Nashville Predators Land at No.184 on FanSided 250

The FanSided 250 ranks the hottest fandoms in the country in many different categories. The Nashville Predators crack the top-200 on the list.

When you’re counting celebrities, entertainment, gaming and all major sports, it’s pretty impressive to make a top-250 list. As for the Nashville Predators, they come in at No.184 in the top-250 fandoms on FanSided.

There are tons of candidates to fill this list out, so the Predators being one of the 250 is a testament to how far this franchise has come. However, the Predators did fall back from their 2018 FanSided 250 ranking of No.106 and No.8 among NHL teams.

To go back to 2017, the Predators came in at No.198. So they’ve now made the FanSided 250 list all three times it’s been put out.

Taking the bias out of it, I think the Predators are right where they should be. You can’t say they got snubbed by not being any higher. When you look over the list, you realize how many huge fandoms there are in the world of entertainment, sports and other categories.

Where did the Predators fall among NHL teams?

Here’s where we may be able to argue about where the Predators fell, and who is ahead of them. When you break it down just to NHL teams, the Predators are ranked 14th. That I consider a snub and an oversight.

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First off, the Predators do come ahead of the Sabres, Devils, Flyers and Golden Knights on the FanSided 250. I’m good with all of those teams making it as they all  have loyal and strong fanbases despite their team’s struggles.

A couple NHL teams that stick out to me that shouldn’t be ahead of the Predators are the Sharks and the Kings. Not that they don’t have great fans, but I don’t put them ahead of the craziness and non-stop party that the Predators bring to their fans.

The Predators have 1.4 million social media follows according to this, which is significantly lower than the NHL teams ahead of them who have 2 million-plus social follows.

That’s understandable as the Predators come from a smaller market and don’t have as widespread of a fanbase as the historical NHL franchises do like the Rangers, Oilers and Penguins who are ahead of them.

These lists are always fun and generate awesome water cooler talk. The Predators don’t have a ton of transcending superstars outside of hockey. They did have P.K. Subban, and but hockey is a tough sports to sell transcending superstars like the NBA or NFL. If Rinne is hoisting a Stanley Cup this upcoming summer, that will change.

How can the Predators move up next year?

Until the Predators win a Stanley Cup, they’re kind of stuck where they are in terms of building fans. As the sport of hockey continues to grow in the South, the Predators will start building more of a following outside of the greater Nashville area and beyond the borders of Tennessee.

The Predators have the chance to be the hockey team that people cheer for in what I call “SEC” territory. If you’re familiar with college football, the Southeast is all about their college football and geographical allegiance.

As hockey continues to grow throughout this region, the Predators can be the team that people cheer for in this region. But they need a Stanley Cup and need to take the national stage like they did in 2016-17 when they went on that improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Predators need another magical run like that to grow their national brand. Their local brand in untouchable and the Nashville fans are some of the best in sports. Now they have to grow their national brand more to really surge up a list like the FanSided 250.

I have noticed that when watching Predators road games, I’m seeing more Predators fans in enemy territory. That’s a great start into climbing up a list like this. The best sports franchises’ fans take over other teams’ arenas. The Predators could get those bandwagon jumpers all across the country if they make another Stanley Cup Final run.

This list is pretty fair for where the Predators ranked. The top NHL team in the FanSided 250 comes in at No.31 and it was the St.Louis Blues. As annoying as their fans can be, they remained very loyal to their team as they finally saw their team claim their first Stanley Cup.

The top spot on the FanSided 250 goes to the Marvel movies. They have the No.1 movie of all-time in Avengers:Endgame, and other movies who passed the $1 billion mark worldwide like Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The top sports team comes in at No.2 and was the Los Angeles Lakers. No comment on that one, but understandable I suppose.

Check out the full FanSided 250 here for the hottest fandoms in the country!