Wolverine247 Board

If you're talking about the NYT article from about a year ago, I disagree. It makes huge assumptions based on distance from major TV markets and Google search traffic. The methodology was seriously flawed. IMO the three best measures of fan support are TV ratings, ticket sales and merchandise sales and it didn't really incorporate any of those.

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/

Apparel sales I've always thought were kind of flawed also because I mean you could have the biggest fanbase in the country but what if it's just a down year for sales?? Last time I bought anything ND was late 2011. Authentic jersey. And I'm probably the biggest fan in Toledo.

That's part of my point. You can't look at any one thing. Generally, you should follow the money, but you also should realize there is a lot of fluidity from year to year. Auburn was a much more popular team in 2010 than it is in 2012. And, as you said, the $$ can fluctuate due to things unrelated to football fandom. I think the NYT article is very interesting and probably is right in terms of identifying the most popular teams as a group, but I don't buy the exact order. Does Auburn really have more fans than Alabama, Florida and Georgia? I doubt it.

Especially not now. I'm sure apparel sales skyrocketed for Cam jerseys, but I'm sure the overall money generated by that program has nose-dived since 2010.

NBC ratings highest since 2005 season

Because NW has more recruits in the class than Michigan State does.

What's interesting, and hasn't really been brought up, is, like in most huge fan bases (UM, OSU, ND, etc)- because they have history of being good- their fan bases increase.

Meaning, if you had no ties to UM but are a UM fan (ie didn't go there, no family ties), you probably picked to root for UM because they were good, or your parents rooted for UM because they were good. Over time, you've grown to really like them, root for them, hate their rivals, etc. but when you were younger (and more easily influenced)- you rooted for them because 1- your parents rooted for them or 2- because they were good.

It's the same reason people not from NY root for the Yankees or why fans not of LA root for the Lakers. Because you want to root for the team your friends, parents, etc. root for and everyone wants to root for a winner.. no one wants to root for a loser- that's no fun.

So, my theory is if MSU was the better team in the state from the 70s-90s, the parents who didn't weren't partial to either school would have been MSU fans, and thus, rooted for MSU, which in turn means, a lot of UM fans would actually be MSU fans.

You became a fan of a school because they were good, on TV a lot, etc. and if that so happened to be MSU when you were first being influenced and picking your team, you would, today, be a MSU fan.

Rich Rod wasn't the coach last year and Sparty came pretty close to winning the B1G.

MSU's recruiting hasn't suffered at all since Hoke came on board.. a lot of UM fans make this point- they just assume that because UM's recruiting is good (Rich Rod also had two top 10 classes)- MSU's has to suffer and that's just not the case.

In 2014, MSU has two of the top 5 kids (#2 and #4) in the state of MI already

I've met lots of CMU students that root for MSU and UM...not everyone can afford the good schools.

When I was about 4 or 5... I had an obsession with green. Like to the point where I wanted to wear green every single day. Eventually it went away. My family still brings it up from time to time. One of those embarrassing things you do as a kid... everyone has a few of them. Nonetheless I've been a Michigan fan for my entire life. I guess I could say green is still my favorite color, but it's not MSU green. I like more of a kelly green.

Speaking of ND, which non-alum fan moniker do you guys prefer? 'Dollar Store Domer' like one MSU fan mentioned or just plain old 'Subway Alumni'?

You do realize that over half of every major college football teams fanbase didn't actually graduate from the university?

If that were the case the Toledo Rockets would have a bigger fanbase than ND.