College Fandom Landscape in Your Location

[uiba99]

I live in Texas. Rather than explaining the landscape I would simply ask that you send help. Immediately.

 

[Illwinsagain]

Only one neighbor (besides me) regularly flies a flag, and it's Illinois. So of those representing, the O&B is pretty well covered.

See a smattering of other Big Ten, usually the big schools (UM / OSU) so never know if those are alumni or just bandwagon. Probably get a smidge more Wisconsin colors since I'm in McHenry County, though to be honest I see that much more with Packer fans over the Bears.

Paging @Illwinsagain for further Cary perspective.

Wow, my first page.

Illini by a lot
Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois State and Northern Illinois next tier
Miznoz, NW, tOSU, Penn St, Pitt, FSU, scUM
Random schools from all over.

 

[Illinifan74]

From Champaign, but I live in Groveland (small town about 10 minutes from Peoria), so its a lot of Bradley / ISU around here.

 

[SardineIllini]

I live in SW Virginia and by far it is Virginia Tech for football. The VT fans barely care about basketball. In fact, up until about 5 years ago, the football fan base thought that they were a perennial national champion contender. There is, maybe, 5% UVA merchandise…

 

[IlliniFanTX]

in Fort Worth, so there are actually a pretty good amount of TCU homers (I have adopted as somewhat of a 3rd team behind the Illini and my grad alma mater Arizona State).

I'd say top ten for pros and college goes:
1. Cowboys (probably take the first 10 spots by themselves on volume alone...)
2. Rangers/Stars/Mavs (pretty even split but lots of fans)
3. TCU
4. Texas A&M
5. Texas
6. UNT (Denton is only a half hour away)
7. Local smaller schools like UT Dallas, UT Arlington
8. Baylor
9. Texas Tech
10. now that they have Paige... the Dallas WINGS

 

[WeWillWhen]

Living in Los Angeles, I see a variety of transplant logos, including myself for Illinois. Each school has its unique niche location or two, most notably on football Saturdays. The main Illinois meet-up is in Hermosa Beach, but it’s about an hour away from me (thanks a lot, LA traffic) so I rarely go these days. Big Ten schools are all well represented at their respective bars on game day.

As for the locals, USC logos are more prominent — I guess because those fans have a little more to brag about these days. A little more… but not too much. USC football still reigns supreme while the Rose Bowl for UCLA football is a ghost town on game day. It didn’t used to be that way. I live walking distance from the Rose Bowl and UCLA logos are minimal. You do see them more as you get closer to Westwood, though.

Agreed that USC has a more visible sports fan contingent than UCLA. Additionally, at those times when USC Football is good (Pete Carroll era was most recent), you'll also see a lot of local, non-alumni fans who seem to come out of the woodwork to sport the Cardinal and Gold. I've never seen UCLA reach that level, even when their hoops team reached the Final Four.

But really, EVERY school gets some representation -- so, like USC (20%), UCLA (15%) and then "the field" for the rest. And most schools have a "Headquarters" bar somewhere on Saturday. On every home game weekend, you'll also see a contingent of road tripping fans of the opposing team hitting the usual tourist locations, before heading to the game. Rose Bowl gets a lot more visiting fans than the Coliseum (ample tix available/better tailgating), and the tie-in with the B1G will boost this a bit. I mean, even Indiana had something like 25k fans at the UCLA game this season, and that's before fans realized that the Hoosiers were good.

USC v. UCLA remains a well-attended rivalry game every year, with a surprising amount of bile launched between the fanbases. Not Iron Bowl level, but pretty close to tOSU/scUM. Entertaining to those of us who don't have a specific rooting interest.

 

[Grandpa]

Only one neighbor (besides me) regularly flies a flag, and it's Illinois. So of those representing, the O&B is pretty well covered.

See a smattering of other Big Ten, usually the big schools (UM / OSU) so never know if those are alumni or just bandwagon. Probably get a smidge more Wisconsin colors since I'm in McHenry County, though to be honest I see that much more with Packer fans over the Bears.

