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Super Bowl LV: See Who America Wants to Win Based on This Social Media Map

The Super Bowl is almost upon us as the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Tampa Bay Bucs this Sunday.

While some people obsess over tailgate food or tune in for the commercials, most will watch the game closely. It does, after all, pit the two best teams in the National Football League in a winner-take-all showdown.

The Chiefs, who are the reigning Super Bowl champs, come into the game as slight favorites over the Bucs after a spectacular season. The Chiefs finished 14-2 during the regular season and are lead by MVP candidate Patrick Mahomes and receiver Tyreek Hill. The Bucs finished the season at 11-5 and are lead by all-world quarterback Tom Brady and Linebacker Devin White. Brady will be making his tenth Super Bowl appearance and aiming for his seventh Lombardi Trophy.

Super Bowl Rooting Interests Revealed in Social Media Map

While there is no rule that says you have to pick a team to root for, most of America will be rooting for one or the other. Many times, location and proximity to a team play a role in who a particular person wants to win. For instance, Fans in Florida likely want Tampa Bay to bring home the trophy while fans from Missouri will pull for the Chiefs.

While that isn’t always the case, a recent experiment reveals that proximity can have a determining factor on Super Bowl favorites.

A group of sportswriters tracked Twitter content in an effort to reveal which states are pulling for which team. While it isn’t an exact science, the map is a rather interesting tool to track team allegiances. The map is the brainchild of the sports website sportsinsider.com.

“NFL writers at sportsinsider.com, which offers tips for bettors, tracked more than 200,000 geotagged tweets over the past week, looking for phrases in each state such as #ChiefsKingdom, #RunItBack, #RaiseTheFlags and #GoBucs,” Kansas City Star Journalist Pete Grathoff explains. “This methodology may make mathematicians roll their eyes, but c’mon, it’s fun to study.”

The map can be found here.

The map shows that 33 states are pulling for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the big game. Only 17 states, most in the southeast, are rooting for Bucs to win. Some theorize this could be because of “Brady burnout.” Though he is one of the best to ever play the game, seeing Tom Brady in the Super Bowl isn’t exactly new.

Whatever the reason, it appears the Kansas City Chiefs are “America’s Team” heading into Sunday’s Super Bowl.

So, who do you think will be bringing home this year’s NFL Championship?

H/T: outkick.com