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For college sports "The South" seems like the best place. Sec fans are by far the best to me. Being that Atlanta is the Capitol of the South I think one could definitely make a good argument that Atlanta might be the best big city for college sports fans. Lots of Georgia Bulldog fans, lots of SEC fans, the ACC school of Georgia Tech is right there in Atlanta, and you have lots of big games at the Georgia Dome like the SEC Championship which has turned out to be the real National Championship game it seems. Also, the Atlanta Falcons are red hot right now. The Georgia Dome was nothing but a packed sea of red last year. The Georgia Dome might have been the loudest place in the NFL last year. So I would not say that Atlanta people care way more about college football than they do the Falcons. I think that the Falcons have really closed the gap. So even though Atlanta might always be a college football town at heart, I feel like the Atlanta Falcons have done a great job closing the gap.
No offense but I laughed at Kansas City being mentioned. I've never heard anyone say such a thing. Again, no offense to the guy or the city, but there's no way it's a top city that supports college sports.
I'd have to go with the cities that surround themselves around the school and teams. Austin, TX...Columbus, OH.....Lexington, KY....Raleigh-Durham, NC....(probably a few others that I'm missing but you get the point)
With each of those cities that I listed, once you get off the airplane and hit the city you KNOW you're in Longhorn country, Buckeye country, Wildcat country, Tarheel country..and so on and so on. Pretty much, the best college supporting cities of teams are the cities you wouldn't dare wear the colors of their rival school at.
You may even be able to throw Chicago in there as similar to Atlanta. Chicago is sort of like the Mecca of the Big Ten. I feel when people graduate from schools like Purdue, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, etc, a great deal of graduates move to Chicago since it's the most major city of the region. I may be off, but I had three friends go to Big Ten schools...two of them moved to Chicago, and when the other goes to visit his old college buddies, he goes to Chicago.
Can any Big Tenners out there confirm or deny this? FWIW, I think the more Eastern schools of the Big Ten like Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State don't necessarily follow this trend as much as the Western Big Ten schools.
P.S. If this is true, I wonder if this will result in a greater influx of Nebraska graduates into Chicago now that they're part of the Big Ten.
Thomas, you should know that your suspicions are correct! However, most of the graduates of Big Ten schools live in/and or around Lakeview/Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park. If you ever get the chance to take the Red Line North towards Howard (and Skokie ) you'll see tons of Flags hanging on balconies from schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee (not sure why that one comes to mind, I just remember seeing a few of them), and Illinois.
I wouldn't necessarily say that there aren't a lot of Michigan alumni in Chicago, as I spot a lot of plates with the Alumni decal, in addition to bumper/window stickers.
I don't know if we'll see an influx of Nebraskans to Chicago now that they're in the Big Ten. It's quite possible, but I feel like a lot of them would head West to California or South to Texas before East to Chicago.
Are we talking "big cities" or "big college towns"? I mean, it's not a surprise that Austin would revolve around UT, or Columbus would revolve around OSU, or Madison would revolve around Wisky.
I am admittedly biased (UCLA season ticket holder), but L.A. is a very good college sports town with USC and UCLA. When both USC and UCLA are playing at home on the same day, you generally have 150K+ people at the Coliseum and Rose Bowl watching football. It helps that there is no NFL here.
Other large cities/metros that are into the college game (in my mind) are Atlanta and Seattle.
The worst college sports large cities are in the Northeast. NYC and Boston are not good college sports cities. They are Pro sports towns all the way.
I agree I was probably a bit harsh in my response...however I still don't think KC is anywhere near Atlanta. Atlanta is a far larger city, with more major colleges in the area. Yes Atlanta is football-centric, but so is this country. Nobody really cares about college basketball anymore. It's all about college football.
Ya its true, America is all football. And ya basketball is not as hyped up about as it once was.
Thomas, you should know that your suspicions are correct! However, most of the graduates of Big Ten schools live in/and or around Lakeview/Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park. If you ever get the chance to take the Red Line North towards Howard (and Skokie ) you'll see tons of Flags hanging on balconies from schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee (not sure why that one comes to mind, I just remember seeing a few of them), and Illinois.
I wouldn't necessarily say that there aren't a lot of Michigan alumni in Chicago, as I spot a lot of plates with the Alumni decal, in addition to bumper/window stickers.
I'm glad to hear it! I do plan on hitting the Northside of Chicago on my next visit (though it may not be for another couple years)! I've never heard anything but great stuff about the area, so it's definitely on my to-do list.
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I don't know if we'll see an influx of Nebraskans to Chicago now that they're in the Big Ten. It's quite possible, but I feel like a lot of them would head West to California or South to Texas before East to Chicago.
Well I mean...it's almost impossible to tell the difference between Nebraska and Chicago, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of Big Red in Chicago in the near future!
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) you'll see tons of Flags hanging on balconies from schools like Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee (not sure why that one comes to mind, I just remember seeing a few of them), and Illinois.
