(07-25-2013 09:39 PM)RecoveringHillbilly Wrote:  

(07-25-2013 12:40 PM)woomba Wrote:  Having lived in Buffalo all my life (with a BA and MBA from U/B) I can assure everyone that the school with the most fans in Buffalo is Notre Dame. The large Irish Catholic population insures that most TVs in bars are tuned to NBC on fall Saturdays.

Except they are Bills fans. Joe Sixpack in Cheektowaga who didn't attend college doesn't watch college football religiously, and only pays attention to players near draft-time. The average ratings for college events in Buffalo say it's UB at the top :

2009 International Bowl UConn/Buffalo Sat Jan 3, Noon ESPN2 : 16.5
2005 MAC BB Title Game Ohio/Buffalo Sat March 12, 7 PM ESPN2 : 13.7
2011 NCAA Title Game Duke/Butler Mon Apr 5, 9 PM CBS: 12.9
2013 NCAA BCS Title Game Notre Dame/Alabama ESPN 12.2
2008 MAC FB Title Game Ball St/Buffalo Fri Dec 5, 8 pm ESPN2 : 11.6
2009 MAC BB Title Game Akron/Buffalo Sat March 14, 7 PM ESPN2 : 11.4
2012 NCAA BCS Title Game Alabama/LSU ESPN: 10.4
2009 NCAA BCS Title Game Florida/Okie Sat Jan 8, 8 PM Fox: 10.2 [Bump from Bills fans interested in Tebow]
2012 NCAA Title Game Kentucky/Kansas CBS: 10.0
2009 NCAA Title Game UNC/Michigan St Mon Apr 6, 9 PM CBS: 8.4
2010 NCAA BB Sweet 16 Syracuse/Butler Thu March 25, 7 PM CBS: 7.9
2007 NCAA BB 1st Round Niagara/Kansas Fri March 16, 7 PM CBS : 7.8
2012 NCAA BB Final 4 Kentucky/Louisville CBS 7.8
2012 NCAA BB 1st Round St Bona/FSU CBS 7.5
2012 NCAA BB Sweet 16 Syracuse/Wisconson CBS 7.4
2012 NCAA BB Elite 8 Syracuse/Ohio St CBS 6.9
2010 NCAA BB 2nd Round Syracuse/Gonzaga Sun March 21, 12 PM CBS: 6.8
2010 NCAA BB 1st Round Syracuse/Vermont Fri March 19, 10 PM CBS: 6.3
2010 NCAA BB 2nd Round Cornell/Wisconsin Sun March 21, 3 PM CBS: 6.3
2007 NCAA BB 1st Round Duke/VCU Thur March 15, 7 PM CBS: 6.1
2012 NCAA BB Final 4 Kansas/Ohio St CBS: 6.1
2011 NCAA BB 2nd Round UCLA/Florida Sat March 19, 3 PM CBS: 6.0
2010 BCS Fiesta Bowl Boise St/TCU Mon Jan 6, 8 PM Fox: 5.3
2008 MAC FB Miami @ Buffalo, Election Night Thu Nov 2, 7:30 pm ESPN2 : 5.1 [highest rated event below Election Night coverage]
2010 Sweet 16 Kentucky/Cornell Thu March 25, 10 PM CBS : 5.1
2012 NCAA BB 2nd Round Syracuse/Kansas St CBS 4.9
2010 BCS Bowls (5) Jan 1-Jan 7, Fox/ABC: 4.3 [Ave. rating for the 5 games]
2012 NCAA WBB Sweet 16 St Bona/Marist ESPN2: 4.0
2009 BCS Bowls excluding Fla/Okie game (4) Jan 1-Jan 5, Fox: 3.6 [Ave. rating for the 4 games]
2009 BE Tourny Syracuse/UConn Thur March 12, 9:30 PM ESPN: 3.2 [The BE title game that went 6OT]
2009 MAAC Title Game Niagara/Siena Mon March 9, 9 PM ESPN2: 2.5
2012 NCAA WBB Elite 8 St Bona/Notre Dame ESPN2: 2.5
2012 NCAA BB 1ST Round Syracuse/UNC-Asheville truTV: 2.5
2012 NCAA WBB 1st Round St Bona/FL Gulf Coast ESPN2: 2.3
2011 Pinstripe Bowl Kansas St/Syracuse Thu Dec 30, 3:30 pm ESPN: 2.1

