbrook,” Settimi wrote. “It helps that they are Oklahoma City’s only pro team, as does making the playoffs nine times in 11 seasons.”

Settimi included various team facts, including estimated franchise value ($1.575 billion), social media following (9.8 million), average attendance (18,203) and– while controversial to some Seattle residents– championships (1).