No matter what state in the front range a person visits, they will come across a Denver Broncos fan. So this raises the question, do the Broncos truly have a national fan base or are they just regional?
Broncos country is without a doubt the most popular sports team in Colorado, but how likely would you be to find a Broncos fan on the coast of Maine? The guys of the Big Show had a heated debate over this controversial topic.
“They are one of the most popular teams in the country,” said Kent Erickson. “It started with Elway and continued with Manning, this team is absolutely one of the nation’s top teams.”
According to the 2014 Harris Poll the Broncos ranked first as America’s favorite team — move over Cowboys there is a new sheriff in town. That was back in 2014 before the Broncos won the Super Bowl. And with a Super Bowl win comes bandwagon fans, so it would seem Broncos country will only grow larger.
But many studies have shown that the Broncos are really only a regional team. With so many states around Colorado without an NFL team (or the states that do have teams that haven’t been relevant for years) those residents don’t have much choice but to be Broncos fans.
“Denver is national team when they are relevant,” said Benjamin Allbright. “With John Elway they were a national team, Peyton Manning they were a national team; during the Bubby Brister, Brian Griese years I’m not sure how national Denver was.”
In 2014 Facebook did a NFL fandom map and it shows that the front range is a sea of orange, but besides those states the Broncos did not show up anywhere else, whereas the Cowboys, Packers and Steelers pop up all over the country. 
So now that Manning is gone, Broncos country might find itself in the dark days if history repeats itself.
Catch the rest of the conversation below……
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