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These college towns of between 100,000 and 250,000 people being compared to metros over 1 million cannot possibly be considered more widely known until they start growing faster, support major national or global services, have something for tourists and visitors to do, and have professional sports teams supported by people loyal to the city and not to the college.
Charlottesville - Newport News, Norfolk .....is it really more popular?
I dont think Madison is more widely known than Milwaukee, because of the pro teams, beer, and the sitcoms Happy Day's and Laverne and Shirley
I dont know about Chapell Hill compared to Greensboro, Durham and Winston-Salem.
adavi215, I'm a little shocked you say with certainty Chapell Hill isnt more well known than those cities, but you'll give it Asheville and Wilmington?? Arent they equally or more well known than Durham and Winston-Salem themselves?
Also Gainesville to JAX....I'm not sure. I thought about that. I still think Jacksonville is more well known.
I think Gainesville is more well known than Cape Coral, Clearwater and St. Pete (maybe) though. Tallahassee over St. Pete as well.
To be a much smaller city and metro, I'll say Tallahassee is atleast equally as known as JAX or more.
I stick to my guns about Chapel Hill. Durham has Duke which is equally as popular as UNC, Durham is also known for its tobacco. Winston-Salem is definitely more popular than Chapel Hill. If you smoke then you have definitely heard of Winston-Salem (Winston and Salem cigarettes plus Wake Forest University). So I definitely stick to my guns. For arguments sake I'll give Chapel Hill more popularity than Asheville and Wilmington. But like I said, no way is Chapel Hill more popular than Durham and Winston-Salem.
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
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Originally Posted by jsimms3
Personally I don't see how a college town can be more widely known than a city 5-6 times its size that is growing more rapidly via immigration than most metros in the country.
Unless your life revolves around college football, there is no way that Athens is more well known than Macon or Augusta (the Masters is in Augusta and Macon might be equal to Athens). There is also no way Tuscaloosa is more well known than Huntsville, a city that is larger, growing fairly rapidly, and is home to a major research park and a NASA space center. There is absolutely no way Charlottesville is more well known than Norfolk, the lead city of a 1.7 million person metro and the nation's largest military base and a huge port that serves global commerce (and VA Beach right there).
I also agree that Chapel Hill the city is not more widely known than Durham, Winston Salem (RJ Reynolds, Winston cigarettes, BB&T), or Asheville (anyone who summers or vacations in the mountains, which is a lot of people, knows Asheville...and Grove Park Inn and Biltmore House and Vineyards). Chapel Hill to people outside of NC = a school, not a city.
I'm also not so sure Ann Arbor is more well known than Grand Rapids, a decently major city. Ann Arbor is a beautiful college town (probably my favorite) but most people think of Ann Arbor almost as a school rather than a city.
Madison is also definitely not more widely known or talked about than Milwaukee. PBR, Miller, sausage, etc etc etc and Milwaukee is about 1.6 million people and an old city with tons of history. Milwaukee also has 3 professional sports teams, including the Brewers and the Bucks! It is absurd to think more people talk about and refer to Madison than Milwaukee.
I agree with Toxic Toast's analysis the most, but I would argue that Tupelo is more widely known than Oxford and Springfield is more widely known than Columbia.
Also, perhaps the most absurd is Gainesville being more widely known than Jacksonville and Tallahassee being more widely known than Jax. Jax was just ranked the 24th most heavily sought after retirement city in America with 76 percent of seniors coming from out of state (usually Tri-State) and Jax is growing at about 20% a decade and is already 1.4 million people. It has a prof sports team, the TPC, a major port, Mayo Clinic, and beaches, as well as St. Augustine/Ponte Vedra.
I can understand your points on several, especially with Augusta having the Masters. Perhaps it is equally or more known than athens.
We also agree about Milwaukee being more well known.
As, for the others.....Well, you're right, Huntsville is growing fast. However, I have to ask myself the following. NATIONWIDE, with the COMMON person, what's more well known? Tuscaloosa for having the University of Alabama and it's football team...or Huntsville with it's research park and NASA?
I'm pretty sure some random guy in Middle America knows more about UofA football than Huntsville's research park...if he's even heard of Huntsville at all.
