Geography of College Football Fans - Birmingham Metro 85% = 1,702,758

[Coach Hank Crisp]

Click here for link

The first part of the problem isn’t as easy as you might think, because enthusiasm for college football varies radically across different parts of the country — far more than for other sports.

One way to estimate the regional variances is to look at Google search traffic. For instance, according to Google Insights for Search, the term “college football” is searched for about 5 times as often in Birmingham, Alabama as it is in New York City, relative to overall search traffic.

In other words, on a per-capita basis, there are probably about 5 times as many football fans in Birmingham as there are in New York. So although the New York media market is about 10 times larger, it has fewer than twice as many college football fans as Birmingham.

New York, because of its very large population, is still the largest market in the country for college football. But only barely: Atlanta has nearly as many college football fans, for instance, based on an extrapolation from the Google data, while Dallas (and even Birmingham) aren’t far behind.

[2Stater]

Very interesting.

[Chechem]

I searched "bush hog".  Alabama scored highest of any state.  "Better stay put, Smitty."

"Conference realignment"; Kansas scored highest.  Insecurity?

"Porn"; Texas, far and away highest.   

[ssmith general]

I dont think I have ever searched for "college football", just sayin'

[deahl001]

Good rebuttal to that piece...

Click here for link

[XBAMA]

I dont think I have ever searched for "college football", just sayin'

that's what I'm thinking too .... which brings the question ... should we ? 

[ricky023]

  That's because the members at CRS search their stories and bring out the truth before they post it. What else would you expect. Bring it football fans get with the guys who posts the truth!  RTR!

[Coach Hank Crisp]

I dont think I have ever searched for "college football", just sayin'

that's what I'm thinking too .... which brings the question ... should we ?  

Everytime I go to ESPN, CBS, SI, or Sporting News, etc. I click on the College Football Home Page. That is probably counted as a search.

Also each time I go to CRS is probably counted as a search. Not sure if this is what is counted or not. SC may know.

[ssmith general]

I dont think I have ever searched for "college football", just sayin'

that's what I'm thinking too .... which brings the question ... should we ? 

I did it.

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in Canada and the United States.

The first college football game in the United States

The first game of intercollegiate "football" between two colleges from the United States was an unfamiliar ancestor of today's college football, as it was played under 99-year-old soccer-style Association rules.[1] The game was played between teams from Rutgers University and Princeton University, which was called the College of New Jersey at the time. It took place on November 6, 1869 at College Field, which is now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers won by a score of 6 "runs" to Princeton's 4.[2][3][4] The 1869 game between Rutgers and Princeton is important in that it is the first documented game of intercollegiate football ever played between two American colleges, and because of this, Rutgers is often referred to as The Birthplace of College Football. It came two years before an inter-club rugby game under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union would be played in England; though it must be remembered that rugby had been codified 24 years before this in 1845 and played by many schools, universities and clubs even before the laws were first put on paper. The Rutgers-Princeton game was undoubtedly different from what we today know as American footbal, nonetheless it was the forerunner of what evolved into American football. Another similar game took place between Rutgers and Columbia University in 1870 and the popularity of intercollegiate competition in football would spread throughout the country.

Formation of the NCAA

College football increased in popularity through the remainder of the 19th century. It also became increasingly violent. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to ban the sport following a series of player deaths from injuries suffered during games. The response to this was the formation of what became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which set rules governing the sport. The rules committee considered widening the playing field to "open up" the game, but Harvard Stadium (the first large permanent football stadium) had recently been built at great expense; it would be rendered useless by a wider field. The rules committee legalized the forward pass instead. The first legal pass was thrown by Bradbury Robinson on September 5, 1906, playing for coach Eddie Cochems, who developed an early but sophisticated passing offense at Saint Louis University. Another rule change banned "mass momentum" plays (many of which, like the infamous "flying wedge", were sometimes literally deadly).

Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League (NFL), college football remained extremely popular throughout the U.S.[7] Although the college game has a much larger margin for talent than its pro counterpart, the sheer number of fans following major colleges provides a financial equalizer for the game, with Division I programs – the highest level – playing in huge stadiums, six of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000. In many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests. This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium, which tends to have more features and comforts for fans. (Only one stadium owned by a U.S. college or university—Papa John's Cardinal Stadium at the University of Louisville—consists entirely of chairback seating.)

College athletes, unlike professionals, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries, though many do receive athletic scholarships and financial assistance from their university.

 

Click here for link

[XBAMA]

I have tons of bookmarked sites pertaining to college football and never google for "college football"
other than the links posted here that I click on ...

pretty  interesting stuff though , I would like to hear what Coach has to say
great numbers of google searches that pertain to college football in the south is pretty easy to believe
we should blow the yanks out of the water

North: You ask, “Where’s the stadium?”  When you find it, you walk right in.
South: When you’re near it, you’ll hear it.  On game day, it becomes the state’s third largest city.

   

[Coach Hank Crisp]

I have tons of bookmarked sites pertaining to college football and never google for "college football"
other than the links posted here that I click on ...

pretty  interesting stuff though , I would like to hear what Coach has to say
great numbers of google searches that pertain to college football in the south is pretty easy to believe
we should blow the yanks out of the water

North: You ask, “Where’s the stadium?”  When you find it, you walk right in.
South: When you’re near it, you’ll hear it.  On game day, it becomes the state’s third largest city.

   

I don't know if it is still true. Birmingham Metro area was one of the highest illegal gambling markets for college and pro sports at one time.

