Oklahoma among most deserving states for NFL team, per fandom survey
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - A lot of people like to think of Oklahoma as a big-league state now, especially with the Thunder winning their first NBA championship. Well, one survey based on fandom shows Oklahoma deserves another pro franchise too, but on the gridiron instead.
Football doesn't take a backseat too much in Oklahoma. The Thunder's championship run gave something for everyone to turn their minds to during football's offseason, but when fall rolls around, everyone dons the crimson and cream or America's brightest orange on Saturday's hoping big plays lead to big wins. Plenty of Oklahomans love NFL football as well and a recent survey says Oklahoma is among the most deserving in the country for football on Sunday's too with an NFL team.
"Anything to help the state of Oklahoma," OKC resident Terrill Williams said. "Football's a big deal in Oklahoma."
"I would see a franchise coming here," OKC resident Sherry Pearson said.
The survey is from props.com. It ranks the most deserving states for an NFL team based on number of online conversations about the league and number of championships and players put in the league by college teams. Per the survey, Oklahoma generated 95,000 online discussions about the league in the past year. Oklahoma has 7 national titles and both bedlam schools have lots of players littered across the league, so Oklahoma came in ranked 3rd behind only Virginia and Alabama who took the number 1 spot.
"I think it's cute. I really do," OKC radio personality Jerry Ramsey said.
Ramsey said the Thunder launched Oklahoma into the pro sports stratosphere. If you asked him 30 or 40 years ago, he said he may have told you they wouldn't be here either. While he also agrees there's fans everywhere in the state for several teams, it seems to be a long shot.
"Unfortunately, it takes a little more than just fans to get an NFL team here and all the structure that goes into it to get it here," he said.