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this one is a general question about college football (though it extends to basketball as well). I'm going to identify three types of schools and with each, I'm questioning their fan base.
to start, we know that students and alumni are an important part of any university's fan base, so I'll eliminate that as a distinction.
1. FLAGSHIP STATE UNIVERSITIES: These are mainly BCS schools. Their obvious fan base is their state. Folks in Indiana give statewide support to IU and Purdue, like Michigan gives support to U-M and MSU. In places like Nebraska, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Missouri, there is only one state wide university and it gets all the attention. Some state flagships are so powerful that their draw goes well beyond their state: Michigan, Bama, LSU, OU, OSU, among others. Where else do you think their support comes from?
2. MAJOR PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES: I'm thinking mostly BCS schools. They tend to have a disadvantage compared to the public flagships since they can't draw from a territory that they don't really represent. Notre Dame's draw is incredible; Catholics in particular. The strength and legend of the program and its independent status have sold ND to lots of fans. USC, with its success on the west coast, is a draw throughout its history. What about others: how much of an attraction is Northwestern in Chicagoland? How does Vandy get its fan base when Nashville is so much smaller than Chicago? How does Duke draw a fan base in football (obviously not basketball) going up against UNC and NCState, both public, in the same metro area? Does USC's success carry more weight than UCLA's publicness in the LA market? Is private Stanford at a disadvantage vs. public Cal in the Bay Area or does Stanford's great reputation draw fans? Where else do you think these schools are supported?
3. SECONDARY/REGIONAL STATE UNIVERSITIES: Do "directional schools" get support from their region: for example, do people in western Michigan support WMU or, if they are not connected as students and alum's, tend to disregard it and focus on U-M or MSU. Is Miami well supported in the Cincinnati market? Where does W&M get fans and do the fans in Virginia ignore it in favor of the big boys at UVa and VT?Where do the regional state universities get their draw?
With the exception of Notre Dame, the students and alumni are the fan base. I don't think there are that many fans of a college team that did not attend that school. They may watch some teams on TV regularly, as I do, but they don't buy season tickets and certainly don't travel to the bowl games. Maybe your definition of fan base is different from mine.
I have always thought that people that were fans of a school they never attended were somewhat odd. I don't mean the TV viewers but the ones that buy the shirts and refer to the team as "we". I see this mostly with ND. I lived in Ohio most of my life but never cared about OSU football unless I had a bet on the game. I have heard OSU grads say they wish "those" people would quit buying the shirts and other stuff. They also say that children are an exception since they may go there some day. I am sure the grads of other schools feel the same. They worked hard and spent a lot of money for their degree. They don't want to see the cashier at 7-11 wearing their schools T-shirt.
So I guess I completely disagree with your post. People support their school. The people that buy the Wal-Mart Michigan T shirt will most likely never buy a ticket. The big schools have enough grads and students to sell the tickets to. The TV viewers will mostly watch the games televised in their area. They may wish a certain game was on but will watch what is televised.
With the exception of Notre Dame, the students and alumni are the fan base. I don't think there are that many fans of a college team that did not attend that school. They may watch some teams on TV regularly, as I do, but they don't buy season tickets and certainly don't travel to the bowl games. Maybe your definition of fan base is different from mine.
I have always thought that people that were fans of a school they never attended were somewhat odd. I don't mean the TV viewers but the ones that buy the shirts and refer to the team as "we". I see this mostly with ND. I lived in Ohio most of my life but never cared about OSU football unless I had a bet on the game. I have heard OSU grads say they wish "those" people would quit buying the shirts and other stuff. They also say that children are an exception since they may go there some day. I am sure the grads of other schools feel the same. They worked hard and spent a lot of money for their degree. They don't want to see the cashier at 7-11 wearing their schools T-shirt.
So I guess I completely disagree with your post. People support their school. The people that buy the Wal-Mart Michigan T shirt will most likely never buy a ticket. The big schools have enough grads and students to sell the tickets to. The TV viewers will mostly watch the games televised in their area. They may wish a certain game was on but will watch what is televised.
While one has a more personal connection if they graduated from a school I don't really buy the you can't be a fan if you didn't attend. You could have a family member that attended so you follow the team. You could grow up in close proximity to the university. You could live in a state where there are no pro sports so your options to follow a team are a couple universities. You could work at the university but did not attend.
To me it makes a big difference if the person follows the university sports programs as a whole. Some guy that liked Miami football because they had this thug atmosphere he thought was cool and didn't know anything else about the school or any other sports programs would be an annoying fan. If you didn't attend Miami but you followed their sports program and respected their academics then I think that is quite reasonable.
With the exception of Notre Dame, the students and alumni are the fan base. I don't think there are that many fans of a college team that did not attend that school. They may watch some teams on TV regularly, as I do, but they don't buy season tickets and certainly don't travel to the bowl games. Maybe your definition of fan base is different from mine.
I have always thought that people that were fans of a school they never attended were somewhat odd. I don't mean the TV viewers but the ones that buy the shirts and refer to the team as "we". I see this mostly with ND. I lived in Ohio most of my life but never cared about OSU football unless I had a bet on the game. I have heard OSU grads say they wish "those" people would quit buying the shirts and other stuff. They also say that children are an exception since they may go there some day. I am sure the grads of other schools feel the same. They worked hard and spent a lot of money for their degree. They don't want to see the cashier at 7-11 wearing their schools T-shirt.
