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.

Money

1. Texas (Tie) – $147
1. Texas A&M (Tie) – $147M
3. Michigan – $139M
4. Alabama – $134M
5. Ohio State – $132M
6. Oklahoma – $129M
7. Georgia – $125M
8. Notre Dame $120M
9. Florida (Tie) – $117M
9. Auburn (Tie) – $117M
11. LSU – $114M
12. Tennessee – $113M
13. Penn State – $104M
14. Oregon (Tie) – $96M
14. Florida State (Tie) – $96M
16. South Carolina (Tie) – $95M
16. Arkansas (Tie) – $95M
18. USC – $93M
19. Washington – $92M
20. Nebraska – $91M
21. Iowa – $89M
22. Michigan State – $87M
23. Wisconsin – $86M
24. Ole Miss – $84M
25. Clemson – $77M

https://www.heartlandcollegesports.com/2...l-program/

Interesting just how much the ACC fanbase is inflated by the "membership" of Notre Dame. The 14 actual ACC members are estimated to have the same total fanbase size as the 12 member PAC, with a significantly lower number of average fans per school if ND is excluded.

Very interesting stuff. This points out that there are still a few schools in the BigXII that are worth expansion consideration besides Kansas if a conference was so inclined (WVU, TTech, OKSt, all in top 40). This also clearly shows the Conference pecking order, SEC > B1G > > > PAC = ACC > BigXII > > > G5(Obviously I'm not counting ND for the ACC).

Thank you for sharing.

(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.

Syracuse having the 14th largest fanbase isn't sus. Half of the New York's population (upstate and Western NY) roots for them. 8-9 million people.

So Syracuse has a bunch of t-shirt fans that just don’t go to football games or watch them on tv?

UConn is 42nd in FOOTBALL fanbase. Anyone saying they don't belong in FBS is aloof.

(06-14-2022 03:01 PM)shizzle787 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.

Syracuse having the 14th largest fanbase isn't sus. Half of the New York's population (upstate and Western NY) roots for them. 8-9 million people.

UConn (@ 1.22M) having the 41st largest CFB fanbase is also extremely surprising.

Regardless of the few oddities it’s a fascinating study. It does directionally align with concept of brands and viewership.

As a casual follower/fan of Georgetown, this caught my attention from the study. Would be curious to get the impression of the board's Hoya fans:

At-risk fan bases

Georgetown

Major disconnection between ultra-preppy, Catholic white student body and alumni base and inner-city brand and fanbase nurtured by coaches and long supported by marketing and merchandising. Irrelevant FCS football leaves basketball as an all-or-nothing for student engagement and interaction among fans, which has been lacking and missing key media attention with extended losing and irrelevance.

(06-14-2022 03:16 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  As a casual follower/fan of Georgetown, this caught my attention from the study. Would be curious to get the impression of the board's Hoya fans:

At-risk fan bases

Georgetown

Major disconnection between ultra-preppy, Catholic white student body and alumni base and inner-city brand and fanbase nurtured by coaches and long supported by marketing and merchandising. Irrelevant FCS football leaves basketball as an all-or-nothing for student engagement and interaction among fans, which has been lacking and missing key media attention with extended losing and irrelevance.

The "at-risk" list was strange with the inclusion of Michigan. All of the factors that they mentioned as supposedly putting the school at risk (e.g. a progressive elite school with a national student base) have been in place for a long time. If anything, that's exactly what gives Michigan a lot of power - outside of Notre Dame, they arguably have the most nationalized fan base out of anyone plus they still have their home state base.

The critique of Georgetown might be fair with respect to specifically the basketball brand, but the FCS portion is irrelevant to whether they're "at risk" or not. My impression is that the athletic engagement there would be always entirely about basketball regardless of how the FCS football team performs. I don't think Villanova (who has actually had a good FCS program) and Gonzaga are at risk being basketball-focused.

(06-14-2022 03:16 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  As a casual follower/fan of Georgetown, this caught my attention from the study. Would be curious to get the impression of the board's Hoya fans:

At-risk fan bases

Georgetown

Major disconnection between ultra-preppy, Catholic white student body and alumni base and inner-city brand and fanbase nurtured by coaches and long supported by marketing and merchandising. Irrelevant FCS football leaves basketball as an all-or-nothing for student engagement and interaction among fans, which has been lacking and missing key media attention with extended losing and irrelevance.

