The New York Times’ sports brand The Athletic recently conducted the now-annual ‘hope-o-meter‘ poll to determine which fan bases around the country were the most optimistic about their local NFL team headed into the 2025-26 season, and the Denver Broncos fan base ended up on top.

Based on the results of the survey, 99 percent of those in the Broncos fan base who were polled were optimistic about the upcoming season, opposed to just 1 percent being pessimistic. This topped even the Philadelphia Eagles fan base – who will be cheering last year’s Super Bowl champion, which had an optimism rating of 98 percent.

Given that the Broncos fan base was most optimistic league-wide, they were also more optimistic than any of their division rivals. Fan bases of other teams in the AFC west rated their optimism as follows: Chiefs – 93 percent; Chargers – 72 percent; Raiders – 65 percent.

Is the hope for the Broncos warranted or is it setting fans up for disappointment?

Last year, the Broncos had their first winning season since the 2016-17 season, ending up with 10 wins and seven losses. While that broke a string of losing seasons, the team still ended up ranking third in their division and lost their first game in the playoffs. That said, all the hype around the Broncos defense and quarterback Bo Nix clearly has fans excited.

Oddly enough, the least-optimistic team bears a horse-themed name, too, and is also quite familiar with Peyton Manning – the Indianapolis Colts with their fan optimism rate at just seven percent.

Find the full New York Times report here.

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