OT: Best NCAA teams from a raw capitalist/profit perspective
I was recently gifted a birthday gift for fanatics.com, a site completely new to me. Apparently the idea is I go and by a Michigan shirt, since the gift-giver knows my proclivities.
Pro teams are featured, especially playoff stuff. But if you click on NCAA, you see this:
Georgia
Ohio State
Alabama
Michigan
Florida
Notre Dame
All Teams
So, apparently, there is a clear top 6. Florida surprised me a bit, but, hey, kudos to them. If you follow any other team, you are simply an "All Teams." I shall refrain from calling out any other institutions that fit in said category.
Slow day. Thought I'd throw in some content...
Surprised no Texas or USC
agreed
Not surprised by USC. They have a large potential fanbase, but it's not in an area with a culture of intense engagement with college football. They'd struggle to get 107,000 people to turn up to a game eight times a year. Texas is indeed surprising
I disagree on this. I'll give you that they don't get 107k fans a game - but neither does anyone except PSU and Michigan. SC draws 65k fans a game, and was the biggest football team in America's 2nd largest metro for 20 years. That time overlapped with the Matt Leinert/Reggie Bush/Pete Carrol era, and as a result there are a ton of Angelenos who rep SC gear. The Rams returning and winning the SB may have taken a bite out of that pie. But my perception, at least for kids who grew up there and moved as adults, is that SC football is up there with the Raiders, behind only the Lakers and Dodgers.
And just think, if Pennsylvania can fill up Happy Valley while still supporting the Steelers and Eagles, why wouldn't the Trojans still be a popular draw? Are the Northeast and West Coast really THAT culturally different? SoCal has as many people as Pennsylvania and is a football hot-bed. There are a lot of reasons why Fanatics may not list SC, but the idea they don't have a huge fanbase is off base.
USC football is still a solid 3rd place in the SoCal sports pecking order. I think they always will be 3rd place. They aren't the Dodgers or Lakers --- they can't be. But IMO nobody else will pass them either, as their core local fan base is significant in size.
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Since you mention the Rams & Raiders, my perception on the rather hilarious "NFL Pecking Order" in SoCal:
1. The Raiders. Who, of course, haven't been based in LA for nearly 30 years now. I know multiple season ticket holders, who live in SoCal and used to fly/drive to Oakland, and now do it to Vegas, for the home games.
2. The Cowboys. They have fans everywhere, of course - they also benefit from holding training camp in Ventura County (Thousand Oaks or Oxnard) for 40+ years now.
3. The Rams. Hey, finally an actual Los Angeles team! Winning the Super Bowl helped, but that after-glow sure didn't last long.
4. The Niners. You don't really find Giants (MLB) fans in SoCal, the whole "SoCal vs NorCal rivalry" factors in there. But it's less of a factor when it comes to the NFL, 49ers fans exist in LA.
5-15. Teams like the Packers, Bears, Eagles, Steelers, Jets, Giants, Broncos, Chiefs, Bills, Patriots, Seahawks. Overall popular teams that have a lot of "ex-pats" in town, while also drawing in some of the natives.
16. The Lions fit in around here. Decent turnout from Lions fans at the 2021 Lions @ Rams game I attended.
17-24. A "next-tier" of teams in terms of overall popularity and population of "ex-pats": Washington, Vikings, Saints, Bucs, Dolphins, Ravens, Bengals, Browns
25. FINALLY, the Chargers. They truly are the 25th most popular NFL franchise, even in their own new home town. I have no idea how the Chargers will EVER work in LA, but I suppose the Spanos family will keep on trying.
I think the Raiders, either accidentally or because Al Davis is an evil genius (the evil part, for sure. But less evil than John Fisher) - the Raiders have become a West Coast/all Cali team. And Vegas sorta works for them because they've flipped between Oakland and LA over the last 40 years.
Also, there are a ton of Dodgers fans in the Bay, the flipside of the Niners I guess. The Niners were so good when millenials were growing up, so it makes sense they have fans everywhere. The Dodgers it's kind of a Mexican-American pride thing, I think - at least in NorCal.