Paging @Illwinsagain for further Cary perspective.

Algonquin Daughter, her husband and their 4 kids are all Illini, Bears, Cubs, Blackhawks, Bulls. Perfection!

 

[bluemountain]

Charleston SC - very heavy Gamecocks and Clemson as you can imagine, probably shading a little heavier to Carolina. After that, GA, OSU and the Citadel, with pockets of UM, PSU, Bama, Florida

 

[Serious Late]

In Peoria, Bradley does a good job marketing itself and is #1. For colleges that have basketball and football, it's a pretty heavy mix of Illinois/Notre Dame in my view (admittedly skewed due to catholic roots here). A mix of other big ten schools, probably most notably Iowa, stick out.

 

[IlliniwekKDR]

In Colorado, most people are transplants. There's definite interest in Colorado, Colorado State and Air Force around here. Colorado College hockey is a big deal, as is their rivalry with Denver. For the most part, however, it's an absolute melting pot. Tons of Big Ten school interest (I mean actual Big Ten schools, not Maryland or Washington or something) as everyone flees the Midwest. I see a lot of Nebraska stickers.

 

[hkillini]

In Hong Kong, nobody cares about college (NCAA) sports here.

 

[OrangeBlue98]

Des Moines, IA. Obviously right in the thick of the Iowa State-Iowa rivalry. Probably 55/45 Iowa State here, because more of the locals are Cyclone fans. Some Nebraska football fans from the days when Iowa State was terrible in football. The farther west you go from Des Moines, you get fewer Hawkeye and more Nebraska fans. Once you get about 45 minutes east of Des Moines, the concentration of Iowa fans increases substantially. We joke about Grinnell, IA being the line between Hawkeye and Cyclone fandom.

 

[GrayGhost77]

in Fort Worth, so there are actually a pretty good amount of TCU homers (I have adopted as somewhat of a 3rd team behind the Illini and my grad alma mater Arizona State).

I'd say top ten for pros and college goes:
1. Cowboys (probably take the first 10 spots by themselves on volume alone...)
2. Rangers/Stars/Mavs (pretty even split but lots of fans)
3. TCU
4. Texas A&M
5. Texas
6. UNT (Denton is only a half hour away)
7. Local smaller schools like UT Dallas, UT Arlington
8. Baylor
9. Texas Tech
10. now that they have Paige... the Dallas WINGS

Awesome. A fellow Illinois/ASU dual alum (went to ASU for grad, as well).

 

[RabidDawgClassic]

In Hong Kong, nobody cares about college (NCAA) sports here.

That’ll change when OA and Geoff arrive.

 

[IndyIllini2]

I am in Avon, Indiana on the far west side of Indy. It is about 60% Purdue, 30% Indiana, 5% Illinois and the rest is really random as far as college sports go.
NFL is about 80/20 Colts vs Bears. NBA is 99% Pacers. For some reason or another, there seems to be a large amount of hockey fans, with the largest amounts split between the Blues and Blackhawks. Then there is the Fever fans, that have their own very specific demographic. I will just leave it at that.

 

[Illini92and96]

In my NW Chicago suburb I do see a lot of Illini gear, Illini flags, decals on cars. I see a good amount of other Big Ten schools, with Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Purdue seemingly being pretty well represented. I see a lot of ND gear inside my own home, which is disconcerting.

My wife's family has a lake place in Indiana. When we are cruising around the lake in their pontoon boat it's fun to see the mix of college flags (seemingly everyone has at least one out, some places as many as 4 or 5). Obviously IU reigns supreme, with strong showings from Purdue, ND, OSU, Michigan, MSU. Every Midwestern Big Ten school is represented (often times multiple in the same household), though the number of Illinois flags always seems surprisingly low to me. And then a lot of smaller schools, which are always fun to spot.

Good gosh man, take charge of your kids! Don't you talk to them about what is/isn't appropriate to wear??

