Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
While messing around on LinkedIn, I got an idea for a decent gauge at breaking down college sports fandom in the Chicago Area. Obviously, this will skew toward schools with graduates most likely to use LinkedIn (for example, my fiance is an ICU nurse and doesn't have a LinkedIn, as it's not as important for her career as it is for mine) and it will also undercount schools with large non-grad fan bases in the area (mainly Illinois and Notre Dame), but I still thought it was interesting. Again, this isn't an official number - nearly impossible to find for most schools - it is just total LinkedIn profiles in the Chicago Area by alumni status. I'm not an Illinois grad, so I don't even count in our "fan" total.
SCHOOLS WITH THE MOST OVERALL ALUMNI
1. Illinois - 118,770
2. UIC - 114,944
3. DePaul - 104,446
4. Northern Illinois - 96,919
5. Loyola-Chicago - 62,167
6. Illinois State - 59,264
7. Northwestern - 54,010
8. Purdue - 36,767
9. Indiana - 36,146
10. Wisconsin - 35,158
11. Univ. of Chicago - 33,225
12. Southern Illinois - 30,012
13. Western Illinois - 25,244
14. Iowa - 24,803
15. Eastern Illinois - 21,825
16. Michigan - 18,958
17. Michigan State - 18,952
18. Marquette - 16,337
19. Bradley - 14,269
20. Marquette - 16,337
"POWER FIVE" SCHOOLS ONLY
1. Illinois - 118,770
2. DePaul - 104,446
3. Northwestern - 54,010
4. Purdue - 36,767
5. Indiana - 36,146
6. Wisconsin - 35,158
7. Iowa - 24,803
8. Michigan - 18,958
9. Michigan State - 18,952
10. Marquette - 16,337
11. Notre Dame - 13,463
12. Missouri - 10,542
13. Iowa State - 10,286
14. Ohio State - 9,191
15. Arizona State - 8,016
16. Kansas - 6,822
17. Minnesota - 6,656
18. Penn State - 5,032
19. Arizona - 4,794
20. Cal - 4,024
BIG TEN SCHOOLS
1. Illinois - 118,770
2. Northwestern - 54,010
3. Purdue - 36,767
4. Indiana - 36,146
5. Wisconsin - 35,158
6. Iowa - 24,803
7. Michigan - 18,958
8. Michigan State - 18,952
9. Ohio State - 9,191
10. Minnesota - 6,656
11. Penn State - 5,032
12. Nebraska - 2,812
13. Maryland - 2,570
14. Rutgers - 1,987
Notes
- It really makes you realize how many bandwagon Notre Dame fans there are, which is just so disappointing, lol. If you assumed that about half of the Loyola/DePaul grads and 25% of the Marquette grads on here cheered for Notre Dame in football, you'd get Notre Dame at 100,854 vs. Illinois' 118,770. That leaves out plenty of other "Subway Irish" fans and of course many non-grad Illini fans (like me!), but I would say that is a reasonable two-way split for the two schools, from my experiences living here.
- There are a lot of fans "on the table" for Illinois if and when we become competitive. There are ISU, WIU, SIU, NIU and EIU grads who probably hate the Illini or are ambivalent toward us, but there are certainly some on the table who'd cheer for an exciting Illini team. My parents both raised me as an Illini fan, and they are NIU grads. If Bret can get us competitive, I think you will see a lot more Illini support in the city, as you saw this past year with basketball.
- There are a LOT of Big Ten grads in Chicago. In total, there are 4.03 million Big Ten grad LinkedIn profiles in the Chicago area! The major exceptions are Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers. There are quite a few NON-Big Ten, Power Five schools above each on the list:
Nebraska: 23 schools
Maryland: 34 schools
Rutgers: 36 schools
- There were some surprises for me with the Big Ten numbers. First off, I was shocked to see Northwestern in second and Purdue in third. I thought I remembered a Jim Philips quote from the "Chicago's Big Ten Team" era where he said NU had the tenth most alumni in the area of B1G schools, and I guess I just don't see that much Purdue stuff around here. After Illini gear, I would say I see easily the most Michigan, then Michigan State, then Indiana/Iowa/Wisconsin roughly even.
