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forever-salty22@reddit

I have only ever watched college basketball and have no interest in the NBA. It's like a different game to me

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ZookeepergameNo2431@reddit

I prefer college basketball to pro NBA.

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College basketball is ugly basketball compared to the pros (much more than college football vs NFL), but the shorter seasons and lower scorelines add much more tension to every game and make each possession mean much more. Also single elimination postseason (unpredictable insanity for neutral viewers) vs 7 game series postseason (best team wins the series almost every single time).

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ZookeepergameNo2431@reddit

I prefer college basketball to pro NBA. College basketball is scrappier and hungrier because they wanna go pro. In some ways, the stakes are higher.

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Prinzlerr@reddit

March Madness is the craziest, most special postseason tournament in all of sports and absolutely no one can change my mind.

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Buffalochickenparm@reddit

It definitely used to be before NIL became a thing now there’s a fraction of the upsets. Like this past year barely any at all, only high point and to a lesser extent VCU. Not discounting Iowa and Texas but they’re power conference schools

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chaamp33@reddit

College sports used to be about a program and you have players year after year forming rivalries.

Now it’s who spends the most money.

If that’s the case I’ll just watch pro sports where it’s the same thing but the athletes are way better

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

It’s less that there are less upsets but more balanced seeding. Mid majors are generally under seeded. Also using high point is kind of weird. As an alum I had no expectations for us to win but we matched up well vs Wisconsin’s style.

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SoundMasher@reddit

It’s changed a LOT recently but I generally agree with you. It’s like the Super Bowl in spring.

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PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit

It's the single elimination. Same as football. Real stakes. In the NBA, the regular season barely even matters. The playoffs are the real season and the best 4 out of 7 format keeps even those games from being exciting.

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navair42@reddit

May I offer as a purely outside the box suggestion, the Japanese high school baseball national tournament? It's what March Madness used to be but maybe more pure and completely bonkers

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jda404@reddit

Same! I prefer NFL and pro football, but prefer college basketball to the NBA. Wasn't always like that. I used to love the NBA and enjoy college basketball equally. Then the NBA turned into a 3 point contest every game, players flopping, and whining all the time. But 90s and early 2000s NBA was fun to watch to me.

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sorebutton@reddit

I try to like the NBA. I have enjoyed some games. It is just not as compelling.

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Annual-Visual-2605@reddit

As a born and raised Kentuckian in the ‘70s, I didn’t know that the NBA was much of a thing until Michael Jordan came along. It was the Kentucky Wildcats, the Louisville Cardinals, or the Indiana Hoosiers. And then everybody else. As for me and my house, we bled UK blue. Go ‘Cats!!!

Seriously, kids of my era (Gen X) and area didn’t grow up dreaming of playing in the NBA. Rather they dreamed of playing at Rupp Arena for Kentucky. The NBA was second tier. Still is to many in KY.

Football, the state’s second sport, on the other hand, was and still is a different story. Lots of Titans fans, as well as Bengals fans in northern KY. Neither UK nor U of L have ever vied for a national title.

Baseball is also a MLB > NCAA sport in KY. Many StL Cardinals and Reds fans. Some Braves. Not many college baseball fans in KY. Although both UK and U of L have had good teams in recent years.

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SWNMAZporvida@reddit

March Madness baby!

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Judgy-Introvert@reddit

Same

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Greyface13@reddit

Lots of people do

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Apprehensive_Owl_642@reddit

Me too!

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Agent__Zigzag@reddit

American professional sports used to just be Baseball, boxing, & horse racing. Professional basketball took long time to even be televised live. And professional American (Gridiron) football only started approximately 40 years after colleges began playing it. More cities had large universities than professional sports franchises. Especially in the South.

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Remarkable-Hawkeye@reddit

Absolutely. A college will not move 2 time zones away, as my pro team did. Then twenty years later they moved back, like “we good?” - “Um…no…we are not f&ing good.”

It’s about family and connection.

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These-Ad5332@reddit

Yes. It starts fights at family get togethers.

