Fascinating study. A little preview: Ohio State has -- by far -- the largest fan base in the country. #2 is intriguing. Also, you'll see where Nebraska ranks -- and much more.
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Study Shows the Size of Each College Football Team's Fanbase
- Thread starter HuskerWeatherman
- Start date
Yeah, there's is no way Wisconsin has a bigger fan base than Texas A&M. Not sure how they did the metrics but they seem pretty flawed to me.
I had the same thought initially.
However, consider Wisconsin is like Nebraska in that they are the only FBS team in the state. But Wisconsin's population is over 2.5 times Nebraska's. Badgers fans are loyal, and they typically travel very well (not that either of those directly matter in the study).
No doubt A&M has a very loyal fan base as well. And fairly large. But they are a distant second to UT in the state of Texas. There are Longhorns fans everywhere -- and many of them with no direct connection to the university. I don't think A&M is quite to that level. Then add in Baylor, Texas Tech, SMU, TCU, Houston, UTEP, Texas State, North Texas, Rice -- heck, I might be missing one -- that's a lot of FBS teams in this state.
It would be interesting to see the numbers and sources he used in his analysis.
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I generally agree but having lived in Texas for a number of years and having worked at Texas A&M, I just don't see Wisconsin as being close to the A&M fan base. It's true that there a are a lot of schools in Texas but the gap between A&M and who ever is third in the state (I'd say Tech) is every bit as large as the gap between UT and A&M. There are a lot of pro teams in Texas which does dilute it some, too, though.
It's an interesting article/analysis. There's no perfect way to measure these things.
This gets to exactly what threw me about this study.
It was measuring the size of the fanbase, not necessarily the TV viewership or how much "presence" a team commands on the national level.
What makes a fan, according to this survey?
The fine print mentions some New York Times studies, as well as comparing ticket sales and US population data from the census. The specific methodology is left a big vague. So I looked up some of the NYT studies done and found, in my opinion, some grievous errors in how the newspaper calculated fanbase size.
First, they took the 210 television media markets in the United States and figured out how many college football fans each market has (okay so far). Then, they allocated them among the 120 (at the time) FBS teams.
In other words, they took the ~20 million people who live in New York (state) and allocated them amongst, who? Syracuse, Army, and Buffalo. Maybe Rutgers, UConn and Boston College if you want to widen the map a bit. I guess that's how Syracuse gets 3 million fans - more than, you know, Tennessee.
Secondly, they looked at Google search traffic. They cite that the term “college football” is searched 5x as often in Birmingham, AL, than in New York City, NY. Thus, the article wrongfully concludes, there are likely 5x as many college football fans in Birmingham than New York.
They further explain that they boil this down to a per-capita metric (good), but what they fail to account for is the teams those college football fans are searching for. While Birmingham might have a higher concentration of football fans than New York, the reality is that NYC still has a much greater total number of fans. And I GUARANTEE you the people in NYC typing "college football" into Google are NOT all looking for Syracuse.
The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos)
The possible realignment of college football conferences raises a host of interesting questions about fan loyalty.
archive.nytimes.com
This methodology is problematic for teams with small media markets and outsized national followings. It's a double hit because they get a smaller attribution of local fans (tiny market) and their ex-pat fans who now live in other cities are being counted towards other teams. In essence, his methodology would ascribe my college football fandom to Oregon, since I live in Eugene and look at CFB things online.
It's a pretty looking presentation, but I call BULL. He managed to get somethings more or less accurate (Ohio State, Texas, etc) but that's not exactly a mystery to anyone who follows CFB. Using the Ducks as another example, I cannot fathom how he came up with 5.5 million fans for UO. The population of this entire state is around 4 million, and I can tell you from experience that it's pretty evenly split between Ducks and Beavers, especially when you get up to Portland. Not to mention all the Husky fans, etc., (again, myself and other fans who live here) would further chip away at that number. I just don't see where he's finding ~3 million extra Duck fans who live outside Oregon.
All I know is from what I’ve personally witnessed over the decades. Nebraska has, or had, legions of fans everywhere. The N used to shine, and carry a big stick. I lived in Chattanooga, TN in 1992 for a year and there were Nebraska fans all over. I’m not sure wether that’s still the case, but Nebraska has filled up stadiums around the country as well as any fan base, including Texas and Ohio State. Hell, Texas can’t even fill their own stadium. I do doubt, that you’ll find any fan base as passionate and loyal as what Nebraska has. 380 home sellouts speaks volumes, even if a handful of those games needed help.
