Over 50,000 people actually cared enough about Duke football to show up for a game?

Capital Pirate Wrote:There's no "conspiracy" to it, as far as I'm concerned....it's simply a misleading situation that is constantly used to defame and degrade ECU....

I'm sure if such a myth were being perpetuated against UofL, you and other Cards would be quick to jump to defend her....nothing different here.....

Fair enough, although I think this horse has been dead for months and is still being kicked and poked. It just doesn't seem like many BE posters on here are worried about who is or isn't in ECU's market, in the context of making personal decisions as to whether they'd like to see ECU added or not added. I could be mistaken, but if memory serves its more often than not other CUSA fans (or tiggy) complaining about ECU's market.

I'd say debate over this poll is a little different, as the poll claims to look statewide, versus the topic of whether a certain county should be in a different Nielson zone. With how their system is set up to not allow a shared county, you will always have certain areas unhappy. Some have argued that even adding ECU to a BCS league would not change allegiances of NC residents, but I see that falling in more with the poll topic, because ECU winning over more fans has nothing to do with who Nielson says is or isn't officially in ECU's market.

Perhaps Pirate fans are worried the actual league office will look at Nielson and assume ECU has no fans in Wilson Co for example? I don't think they would have such a shallow investigation of potential members, but even if they did, they aren't looking to this board for answers.....at least I hope!

"TV market" is often one of the first arguments brought up against ECU when conference expansion is being discussed.......and in the context of this thread (ECU's 'popularity' in NC), IMO (and since it was brought up in the thread previously), it is a MUCH more important issue to shed light on than a phone poll conducted by a newspaper......the phone poll won't be a factor if/when realignment comes about - but TV markets undoubtedly will.....

I was just curious about how the whole thing works.

But Cap is exactly right. The TV market thing is and will be a factor.

I know the DMA's go over state lines frequently but in states like North Carolina that state line is very powerful. Your local economy, roads, team loyalties, high school competiton stop at that line. I would assume most states would have the same thing. Especially in rural areas.

It is just plain silly that town 60 miles from Greenville, that are covered by the Greenville stations are counted in the Norfolk, VA TV market.

But I am sure that any decisions are based on a little further research and not just surface numbers???

Who cares about ECU? The real questions should be who do ECU fans care about? All the same arguments can be made about Memphis given access do BCS $$$. Memphis could solidify it recruiting base in football and other sports with BCS affiliation. What is more important, in my mind, is that Memphis does not have to manufacture rivalries with Cinci, U of L, and USF, and to a lesser extent WVU (basketball-Huggy).

For clarification I am not trying to take anything away from ECU, but ECU is not entitled to anything. They have a decent football tradition, which has been struggling recently, do they play basketball? and a great baseball team. Who knows what the future holds?

On a side note, comparing Memphis w/ UT is apples and oranges, you might as well compare them to Kentucky or Georgia they are just as close. Memphis' peers are more comparable to Ole Miss, MSU, Vandy or even Arkansas.

All 12 of ECU's football games will be televised this season including 3 on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

The Pirates will get a lot of air time in Big East "territory" this season.

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised the Carolina Hurricanes are the second most popular pro sports team.

\

I'm surprised Carolina has a favorite pro sports team. Pro fans in Carolina haven't had much to cheer about.

The Hurricane did win the Stanley Cup in 05-06, and they almost made the playoffs again this year.

Halfcourt Wrote:On a side note, comparing Memphis w/ UT is apples and oranges, you might as well compare them to Kentucky or Georgia they are just as close. Memphis' peers are more comparable to Ole Miss, MSU, Vandy or even Arkansas.

Last I checked the University of Memphis was governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents. And while, IIRC, the University of Tennessee System has separate administration, both are ultimately managed by the State of Tennessee, and their primary customers and student targets are within Tennessee. There has been a relative levelling of tuitions around the southeast to suggest it makes little difference to attend some universities out of state, but, just as proximity and culture may provide a reasoning to consider one group of schools as peers, a lot of the business aspects of University operations entail more "pulling for the home team" kinds of attitude and thus also warrants special consideration. Especially when talking about such ancillary things as marketing, public appeal, sports, etc.

Bitchruncher, The Panthers were in the NFC championship game a couple of years ago & a couple of years before that they play the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Hurricanes won the Cup year before last. How's all the West Virginia pro teams doing?

The Panthers are pretty popular even here in the East.

There are a few folks who like the Hurricanes but even after they won the Stanley Cup a lot of the shine was off before this season even started. Most folks outside the Triangle just do not care. The Bobcats are even lower than the Hurricanes.

They probably asked specifically about North Carolina Pro teams. I would think the Braves, Redskins or Orioles would rank higher than the bobcats or hurricanes.

If ECU would agree to be football only, and only share in BE football revenues, I cant believe they arent there already.

