The geography of college football, Good Read

The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos) - NYTimes.com


Thought I'd share this, as it is one of the better articles on football fans, TV markets, and where this all is going.....

From the article:
"The S.E.C. has few large media markets — Atlanta’s Georgia Tech is in the A.C.C., as is the University of Miami. But if it adds Texas A&M, it will be up to 15.6 million fans total, just barely behind the Big Ten (17.5 million). The enthusiasm for college football in the Southeast and a lot of mid-sized markets with decent population growth adds up to a very valuable brand — as, of course, does the exceptional quality of the product on the field.
Still, the S.E.C.’s average of about 1.1 million fans per team — not counting Texas A&M — sets a slightly lower bar than the Big Ten’s. Clemson (1.8 million fans), Georgia Tech (1.7 million) or Virginia Tech would improve upon it, while Missouri and West Virginia (1.0 million) are aren’t far from the league average and would do more to expand the conference’s geographic footprint."

Scroll down to the SEC section to see LSU's fan base ranking.

 

Saw this on another board and while interesting, you really have to wonder about the validity of the numbers. For example, compare Georgia Tech's fanbase vs. Georgia, and Auburn's vs. Alabama. There's no way those numbers are accurate.

It seems that a college located in/near a major metropolitan area gets much more heavily weighted even though the fan reality (and alumni base for that matter) would suggest a much different result.

 

As the writer tries to indicate, the data should be viewed as directional, not definitive. Obviously some of the fan base numbers are not "fact", but the cumulative information is as close to real world as I've seen.

As fans, it is quite natural to add our bias at the same time the author is doing his best to eliminate it.

Funny how that works...

 

I find it hard to believe Clemson is number 10. I have lived in the south, Georgia, Tennessee, and have barely seen any Clemson fans compared to just about any college.

 

LSU has very large fan bases in the major metropolitan areas of Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta. Greater NOLA, SW La, Miss Gulf Coast are smaller, local markets that may not have been included.

 

No bias here at all......consider that Georgia's annual enrollment is somewhere around 26,000-28,000 and Georgia Tech's is 12,000-14,000. Extrapolate those numbers out and see what you come up with.

Consider this bias if you want, but drive down any red dirt road in GA. and count the number of people "barking" vs. the number of people "buzzing".

 

I don't know the answer to this - which brings in more revenue: a large fan base or winning championships? The Big 10 may have the "popular" teams but they are on the sideline watching the SEC rake in the championships. I would think winning = more revenue. Wealthy benefactors ala Oregon and Oklahoma State also help. I guess I'm just not sold on the market argument. Who would you rather have in your conference, Arkansas or UCLA?

 

I would say a large fan base. Championships can be few and far between for a school. A trophy may bring a temporary spike in revenue but the revenue from the fan base is always there and grows as more alumni enter the work force.

An example: UT. One of the richest schools. They don't win big games very often but they own the second most populated state in the US.

The SEC schools enjoys the best of both. They win all of the championships and have one of the largest and most rabid fan bases.