College Fandom Landscape in Your Location

ACTUAL DISCUSSION TOPIC
I have posted this in the past, but it is one of my favorite niche topics ... so I figured it would be a fun offseason discussion! What is the general breakdown of college sports fandom, in your experience, where you live? You can answer for football, basketball, both separately or just in general.

TL;DR ANSWER
We live in Chicago (Gold Coast and/or Roscoe Village since 2019), and it is a true melting pot, with a clear tilt toward the Big Ten. However, I see absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Illinois isn't a "first among equals," with decidedly more fans than any other individual school - including Notre Dame! As seen below, I actually see a lot more Michigan/Iowa gear than Notre Dame, even though that is likely due to my location and I would still put my money on Notre Dame being second for football (and practically non-existent for basketball).

In summary, there is a clear Illinois plurality, but the actual percentage of the total is pretty small (probably 20-25%). After a decent drop-off, Michigan and Notre Dame are probably in a second tier, then some Big Ten schools in a third tier and a true mess below that. In other words, Illini fans are a clear minority of fans, but every other program is an even smaller minority. It also must be said that Chicago obviously cares about pro sports more than college sports, but I frankly find this notion to be VERY overstated. From my experience, there is a shocking amount of interest in college sports in Chicago compared to comparable places like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, etc.

FIGHTER'S LONG-WINDED ANSWER - CHICAGO, IL
I have also mentioned before that my wife and I have a running shared note on our phone where we keep track of college sports apparel we see in Chicago, and we started it in August 2019. I'll give my more subjective thoughts, but I think at this point with a sample size this large and over a period of almost 5 years ... I have to go with this as my high-level summary* from that note. Keep in mind this would be biased toward the Gold Coast (lived there 2019-2023), Roscoe Village (lived here since fall 2023) and the Northwest suburbs (where I drive for work).

22% Illinois
7% Notre dame
4% Northwestern
42% Other Big Ten schools
6% Other instate schools
19% Other

And this would be our actual top 20 without lumping other Big Ten schools together:

Illinois - 351
Michigan - 140
Iowa - 133
Notre Dame - 104
Wisconsin - 100
Indiana - 90
Michigan State - 72
Northwestern - 68
Purdue - 52
Ohio State - 37
Marquette - 30
Illinois State - 25
DePaul - 23
Kansas - 20
Missouri - 16
Alabama - 15
Miami (OH) - 15
Northern Illinois - 14
Iowa State - 13
Loyola Chicago - 12

For all of (instate) Chicagoland in general, I would guess these would be the adjustments to be made to get closer to the actual breakdown:
(1) Undercounting Notre Dame, considering my disproportionate lack of time spent in Irish/Catholic-heavy suburban areas. Hell, going to two White Sox games the other summer bolstered their numbers substantially, lol.
(2) Probably inflating the numbers for Big Ten transplants (Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, etc.) given they tend to gravitate toward neighborhoods in which we have spent a lot of time over the years, such as Lakeview and Lincoln Park.
(3) As funny as it is, probably even inflating Northwestern's numbers given the years we lived in the Gold Coast ... my sentiment is that they picked up a decided majority of their total in that area.
(4) Probably undercounting other instate schools, as they tend to not be great at sports and their fans likely wear school apparel around a lot less.
(5) In general, overcounting more zealous fan bases and/or those that are especially successful at the moment (e.g., Michigan during its National Championship football season) and undercounting more reserved fan bases that don't wear their gear as much.

Here in the Denver metro (South Metro), it's probably half one of the main CO schools (probably 60/40 split between Colorado and CO State), and then a real random mix, but probably skewed mostly towards Pac 12/Big 12 schools. I see a fair bit of Nebraska, Kansas,and Arizona St gear here. Maybe about 10 to 15 percent of what I see is Big Ten. I will say that almost any time I wear Illini gear at least ONE person throughout the day will give me an I-L-L or ask me if I'm from Illinois because they are, too, or they have family there.

I lived in Chicago 1992-2004. These were peak Illini BB teams.
Joe's on Weed street was fantastic mix of B10 fans with games running simultaneosly (sp?). Illini fans always significantly outnumbered other schools.
We used to take over Dyche stadium and Welsh Ryan arena outnumbering NW fans 2 to 1.

Now I am in SoCal with significant Illini alums. Of course USC dominates (UCLA fans are very apathetic).

I was surprised at MSG Duke game how well Illini travelled. We had at least 1/3 of stadium (maybe more).

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.

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.

