Tigers fans ranked 6th most loyal in baseball

New York City-based market research firm Brand Keys Inc. has released their 22nd Sports Loyalty Index. According to Crain's Detroit Business, fans of the Detroit Tigers are tied with the New York Yankees as the sixth most loyal in all of Major League Baseball.

How are these rankings determined?

The index is created from a telephone survey of 250 fans of each team, along with data such as wins/losses and payroll, and that information used by Brand Keys to create its numeric and esoteric "emotional drivers" to rank the clubs. Those drivers are: Pure Entertainment, Authenticity, Fan Bonding, and History and Tradition.

Top 5:

1. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Atlanta Braves
5. San Francisco Giants

Bottom 5:

26. Colorado Rockies
27. Arizona Diamondbacks
28. Seattle Mariners
29. New York Mets
30. Houston Astros

As always, these rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt the size of the tiger statues in front of Comerica Park. It's also not surprising to see to the top ranked fan bases are from established, traditional, large market franchises with very long histories and for the most part, have had winning records recently.

Shocking results, right? Seems just as ridiculous as the best sports city rankings. But since we Tigers fans did so well, I'll take these rankings seriously. So... WHOOOOO! WE'RE NUMBER SIX!!