As for Tallahassee. It's a state capital and home to FSU. I'd think it's atleast equally as known as JAX or not that far behind.
I wouldn't agree with that, the Jaguars make Jacksonville a household name.
Maybe it's all the press Gainesville has been getting lately with Urban Myer leaving UF, the pastor wanting to burn Korans, Tom Petty, Sister Hazel, and Less than Jake being from there to name a few. Also the fact that even when they suck, the UF football games have almost 90,000 in attendance where as Jacksonville is struggling to fill the seats enough to avoid a TV blackout. I think everyone's right about Gainesville < JAX, but you have to admit that it's probably one of the largest cities that has a small college town literally knocking on it's back door in this popularity contest.
Well Gainesville is actually only slightly more than an hour from Jacksonville so it is literally knocking on the back door, and I want to say that this year the Jags have one of the best attendance records in the NFL and no blackouts (in fact mostly sellouts). One year of bad attendance is only enough to knock a city down when the whole sports media is against the city in the first place; does anyone realize that Tampa has had dismal attendance and blackouts this year (and with a good season too?). Also Lynyrd Skynrd is from Jax, as well as Limp Bizkit, Yellowcard, Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, Pat Boone, and about 10 more well known bands/musicians overall blows Gainesville out of the water. The only thing "Gainesvegas" has on Jax is an SEC school and a college football team, neither of which is enough to garner more attention than the things Jax has that garner national attention.
The only cities that overshadow Jax in Florida are Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, and I would argue that Tampa and Jax are fairly neck in neck relatively speaking. Up until the 1920s Jax was it in FL (with Tampa always a smaller but still well known city). Miami didn't even start booming until the 20s and Orlando didn't get its start until the 70s, and it wasn't until the 50s that Tampa Bay started overshadowing Jax.
Edit: Tim Tebow is from Jacksonville and I think anyone who pays attention to college football knows that (it was a shock to football fans everywhere that the Jags did not draft Tebow and went with Alualu instead)
Well Gainesville is actually only slightly more than an hour from Jacksonville so it is literally knocking on the back door, and I want to say that this year the Jags have one of the best attendance records in the NFL and no blackouts (in fact mostly sellouts). One year of bad attendance is only enough to knock a city down when the whole sports media is against the city in the first place; does anyone realize that Tampa has had dismal attendance and blackouts this year (and with a good season too?). Also Lynyrd Skynrd is from Jax, as well as Limp Bizkit, Yellowcard, Allman Brothers, Ray Charles, Pat Boone, and about 10 more well known bands/musicians overall blows Gainesville out of the water. The only thing "Gainesvegas" has on Jax is an SEC school and a college football team, neither of which is enough to garner more attention than the things Jax has that garner national attention.
The only cities that overshadow Jax in Florida are Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, and I would argue that Tampa and Jax are fairly neck in neck relatively speaking. Up until the 1920s Jax was it in FL (with Tampa always a smaller but still well known city). Miami didn't even start booming until the 20s and Orlando didn't get its start until the 70s, and it wasn't until the 50s that Tampa Bay started overshadowing Jax.
Edit: Tim Tebow is from Jacksonville and I think anyone who pays attention to college football knows that (it was a shock to football fans everywhere that the Jags did not draft Tebow and went with Alualu instead)
It was most certainly a big freakin' shock and stupid mistake if you ask me. Why not take the huge Gator's fan base and send them to JAX to continue their Tebow worship lol. And you made excellent points about Jacksonville which I knew, but just overlooked in my attempt to bolster G-ville. Actually, Yellowcard was one of my favorite acts in college and I almost went to a BBQ with them in JAX after Warped Tour. So yes, JAX > Gainesville, however, I think that if somebody like me who only wishes the best for Jacksonville can overlook it so easily, then the city has a major identity crisis. I'd also add hosting a Super Bowl to the list of things Jacksonville has over Gainesville and many other cities.
Eugene > Salem
Tuskegee > Hoover
Blacksburg > Alexandria
Amherst > Springfield
College Station > Sugar Land
Ithaca > Utica
Syracuse > Rochester
Lawrence > Wichita
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