Thirty-nine percent of the U.S. adults surveyed said they had a favorite active NFL player, a larger share than the other three leagues. Among the more than 800 responses, 121 different active players appeared at least once, second-most among the four leagues in the variety of athletes named.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady accounted for the highest share of responses at 17 percent, followed by fellow signal-callers Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs (10 percent) and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers (7 percent).
David Schwab, an executive vice president at sports marketing talent management agency Octagon, said that in addition to the sport’s sheer popularity, the ubiquity of fantasy football familiarizes Americans with a wider range of NFL players beyond their favorite team than in other sports and creates greater affinity for those athletes.
“The NFL is driven from an individual standpoint because of fantasy football,” Schwab said. “Your favorite player often changes annually because of fantasy football. You've got your hometown favorite and you also have your fantasy team favorite.”
Sports marketing experts identified a number of different factors that might make one league more successful than another in turning top players into household names, ranging from basic elements such as the number of athletes on the playing surface at a time to cultural nuances surrounding personal expression.
While MLB and the NBA generated virtually the same amount of favorite player responses, with 28 percent of Americans picking a favorite active player in each league, the number of different players varied widely between the two sports. Respondents named nearly twice as many active MLB players (137) as NBA players (77). Similarly, while only 15 percent of U.S. adults picked a favorite active NHL player, the number of different players selected (78) was about the same as the number of NBA players.
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