It‘s New England. I don’t think any other local state school is having that kind of success raising money either. Nobody in eastern Massachusett, which is where the money is, cares about UMass. It starts at a young age. In the mid and South you are watching college sports from toddler on. It’s baked into your life. You’re in Georgia. now, you know this is true.
Growing up in Manchester people were astounded that I knew what teams were in the Big Ten, Big 8 and SWC. But my parents were from Kansas, so it was part of my life early on.
I've heard it said people in the Northeast don't support their universities financially as much as other regions support theirs for a couple reasons:
-Pro sports in the region draw a lot of attention and money;
-Taxes are high and should take care of everything, so why donate to the university.
It would be interesting to see a chart of donation levels prior to Big East membership, and whether there were rises and falls in donations with the rise of the basketball and football teams, the move to the AAC and then the move back to the Big East.