As well as this comparison of UB's International Bowl with the Sabres last season-opener:

NBC, the national TV broadcaster, reported the [Sabres season opener]at First Niagara Center, won by Buffalo 5-2, had a rating of 22.3....In the Buffalo market, that translates to approximately 127,000 households...it was a record audience for a Sabres’ game, with the lone exception the 2008 Winter Classic.
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"The University at Buffalo’s loss to UConn on Saturday afternoon in the International Bowl was a local ratings hit. The game on ESPN2 averaged a 16.5 rating, representing 16.5 percent of Western New York homes [116,000 households]......Time Warner Cable reported that the game drew the largest local cable broadcast audience in four years"

So the Sabres' big return: 19,070 at home, average of 127,000 local households viewing on NBC
UB's first bowl game ever: ~30,000 UB fans were in Toronto, average of 116,000 local households viewing on ESPN2

So, yes, we have the market numbers.

Interesting numbers. Especially the dominance of basketball compared to nationally.

(07-26-2013 09:37 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  U of Buffalo will never spread its audience east in the state, because it runs into a wall of markets with other schools that own them through the center of Upstate... Syracuse-Ithaca-Binghamton.

SU dominates much of Upstate - it's fanbase on TV and at the Carrier Dome spreads more than an hour in all directions. Cornell has the attention of the Finger Lakes, and Binghamton University (another SUNY Center, like UBuffalo) is a growing force of its own, dominating the Southern Tier...

It is a wall they'll never penetrate - they aren't on in Central NY, they have no access to the Hudson Valley... let alone six hours east in NYC or farther east out on Long Island to become the "State's" school.

+1
Being from Albany, Buffalo is like another planet, there's no connection to that part of the state. UB does not get any press here. I would agree that upstate NY is SU country and if the footall team could put some meaningful winning seasons together, they could become the "State's team".
I fully agree to what you eluded to about the different markets, each area of NY is like their own fiefdom. If UB doesn't improve itself in the next few years, I could see Stony Brook surpassing them in athletics.

(07-26-2013 10:46 PM)Mr. Derfman Wrote:  

(07-26-2013 09:37 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  U of Buffalo will never spread its audience east in the state, because it runs into a wall of markets with other schools that own them through the center of Upstate... Syracuse-Ithaca-Binghamton.

SU dominates much of Upstate - it's fanbase on TV and at the Carrier Dome spreads more than an hour in all directions. Cornell has the attention of the Finger Lakes, and Binghamton University (another SUNY Center, like UBuffalo) is a growing force of its own, dominating the Southern Tier...

It is a wall they'll never penetrate - they aren't on in Central NY, they have no access to the Hudson Valley... let alone six hours east in NYC or farther east out on Long Island to become the "State's" school.

+1
Being from Albany, Buffalo is like another planet, there's no connection to that part of the state. UB does not get any press here. I would agree that upstate NY is SU country and if the footall team could put some meaningful winning seasons together, they could become the "State's team".
I fully agree to what you eluded to about the different markets, each area of NY is like their own fiefdom. If UB doesn't improve itself in the next few years, I could see Stony Brook surpassing them in athletics.

No argument we could not gain traction elsewhere, but that's ok. The only markets we value are our own, a piece of Rochester (15K alumni and our games are broadcasted there on TWCS and radio), and our Tri-state alumni (35,000). 119,000 of our 125,000 in-state alumni live in the those 3 markets and we don't draw a large number of students from elsewhere Upstate. The goal is energizing our base, maintaining that we are the only state public in FBS, and testing the New York branding for non-NY audiences to see how it does. Our AD used the examples of Cal-Berkeley being strongly associated as Berkeley in the Bay area but Cal otherwise, and Ann Arbor having value locally but Michigan being recognized nationally.

Stony Brook and UB could absolutely co-exist as the primary public programs. Both with billion-dollar budgets, both AAU with the best relations between any 2 SUNY schools, which is why we have no qualms doing pay-day deals with them. Their AD is ballsy and I'm shocked he has not tried a play at NY either, though likely because they know it would be better played if they ever attempt and receive an FBS invitation.

Nice TV nums...can you update your list to include the 2013 NCAA Hoops games, thx.