Among NFL teams, the NY Jets generated the most online buzz during the off-season from blogs, message boards/groups, Twitter, Facebook, and online news posts. “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys continue to generate national interest in online discussions, although they were topped by their rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, who led NFC teams and were second in overall pre-season buzz. The NY Giants, and their regional rival, the New England Patriots, round out the top five teams with the most pre-season buzz.

An abbreviated off-season due to the NFL lockout sparked a flurry of free-agent signings and trades of popular players, and generated considerable online buzz among sports fans.  Looking at players who have changed teams ahead of the 2011 season, Reggie Bush received the most buzz during the off-season with 194k mentions. Comparing buzz about NFL players who joined new teams through free-agency or trade in recent weeks, Plaxico Burress led this group of players with more than 13k mentions during the week of July 31 – August 6, followed by Reggie Bush, Nnamdi Asomugha, Chad Ochocinco, and Donovan McNabb.

One in four active web users in the US visited sites in the Sports category, which amounts to 42.5 million Americans during the most recent week (ending July 31).  Compared to weeks during the off-season, the NFL’s network of sites more than doubled their audience, a 258 percent increase in unique US visitors during the first full week after the NFL lockout ended.

As US sports fans go online for the latest news and stats, Yahoo’s network of sports sites was their top destination during the week of July 31. ESPN.com and FoxSports.com websites were also popular destinations for US sports fans in this most recent week. Historically the months of August and September are the busiest for sports sites, so this may provide another preview of the season to come!

According to The Nielsen Sports Media Exposure Index, which measures media exposure on TV and online, the Cowboys were still the most popular NFL team in America last season. Jerry Jones’s franchise earned the top indexed score of 100, far surpassing the runner-up Pittsburgh Steelers who finished with an index of 81.

The Cowboys’ top ranking was boosted by first-place showings in two of the four categories tallied by Nielsen: gross audience during nationally televised games and monthly unique audience to the team web site. The other two categories – local team ratings and total buzz volume – were captured by the Saints and New York Giants, respectively.

Dallas has held the top two spots in each of the last two years. The Steelers moved up from third to second, swapping places with the Giants. The Minnesota Vikings, aided no doubt by the presence and performance of legendary QB Brett Favre,  climbed from 13th place in 2008 to a tie for 4th in the 2009 regular season ranking. The Washington Redskins, meanwhile, dropped from 5th in 2008 to 11th in 2009.

NFC teams dominated the 2009 rankings. Seven of the top 10 teams  represented the conference, while the Steelers, Colts (t-8th) and Patriots (10th) were the only three AFC teams to crack the top third of the list.

Among the two New York teams, the Giants had the most media exposure, ranking 15 spots ahead of the Jets. And even despite drawing 38% lower local market ratings than their Bay Area rivals, the Oakland Raiders were the most popular national brand out of Northern California, ranking two spots ahead of the San Francisco 49ers (25th vs. 27th).

The Nielsen Sports Media Exposure Index measured all 32 NFL teams in four categories during the 2009 regular season: local team ratings, gross national TV audience, online buzz volume, and monthly unique audiences to official team websites. Teams in each category were assigned a score, with the top rank worth 100 points and each subsequent ranking assigned a lower weighted score based its distance from the top. Final team rankings were calculated using the sum of scores across all four categories, and then indexed with the highest total equaling 100.

Nielsen’s NFL Media Exposure Index was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal.

NFC Rival Philadelphia Eagles were second in terms of total buzz volume, due in part to their signing of Michael Vick, who was atop the list of NFL player buzz.  This summer saw his release from prison, his reinstatement to the league, and his signing with the Eagles, and fans not shy about voicing their opinion on both sides of the issue.

In terms of television viewership, Pittsburgh, which kicked off this year’s season with Tennessee, continued to live up to its reputation as a football-crazed city, with the Steelers leading all teams in local markets ratings last season on their way to the Super Bowl. During 16 regular season games, the six-time Super Bowl champs were watched on average by 36.8% of Pittsburgh households.

[update: For the season opener on 9/10/09 - the Steelers' hometown viewership was 49.6%]

First it was the thrilling September 15th matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  The Cowboys prevailed in a 41-37 shootout watched by 18.6 million viewers, the most ever for a cable program.

Then on Sunday, the Cowboys scored another television record, defeating the New York Giants in front of 23 million viewers on NBC – the most-watched game in the network’s three year history broadcasting Sunday Night Football.  And which team played in each of the next two most highly rated SNF games this season? The Cowboys, of course.

Love them or hate them, Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, and their traveling football soap opera are delivering huge audiences for the networks this season. NBC’s SNF and ESPN’s MNF viewership are up 4.3% and 4.1 % respectively compared to the same time period last year, thanks in part to the power of the Cowboys’ national brand.

NFL Network
Meanwhile, the NFL Network is banking on the Cowboys’ primetime appeal as Dallas takes on the Baltimore Ravens Saturday night in a game that has playoff ramifications for both teams.

With college football on the sidelines, this weekend’s game is NFLN’s first Saturday night telecast of the season. Thursday night games on the network are so far proving to be a success for the league’s cable outlet. According to Nielsen’s latest coverage estimates, the network is available in 37% of television households across the country, with Thursday night games attracting an average of 3.4 million viewers, despite stiff primetime competition on other networks. Leading the way was a mid-November tilt between AFC East rivals New England Patriots and New York Jets, which pulled in 4.4 million viewers.

Updated 12/23/08:The trend continues! The December 20 game between the Cowboys and Baltimore Raven drew 5.76 million viewers making it the highest viewership for an NFL Network game this season, and the network’s second highest all-time.