So I guess I completely disagree with your post. People support their school. The people that buy the Wal-Mart Michigan T shirt will most likely never buy a ticket. The big schools have enough grads and students to sell the tickets to. The TV viewers will mostly watch the games televised in their area. They may wish a certain game was on but will watch what is televised.
my thinking was more on the lines of those who really support the teams....fans who watch them on t.v., of course, but very much more...those who attend the game. And that was my main point about the flagship public universities: they tend to get their whole state's support and fill up large stadiums. Private univeristies have a much more difficult time in doing the same because they just don't have that type of fan base.
I have always thought that people that were fans of a school they never attended were somewhat odd. I don't mean the TV viewers but the ones that buy the shirts and refer to the team as "we". I see this mostly with ND. I lived in Ohio most of my life but never cared about OSU football unless I had a bet on the game. I have heard OSU grads say they wish "those" people would quit buying the shirts and other stuff. They also say that children are an exception since they may go there some day. I am sure the grads of other schools feel the same. They worked hard and spent a lot of money for their degree. They don't want to see the cashier at 7-11 wearing their schools T-shirt.
While one has a more personal connection if they graduated from a school I don't really buy the you can't be a fan if you didn't attend. You could have a family member that attended so you follow the team. You could grow up in close proximity to the university. You could live in a state where there are no pro sports so your options to follow a team are a couple universities. You could work at the university but did not attend.
To me it makes a big difference if the person follows the university sports programs as a whole. Some guy that liked Miami football because they had this thug atmosphere he thought was cool and didn't know anything else about the school or any other sports programs would be an annoying fan. If you didn't attend Miami but you followed their sports program and respected their academics then I think that is quite reasonable.
That's me. I grew up in Ohio and am a huge Buckeye fan but I go out of my way to remind people that I'm not an alum (I moved to Arizona when I was 13 for health reasons). I've had relatives graduate from Ohio State and (probably wrongly but at least I recognize his faults) admire Woody Hayes' commitment to making sure his players got the most out of their time in college.
I have always thought that people that were fans of a school they never attended were somewhat odd.
I've always thought people who get worked up over this ^^^^^^ are odd. I've never taken a class at Purdue or IU, yet I've been to more football games at both schools than some alumni I know. I've never taken a class at Butler, nor have most people in Indianapolis. Yet, they've taken Indianapolis by storm in recent years.
I have always thought that people that were fans of a school they never attended were somewhat odd.
Not necessarily. My father and mother attended Auburn. My brothers and my sister attended Auburn. My four brothers-in-law and two sisters-in-law attended Auburn. My wife attended Auburn. And I would have attended Auburn if I hadn't earned a sweet scholarship to a private college. Even so, I wish I had attended Auburn. So, yeah, there can be a great deal of connection to a school even if you never matriculated.
College sports is basically on the same level of viewership as pro sports, so to say that people that call themselves fans that didn't attend the college or have a direct connection is absurd! Having lived my whole life (except this past year) in WV, I was raised a WVU fan. Neither my Dad or Mom graduated from WVU, but yet we have held season tickets and been donors for over 15 years or so. In fact We have traveled all over the country to watch WVU sports and have been as far west as Arizona to watch WVU football. I have personally been to 9 bowl games in my life including 2 BCS games. People like my family root for college teams because they represent states/regions/towns and they contribute to the local economy. People in my state support our team because when they play the represent the state as a whole. kind of like an Olympic team representing a country.
Yeah, you definitely don't have to attend a university to have a connection to their athletic program.
Many people form their attachments to teams as kids. It could be a team that their family likes, the local school, the state flagship or the current popular team that has a fun style and is always on TV. Many kids will gain an attachment and interest in the athletics and follow them regardless of which school they choose for academic reasons.
I grew up in Upstate NY. I'm a Miami fan. I have a lot of family in FL and have always enjoyed my time there. Combine that with the fact that Miami was always on TV and a very fun team to watch in the 80s/early 90s I became a really big fan. I was accepted into the university and although I liked the school and their athletics program chose not to attend and ended up at a school with no football program. I still went to watch the Hurricanes whenever they came into the area though. I also would attend games for the other local universities because they were a lot of fun.
Miami is a relatively small private university (good sized for a private school, but small compared to the state universities that run big football programs) ....... they are definitely supported more by people who have no connection to the university.
Same with Notre Dame which has the catholic connection as well as generations of success and exposure.
Duke basketball is another one.
The big program in upstate NY is Syracuse. I didn't know a single person in my town who went to Syracuse (it too is a smaller private university) - however, they were by far the most popular team. Penn State was also very popular along with Notre Dame and Michigan.
I now live in Phoenix and have taken my daughter to ASU softball games. As my kids get older we will go to more ASU athletics. If they choose to be fans of their athletic programs, great. However, that would be sepapate from their academic pursuits. The athletics for us are entertainment and it's always nice when they do well because the area gets more exciting - even as someone who has no formal ties to the school.
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