Have The Packers Displaced The Cowboys As "America's Team?"

While the Cowboys for years "have been called America's Team," the Packers may have supplanted them for that title, accoding to Don Walker of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. In interviews with NFL officials, sports-business experts, pollsters, network execs and PR consultants, the "consensus is the Packers at the very least can call themselves contenders to the throne." Packers President & CEO Mark Murphy said that the team's "publicly owned status and its cultivation of the small town vs. big market image combine to make the Packers the team America loves." Murphy added, "For a lot of fans around the country, we are their second favorite team." And Walker noted Packers fans "love to hit the road." The Packers "even have a website, www.PackersEverywhere.com, which helps fans find a place anywhere in the country to cheer on their favorite team." During the Nov. 6 Packers-Chargers game, a Chargers spokesperson "estimated that 40% to 50% of the fans inside Qualcomm Stadium were Packers fans." A Harris Interactive Poll indicated that the Cowboys "were the favorite NFL team." It was the "fifth straight year the Cowboys ranked first." The Packers were "third behind the Steelers and the Cowboys, although they have been trending higher since 2008." Walker noted in "terms of merchandise, the Packers rule." The Packers from April-October "led the league in team merchandise sold on NFLShop.com." QB Aaron Rodgers has the "top-selling jersey on the site," and LB Clay Matthews "has the third-most selling jersey." ESPN.com VP & Editor-in-Chief Patrick Stiegman said, "It is clear Green Bay's remarkable success over the past two seasons has vaulted the Packers into a premier position in the battle of mindshare among national fans." The Cowboys this season have played two games on NBC's "SNF," against the Eagles and the Jets, and the "average combined viewership was 24.5 million." By contrast, the Packers have played two games on "SNF," against the Saints and Falcons, and the "average combined viewership was 24.7 million" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 11/14).