Who is Iowa Backing in 2013 Super Bowl? Facebook Map Shows NFL Fan Allegiances

A new map created by Facebook's Data Science team (which may be the nerdiest team associated with the Super Bowl this year not playing fantasy football) shows the San Francisco 49ers fan base stretches from the California coast well into the Midwest before pockets of Baltimore Ravens fans begin to crop up.

The Ravens and Niners face off in Super Bowl XLVII.

Hit me with some analysis Team Zuckerberg!

The analysis of 35 million Facebook users who have "liked" a National Football League team fan page paints a colorful picture of allegiances, hometown favorites and rivalries in the NFL.

That's where Iowa comes in.

Any guesses?

Iowans are big time on the 49ers bandwagon, while it appears on the map that nine of Iowa's 99 counties are on the Ravens' side. My question is what the nine realms is going on in Jones county? Is everyone in Anamosa a Ravens fan?

Not that I mind, as I am a fan of the Ravens via my old allegiance to the Cleveland Browns, myself, plus who can route against a team named after Edgar Allen Poe?

Quote this Raven fan: Not I.

Johnson County, meanwhile, is solidly in San Francisco's column, but most Iowa Citians probably just thought they were asking which city they'd rather visit.

Deadspin.com calls it "the most accurate NFL fandom map ever created" and draws some interesting conclusions.

The graphics, done by Data Science team intern Sean J. Taylor, also show how allegiances changed as teams were eliminated during the playoffs—right down to this weekend's 49ers vs. Ravens Super Bowl match-up.

Iowans predominantly are Minnesota Vikings fans, with pockets of support for the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys.

Come playoff time, Iowans were almost evenly split between backing the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, with the north and west more in favor of the Vikings and the south and east Iowa more in favor of the Packers.

Packers carried the state after they defeated the Vikings, and once the Packers lost Iowa swung its support almost universally to the New England Patriots.

And, here are now, heading into the Super Bowl.

If odds makers are right, and the 49ers win, it looks like most Iowans should be pretty happy.

Baltimore's fanbase appears strongest in the Mid-Atlantic and South, whereas San Francisco has supporters all the way to the banks of the Mississippi and in the Northeast.

Taylor's analysis even shows the top five fan-friendship teams. San Francisco fans, for example, are most likely to have friends who back Oakland, Dallas, Pittsburgh, San Diego and New England.