re: NYT Takes a Deep Look at Realignment, Fanbase #'s

Very interesting. I think they underestimate the following for teams that have many fans in rural areas, but it is cool to see estimates. Their ACC numbers really seem off, with Clemson being the #1 draw and GT #2 and FSU way down at #8 below Virginia.

Even with the shortcomings that is pretty cool and only confirms my feelings that VT and Clemson (along with FSU are good choices) but West Va is not.

There is something really wrong with that data. In place of that internet survey, I think he should have gone with national tv ratings controlling for ranking.

That implies that WVU would be ~Arkansas in terms of fanbase, which would be fairly low in the SEC.

I find it very hard to believe that Georgia Tech has more fans (1.5 times at that) than UGA. Did I read those charts right?

yeah and clemson is the most popular team in the ACC. those figures are crap

Here's what I take from this study (relative to A&M and the general landscape of CFB support in Texas), that I think much of the country (amongst CFB fans) doesn't really realize.

While tu is obviously the #1 name brand/supported team in Texas, A&M is a very, very close 2nd (much closer than most people outside Texas realize) throughout nearly the entirety of the State... with Tech coming in a very distant 3rd. Just throwing out ballpark figures... the Aggies right now probably deliver 35% of the TVs in Texas, which, given the size of our State, makes us very attractive to the SEC for the next round of TV negotiations.

Furthermore, one has to realize that our level of support (overall and relative to tu) exists in spite of the fact that our team on the gridiron has been mediocre most of the last decade and tu has been making runs at MNCs.

Therefore, here is why I think our move to the SEC somewhat concerns tu when it comes to their current brand name/media/merchandising/recruiting advantages over us. tu has it, right now, about as good as they'll ever have it over us. Right now they've got the maximum amount of media coverage and casual (t-shirt fan) support over us as they're likely ever to get... and their current advantages over us still aren't all THAT great.

However, IF we become a major player in SEC football in terms of results on the gridiron and IF our move to the SEC noticeably improves our regional/national visibility and prestige like we Aggies hope (and many of us think) it will, the real potential exists for A&M to pretty much wipe out that gap.

I'm not saying things will work out this way, but our move to the SEC makes it possible (which probably would never be the case as long as we remained in their conference).