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EloquentBacon@reddit

Some of the college football teams really are that much of a huge deal. My oldest, their spouse and their kids used to live in a new townhouse complex in a town right next to State College, Pennsylvania where Penn State University is. Penn State is very well known for their college football team. When we went to visit them for the first time for Thanksgiving, during football season, we were talking about the other townhouses in her neighborhood. She said that more than 1/2 of them were empty most of the year as most were owned by people who lived elsewhere during the rest of the year and only lived in their townhouse during football season. I’m not a sports person or any type of football fan so I was completely unaware of how wild people got about college football before then.

When we were driving around in State College, PA, I kept seeing people standing outside in the cold rain and snow at intersections. Here in NJ and in Philadelphia, people who do that here are typically homeless people or people down on their luck asking if anyone in their car has any money to spare while the cars are all stopped at a red light. I commented to my daughter about being surprised at what a big homeless problem State College had. She asked what I was talking about and I explained what I saw. She started laughing really hard and explained that it was game day and those people were trying to sell tickets to that day’s football game.

Later that day, it had really started to snow a lot. We were in State College but we weren’t close to the stadium and were trying to drive out of town. I started to see a ton of people all walking in the same direction in the snow carrying chairs and blankets, I asked my daughter what they were doing. She said that they had just parked and were walking to the stadium even though we were a good 5 miles away from it! I was not expecting that as the weather was really cold and the snow kept getting worse.

The day we were getting ready to drive home, we stopped at a Walmart. While walking inside the store, we passed a smaller 4 door car and a separate RV van completely covered in huge Penn State logos that were both clearly professionally done.

We live very close to the ocean in NJ and we get a massive amount of beach tourists every summer. We have a lot of people who own homes in our area that are just for the summer beach season but I’d never seen such a mass amount of people descend on an area like that before going to State College, PA with such enthusiasm about being there and who weren’t discouraged at all by rain, freezing temperatures and snow.

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andmewithoutmytowel@reddit

I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, and we don't have any professional sports teams in the state. We're 1.5 hours from Indianapolis, 1.5 hours to Cincinnatti, and 2.5 hours from Nashville, and they just don't think we have the ability to support a local pro sports team.

What we do have in Kentucky however, are 2 absolute powerhouses of college basketball - University of Louisville and University of Kentucky. And of course, there's a heated intrastate rivalry that divides people. When I first met my wife's family, the first question her uncle asked me was UofL or UK (I was from Chicago, so I just said "obviously the same one you support" which made him laugh).

UofL has the YUM! Center, which is a 22,000 seat arena, and doubles as a concert venue. UK has Rupp Arena, which is a 20,000 seat arena and is also used for concerts and other events.

Both schools also have football stadiums that seat about 60,000 people, but basketball is really where they both shine, and people in KY do take college basketball very seriously.

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_Nocte_@reddit

Just wait until you find out that there are High School stadiums with 20,000 seats. Americans do love their football.

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Dry_Albatross5298@reddit

the stadium where the NFL Hall of Fame game is played is primarily a high school stadium for the rest of the year and has been for years

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Emotional-Loss-9852@reddit

That’s kind of cheating, the NFL paid for it. There are straight up high schools that have built 20k seat stadiums on their own

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Potential-Drawing745@reddit

Allen Texas: 18,000 seats. $60 million. It's insane.

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Emotional-Loss-9852@reddit

Unbelievable stadium. I’ve been there as a player, fan, and in the press box. On all levels it’s just incredible.

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Dry_Albatross5298@reddit

the NFL (Tom Benson) paid for the recent renovations but before that it was a straight up high school stadium

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skibbsescobar@reddit

neighbors with no kids near the local Texas high school will have season tickets for the football team.

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Odd-Translator-2792@reddit

Yep. I was going to point that out. I have been to high school stadiums bigger and better than some stadiums from well known college teams.

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EvilAceVentura@reddit

Its also not uncommon for high school playoff games to be played in college or professional stadiums too.

