When it comes to dating, folks in the Mile High football fan club say it’s Broncos or bust.
That’s according to “The Grueling Truth” podcast, which recently surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults to gauge how important it is that romantic partners root for the same sports teams.
The results show that Denver Broncos fans are among the most passionate with 30% saying they’d prefer their partner cheer for the same team. They tied for 5th place with fans of the Atlanta Falcons on that sentiment. The only fans more insistent on being a one-team household belong to the Arizona Cardinals (67%), the Los Angeles Chargers (46%), the Las Vegas Raiders (38%) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (35%).
Overall, 44% of respondents said they’d choose to watch a crucial game over a romantic date night with a partner. And 10% said supporting a different team was a potential dealbreaker in a relationship. (We can only hope that plays out in the locally-filmed season of “Love is Blind.”)
Broken down by state, fans in Colorado ranked No. 8 among those who absolutely need their partner to be a fan of the same sports team with 27% saying it was important. It’s worth noting, that stat isn’t specific to football, so that could mean local residents want to cheer on the Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche or the NBA champions Denver Nuggets with a sweetheart.
Interestingly, fans in West Virginia were the least likely to hit it off with a fan of a rival team with 50% of fans saying they wish their partner would support the same franchise.
“The Grueling Truth” polled 1,089 fans; 69% identified as male, 30% identified as female and 1% identified as nonbinary. The average age of respondents was 42.
The Denver Broncos’ season kicks off with a home match-up against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 10 at 2:25 p.m. Make sure you have the right date.