I read the insights on at-risk fanbases (especially UVa), I thought the comments made sense.

Regarding Georgetown - My sons graduated from competing Patriot League FB schools (Lafayette and Georgetown) so I watched several games at each school. I agree with the authors of this study that from a fan perspective, Georgetown football is irrelevant…while Lafayette made more effort to build interest in their program and has a nice stadium. In basketball, I much prefer the Villanova approach (they can use then 8k seat on-campus Pavilion or the 19k off-campus NBA arena…depending on the opponent and quality of their own team. Georgetown doesn’t have the alternate facility for the down teams / years in basketball (they should have upgraded McDonough Arena). At a minimum, Georgetown needs to make the athletics attractive to their students and alumni. Their fanbase is on life support.

(06-14-2022 03:01 PM)shizzle787 Wrote:  Syracuse having the 14th largest fanbase isn't sus. Half of the New York's population (upstate and Western NY) roots for them. 8-9 million people.

With that large of a "fan base" one would think a school in Central NY could field a men's hockey program and play its home football and basketball games in quite a bit more upscale venues.

Cuse also is the only school in the ACC that doesn't have a baseball program

(06-14-2022 04:40 PM)PeteTheChop Wrote:  

(06-14-2022 04:36 PM)PeteTheChop Wrote:  

(06-14-2022 03:01 PM)shizzle787 Wrote:  Syracuse having the 14th largest fanbase isn't sus. Half of the New York's population (upstate and Western NY) roots for them. 8-9 million people.

With that large of a "fan base" one would think a school in Central NY could field a men's hockey program and play its home football and basketball games in quite a bit more upscale venues.

Nobody said they were a rich fanbase, just a large one.

(06-14-2022 03:09 PM)shizzle787 Wrote:  UConn is 42nd in FOOTBALL fanbase. Anyone saying they don't belong in FBS is aloof.

Absolutely. UConn has a large enough state to dominate with no competition that it should not even be a question as to why it's committed to staying in FBS. Based on these numbers, it clearly belongs in the P5.

The fact that Syracuse and Connecticut are both surprisingly high makes me think that despite this being a football poll if someone is a big men's (and in the case of UConn, women's) basketball fan of the school you might just start to like the football team as a result. In the Big 12 ranking, Kansas is in the middle of the pack even though they are unarguably the worst football team in the Big 12. On the other hand, it doesn't help Duke football (2nd to last in the ACC), Indiana football (last in the Big 10), or to a lesser degree Kentucky (4th from the bottom in the SEC).

(06-14-2022 04:40 PM)PeteTheChop Wrote:  Cuse also is the only school in the ACC that doesn't have a baseball program

More surprising is Wisconsin doesn't have a baseball program, the only Big Ten team that doesn't. It's one thing for a private to not have a team but a flagship state university in a somewhat populous state without even a big "2nd" choice public competition (ex. Michigan/Michigan State, Indiana/Purdue).

(06-14-2022 05:14 PM)schmolik Wrote:  The fact that Syracuse and Connecticut are both surprisingly high makes me think that despite this being a football poll if someone is a big men's (and in the case of UConn, women's) basketball fan of the school you might just start to like the football team as a result. In the Big 12 ranking, Kansas is in the middle of the pack even though they are unarguably the worst football team in the Big 12. On the other hand, it doesn't help Duke football (2nd to last in the ACC), Indiana football (last in the Big 10), or to a lesser degree Kentucky (4th from the bottom in the SEC).

I think for the vast majority of fans of most schools this is the case though.

Boise and Fresno average fan base better than UCF, Cincy and Houston. As well as 3 other NextBig12 members. UCF up there with Boise and Fresno. Close enough to call a statistical tie. Makes sense since Boise, Fresno and UCF don’t have NFL teams like UH and UC.

(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.

This kinda reminds me a survey on religion. A lot of nominal christians, who don’t go to church or pay any offerings, are identified as catholics or mainline proestants for the demographic study.