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RedPajama45@reddit

My local college, D3, played at the high school stadium for a long time. Now they somehow have a ridiculous amount of money and 3x their size and built a huge football, hockey, tennis, and baseball area. Plus an indoor sports area with an inflatable dome.

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ThatZX6RDude@reddit

Yep in Texas the state championship game is held at AT&T stadium in Arlington, where the Dallas cowboys play.

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h4baine@reddit

The US isn't even the only place to do this. The Koshien in Japan is HUGE for high school baseball and they kick a pro team (Hanshin Tigers) out of their own stadium for it every year lol.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

Alright I'll bite, what high school stadium is better than which "well known college teams" stadium?

I'm from Texas so I know about incredible high school stadiums but I don't know any better than what I would consider a well known college team.

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

A lot of the smaller d1 programs have stadiums under 25k (the largest high school stadium)

But some with famous alumni.

University at Buffalo (Khalil Mack)

Miami of Ohio (Big Ben)

Western Kentucky, costal Carolina, Sam Houston etc.

Not a ton, but some big enough names.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

Look I'm a G6 fan but I wouldn't consider any of those to be "well known" to the average person. There definitely are a ton of high school stadiums better than Sam Houston States though but they probably the worst stadium in the FBS

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

They’re regional powers, to be sure.

I think it’s hard to find “well known” schools with stadiums under 25k.

There’s a few at the 30k mark, Army/Navy, Marshall, Tulane, Wyoming.

Under 50 is plenty though.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

No, no they're not lol but thats besides the point.

My point was that there aren't any high school stadiums bigger/nicer than well known college programs.

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

Not what? Well known regionally?

Most certainly are.

Famous isn’t limited to football performance.

Harvard is famous, 25k stadium.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

Right but the context here is college football. Yes Harvard is famous but not for football. Most couldn't even tell you their mascot or what level they play at.

Are those schools known regionally? Yes. Do they pack out their smaller stadiums regularly? No. If people don't care to show up to your games you're not a "regional power".

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

You mean to tell me the alma matter of Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't famous for football!

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Bobcat2013@reddit

Yes

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Odd-Translator-2792@reddit

I actually was specifically thinking of Tulane in comparison to some Texas high school hool stadiums. I consider Tulane to be a very well known college. These are Tier 1 (meaning academics) colleges.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

High schools in texas definitely have nicer stadiums than SHSU. Their stadium is a dump

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Bobcat2013@reddit

High schools in texas definitely have nicer stadiums than SHSU. Their stadium is a dump

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Odd-Translator-2792@reddit

Have you been to college games in Louisiana?

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Bobcat2013@reddit

Ive not. But I'm familiar with the FBS stadiums there

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Rhomya@reddit

Not just football.

The Minnesota state high school boys hockey tournament sells out a full NHL arena (where the MN Wild play) beyond its seated capacity.

It’s a 4-day tournament that saw more than 140,000 attend

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Sinrus@reddit

This stuff is mind boggling to me. I truly can't wrap my mind around caring about anything high schoolers do.

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Rhomya@reddit

Why are high schoolers any different than anyone else?

I absolutely love that tournament. Is it NHL caliber hockey from a skill perspective? No, but it’s still phenomenal hockey, and the effort and dedication from those kids (of which some will definitely make it into the NHL) is impressive to see.

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Sinrus@reddit

Why are high schoolers any different than anyone else?

Because they're not professionals? I genuinely don't see the appeal, it's like a step above watching kids' little league games.

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Jones127@reddit

It feels more personal at both high school and the college level. You might either know those players, or know friends and family of said players and that causes your investment to be higher. You might’ve also been a student at either institution so you’d want them to do well if you’re invested in sports.

In my life, I’ve met 6 previous or current professional players in football and baseball. Outside of that, my only real attachment is proximity based and maybe if a player went to a school I previously attended. If I was just purely in it for top level feats of athleticism, I’d just watch the highlights so I wasn’t wasting hours of my time, then move on.

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chi_sweetness25@reddit

It's more about the passion and community than about seeing the greatest feats of skill possible in the sport.