I now spend 50% of time near Hilton Head, SC and rest near Asheville, NC (No more OC)

Football...
Georgia, Clemson, South Carolina, Tennessee - 70%
North Carolina, NC State, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida - 20%
Rest of world - 10%

or SEC 90%, Rest of World 10%

Hoops...
Duke, North Carolina - 75%
Rest of world - 25%

I am retired in New Orleans. It's hard to judge anything based on team 'swag', as about 90% of people on the street are tourists.
Judging by media coverage, local interest is absolute devotion to the Saints, and it isn't even close, even during the off season. But to put Pro and NCAA into one fan pot:
1. Saints
2.LSU Football
3.Tulane Football
4.Pelicans
5.LSU BB
6.LSU WBB
7.LSU Baseball
8.LSU Gymnastics
9.WWE
10.Illini
(Illini fan total represents me, but one seems to be enough to make the top ten list here.)

Fort Wayne Indiana. Purdue and Indiana are most common but Michigan team's and of course Ohio St. Very few of us Illini here but I have met a few. Always shout out ILL- to anyone in illini gear

Always enjoy this kind of discussion but since I lived in the Gold Coast/Old Town from 2011 to 2018 and Roscoe Village since 2018, I have nothing to add to your post.

Just want to say well done on the live tracking of apparel!

100% Dawgs here in Ga

^ I find those types of breakdowns so fascinating, so thanks for sharing! While I know they obviously exist, I cannot imagine a self-respecting sports fan being like, "Oh yeah, I cheer for Clemson in football and Duke in basketball."

Mid Southern Tennessee.

50% UT
50% Bama (Much like the UK love in Southern Illinois)
And ME. I love UofI sports, baby!

Austin is mostly Texas with some A&M, and an occasional Texas Tech sighting. OU has some representation, with those alumni proud enemies of Longhorn Nation, but there is not a ton of foreign representation (schools outside of the country of Texas). I do see some occasional UofI gear, which is usually from someone working in the tech scene.

And what is this basketball sport some of you speak of??

Here in Lincoln it's clearly Illinois football mens and womens basketball, some Illinois State mostly basketball men and women, and Bradley (the school ). SIU Edwardsville interest increasing even before this year.

Flagstaff, AZ

1. Cardinals football
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

(T) 2. Northern Arizona University Cross Country (regular national champions)

(T) 2. ASU football

DC area

PSU VT Naval Academy Illinois helps I work with some alumni and we wear Illinois gear regularly.

DON’T see much MD gear

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

I'm Champaign adjacent (within 20min), so it's about 85% Illinois. See some other schools, but it's few and far between.

Most of those in my area cheer for Illinois because of proximity, most didn't go, including myself. My dad and brother both attended. I got a full time career in my last semester at Parkland and never needed the degree, otherwise I was on a 2+2 track with UIUC.

Life in Flagstaff is… rough.

My personal observations; I've moved around. Based purely on flags on houses and cars, and apparel:
South Jersey – Rutgers > Villanova > Penn State > Princeton > Temple
Philadelphia - Villanova > Penn State > Drexel > Temple > Penn
Bucks County - Penn State >>> Villanova > Naval Academy > Penn

Twin Cities – Gophers >>> Tommies (St.Thomas) > Whatever Macalester College is called >>Badgers>>>Hawkeyes

mulepie said:

My personal observations; I've moved around. Based purely on flags on houses and cars, and apparel:
South Jersey – Rutgers > Villanova > Penn State > Princeton > Temple
Philadelphia - Villanova > Penn State > Drexel > Temple > Penn
Bucks County - Penn State >>> Villanova > Naval Academy > Penn

Twin Cities – Gophers >>> Tommies (St.Thomas) > Whatever Macalester College is called >>Badgers>>>Hawkeyes

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing! Two really interesting things to me:

1) That Rutgers is still top in Southern NJ. My perception was that once you got past that line that separates Yankees and Phillies fans, you would see more Penn State than Rutgers. Of course, I literally know nothing about that area of the country!

2) Villanova edging out PSU in Philly itself but then having a steep drop-off/switch in the suburban county. I find that dynamic really interesting, with Vanderbilt and Tennessee in Nashville being somewhat similar, from my experience.

SW Missouri

1) Missouri State (local)
2) Arkansas
3) Oklahoma
4) Drury (local)
5) Miznoz
6) Kansas
7) OK State
8) Nebraska
9) Iowa
10) ILLINOIS

If you were to loop in pro sports teams, STL Cardinals & KC Royals would top the list.

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.

when you learn a couple things from a thread that have nothing to do with the thread topic.

Greensboro NC (yeah, yeah, name checks out)
basketball: UNC makes the most noise, I think if State had the same level of success they might might be close, then Duke locally
Football: I see a bit more State than Carolina (but I work with a bunch of engineers) App State & ECU get some attention as well. At work, a bunch of transplanted Virginia Tech as well (our truck plant is in the shadows of Tech, so more of a work thing). OSU/Mich/Bama fans aren't that numerous, but loud & obnoxious enough you can't avoid them.

Side note, NC offers a bunch of University plates...Carolina, then state, ; Duke/App/ECU probably about the same... a few Michigan/OSU/Purdue. Illinois has never gathered enough support to get a plate