Football is crazy popular online; it draws far more interest than other "big" sports like baseball and basketball.
About one-third of all football-related searches are for the single word "football." The remainder seems to be mostly a combination of interest in leagues, fantasy leagues, gambling, and individual colleges.
Gambling is a small but steady part of athletics online. We see it in queries like Vegas odds, college football line, NFL injury report, and the like. Our guess is that 2-3% of all specific football queries are gambling-related. (We have no way of knowing what people who search for the one word "football" are looking for.)
Of course, if it's any consolation far more people search for pickup lines than betting lines.
Fantasy leagues are such big news that they need no comment here. The colleges are a more interesting case: starting in early August we begin to see a steady drumbeat of searches for individual college football teams: Penn State football, USC football, etc. Eager alumni, we presume. It's not something we see for any other sport.
So here are two lists: last week's top 20 most-requested football terms, and the top 10 most-requested college teams.
1. Football
2. NFL
3. Fantasy Football
4. College football
5. XFL
6. Football clipart / graphics
7. Football drills
8. NFL injuries
9. Texas high school football
10. Flag football plays
11. Football playbooks
12. NFL cheerleaders
13. 2000 NFL schedule
14. Arena football
15. American football
16. NCAA football tickets
17. Football playbook
18. Pop Warner football
19. Football helmets
20. Football lines
And the top 10 college football requests:
1. Penn State football
2. Notre Dame football
3. Nebraska football
4. Ohio State football
5. Alabama football
6. Michigan football
7. UCLA football
8. Auburn football
9. Florida State football
10. USC football
So: kudos to Penn State and the NFL for topping their respective lists. (But the NFL might be a little worried by the strong showing of the XFL, the new league from the same people who brought you pro wrassling.)
Incidentally: we think about 2% of all football searches are for European football -- soccer to Americans. The most-requested team seems to be Liverpool.
