College Basketball/Football Fans

As a non-American I am just wondering what kind of fans go to these college games. Are all the thousands of fans that attend games connected to the college in someway or do they also include the average citizen that lives in the city/town the college is based?

a reply to: Marcus069

Both. College sports in America are very much about tradition in my experience. Kids grow up in certain regions watching certain teams play almost every game and naturally tend to become fans of those teams. In my experience, the college teams that have the largest following and pack the house the tightest are often from states or regions that lack a professional team (or whose local pro team sucks). This is why universities like Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio State, and Oklahoma have a fan base that most pro teams would kill for in football.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

This is why universities like Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio State, and Oklahoma have a fan base that most pro teams would kill for in football.

Not American so i have to ask , what sort of numbers are we talking about . But yes it kind of makes sense .

a reply to: hutch622

The schools I listed range from 85,000 fans per home game (Oklahoma) to nearly 120,000 (Michigan).

Comparable to professional teams, only the Dallas Cowboys have even remotely that degree of crowd capacity and they averaged 90,000 fans last year.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Wow , that's a lot of people to a non professional game . Just googled and the Michigan stadium is the 2nd largest in the world capacity wise . Our own MCG comes in at 12 with just over a 100g capacity .

Until the 1970s, more than 120,000 people sometimes crammed into the venue – the record crowd standing at around 130,000 for a Billy Graham evangelistic crusade in 1959, followed by 121,696 for the 1970 VFL Grand Final. Grandstand redevelopments and occupational health and safety legislation have now limited the maximum seating capacity to approximately 95,000 with an additional 5000 standing room capacity, bringing the total capacity to 100,024.

Proud K-Stater here. My school is a smaller one for the college football scene, but we almost always sell out at between 50 and 55K per game.

Last year, we had Auburn University come up and play us. Auburn is a major SEC school, and the SEC thinks they wrote all there is about football. But they were impressed by the show we put on in terms of fan base support, student section, etc. There is a lot of pride in bands, tailgating (basically you picnic behind and around your vehicle), student section cheer support and passion.

You bring your kids, you make a day of it and it's a big ol' party. It's also a little more family friendly than the pro venues tend to be IME, maybe because a lot of the people who tend to go are alums and so better educated. And they also tend to ask you to keep the alcohol out in the parking lot too.

Also I think there is still that ... mystique or heart you tend to lose when you suddenly start raking in the paycheck. In college, they're playing to play, so they have to play hard. Most aren't going to be pros, so this is their last hurrah. And you still have the unexpected. It's a bit less scripted than the pros who do it for years, day in, day out. There's still room for THAT team that can run the ball straight up your gut every play or THAT team who cobbles together something with a motley assortment of talent and coaches and surprises everyone year in and year out (Bill Snyder's specialty).

The pros ... not as much.

If these towns did have their own NFL team (or their NFL team started becoming good) would they forego their college team and start supporting the NFL team? Or would they just stick with their college team or would they attend both college and NFL games?

Our local Neyland Stadium holds about 102 and 1/2 thousand...that's impressive and it fills easily. They are making a mint on paraphernalia alone...

In my experience, the college teams that have the largest following and pack the house the tightest are often from states or regions that lack a professional team (or whose local pro team sucks).

This is true here for sure! The is a rivalry in our household, Alabama VS UT...Third Saturday in October. I think they've beat us 7 years running!
I have one child who desperately wants to go to UT and one who desperately wants to play for Alabama...Saturdays during football season at our house can be LOUD and fun!
Since it seems as if basketball never ends, well it's a constant!

originally posted by: Marcus069
If these towns did have their own NFL team (or their NFL team started becoming good) would they forego their college team and start supporting the NFL team? Or would they just stick with their college team or would they attend both college and NFL games?

The NFL is something you use to fill time on Sunday when nothing else is on. We follow a few teams. Our home team since we live in a city that has one and a couple of others that have some favorite alums.

But we're not connected to the pro team like we are our college team. Both my husband and I graduated from the college, and my parents graduated from there, and my grandparents did too. In a lot of families, it's history that ties you and tradition, not just convenience.

To give you an idea - I live in a city with a pro team, but we buy season tickets to our college team and drive three hours one-way to see those games most Saturdays in the fall instead of staying right here at home.

And in my case, it's not like my local team is bad. They go to the play-offs every two or three years, so they have a decent win/loss percentage. I'm just not as in to them. The football is different.

a reply to: Marcus069

I would guess not. Although it would vary from city to city and the local circumstance.

Take L.A., it has no NFL team, yet it can draw, and has, 100,000 at a UCLA game and almost 100,000 at a USC game...at the same time, the same day....AND draw 50, 000 at a baseball game also the same day.

Their last NFL team never drew those numbers.

College football is HUGE out here.

People have more of a connection since they can attend a school with a team and now you have more of a connection to it.

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: Marcus069
If these towns did have their own NFL team (or their NFL team started becoming good) would they forego their college team and start supporting the NFL team? Or would they just stick with their college team or would they attend both college and NFL games?

The NFL is something you use to fill time on Sunday when nothing else is on. We follow a few teams. Our home team since we live in a city that has one and a couple of others that have some favorite alums.

But we're not connected to the pro team like we are our college team. Both my husband and I graduated from the college, and my parents graduated from there, and my grandparents did too. In a lot of families, it's history that ties you and tradition, not just convenience.

To give you an idea - I live in a city with a pro team, but we buy season tickets to our college team and drive three hours one-way to see those games most Saturdays in the fall instead of staying right here at home.

And in my case, it's not like my local team is bad. They go to the play-offs every two or three years, so they have a decent win/loss percentage. I'm just not as in to them. The football is different.

So thats a good example of being connected to the college through generations. But do people that never attended the college also support it? Especially if there is a pro team in the same area, I mean why would they support a college team they never attended over a pro team?

a reply to: Marcus069

In my case, I would still follow college football more.

NFL has too much politics and it's all about the money to the players and the managers.

College football/basketball is more about heart and school pride.

But I also am not the biggest fan of going to games, especially in the student section where everyone stands up the whole freaking game.

I paid for that seat, I want use it every once in a while!

Could a college team ever beat an NFL team on the field?