Anyway, hope someone enjoys this.
SCHOOLS WITH THE MOST OVERALL ALUMNI
1. Illinois - 118,770
2. UIC - 114,944
3. DePaul - 104,446
4. Northern Illinois - 96,919
5. Loyola-Chicago - 62,167
6. Illinois State - 59,264
7. Northwestern - 54,010
8. Purdue - 36,767
9. Indiana - 36,146
10. Wisconsin - 35,158
11. Univ. of Chicago - 33,225
12. Southern Illinois - 30,012
13. Western Illinois - 25,244
14. Iowa - 24,803
15. Eastern Illinois - 21,825
16. Michigan - 18,958
17. Michigan State - 18,952
18. Marquette - 16,337
19. Bradley - 14,269
20. Marquette - 16,337
"POWER FIVE" SCHOOLS ONLY
1. Illinois - 118,770
2. DePaul - 104,446
3. Northwestern - 54,010
4. Purdue - 36,767
5. Indiana - 36,146
6. Wisconsin - 35,158
7. Iowa - 24,803
8. Michigan - 18,958
9. Michigan State - 18,952
10. Marquette - 16,337
11. Notre Dame - 13,463
12. Missouri - 10,542
13. Iowa State - 10,286
14. Ohio State - 9,191
15. Arizona State - 8,016
16. Kansas - 6,822
17. Minnesota - 6,656
18. Penn State - 5,032
19. Arizona - 4,794
20. Cal - 4,024
BIG TEN SCHOOLS
1. Illinois - 118,770
2. Northwestern - 54,010
3. Purdue - 36,767
4. Indiana - 36,146
5. Wisconsin - 35,158
6. Iowa - 24,803
7. Michigan - 18,958
8. Michigan State - 18,952
9. Ohio State - 9,191
10. Minnesota - 6,656
11. Penn State - 5,032
12. Nebraska - 2,812
13. Maryland - 2,570
14. Rutgers - 1,987
Notes
- It really makes you realize how many bandwagon Notre Dame fans there are, which is just so disappointing, lol. If you assumed that about half of the Loyola/DePaul grads and 25% of the Marquette grads on here cheered for Notre Dame in football, you'd get Notre Dame at 100,854 vs. Illinois' 118,770. That leaves out plenty of other "Subway Irish" fans and of course many non-grad Illini fans (like me!), but I would say that is a reasonable two-way split for the two schools, from my experiences living here.
- There are a lot of fans "on the table" for Illinois if and when we become competitive. There are ISU, WIU, SIU, NIU and EIU grads who probably hate the Illini or are ambivalent toward us, but there are certainly some on the table who'd cheer for an exciting Illini team. My parents both raised me as an Illini fan, and they are NIU grads. If Bret can get us competitive, I think you will see a lot more Illini support in the city, as you saw this past year with basketball.
- There are a LOT of Big Ten grads in Chicago. In total, there are 4.03 million Big Ten grad LinkedIn profiles in the Chicago area! The major exceptions are Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers. There are quite a few NON-Big Ten, Power Five schools above each on the list:
Nebraska: 23 schools
Maryland: 34 schools
Rutgers: 36 schools
- There were some surprises for me with the Big Ten numbers. First off, I was shocked to see Northwestern in second and Purdue in third. I thought I remembered a Jim Philips quote from the "Chicago's Big Ten Team" era where he said NU had the tenth most alumni in the area of B1G schools, and I guess I just don't see that much Purdue stuff around here. After Illini gear, I would say I see easily the most Michigan, then Michigan State, then Indiana/Iowa/Wisconsin roughly even.
Anyway, hope someone enjoys this.
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