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Sinrus@reddit

I guess that makes sense. Where I'm from not even other high schoolers go to high school games, so it just seems like a weird thing for the whole community to get into.

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Rhomya@reddit

College players aren’t professionals either.

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Sinrus@reddit

I'm not interested in college ball either, but at least high tier college teams are a lot closer to a professional level program.

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Few-Race-8527@reddit

That tournament is some of the most fun I’ve ever had watching the sport. I was at championship Saturday this year and it was absolutely unreal.

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Cool-Firefighter2254@reddit

OP, you should read Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream by Buzz Bissinger if you want a glimpse into the world of sports in the US. There is also a movie and a TV series based on the book.

Generally, high school football teams play games on Friday, college teams play games on Saturday, and pro teams play on Sunday. That’s so you can get all your football watching in.

In my hometown, you cannot plan a fall wedding without consulting the football schedule. If it’s a game day, the traffic will be so bad your guests can’t get to you and if they do make it to the ceremony they might be sneaking off to watch TV during the reception.

College sports are also a huge money maker. I received a scholarship to my university: the funds for that scholarship (and 19 others in my class) were from the sale of ONE style of sweatshirt from the campus bookstore.

People are deeply invested in their teams and will plan reunions and trips around games. The most popular sport will vary by region and there are certainly people who don’t care about sportsball, but bonding over supporting a team is very common.

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CheeseFries92@reddit

Yep! I had a friend get married in a college town on a Saturday in the fall and they scheduled it for an away game but brought in a projector to show the game during the reception because they knew people would leave otherwise

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Legovida8@reddit

I did that. Got married in Austin, it was Texas @ Ohio State, no way I was going to miss that game, or force anyone else to! My husband couldn’t believe that my Mom & I had recognized & solved that dilemma, even before he’d realized the potential catastrophe. LOL. 🤘

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

Here in Texas we got high schools with millions dollar 18,000 seat stadiums that are better than most small D1 schools.

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Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit

Football Sundays have replaced church.

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Icy_Wedding720@reddit

In certain states, absolutely!

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dragonbec@reddit

I live in Austin Texas and we don’t have a NFL or NBA team here so University of Texas sports are hugely popular. Even for people who didn’t go there.

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Majestic-Citron7578@reddit

Yes if you went there. Professional teams tend to be followed because of geography or how good they are at a particular time. But your college team just has a deeper connection.

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Realistic-Kick-6830@reddit

Yes. I don’t give a crap about professional sports but I eat, drink, and breathe my undergrad team. Call me a bunch of four letter words, kick my dog, etc etc. but you DON’T trash talk my undergrad 🤣

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skibbsescobar@reddit

I will never forget a reddit comment, "the Atlanta Hawks could fold tomorrow and no one would notice for years."

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omnipresent_sailfish@reddit

Sure, especially in those areas that don't have a professional team. See Nebraska

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Ryan1869@reddit

The state of Nebraska only has 1 less professional football team than the state of New York 😂

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crazycatlady331@reddit

ARe you forgetting Buffalo is in New York?

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Ryan1869@reddit

That was the joke

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FearDaTusk@reddit

Could day the same about Ohio 😏

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CleansingFlame@reddit

Oof ouch my Browns

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OrneryZombie1983@reddit

Is that a "they play in New Jersey" joke or a "the Jets and Giants suck" joke?

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gmwdim@reddit

Yes

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Swimming_Crab_972@reddit

😔

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Significant-Track797@reddit

Obligatory… on Husker game days the college football stadium becomes the third largest city in the state.

Also the crowds turn up for women’s sports too!

https://youtu.be/hZxucJy1Uos?si=SKCg4pa4ZUJzvZC8

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strange_hobbit@reddit

I live in Nebraska. Wow relocating to NYC must’ve been such a big change. What are your favorite things we can’t get or do in Nebraska?

