NY Times: Connecticut has most avid college football fans in Northeast

[Nostical]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/0...ca-where-college-football-means-the-most.html

Interesting article. We actually beat NJ, NY and several others. While not at the levels of football hotbeds elsewhere, Connecticut is seen as the one outlier in a college football northeast wasteland.

"The states with the lowest rates of college football fandom are five New England states (all but Connecticut) followed by New Jersey and New York."

Not sure what difference it makes but I'm happy to see it statistically highlighted by the NY Times.

 

[SubbaBub]

It means anyone interested in untapped growth potential should start by looking in this direction.

 

[Husky92]

Hey, after the last four seasons I'll take any good news and good press we can get. This really is a nice nod to our fanbase.

 

[thatguyed]

I like the maps at the bottom. In CT, counties around the Rent have ~60% favoring UConn. Around whatever hole the Rutgirls play in, only around ~40% favor them. Really too bad 40% within a high population wasteland is more valuable than a stronger base here.

 

[UConn9604]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/0...ca-where-college-football-means-the-most.html

Interesting article. We actually beat NJ, NY and several others. While not at the levels of football hotbeds elsewhere, Connecticut is seen as the one outlier in a college football northeast wasteland.

"The states with the lowest rates of college football fandom are five New England states (all but Connecticut) followed by New Jersey and New York."

Not sure what difference it makes but I'm happy to see it statistically highlighted by the NY Times.

In true "all conference realignment matters must go against UConn," the article doesn't expressly say that we have the highest concentration of football fans in the northeast, because that would be good news.

Nor does it mention that we have a higher concentration of fans than Washington, D.C., Illinois, California or Minnesota - you have to dig into the bar graph to find that out - but it's true.

 

[Dooley]

Just put this on Twitter. As chairman of the attendance tards, this is important to me. This study shows the untapped potential of Connecticut as a college football state and asset to a P5 conference. Anything positive for UCONN is good news.

What's more positive (and a testimony to how loyal/avid a fanbase CT has), the criteria thought to have aided some other areas don't apply to Connecticut at all:

1. "College football attracts the most fans in rural areas without professional teams" - while CT itself doesn't have a professional team, there are literally dozens of pro teams within a 30-90 minute drive of most CT residents (depending where you live). All sports, year round. The competition for the sports entertainment dollar is fierce here in the northeast and to see UCONN Football as a top choice in and around CT is encouraging.

2. "Recent excellence (may) matter" - not sure how "recent" "excellence" has to be according to this study, but 2010 seems like ages ago. The past 4 seasons have been absolutely dreadful. The last 2 seasons we've been a laughingstock of college football. Yet, there CT is, ranking ahead of NJ (Rutgers) and NY (Syracuse).

3. "The South loves college football (but so do pockets of the Midwest)" - From the article itself: "The states with the lowest rates of college football fandom are five New England states (all but Connecticut) followed by New Jersey and New York."

So to summarize:

Connecticut is not in the south. UCONN has not seen any recent excellence. There are literally dozens of professional sports options within a 1 hour drive of most CT residents. Yet here Connecticut ranks as the highest state in the northeast for college football fans.

This kind of publicity is nothing but good news for UCONN's CT resume. Before I'm misquoted by someone here, it's not the only metric that will/should be used. But it's a darn good one.

 

[huskymedic]

Sounds like you all need to be sure to get a Facebook account and "like" the UConn Football page

About the Data: It was provided by Facebook using estimates of support for the Football Bowl Subdivision programs, based on the share of Facebook users in a county who “like” a team. Facebook likes are an imperfect measure of fan intensity, including the fact that Facebook users may not be representative of the population at large. The results are also influenced by how intensely different universities cultivate their social media presence, and how widely Facebook is used by people in a given location.

 

[Dooley]

Don't tell anyone that I have over 10,000 aliases signed up for Facebook and just spend my whole days "liking" anything UCONN.

 

[Bonehead]

av·id
: very eager
: wanting something very much
Full Definition of AVID
1 : desirous to the point of greed : urgently eager : greedy <avid for publicity>
2 : characterized by enthusiasm and vigorous pursuit <avid readers>

So we are VERY EAGER to be better and WANTING SOMETHING VERY MUCH (Big 10 invite) - so obviously we are move avid than BC, Rutgets and Syracuse! We have a VIGOROUS PURSUIT of the above mentioned.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I'd never bothered to LIKE the Facebook pages outside of the UConn Country page. Now I've liked everything there is. Where's the UConn Hockey page?

 

[pj]

I like the maps at the bottom. In CT, counties around the Rent have ~60% favoring UConn. Around whatever hole the Rutgirls play in, only around ~40% favor them. Really too bad 40% within a high population wasteland is more valuable than a stronger base here.

Unless billybud is doing the evaluation. Then, 80% within a tiny Kentucky metro is more valuable than 60% in a top 20 market.

 

[Adios]

I'd never bothered to LIKE the Facebook pages outside of the UConn Country page. Now I've liked everything there is. Where's the UConn Hockey page?

https://www.facebook.com/UConnMHOC

 

[Blue Loyalist]

Big 12 please take notice.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

https://www.facebook.com/UConnMHOC

Thank you. All signed up for that too. When I did a search on UCONN, I didn't see it show up in the list.

 

[Uconnalliance]

Avid fans = a bunch of crazed dogs and I'm one almost tore the 2nd deck off Babe's house last Saturday, can't wait to tell the rest of the conference f)ck you!!!! Were champions now!!!

 

[Palatine]

UConn has the best/most fans, period.

 

[J187Money]

UConn has the best/most fans, period.

And sometimes, you are just a dick, period.