[SUPERCOACH]

FYI-There has been a few things posted in here that isn't accurate regarding searches.  For example, clicking on a link does not count as a search for "college football".  Neither does just visiting a site like CRS that is related to college football.

They are literally talking about going to google.com and typing in the phrase "college football".  Not bing or yahoo, only google.  They are just using this as an estimate to compare Birmingham to New York and other places.  They are not trying to determine how many people in each city are interested in "college football", but rather what percentages of searches from the different cities are about college football.

An analogy would be looking at the number of speeding tickets handed out by state troopers in Birmingham per person living there compared to the number of tickets handed out in New York per person living there.  New York has many more people, so obviously they have more speeding tickets.  But when you divide it by the number of people who live there, it becomes an apples to apples comparison.  It does not tell you how many people speed in each city.  It doesn't take into consideration the people who didn't get caught for example, or the people who got a ticket from the county sherif, or the city police.  But it does give you an indication of whether people in Birmingham are more likely to speed than people in New York.

Basically they are saying that a person in Birmingham is 5 times more likely to be interested in college football than a person in New York, based on a small sample of people that searched for "college football" through google.

I don't think searching for "college football" is a good metric for them to use though, as many have stated.  I would say this underestimated the importance of college football in Birmingham.  If you are in Birmingham you probably already know a lot about college football and don't really care about things like where the first college football game was played.  You probably have a specific team that you follow, and you are going to search for something like Tide football.  However in New York you might search for something generic like "college football" because you don't even know the basics of the game, like the rules, what teams are good, etc.

So, in my opinion the metric they chose may skew the results so that it makes college football look more important in New York and less important in Birmingham.  So it probably really is quite a bit more than just 5 times more popular in Birmingham.

[Chechem]

FYI-There has been a few things posted in here that isn't accurate regarding searches.  For example, clicking on a link does not count as a search for "college football".  Neither does just visiting a site like CRS that is related to college football.

They are literally talking about going to google.com and typing in the phrase "college football".  Not bing or yahoo, only google.  They are just using this as an estimate to compare Birmingham to New York and other places.  They are not trying to determine how many people in each city are interested in "college football", but rather what percentages of searches from the different cities are about college football.

An analogy would be looking at the number of speeding tickets handed out by state troopers in Birmingham per person living there compared to the number of tickets handed out in New York per person living there.  New York has many more people, so obviously they have more speeding tickets.  But when you divide it by the number of people who live there, it becomes an apples to apples comparison.  It does not tell you how many people speed in each city.  It doesn't take into consideration the people who didn't get caught for example, or the people who got a ticket from the county sherif, or the city police.  But it does give you an indication of whether people in Birmingham are more likely to speed than people in New York.

Basically they are saying that a person in Birmingham is 5 times more likely to be interested in college football than a person in New York, based on a small sample of people that searched for "college football" through google.

I don't think searching for "college football" is a good metric for them to use though, as many have stated.  I would say this underestimated the importance of college football in Birmingham.  If you are in Birmingham you probably already know a lot about college football and don't really care about things like where the first college football game was played.  You probably have a specific team that you follow, and you are going to search for something like Tide football.  However in New York you might search for something generic like "college football" because you don't even know the basics of the game, like the rules, what teams are good, etc.

So, in my opinion the metric they chose may skew the results so that it makes college football look more important in New York and less important in Birmingham.  So it probably really is quite a bit more than just 5 times more popular in Birmingham.

Thanks, SC.  Good points and it helped us understand the metric.   

[tongue in cheek]  One reason people in NY search "college football" is... there's probably only one web site in the state.

[Coach Hank Crisp]

FYI-There has been a few things posted in here that isn't accurate regarding searches.  For example, clicking on a link does not count as a search for "college football".  Neither does just visiting a site like CRS that is related to college football.

They are literally talking about going to google.com and typing in the phrase "college football".  Not bing or yahoo, only google.  They are just using this as an estimate to compare Birmingham to New York and other places.  They are not trying to determine how many people in each city are interested in "college football", but rather what percentages of searches from the different cities are about college football.

An analogy would be looking at the number of speeding tickets handed out by state troopers in Birmingham per person living there compared to the number of tickets handed out in New York per person living there.  New York has many more people, so obviously they have more speeding tickets.  But when you divide it by the number of people who live there, it becomes an apples to apples comparison.  It does not tell you how many people speed in each city.  It doesn't take into consideration the people who didn't get caught for example, or the people who got a ticket from the county sherif, or the city police.  But it does give you an indication of whether people in Birmingham are more likely to speed than people in New York.

Basically they are saying that a person in Birmingham is 5 times more likely to be interested in college football than a person in New York, based on a small sample of people that searched for "college football" through google.

I don't think searching for "college football" is a good metric for them to use though, as many have stated.  I would say this underestimated the importance of college football in Birmingham.  If you are in Birmingham you probably already know a lot about college football and don't really care about things like where the first college football game was played.  You probably have a specific team that you follow, and you are going to search for something like Tide football.  However in New York you might search for something generic like "college football" because you don't even know the basics of the game, like the rules, what teams are good, etc.

So, in my opinion the metric they chose may skew the results so that it makes college football look more important in New York and less important in Birmingham.  So it probably really is quite a bit more than just 5 times more popular in Birmingham.

Thanks, SC.  Good points and it helped us understand the metric.   

[tongue in cheek]  One reason people in NY search "college football" is... there's probably only one web site in the state.

I got pulled over just this morning by an Alabama State Trooper.

He tried to give two tickets!

To the Auburn game this weekend so I declined.

[XBAMA]

I like the rebuttal site better   


here is why   

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