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Significant-Track797@reddit

I'm in the arts so that's a huge pull. Legitimately, public transit is amazing. It's so nice being able to get anywhere in the city without a car. I haven't ever really needed one in the city (I split my time between NE and NYC now). The food variety is also great. I really learned to appreciate the directness of the people. They aren't being rude, genuinely New Yorkers are some of the kindest people I've met, they just don't have time for midwest placations. There's an energy to the city that is really fun (sometimes too much) but I appreciate that when I'm bored I can just go walk around and see something interesting.

The culture shock wasn't too crazy, I hadn't been to NYC before I moved, but I had traveled to other major cities before. It's NYC so you kind of mentally prepare for something. I genuinely had more culture shock visiting family out in Cherry County than when I moved to the city.

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strange_hobbit@reddit

That’s hysterical about cherry county and it tracks 🤣 I live in Omaha so the public transit comment hits so hard right now. Thanks for answering and good luck with everything!

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AlexFromOmaha@reddit

Nebraska checking in, what are professional sports?

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Fyaal@reddit

The Cornhuskers

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Daddysheremyluv@reddit

Have they been relevant since NIL.... or the Bush administration

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Fyaal@reddit

Oh I don’t know I was just making an NIL joke

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guess214356789@reddit

NIL? I know NIT. That used to be for teams that were overlooked by the Big Dance. Teams playing with the big, round, bouncy ball.

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402-420@reddit

Football? No. Other sports? You bet they have been.

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guess214356789@reddit

One of the reasons we accepted Nebraska into the Big 10/12/14/18 was their football program. Same with Penn State.

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Old-Seaworthiness379@reddit

Didn't 90k peeps show up for a volleyball game not to long ago? Seems like it was Nebraska.

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SayaEvange@reddit

Yep! 92,003 people

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mycatisanudist@reddit

Happy Scott Frost day to those who celebrate!

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incogspeedo@reddit

We don’t talk about Scott Frost.

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Ickyhouse@reddit

Depends on which Bush

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Daddysheremyluv@reddit

I picked bush because I wasn't sure. But it may be both

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_NEW_HORIZONS_@reddit

They were last nationally relevant between the two. They made a few runs at a Big XII title, won their division several times in the 2000-2012 (that last one was in the B1G). I think you can count winning seasons on one hand since.

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manderifffic@reddit

Hey, if they win more games than they lose, they always get to go to some bowl game nobody's ever heard of before

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Turdposter777@reddit

The cornrows

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CricketSimilar863@reddit

go big red!!

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troubsellcand@reddit

Nebraska answered its own question before anyone else could and honestly that's the most Nebraska thing possible.

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dsramsey@reddit

Remember when Cam Jurgens stopped playing for Nebraska and started playing for some team in Philadelphia? It’s that.

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AlexFromOmaha@reddit

No silly, he graduated in 2022. He didn't transfer to Penn State.

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TemperMe@reddit

Wait till you find out about high school football

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Wyndeward@reddit

Lord -- went to school down south.

The weekend was sports and religion -- high school football on Friday, College games on Saturday, Church in the morning and NFL in the afternoon and evening.

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cdlauro@reddit

He won a Super Bowl, right?! #GoBirds

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Signal_Republic_3092@reddit

Pre-2024: “Wait, you guys are getting paid?”
Post-2024: “Wait, you guys do this as a job?”

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Glasseshalf@reddit

And Iowa (I used to live there)

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primitive_thisness@reddit

GBR!

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jomo789@reddit

Iowa Hawkeyes

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Shoddy_Consequence78@reddit

Omaha but only when Manning keeps saying it.

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mustang6172@reddit

Omaha Storm

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cecil021@reddit

Or places like where I live- Knoxville, TN. There’s no professional team within 150 miles. But we have a large university with one of the largest stadiums on earth.

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MarkNutt25@reddit

College sports are huge in states that do have a pro team too.

The biggest sports stadium in the country is University of Michigan's "Big House," which is less than an hour's drive from Ford Field, where the Detroit Lions play.

