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re: Fanbases in SEC states
Posted on 5/18/20 at 10:26 am to I-59 Tiger
Posted on 5/18/20 at 10:26 am to I-59 Tiger
Quarantine. I'll be gone in a few weeks 
0
Posted on 5/18/20 at 10:32 am to Mithridates6
Alabama is probably 65-35 but it probably feels 80-20 to the short term visitor or person transiting the state. People who didn't go to either make up the large majority of the state, and they favor UA. And the people most likely to be randomly wearing fan gear/emblazoning their car, etc. are UA.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 10:58 am to Pettifogger
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And the people most likely to be randomly wearing fan gear/emblazoning their car, etc. are UA.
This is the complete opposite in Huntsville. You AU guys have 3 alumni stickers on the front windshield, an AU license plate, an AU trailer hitch cover. Where I work I typically see guys wearing an AU polo once a week as if they were about to head to a game. At church there is far more AU polos being worn than any other fanbase combined.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 11:06 am to cdur86
quote:
This is the complete opposite in Huntsville. You AU guys have 3 alumni stickers on the front windshield, an AU license plate, an AU trailer hitch cover. Where I work I typically see guys wearing an AU polo once a week as if they were about to head to a game. At church there is far more AU polos being worn than any other fanbase combined.
I can see that. And it probably used to be that way in Montgomery, but I don't really think so anymore.
The reality is that school t-shirts in Alabama probably outnumber polos by 1000 to 1, and I suspect Bama gets a fairly solid majority of that in most parts of the state.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 12:21 pm to Mithridates6
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Louisiana: I'd guess about 30% of people are rabid LSU fans. The majority will support LSU, but aren't as committed.
It's pretty obvious there are three types of people in Louisiana.
Tiger fans
Saints fans
Both
Posted on 5/18/20 at 12:26 pm to Smokeyone
Always a good story along with the State of Scott.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 12:39 pm to Mithridates6
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Alabama: it seemed like 90% of ppl were Bama fans and 10% were Auburn. Both very rabid in their support
It depends on what area you are in. If you are in the more educated areas of the state (like the southern suburbs of Birmingham), it's truly a 50/50 split. Huntsville and Montgomery are also fairly heavy in Auburn support. Mobile is definitely more pro-Bama.
The rural areas of the state are closer to 80/20 in Bama's favor except for the Southeast part of the state which tends to be a bit more even since its closer in proximity to Auburn.
As a whole... counting just Bama and Auburn fans.... I'd say its around a 65/35 split towards Bama.... maybe 70/30.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 1:23 pm to VolsOut4Harambe
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Same for Memphis area... Ole Miss seems to be the most popular team at least in Gtown/Collierville. Strong Arkansas and Mississippi State presence too. UT presence not as strong.
Agreed. Outside of Univ. of Memphis, Ole Miss is by far the most popular in Memphis. I'd say the rest is pretty much evenly distributed with Arky, State, LSU, & Bama fans
Posted on 5/18/20 at 1:35 pm to chateaublanc
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Auburn has a higher percentage of fans that are alumni, yes. More...nope
Not so sure about that.
I mean its very difficult to get an accurate track of alumni and where they reside. But historically, Auburn always had a larger enrollment than Alabama up until about 15 years ago.
According to each school's website, Auburn grew its enrollment and surpassed Alabama in enrollment size beginning in the early 1950s. Fromt hat point up through around 2004, Auburn always had a larger student enrollment. Only in the mid 2000s did Alabama decide to grow its enrollment larger, but even still most of the growth was with out-of-state students.
From 1950-2005, Alabama's annual enrollment averaged 14,655. Auburn's averaged 16,052.... which means Auburn's was 1,397 students larger on average each and every year for a period of 56 years. Not all incoming freshmen go on to graduate or much less graduate and pick to reside in the state... however if all things are equal, Auburn would have had approximately 75,000 to 80,000 more alumni than Alabama between the years of 1950 and 2005.
Since 2005, Alabama has closed that gap completely, but again its mostly been with out of state students who are less likely to reside inside the state following graduation.
Even though Alabama's total enrollment nowadays is much larger than Auburn's, the number of in-state kids attending the schools is very close. In fact, according to the two schools' websites, Auburn has enrolled 1,600+ more kids from the state of Alabama than Alabama has during the past five years.
Based on all that, I'd say Auburn definitely has more actual alumni in the state than Alabama does.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 1:40 pm to Jebadeb
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Everyone I know bleeds purple and gold.
Is this a symptom of the China flu?
Posted on 5/18/20 at 2:01 pm to Pettifogger
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People who didn't go to either make up the large majority of the state, and they favor UA.
This is true. Using my office (40 employees) as a case study.... this is how it breaks down:
40%- Alabama fans
25%- Indifferent/Don't Care
20%- Auburn fans
15%- Fans of some other school (UGA, UF, Michigan, ND)
So in total, we have 16 Alabama fans to 8 Auburn fans.... that's a 2:1 margin. If you count actual alumni from those schools... There are six with degrees from Auburn and just three with degrees from Alabama... the exact opposite. A 2:1 advantage for Auburn in terms of graduates. Most of the Bama fans either moved in from out of state and just decided to be Bama fans upon arriving in the state, or they got their degree from a smaller in-state school (UAB, Troy, Samford, etc.) and choose to root for Alabama.
Anyway, based on my experience here, Auburn has an advantage in actual alumni..... probably more pronounced in suburbs of Birmingham, Huntsville, and Montgomery.... but Bama still has way more total fans.