 

[Bigtex]

in Fort Worth, so there are actually a pretty good amount of TCU homers (I have adopted as somewhat of a 3rd team behind the Illini and my grad alma mater Arizona State).

I'd say top ten for pros and college goes:
1. Cowboys (probably take the first 10 spots by themselves on volume alone...)
2. Rangers/Stars/Mavs (pretty even split but lots of fans)
3. TCU
4. Texas A&M
5. Texas
6. UNT (Denton is only a half hour away)
7. Local smaller schools like UT Dallas, UT Arlington
8. Baylor
9. Texas Tech
10. now that they have Paige... the Dallas WINGS

agree mostly from N Dallas. A few minor changes.

would move Texas in front of A&M
would add SMU
would move TCU down a couple places.

 

[the juiceman cometh]

Good gosh man, take charge of your kids! Don't you talk to them about what is/isn't appropriate to wear??

Lol. They wear plenty of Illini gear too. More than they do ND gear. But my wife is an ND alum so at the end of the day if I try to scrub ND from the household it's going to be the juiceman that gets banished, instead of that dumb little leprechaun.

 

[splitter]

Algonquin Daughter, her husband and their 4 kids are all Illini, Bears, Cubs, Blackhawks, Bulls. Perfection!

They have one of those wrong. Think 1906 and probably not this weekend

 

[Battle89]

Des Moines, IA. Obviously right in the thick of the Iowa State-Iowa rivalry. Probably 55/45 Iowa State here, because more of the locals are Cyclone fans. Some Nebraska football fans from the days when Iowa State was terrible in football. The farther west you go from Des Moines, you get fewer Hawkeye and more Nebraska fans. Once you get about 45 minutes east of Des Moines, the concentration of Iowa fans increases substantially. We joke about Grinnell, IA being the line between Hawkeye and Cyclone fandom.

Got an Iowa State son and an Iowa daughter. Maybe I should reconsider my retirement destination planning...

 

[Greensboro]

Lol. They wear plenty of Illini gear too. More than they do ND gear. But my wife is an ND alum so at the end of the day if I try to scrub ND from the household it's going to be the juiceman that gets banished, instead of that dumb little leprechaun.

I feel your pain with a different school, moved to North Carolina 25 years ago, oldest went to Carolina & works there now. 2nd son went to Wilmington, but now works in development for Carolina & has managed to go heavy on Carolina gear. My wife has adopted Carolina in support of the UNC ties of her oldest 2 sons. Youngest son at least graduated from State & doesn't wear the baby blue garb...so seriously outnumbered

 

[IlliniFanTX]

agree mostly from N Dallas. A few minor changes.

would move Texas in front of A&M
would add SMU
would move TCU down a couple places.

yeah Texas and A&M are pretty split evenly around here. Only reason TCU so high on mine is I'm directly in Fort Worth so I see a ton. SMU gets no love around here even though we're only 45 mins away... haha

 

[OrangeBlue98]

Got an Iowa State son and an Iowa daughter. Maybe I should reconsider my retirement destination planning...

View attachment 42411

I lived this as well many years ago. Dated a girl from Grinnell who was a Hawkeye fan. Her childhood best friend was a die-hard Cyclone fan.

I ended up helping to introduce my buddy to my ex’s friend, and they remain married to this day. Life works in funny ways, but that’s another story for another day.

 

[hkillini]

That’ll change when OA and Geoff arrive.

So far Hong Kong has produced just one NBA player, David Muoka, who signed with Portland Trail Blazers in 2024 but was waived immediately. He is playing with the Windy City Bulls now in the G-League.

 

[IlliniHardwood]

Knoxville is an easy answer. I’m always in the wrong (yet superior) shade of orange

Tulsa, OK. There are few B1G fans here. I'm also in the superior (and almost daily) shade of orange. As far as the mislead, wishful thinking population:

1. Oklahoma State (~55%)
2. University of Oklahoma (~40%)
3. University of Arkansas (~2%)
4. Others (~2%)
5. University of Kansas (~1%)