Agree.This gets to exactly what threw me about this study.
It was measuring the size of the fanbase, not necessarily the TV viewership or how much "presence" a team commands on the national level.
What makes a fan, according to this survey?
The fine print mentions some New York Times studies, as well as comparing ticket sales and US population data from the census. The specific methodology is left a big vague. So I looked up some of the NYT studies done and found, in my opinion, some grievous errors in how the newspaper calculated fanbase size.
First, they took the 210 television media markets in the United States and figured out how many college football fans each market has (okay so far). Then, they allocated them among the 120 (at the time) FBS teams.
In other words, they took the ~20 million people who live in New York (state) and allocated them amongst, who? Syracuse, Army, and Buffalo. Maybe Rutgers, UConn and Boston College if you want to widen the map a bit. I guess that's how Syracuse gets 3 million fans - more than, you know, Tennessee.
Secondly, they looked at Google search traffic. They cite that the term “college football” is searched 5x as often in Birmingham, AL, than in New York City, NY. Thus, the article wrongfully concludes, there are likely 5x as many college football fans in Birmingham than New York.
They further explain that they boil this down to a per-capita metric (good), but what they fail to account for is the teams those college football fans are searching for. While Birmingham might have a higher concentration of football fans than New York, the reality is that NYC still has a much greater total number of fans. And I GUARANTEE you the people in NYC typing "college football" into Google are NOT all looking for Syracuse.
The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos)
The possible realignment of college football conferences raises a host of interesting questions about fan loyalty.archive.nytimes.com
This methodology is problematic for teams with small media markets and outsized national followings. It's a double hit because they get a smaller attribution of local fans (tiny market) and their ex-pat fans who now live in other cities are being counted towards other teams. In essence, his methodology would ascribe my college football fandom to Oregon, since I live in Eugene and look at CFB things online.
It's a pretty looking presentation, but I call BULL. He managed to get somethings more or less accurate (Ohio State, Texas, etc) but that's not exactly a mystery to anyone who follows CFB. Using the Ducks as another example, I cannot fathom how he came up with 5.5 million fans for UO. The population of this entire state is around 4 million, and I can tell you from experience that it's pretty evenly split between Ducks and Beavers, especially when you get up to Portland. Not to mention all the Husky fans, etc., (again, myself and other fans who live here) would further chip away at that number. I just don't see where he's finding ~3 million extra Duck fans who live outside Oregon.
Total Oregon living alumni: 195,000
For perspective:
UNL: 300,000
PSU: 700,000
OSU: 500,000
USC: 450,000
Notre Dame: 159,000
Syracuse is huge in NY metro area, said when Big10 got Rutgers that if goal was to get footprint in NYC Syracuse was much better choice
Good question is are we talking only football because not sure how many Syracuse fans in NYC are acctually BBall fans but can tell you are a lot there.The school sells a ton of Merch in NYC as well. was actually surprised at how small they set Nebraska base because having lived all over this great Nation Always see huge Husker contingent and a lot are local wherever they go.
They say it's not the size of the fan base that is important... 
Not all fans are equal, some have more fandom then others. Add in then subtract the fair weather fans, which gives you the true fan base number. Lots of fair weather fans when your winning true fans stay when losing. That’s the number that we need to know.
I am not sure about these NYT metrics but my experience is that there are Nebraska fans lurking everywhere and I have not witnessed any other school's fans take over opponents stadiums like the Big Red do. Future conference games at the Coliseum and Rose Bowl will likely be Red outs...even if we still suck on the field.
I will use the Beeno Cook's metrics from the 2001 Rose Bowl (paraphrased):
If there was a nuclear holocaust and only three people survived at least one of them would have a Nebraska flag!
Beano is right. I mean, just look around, awareness? Take the bias out. Who fills road stadiums like Nebraska fans do. I can’t think of one fan base that does, Ohio State and Texas included. Not to mention, what teams fill their own damn stadiums like Nebraska does? And they have sucked for years. Any other fan base, and there are 20,000 empty seats. I think this boils down to, use your damn head, and show me a better fan base? I wanna see it. I’d put Nebraska’s fan base up against anyone, all day, every day!!
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