Study ranks NFL stadiums and fanbases for manspreading

Written By Nick Crain | Last Updated at August 26, 2026

From Travis Kelce to Timothée Chalamet, manspreading is taking up space in American stadiums. Merriam-Webster defines manspreading as "the act or practice by a man of sitting with the legs spread wide apart (as in a public seating area) in a way that intrudes on the space of others". Anyone who’s ever been to a game knows this seat-stealing behavior isn't lost on sports fans either, and it's not just men doing it. That kind of invasion of your personal space can ruin the high of a new NFL season in no time. That’s why, right before the start of the regular NFL season, The Lines polled 3,000 NFL stadium-goers to find out where you’re most at risk of sitting knee-to-knee with these legroom thieves.

Key findings:

To find out where you’re most likely to have your personal space invaded by a wide-legged fellow fan, The Lines asked 3,000 NFL stadium-goers about their most recent stadium visit, and whether they sat next to someone they considered to be manspreading.

Paycor Stadium ranks #1 for manspreading

Paycor Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, has the highest rate of reported manspreading at 65%, despite Bengals fans having one of the league’s lowest rates of self-reported manspreading (13%).

We see that trend in the overall findings too: nearly half of all respondents (47%) say they sat next to a manspreader at their last game, but only 26% of NFL fans actually admit to hogging space themselves.

Giants fans crowned NFL’s biggest self-confessed manspreaders

Giants fans are the NFL’s biggest self-confessed manspreaders, with 32% admitting they spread out in their seats. And that’s despite MetLife Stadium, where the Giants play their home games, ranking tied for 15th place. When it comes to self-reported manspreading, Lions and Bucs fans tie for second at 28%. The fans least likely to admit to hogging legroom in the stadium are Ravens fans, with only 4% self-identifying as manspreaders.

Manspreading has made 1 in 4 NFL fans move seats

An invasion of your personal space might sound innocent, but for many fans, it’s not. One in four NFL fans say they’ve moved to a different seat because the person next to them was taking up too much room. And another 25% have actually called someone out for manspreading. In both cases, Saints fans were the most likely to do so.

Methodology

For The Lines’ NFL Seat Sprawl study, we surveyed 3,000 football fans nationwide in August 2026 leading up to the regular NFL season. All respondents had attended at least one NFL game in the past 12 months. Respondents were asked about their favorite NFL team, which stadium they visited most recently, and whether they sat next to someone they considered to be manspreading. They were also asked if they ever manspread themselves (i.e., sit with their legs spread beyond the width of their seat).

These findings were compiled into a ranking of stadiums where respondents reported sitting next to a manspreader, as well as a ranking per fanbase looking at the percentage of fans who admit to manspreading in the stadium. Additionally, we asked respondents if they had ever moved seats because the person next to them was taking up too much space, and if they had ever asked someone to move their legs for hogging their space.

Of all respondents, 59% identified as male, 40% as female, and 1% as non-binary. The average age was 40.7 years.