I kinda feel bad for the Chargers - they're one of the coolest teams around, seemed like they sorta got their hand forced out of San Diego (one of the coolest cities around), and now are basically the Clippers of football. It's sorta their own fault, but sucks for SD fans, and also kinda isn't fully their fault? I dunno.
Finally - outside of the Cowboys, I think the Packers and Steelers both have national fanbases in a way that only the Cowboys outstrip. The Packers I get the draw - they're a small town team, community owned, a vestige of a bygone era that somehow is the best of the NFL and also everything the NFL is not. The Steelers were really good in the '70s and have cool colors? I don't know why they're more popular than the Patriots and Niners, but they are in my estimation.
Calling the Chargers "the Clippers of football" seems spot on.
IMO, SoCal* can support as many as 4 NFL teams. LA County, Orange County, Vegas and San Diego. The problem is that Spanos and the Chargers have issues with all 4 of those markets!
(1) LA County inherently doesn't love them, (2) Orange County has fairly strong Rams roots from back in the day, I'd bet it has more Rams fans per capita than LA County, (3) Vegas now has a team, and (4) San Diego hates him.
There are rumors out there of the NFL going to 40 teams in the next 10-20 years. I'm not sure where the NFL finds 8 (!!!) new markets, but in the long-run, the Chargers re-locating to one of those 8 new markets, and an expansion franchise going to San Diego and/or Orange County seems the best bet.
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* I'm including Vegas as part of SoCal --- saying "Vegas is LA's geographically furthest out suburb" isn't incorrect.
I view USC as more regional, even if they are very popular on the west coast. When I walk around cities in Michigan, it's not unusual to see Bama, OSU (barf), Georgia, or ND gear. Go to Chicago or a bigger metro and it's the same thing. I don't often see USC stuff.
I think that's fair. I think part of that is how the demographics work out - until recently, SoCal took in a lot more people than left it, and even now a lot of those who're leaving are staying in Pac12 country. But the end result is still that the western teams don't have as national fanbases, whereas the midwestern teams to. Sorta surprised you see UGA and Bama gear, tho. I feel like the trend is more often Midwest->South for the past 30 years or so, than the reverse.
One quibble I have here is that, by all available accounts I've ever been given, I don't think Happy Valley is culturally "Northeastern." Seems more like borderline Pennsyltucky, as they say. Or at the very least, that form of Pennsylvania identity that's fixated on its own ruralness
In any case, I think lots of schools would have an easier time filling up a Michigan Stadium-level venue than USC. Certainly Texas is on that list. USC is a major college sports brand, to be sure, but they're at least one level below the Michigans and Alabamas of this world
T-shirts for USC fans? The guys don't normally wear shirts and the girls are usually in bikini tops.
Stereotypes sure - but pleasant ones thinking about rollerblading near the beach.
Surprised no Penn State
Use the app
Not sure what you are looking at, because on both desktop and mobile, I'm seeing 50 teams.
I clicked the link on the gift card email, which apparently sends one to a different place than just going to the site?
Just sharing one data point.
I use fanatics and am probably one of the only people that buys Cal shirts/hoodies/hats
I feel like those script Cal clothing is worn by people who don't know or care about football just because it's damn cool. Altho the script "Cali" stuff probably takes some out of the Berkeley coffers.
This is correct. I work and live in the Valley, and I frequently see people wearing the "script Cal." It is a damn cool logo.
I also went to last year's Cal @ USC game. There definitely weren't many Cal fans that night.
The "Cali" (with an i) stuff needs to die a quick death. Ugh, I hate that word.
Reminds one of a drug cartel.
My niece graduated from Cal and reps her school...
Never tried fanatics but OnlyFans wasn't what I expected
Have you tried OnlyFanatics? Crazy stuff there, or at least that's what my friend told me.
I'm selling my shares in Notre Dame. I'm short-selling OSU! I'm buying shares in Michigan. Gonna corner the market!
Be very careful, we know what happened the last time someone wanted to corner the market....
Didn't end well for Randolph!
Made out pretty good on FCOJ, didn't we, Billy Ray?
Texas was a shocker. Never seen so much team merch around, and they've had their own network for ages.