(01-22-2013 03:38 PM)knucklehead Wrote:  It would be kinda dumb to think Liberty could be as popular as ND or BYU in the near future.

Nobody is suggesting that for the near future....or the far future for that matter.

(01-22-2013 03:44 PM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(01-22-2013 02:14 PM)Libertygrad01 Wrote:  

(01-22-2013 01:57 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(01-22-2013 01:36 PM)ark30inf Wrote:  

(01-22-2013 01:32 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  Liberty is not going to make major inroads with Southern Baptists who are avid football fans because they all already have a team.

I know Catholic Razorback fans who are also Notre Damey.

Sure, I'm not saying there won't be those who adopt them as a second team, but how many will actually track down their schedule? Buy their merchandise? Make them more than a total afterthought when compared to their "real" school. School pride and loyalty being what it is, especially in the south, they have no shot at making major inroads, just like I said. I don't think southern Baptists who view Liberty with 1% of the fandom they do their actual school are a quantifiable asset to the Liberty fanbase.

Furthermore let's just take a step back and remind ourselves that we are comparing Liberty to Notre Dame, it's highly likely that the Catholic hogs you mention have always had Notre Dame as their "family team", possibly even going back a generation or two before they became Arkansas fans. That's not going to be the case with Liberty.

Keep one thing in mind. Liberty has the second most successful online learning program. On campus and online students is around 100,000 currently. The last I heard I think we've graduated around 400,000 in the past 5 or 6 years. That number will continue to grow. Will all the online students be devoted alumni? Probably not, but allot will. This well help Liberty with become a national brand. Are with any where equal to Notre Dame? Heck no. but the potential for outstanding growth is. I would invite anyone to take a minute or two and check out Liberty.edu and see what's going on. State of the art baseball field being built, new basketball practice facility, new football expansions to the stadium, broke ground on a $40,000,000 library. Amazing stuff...

Take the state of Alabama out of the tally. Your are either a Tide or Tiger Fan. Then you can root for UAB, Troy or USA. Liberty will not pull from that remainder because there is no remainder.

Alabama may be the most extreme example of this(perhaps only rivaled by hoops fans in Kentucky and North Carolina) but this is the point I've been arguing all along. Making in roads with fans in SEC country where most take their school almost as seriously as their church(and many take it more seriously) Liberty will be lucky to draw more than a cursory glance and well wishes.