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ChefDanyul@reddit

Texas is another good example. Tennessee has MTSU and UT-Knoxville that maybe don’t have the viewership but a way bigger fandom than Titans. In Washington state UW and WSU are huge. Oregon does have a professional basketball team but UofO Ducks are a big thing.

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BlueSoloCup89@reddit

Texas is probably the extreme answer to this example as there are high school teams that have a bigger active fanbase than some (albeit smaller) D1 universities.

I remember as a kid being amazed that Southlake and Lufkin filled up a 50k seat stadium 2-3 hours away from their respective hometowns.

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

I live in Dallas and some of these million dollar high school stadiums are better than some of these smaller D1 or D2 schools.

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SenseNo635@reddit

I’ll go a step further. I went to a very major university that you’ve absolutely heard of. We have many national championships (none in football) and we’re very good in several sports. Our athletic department has a huge budget. There are plenty of Texas high school stadiums that are bigger and nicer than ours.

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250MCM@reddit

One reason Texas property taxes are so high, those stadiums have to be paid for.

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kmr1391@reddit

name it

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SenseNo635@reddit

UConn

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ahfuck0101@reddit

I’m sure some in Texas compare or exceed, but you should see the $62 million stadium Buford has in Georgia.

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froction@reddit

I worked on a project at LSU a while back that was just an expansion of the South end zone and it had more than $62 million just in concrete. Total project was over $100M.

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

I saw that on YouTube but back in 2010 Allen High School here in the Dallas area which is similar to Buford in Atlanta their 18,000 seat stadium cost like $60 million. Another School district that’s close to Allen ISD, McKinney ISD their 12,000 seat stadium used for all the McKinney high schools cost about $70 million back in 2016.

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ahfuck0101@reddit

It’s insane

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

Yep there’s other suburbs that are fast growing trying to do what Allen and McKinney did and residents will reject any proposals for a stadium lol.

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Loss-Gloomy@reddit

There are also private schools in Texas with 400-500 high school students who have nicer stadiums, weight rooms and other facilities than a lot of lower level D1 schools.

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WhatABeautifulMess@reddit

Def more than my DI school. I have tailgated and then not gone to the game. If it was night out we might stay til halftime to watch Poms.

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Bootmacher@reddit

Wait...Southlake and Lufkin are the same size?!

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ChefDanyul@reddit

Yeah we’d drive back to dfw where my mothers family lives and late at night you would see huge bright lights out at a distance and know it was a high school football game.

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Quiet_Cat5270@reddit

The University of Iowa has a stadium that’s roughly the same size as Arrowhead, where the chiefs play. It was, at the time I was a student, exactly in the middle of the Big 10 in terms of stadium size. Granted, it’s not a state with pro teams, but it’s the smaller of the two big state institutions in Iowa and that thing was filled pretty much every home game. College sports is insane.

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Quintidecimus@reddit

Kinnick is the same size as Arrowhead? I had no idea...

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tearsonurcheek@reddit

B1G has the three biggest (Michigan, Penn State, and OSU). SEC has 6 of the next 7 (Texas A&M, LSU, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia). The Cotton Bowlis tenth. It doesn't currently host a team, but has college and pro teams in the past. It's hosts high school playoffs, but is best known as the long-time neutral field host of the Red River Shootout/Rivalry (annual OU/Texas rivalry game eld the week of the Texas State Fair).

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ChefDanyul@reddit

Yeah I was 18 in 08 and was hitchhiking from ft worth, Texas to Austin and because there happened to be a UT game on the highways in any direction were flooded with people going to Austin. Took me no time. Getting back, however, was different. I was there for a few days for a music fest and there was a lot less traffic.

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blay12@reddit

I like how MTSU was your second choice for D1 schools in Tennessee when Vanderbilt and Memphis both exist lol

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ChefDanyul@reddit

I don’t know why I said that. Why did I forget vandy? You’re right.

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Quincyperson@reddit

Vandy is very forgettable

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froction@reddit

Not this last year. 10-2, beat UT and went to the Outback Bowl.

