Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you add up these results across all 210 markets, the three most popular teams are the three that also usually have the largest home attendance: Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. (Ohio State is ranked first in the country with about 3.1 million fans.)
I always thought it was a tremendous credit to MSU that it can stand up to those Michigan numbers and everything else about Michigan in its own state. I think there are very few fellow in-state universities that can hold their own against a megapower school like Michigan the way that MSU does. rather than be swamped by Michigan, it runs a great program and has a huge fan base while managing to be a very good university sharing a university that is iconic among its state peers (I would tend to put U-M in that top echelon nationally along with Cal and UVa)
I would say most of the states have 1 or 2 public universities with a state wide draw. schools like Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, WV, Ohio State, LSU, & Maryland are the only schools in their respective states with a state-wide draw.
states like Indiana (IU, Purdue), Michigan (U-M, MSU), Alabama (Bama, Auburn), & Florida (UF, FSU) have two universities that have appeal throughout the state.
I can only think of two states....California and Nevada...that don’t have a university with a state-wide image. In California, the Bay Area is Cal’s base and LA is the base of UCLA. In Nevada, each metro area has its own school that doesn’t have that much support in the other metro area in the form of UNLV and UNR. No school in either state represents its state.
Cal and UNR may be unique among original state flagships of not having a state wide base. The state of California, of course, has tremendous respect for Cal, but if you're not in the Bay Area, you probably are not going to see it as your university.
At least that's how i see it. can anyone think of another state that doesn't have at least one university with state wide appeal?
do bama's and auburn's fan base break down geographically at all or is the state really a total mix of both (I mean, of course, outside of tuscalousa and auburn)?
It's really a mix. For example, wherever there's a heavy proportion of engineers and other highly technical professions, you'll see a lot of Auburn fans (Huntsville for example with the space program and a ton of DoD contractors). Where there's law and business, you'll see a lot of Alabama fans. But if I had to guess, the ratio is two Alabama fans for every Auburn fan.
Of course, in trailer parks, meth labs, bingo halls, white supremacist meetings and various other places, it's almost 100% Alabama fans. With an occasional Tennessee or Georgia fan thrown in for the sake of diversity. Here's a graph that will help you understand:
Texas fans who actually attend games are split - 50% knowledgeable, 50% drunk.
As far as T-Shirt fans (non alumni who buy swag), Texas seems to sell more school swag than most everybody else, but that is subject to a fickle public.
Texas fans who actually attend games are split - 50% knowledgeable, 50% drunk.
As far as T-Shirt fans (non alumni who buy swag), Texas seems to sell more school swag than most everybody else, but that is subject to a fickle public.
Texas is pretty much a MEDIA GIANT. Any school with their own nationally televised network is doing something right. The marketing, the color, the alumni.... Gotta admit, they're doing more than well.
Texas is pretty much a MEDIA GIANT. Any school with their own nationally televised network is doing something right. The marketing, the color, the alumni.... Gotta admit, they're doing more than well.
Say what, "nationally televised network"?
Almost nobody gets it, as none of the major carriers have picked it up yet....and probably won't for a while. All the blubbering & whining about the Longhorn Network from A&M as a big reason why they ran away from the Big 12 was just an idiotic and dishonest smokescreen for their own failures.
Although Texas' fan base & brand is widespread around the country it is still a niche market, unlike Notre Dame.
Texas fans are ticked off that TW, Dish, etc. refuse to cut a deal with ESPN to carry it - and just a few can see it on minor carriers (Grande, for one) or else stream it via piracy.
In the meantime, ESPN is still producing some fine Longhorn programming and sending Texas a $15 Million check each year (of which the athletic department gives $6 Million to the University for academic purposes).
I have two schools. Born and raised in Austin with burnt orange blood going to most home games every year growing up, both parents went to UT, I went to UCLA and then returned to Austin for my masters. So I am a Bruin and a Longhorn.
For Bruins:
• Who are the people who fill the stands and watches the games on t.v.? We don't really ever have anyone in the stands or bothering to watch us on TV. In fact last year when UT visited LA to play us, there was more burnt orange than true blue in the stands.
• How much of a factor is the school's alumni in coming to the games? About average between alumni/students with a bit more non-alumni/students attending than most school however overall attendance is always super low for all three groups.
• what is the geographic footprint of your school's fan base....from where do they draw fans to the game. LA
• For state schools, is the whole state the base of fan support or does the school draw only regional support? Mostly just LA and Southern Cal. Northern Cal and the Bay goes more to Cal, and some of the Pacific NW schools in Oregon and Washington.
