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Rating the ones I've been to, in terms of College Town experience, which is not the same as the the order I would rate them to live in:
1. Madison
2. Ann Arbor
3. Berkeley
4. Bloomington
5. Iowa City
6. State College, PA
7. Evanston
8. Tucson
9. East Lansing
10. Seattle
11. Columbus
12. Westwood
13. Minneapolis
14. Tempe
15. University Park in LA
Big 10 over Pac 12 ... But I much rather ACC over anything Charlottesville Va, College Park Md, & NC Tar heels (forgot the citys name lol) are perfect college towns
Off topic, but I agree. Charlottesville, Chapel Hill, Clemson, Tallahassee, Miami, Atlanta, Blacksburg, Louisville, Raleigh and Durham. That's a great college town combo. SEC is probably #1 though.
Big 10 over Pac 12 ... But I much rather ACC over anything Charlottesville Va, College Park Md, & NC Tar heels (forgot the citys name lol) are perfect college towns
Actually Maryland is in the Big10, and not ACC anymore. Also quite frankly College Park MD is probably the weakest link in terms of a college town compared to Chapel Hill, Charlottesville or Blacksburg.
No I totally agree with you. Just pointing out the Pac's dominance in a wide variety of sports.
Being on the West Coast, the Pac 12 just doesn't have the same intensity when it comes to basketball and football as a few other conferences (exceptions: Arizona bball, Washington fball, SC fball, Oregon fball).
Not exactly sure why this is, but some theories are:
1. Proximity to big cities (many other forms of entertainment)
2. Proximity to outdoor recreation
3. Traffic, traffic, traffic (particularly week night basketball games)
4. Lack of consistent success
5. Large population of transplants with no deep ties to local schools
I honestly think a big part of it is just being on the west coast. Think about it, when College GameDay starts at 9 in the east, it's 6am in the west. And when noon games start, it's 9am. It's saturday so most people are probably still snoozing. And Pac12 prime time games are basically late night games in the east.
At least when it comes to football, the Pac12 just doesn't get the same exposure. #Pac12AfterDark is an actual hashtag to help promote those late games. I think this shapes a perception with the media, fans, and even recruits. That and the fact that most big time recruits come from the south and midwest. The whole south is a talent hotbed, while Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, etc lack. There aren't as many higher end in-state recruits, so the prestige level takes a dent.
Another thing I've noticed is Pac 12 stadiums are relatively smaller, and the west is built a bit differently than the east. The east gives off a more "quintessential college town" feel imo. For instance in Arizona you get Tucson and Tempe, in Alabama you get Tuscaloosa and Auburn. You get Los Angeles and San Francisco - both super large, world cities, versus Athens, Columbia, and Gainesville, which are dominated by the colleges.
I think those two things are big factors. Big transplant population is another good one like you mentioned. Here in the south, team love runs deep. You should've seen South Carolina after Clemson's championship. The state was basically one big orange tattoo lol.
Actually Maryland is in the Big10, and not ACC anymore. Also quite frankly College Park MD is probably the weakest link in terms of a college town compared to Chapel Hill, Charlottesville or Blacksburg.
College Park isn't bad for what it is, but it will always be perceived as an inner ring suburb to D.C and not a college town.
Chicago sort of?????????????????????????????????Evanston, Chicago's neighbor to the north, is smack in the heart of Chicagoland. Where on earth does the "sort of" come from.
Chicago can hardly be considered "sort of a college town", unless Chicago is a one horse town and little ole Northwestern U happens to be that horse.
I seriously doubt that little ole Northwestern has the same effect on Chicago that Purdue has on West Lafayette, or Indiana U has on Bloomington, or pretty much any town under 100,000 population that has a big state run university in it.
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