(08-02-2020 05:26 PM)Statefan Wrote:  Just for fun and giggles here are my listings of the most "urban" cities to the least urban "towns" see if you agree or disagree

SEC

1. Nashville
2. Columbia SC
3. Columbia Mizzou
4. Fayetteville
5. Gainsville
6. Baton Rouge
7. Knoxville
8. College Station
9. Lexington
10. Athens
11. Tuscolousa (have not been there in a decade)
12. Oxford
13. Starkville
14. Auburn

Compared to the ACC, the Schools are in the "boonies"

1. Miami
2. Boston
3. Atlanta
4. Pittsburgh
5. Raleigh
6. Louisville
7. Tallahassee
8. Syracuse
9. Durham
10. Winston-Salem
11. Charlottesville
12. Chapel Hill
13. Clemson
14. Blacksburg

Technically Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh are in the same Metro - they are, but they are distinct places. Technically Chestnut Hill is a suburb of Boston but you have to park your car in Boston and ride the train to the Alumni Stadium if you are visiting.

The Big 10 goes a follows:

1. Chicago (Evansville)
2. DC (College Park)
3. Minneapolis
4. Columbus
5. Lansing
6. Madison
7. Brunswick
8. Champagne
9. Iowa City
10. Bloomington
11. West Lafayette
12. Ann Arbor
12. Lincoln
13. Happy Valley

Columbus Ohio is about as big as you get before your college football goes to hell in a handbasket. Of course what this list really shows is the interaction between college and pro football that would require about 30 more pages to tease out and put into a thesis.

College football spending is part of a basket of goods that exists in and outside the urban area but competes with other urban spending on discretionary items.

At quick glance, this looks accurate. Well done. However, I would have Lextington, Kentucky, ahead of Gainsville, Fayetteville, College Station, and Columbia, Missouri.

I realize I'm biased toward Nashville (given I live in the city), but ... Nashville in terms of "city things" (zoo, museums, high-rises, mixed-use buildings, symphony hall, people density, restaurants/bars, non-mainstream retail, outdoor events, urban parks, etc.) is like New York compared to the other cities on the SEC list.

Columbia, S.C., has Five Points (very cool) and the zoo is big time.

I feel Knoxville is rather underrated. It offers a very underrated craft beer scene and a safe and fairly vibrant downtown. The river setting is stellar.

Lexington has no major body of water but it is a very "orderly" city. For example, all the residential streets located within, say, three miles of downtown are curbed/sidewalked. The downtown is nice. I like Lexington.

I hear Fayetteville is very nice. Have yet to visit.

Bottom line: The SEC schools, collectively, are located in places of average appeal if you like urbanity.