Tiger n Miami AU83 25 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Don't worry, the article was not written by Thamel... Now that that is out of the way, relatively interesting article by the NYT. They attempt to quantify the number of fans each school across the country has. Their method involves revenues taken in by each school (ie money spent by fans), and a somewhat extensive phone survey done over several years (30,000 responses gathered) which asked fans who their favorite team is (basically). The results are fairly interesting and provide sort of a roadmap for looking at what schools may have the largest number of fans and the tv markets they dominate. The top ten: 1. Ohio State 2. Michigan 3. Penn State 4. Notre Dame 5. Texas 6. Texas A&M 7. Auburn 8. turds 9. Florida 10. Clemson http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/?src=tp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aubcali 436 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Surprising that Auburn was #1 in the SEC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walker77 0 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Not to me... AU has an excellent rep not only in USA, but worldwide... lot more to it than just football... AU is just as good in this repect as UF,... actually probably better than UAT, etc... Remember AU astronauts, AU in last summer olympics, multitude of top AU CEO's, etc... we are NOBODY's little brother... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeachEagle 0 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Finally, an article with more facts than conjecture. I wonder how many of those 1.9 million Auburn fans are bandwagon fans. I would like to see the numbers over five and ten year periods. Great article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walleyau22 0 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Finally, an article with more facts than conjecture. I wonder how many of those 1.9 million Auburn fans are bandwagon fans. I would like to see the numbers over five and ten year periods. Great article. The article covered for that. It was collected over a period of time before the NC run...I don't there we have too many random fans with no affiliation whatsoever hanging out in South Dakota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronald McDonald 0 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 It's impossible to properly calculate the amount of fans in a fan base. Auburn doesn't have more fans than Alabama. UA has more graduates, students, and definitely more bandwagon fans. I'm not sure how they conducted their research but there is no way that they did so accurately. And our numbers might have jumped because of the recent national championship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger n Miami AU83 25 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 It's impossible to properly calculate the amount of fans in a fan base. Auburn doesn't have more fans than Alabama. UA has more graduates, students, and definitely more bandwagon fans. I'm not sure how they conducted their research but there is no way that they did so accurately. And our numbers might have jumped because of the recent national championship. While I agree it is difficult to calculate the number of fans (the article even admitted as much), a blanket statement that UA (since that was the focus of your post) has more fans than AU is simply not factual or suportable. UA may, they may not. It is VERY myopic to only look at the state of Alabama for your conclusion. The population of the state of alabama is relatively miniscule comparatively speaking. Survey's show about 65% bama fans to 35% AU fans in the state of alabama (for those that affiliate themselves with either school). However, AU alumni do not confine themselves to the state after graduation. It is a fact AU alumni make significantly more money than alabama grads. It also stands to reason more leave the state. In fact I think a lot higher percentage leave the state, especially to Atlanta. Also, it is true that bama currently has more students. Hoever this is only due to bama drastically lowering their admission standards in a stated initiative to increase the size of the student body. Before and during my time as a student at AU, AU had a larger student body than bama and were producing more alumni. Now, as to the methodology of the research, they relied on an extensive phone survey over several years that was very simple. They asked people who their favorite team was. Pretty black and white. Second they looked at revenues generated. Here is the only place where your statement may hold water. AU alumni have more money than bama alumni on average by a substantial margin. So it stands to reason they spend more money. However NCAA apparral sales show bama fans buy more bama stuff, so that would contradict that theory. Of course AU alums may donate more money as we have more in the first place. It is hard to say though and the blanket statement that bama fans outnumber AU fans is simply not supportable and I suspect based on limited in-state observations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardcoreAU79 0 Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Obvious to the most casual observer, we have more support from people who have phones, know how to use them and how to form an understandable sentence :laugh:. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootskii 264 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I don't know if this statement matters much but everywhere I have been, and I have been to a lot of places via military, I have always encountered an Auburn fan along my travels. They might not have gone to Auburn but they are Orange and Blue through and through. So we are out there in the rest of the country and world. The great thing is it is good to have family everywhere you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger n Miami AU83 25 Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 I will add that I have primarily lived in south florida (Boca, Miami, Aventura) and Atlanta since AU. I will say fairly confidently AU fans outnumber updykes in south florida and estimate it to be about 3-1 or 4-1. I have been to numerous sports bars down here on Saturdays in the fall over the years. All the way from West Palm to Miami as I have friends in several places down here. Duffy's, Bru's Room, and the Alehouse are the most popular ones and between the three, I have been to about a dozen different locations. I would guestimate I have run into 40 or more AU alumni wearing AU gear at the various bars. I specifically remember the number of updykes I have seen and put the number at exactly 6 over the years in those bars (about 1 per year). I am absolutely certain there are a lot more AU alum than bama alums in south florida. Part of the reason I think updyke alums do not leave the state at anywhere near the rate AU alum do. And others can comment on Atlanta if they want, but after spending 3-4 years in Atl, I believe that is not close either. Probably 2 or 3 to 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryker 0 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Not to me... AU has an excellent rep not only in USA, but worldwide... lot more to it than just football... AU is just as good in this repect as UF,... actually probably better than UAT, etc... Remember AU astronauts, AU in last summer olympics, multitude of top AU CEO's, etc... we are NOBODY's little brother... I am amazed at how many people do not know what you wrote. We are a excellent university in so many ways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorjockey 0 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Obvious to the most casual observer, we have more support from people who have phones, know how to use them and how to form an understandable sentence :laugh:. Nice ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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