(06-15-2022 07:07 AM)CoastalJuan Wrote: (06-14-2022 12:48 PM)ColKurtz Wrote: Plenty of obvious assertions, like 13 of the largest 16 fanbases being in the SEC/B1G, also some pretty sus ones, like Syracuse having the 14th largest fanbase.
It's an entertaining collection of infographics more than anything, but also paints a pretty concerning portrait of what the new B12's TV contract negotiators will be wrestling with.
My only beef with the data is that they re-group the teams before realignment actually happens. The conference you are actually in has to play at least some role in your numbers. I think the numbers, and rankings within conferences, will shuffle after a few years in the new conferences for everyone shuffling.
Yes, the results should be presented based on actual, current conference affiliation. Putting TX and OU in the SEC is ridonculous, IMO. The actual fan base they have now is a fan base that is bred and grown in the Big 12 and its predecessors, not the SEC.
IMO, this analysis both overstates and understates the size of the SEC fan base.
It overstates it, because if I read the results correctly, they include the Texas and OU fan bases as part of the SEC, which IMO is wrong.
It understates it, because as I say above, some of these fan base estimates are IMO absurd, and many of them negatively impact the SEC. The idea that Oregon has a larger football fan base than Alabama and LSU and Georgia is absurd, IMO, as is the idea that Syracuse has a larger football fan base than Auburn and Tennessee.
I mean, those five SEC programs all draw 85,000 fans per game or more, a few of them draw 90,000 fans or more. Oregon and Syracuse draw about 54,000 and 44,000 fans per game respectively. There's no methodology in the world IMO that can credibly spin the latter fan bases as larger than the former.