Super Bowl 2013: Facebook Map Shows Iowa's NFL Fan Allegiances

A new map created by Facebook's Data Science team 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.

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.

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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.

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.

For Iowans predominantly are Minnesota Vikings fans, with pockets of support for the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys. Black Hawk County looks like solid Bears territory.

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.