This post was edited on 5/18/20 at 2:13 pm
Posted on 5/18/20 at 2:10 pm to cdur86
quote:
This is the complete opposite in Huntsville.
Huntsville is a very pro-Auburn town.... partly because its the most educated metro in the state, and also because its main industries bring about a high percentage of engineers.
Based on data from both school's websites, here are how many kids from the major Huntsville High schools have attended each University:
Huntsville High- 399 to AU; 249 to UA
Bob Jones High- 278 to AU; 196 to UA
James Clemons High- 263 to AU; 170 to UA
Grissom High- 221 to AU; 104 to UA
Sparkman High- 190 to AU; 132 to UA
Those are the five largest high schools.... all total in the last five years, these five large high schools in the Huntsville-Madison area have sent 1,351 kids to Auburn and 851 to Alabama.... that's a 61-39 advantage to Auburn.
Like I said, Huntsville is about as pro-Auburn of an area as you'll get in the state of Alabama.
This post was edited on 5/18/20 at 2:13 pm
Posted on 5/18/20 at 2:20 pm to BHMKyle
quote:
Huntsville is a very pro-Auburn town.... partly because its the most educated metro in the state, and also because its main industries bring about a high percentage of engineers. Based on data from both school's websites, here are how many kids from the major Huntsville High schools have attended each University: Huntsville High- 399 to AU; 249 to UA Bob Jones High- 278 to AU; 196 to UA James Clemons High- 263 to AU; 170 to UA Grissom High- 221 to AU; 104 to UA Sparkman High- 190 to AU; 132 to UA Those are the five largest high schools.... all total in the last five years, these five large high schools in the Huntsville-Madison area have sent 1,351 kids to Auburn and 851 to Alabama.... that's a 61-39 advantage to Auburn. Like I said, Huntsville is about as pro-Auburn of an area as you'll get in the state of Alabama.
Trust me when I say this dude. I freaking know. It's infuriating. It pains me to say this but UA is getting our asses handed to us over the last ten years. Maybe my graduating class was an anomaly but it seemed that everyone went to UA that year, and ever since then it has been all AU. UA legacies that I know are going to AU because all their friends are going there. I don't see that trend stopping anytime soon either.UA is starting to finally match AU in terms of number of engineer grads though and I'm seeing an uptick of UA engineers here more than AU so maybe it will reverse but i'm not holding my breath.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 3:00 pm to cdur86
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Trust me when I say this dude. I freaking know. It's infuriating. It pains me to say this but UA is getting our asses handed to us over the last ten years.
My distant perception of Huntsville too has been that there are a lot of folks who move in from other places outside the state. Is that true? Do these new folks moving in choose Auburn or Alabama or do you see fans from a plethora of other teams outside the state?
quote:
UA legacies that I know are going to AU because all their friends are going there. I don't see that trend stopping anytime soon either.
Same thing is happening in OTM Area of Birmingham.... I know several Bama friends who's kids are going to Auburn because they want to go to college with their best friends.
Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Hoover, Spain Park, and Oak Mountain have all sent far more kids to Auburn these last five years than to Alabama.... Mountain Brook is the only OTM school which seems to still be sending more kids to Alabama, but the gap has narrowed there quite a bit compared to what it used to be.
My outsider opinion is that Alabama became far too focused on growing their enrollment with out of state kids that it caused a lot of the instate kids to choose Auburn. Sadly much of the state of Alabama is very insular.... these wealthy Over-the-Mountain kids have their clicks of friends and they all seem to stick together.
The other issue Alabama has is there just isn't enough job growth in the state to keep these out of state kids in the state following graduation. I would imagine the vast majority of these kids coming in from California, New Jersey, Maryland, etc. are likely heading back home after they graduate because there aren't a lot of new jobs in the state. How long does a kid from New Jersey stay connected? Are these kids adapting back to their Northern lifestyle within a few years and totally forgetting their allegiance? It would be interesting to see how connected the average out of state alumni stays over time.
This post was edited on 5/18/20 at 3:02 pm
Posted on 5/18/20 at 3:05 pm to BHMKyle
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My distant perception of Huntsville too has been that there are a lot of folks who move in from other places outside the state. Is that true? Do these new folks moving in choose Auburn or Alabama or do you see fans from a plethora of other teams outside the state?
I would say the VAST majority of out of state folks that move here choose Auburn because unfortunately UA has to compete with national perception with the state name whereas Auburn doesn't. Is that fair? No, but that is just something we have to deal with
quote:
My outsider opinion is that Alabama became far too focused on growing their enrollment with out of state kids that it caused a lot of the instate kids to choose Auburn. Sadly much of the state of Alabama is very insular.... these wealthy Over-the-Mountain kids have their clicks of friends and they all seem to stick together.
I understand the University doing it, but it may have backfired a little. They are trying desperately now to fix it but I'm afraid the damage is done and if it does work it will take several years to catch back up.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 3:32 pm to cdur86
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I understand the University doing it, but it may have backfired a little. They are trying desperately now to fix it
I met a guy last fall at an economic conference I was at... he lives in the Midwest but is on the Alumni Board for the University of Alabama School of Engineering. He told me similar things... said in his mind Alabama's total enrollment would flatline if not even shrink a bit over the coming years. He said there is a new push to focus back on instate kids.
Posted on 5/18/20 at 8:07 pm to McMillan
But you don’t have the Rams anymore so things should be looking up for Mizos.
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