They wouldnt share in Basketball revenues, so the big money stays with the current 16 teams.

They have a big enough market and a big enough stadium. They win enough, sell enough tickets, and have a good history.


They can easily put their other sports in another conference, which should be fine because they are a football school. the only real football crazy school in the state. nc st. could only claim to be 50/50 at the most.


They would bring fans to your stadiums, which makes you money.. No other team in the country would bring as many fans as them, except in 2 cases. memphis to louisville and ucf to usf. thats just one each.

you want to schedule and beat acc teams? add ecu and let them help.

TexanMark Wrote:As the spectre of possibly adding teams to the Big East looms--this little poll adds some light to how ECU is viewed in NC.

Basically tied for 4th with WFU

If added to the Big East I'm sure they would zoom past WF--since WF is on a high from last year's BCS pretender.

Poll

The poll was about overall sports popularity and wasn't qualified by which sport. I think that makes a difference in that the ACC basketball schools get a boost from that as much as anything. Just say who is your favorite college football program and you have a different result I imagine.

There is no way in hell WF has more fans in NC than ECU. It's not even close, I'd say ECU has 3 times as many. Duke doesn't have many either that actually participate in events.

Brick City Pirate Wrote:Bitchruncher, The Panthers were in the NFC championship game a couple of years ago & a couple of years before that they play the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Hurricanes won the Cup year before last. How's all the West Virginia pro teams doing?

The Panthers lost, didn't they?
The Hurricanes don't count. Who really cares about hockey in the south?

By the way, West Virginia's pro team is currently undefeated.

jay2000 Wrote:If ECU would agree to be football only, and only share in BE football revenues, I cant believe they arent there already.

They wouldnt share in Basketball revenues, so the big money stays with the current 16 teams.

They have a big enough market and a big enough stadium. They win enough, sell enough tickets, and have a good history.


They can easily put their other sports in another conference, which should be fine because they are a football school. the only real football crazy school in the state. nc st. could only claim to be 50/50 at the most.


They would bring fans to your stadiums, which makes you money.. No other team in the country would bring as many fans as them, except in 2 cases. memphis to louisville and ucf to usf. thats just one each.

you want to schedule and beat acc teams? add ecu and let them help.

The big problem with this is that if ECU were to join for football only, we would get NO vote in the Big East. The votes would have to stay 8 football/8 basketball. PLUS whatever league our other sports would be in would probably also not want to give us any say in the direction of the conference. They would know we would drop them at the drop of a hat if a Big East invite came. We had the same issues with the CAA before we went to C-USA. We were not in the conference meetings and could not participate in the post season tournaments. If may not be that dramatic but you would have to realize we would be at the bottom of the totem pole and any ideas our leadership may put forth would probably be overlooked.

It is not as simple as just saying "football only".

I understand that, but you have to make sacrifices to move up and this would be a huge step in the right direction.

Topcard91 Wrote:

jay2000 Wrote:If ECU would agree to be football only, and only share in BE football revenues, I cant believe they arent there already.

They wouldnt share in Basketball revenues, so the big money stays with the current 16 teams.

They have a big enough market and a big enough stadium. They win enough, sell enough tickets, and have a good history.


They can easily put their other sports in another conference, which should be fine because they are a football school. the only real football crazy school in the state. nc st. could only claim to be 50/50 at the most.


They would bring fans to your stadiums, which makes you money.. No other team in the country would bring as many fans as them, except in 2 cases. memphis to louisville and ucf to usf. thats just one each.

you want to schedule and beat acc teams? add ecu and let them help.

The big problem with this is that if ECU were to join for football only, we would get NO vote in the Big East. The votes would have to stay 8 football/8 basketball. PLUS whatever league our other sports would be in would probably also not want to give us any say in the direction of the conference. They would know we would drop them at the drop of a hat if a Big East invite came. We had the same issues with the CAA before we went to C-USA. We were not in the conference meetings and could not participate in the post season tournaments. If may not be that dramatic but you would have to realize we would be at the bottom of the totem pole and any ideas our leadership may put forth would probably be overlooked.

It is not as simple as just saying "football only".

I agree with the ECU compadres up there (check the weather in Hell, boys) ... You guys are seriously going to prop up this poll and argue that ECU isn't popular in North Carolina...?

Excuse me a sec...


Ok, I'm done.

With only 467 folks polled, I doubt these "Public Policy Polling" folks even got out of North Raleigh to conduct this survey, especially since they did it over a 5-day stretch.

Between the folks down east, the folks in Raleigh-Durham who swear they pay ECU no mind (re: NC State fans), and the folks in the Charlotte area who listen to "Primetime with the Packman", there's plenty enough interest in ECU football.

Always has been, always will be.

I don't state anything really. I just question any numbers. North Carolina really doesn't seem to get football yet. They're all stuck on basketball, I guess.