• what other universities share an overlap geographically with your university for a fan base? USC
• If your school is in a metro area, does the metro area follow the team or is it not a major draw there? Not like Austin. LA is kinda a weird town when it comes to supporting sports teams.
• Are there special relationships that affect the fan base....such as Catholics being Notre Dame fans? Not really
• any other info about the fan base would be nice. I wish we would support the teams better. While our football isn't much to speak of we have great athletics. And sometimes our football is decent, but still doesn't get much support. Basketball obviously is different.
For the Longhorns:
• Who are the people who fill the stands and watches the games on t.v.? Mostly Alumni and Students for the big games since tickets can be very hard to come by. For the smaller games where the season ticket holders put up tickets for sale it also draws well from those in the metro area who want to experience a large sporting event.
• How much of a factor is the school's alumni in coming to the games? Huge
• what is the geographic footprint of your school's fan base....from where do they draw fans to the game. The state
• For state schools, is the whole state the base of fan support or does the school draw only regional support? Whole state
• what other universities share an overlap geographically with your university for a fan base? UT covers the entire state for its fan base but In other regional areas of the state it overlaps with other schools. A&M has the biggest overlaps with much of East Texas and Gulf Coast. Texas Tech does great out in West Texas and the Panhandle and pretty decent even close to Ft Worth, as does UTEP in El Paso.
In the metros... In Houston after UT the biggest fan bases are probably A&M then LSU follow distantly by Houston and Rice. In DFW after UT it is OU and then pretty far less than those two it is Arky, TCU being pretty close with SMU and A&M after them. TCU has a great new stadium and just joined the B12, so I very much hope it eats away at some of the sooner and piglets fanbases. They have a great product on the field. In San Antonio it is pretty much just UT in the city and the Hill Country, but with A&M being stronger than UT outside of SA towards the Gulf. UTSA, and Texas State do decent in the SA->Austin Hill Country area though and both are moving up but most of those fan bases are also UT fans.
• If your school is in a metro area, does the metro area follow the team or is it not a major draw there? UT owns Austin. There are no pro teams. There are a lot of Sooners and Aggies in the Round Rock and far north (Williamson County) burbs of Austin, and a lot of Oregon and LSU fans in the Westlake and SW Austin burbs, but UT is by far the biggest draw.
• Are there special relationships that affect the fan base....such as Catholics being Notre Dame fans? No
• any other info about the fan base would be nice.While it is a HUGE and extremely loyal fan base it is also pretty laid back and kinda boring at times. Although personally I prefer that over the crazy rabid cult mentality of the Aggie type fans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gaebie
The New York Times has a good article showing the popularity of college football across the US:
That is one of the silliest studies I've seen. Not even close to accurate. It is supposed to measure fan bases but they did it off Google searches and online voting. Who does a Google search for their own school? And when they did the study, there was huge realignment news going on with two schools leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. Like for example half of those "fans" they measured for A&M, are far more likely to be people who had never heard of A&M going "Who the F--- is Texas A&M and why are they going to the SEC? Hmm, let me Google them and find out...." I wouldn't consider those fans. Another part of that is based on votes. A&M has been voted on all of the SEC website, on the CBS website, and on the ESPN website to win SEC this year by a HUGE margin on all three websites polls. Online voting is never reliable.
• Who are the people who fill the stands and watches the games on t.v.? [color="RoyalBlue"]We don't really ever have anyone in the stands or bothering to watch us on TV. In fact last year when UT visited LA to play us, there was more burnt orange than true blue in the stands.
which begs the question.....would a stadium in Westwood instead of Pasadena affect UCLA fan support?
I say we pave over the Bel Air Country Club and build one on Sunset right across from campus.
But then I don't care for golf. lol.
I would LOVE for us to have a home stadium, but not sure how much of a difference it would make. Maybe a smaller one that is really nice. Like I really like that one TCU just built that JJG posted above. It is small but nice. We are never going to bring 100k a game like UT does. But something that is smaller and nice and perhaps with a great view would be cool. Like I love Washington's Husky Stadium in Seattle. There are some great views of LA near and could you imagine a smaller (say 60k?) but nice stadium kinda like Husky Stadium but with a view of LA? I would love that! Not sure anyone would come to the games or not, but I think that there is potential.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In fact last year when UT visited LA to play us, there was more burnt orange than true blue in the stands.