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iloveyoumiri@reddit

Huntsville, Alabama should be Titans territory as far as NFL goes and I'm pretty sure Alabama A&M is more represented here than Titans.

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TMW_W@reddit

Did you just say that MTSU has bigger fandom than the Titans???

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Puzzleheaded_Rain_22@reddit

I can say I’ve seen MTSU in person more than the Titans. Only because they played in Ann Arbor in men’s basketball.

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quidpropho@reddit

Yep. Someone just making shit up on the internet.

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ChefDanyul@reddit

No im just trying to point out in the South college football has more diehard fans. I haven’t been to Tennessee in a long time.

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emmie-claire@reddit

I see 10x more Bulldogs gear than Falcons gear in my part of Georgia.

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PeterGator@reddit

Mtsu does not have a bigger fan base than the titans in any metric.

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quidpropho@reddit

Putting mtsu here is ridiculous. I'm sure way more MTSU alum watch UT games than watch their alma mater, especially in football where the power conferences define the sport.

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ChefDanyul@reddit

Dude excuse my ignorance. I was trying to make an example and it was clearly a bad one. Holy shit I accidentally made some folks mad. I know now it was a really bad point and I don’t know much about football. It might make more sense to you if I told you my first choice was MTSU but I chose APSU because it was closer to home. And they’ve lost 3-70 before when I attended to university of Wisconsin I believe.

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Iceicebaby21@reddit

I understand the volunteers but how are the Titans being outmatched in viewership by the BLUE RAIDERS!?

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ChefDanyul@reddit

Dude! Forgive me. I haven’t been in TN in so long. My point was just how college viewership in the South is large and Titans don’t seem to have that large of a fan base compared with many other metro areas.

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casapantalones@reddit

Yeah I’m from Texas, really don’t care at all about either pro football team, I’m a Texas alum and the Longhorns are my one and only football team.

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ickyvic613@reddit

I was born and raised in Houston, so not shortage of professional sports. BUT I also graduated from UT. For football, it's Texas and nothing else (ESPECIALLY when playing A&M or OU).

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casapantalones@reddit

That’s right, hook em baby!

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spudhammer1@reddit

Amen, my brethren!

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casapantalones@reddit

🤘🏻

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needsmorequeso@reddit

I care more about the Texas and Texas A&M football game than I do about any other sporting event, and they didn’t even play it for like 20 years.

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froction@reddit

How does San Antonio not have a football team?

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Sallyfifth@reddit

How sad for you!

(All in fun, no hard feelings...)

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kemarti1@reddit

The longhorns were definitely one of the first teams that came to my mind when I saw this post. Them, Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana etc.

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LoopyMercutio@reddit

*Florida enters the chat*

Multiple pro football teams, and University of Florida, Florida State University, Miami, and UCF and USF as well. Huge stadiums, nearly always sold out for every game.

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NoMoreMustaches@reddit

Except for University of Miami. Selling out stadiums isn’t really our style.

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Drummallumin@reddit

The average person in Big 10 country is still a bigger fan of their pro team than their college team tho (in states with a pro team)

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Marbrandd@reddit

Calling the Lions professionals is a bit generous.

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tearsonurcheek@reddit

I mean...its the Lions. Same with Ohio and OSU. Are they gonna oot for the Browns?

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TranslatorOutside909@reddit

Ohio State is more popular than the Browns and Bengals

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StinkyChammy@reddit

Wisconsin is another good example. There are people that cheer the Badgers over the Puckers.

Yes that typo was intentional

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No-Conversation1940@reddit

UW-Madison itself gets plenty of students from Chicagoland and the Twin Cities, people with Badgers/Bears or Badger/Vikings fan support.

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itcheyness@reddit

To be fair, for most of their history the Lions were hardly a "pro" team...

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Public_Media_8327@reddit

The Buckeyes are easily the most popular team in Ohio, which has several professional sports teams.

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Illustrious_Leg_2537@reddit

But do the Browns even count?

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KapowBlamBoom@reddit

Ohio has 2 NFL teams, 2 baseball teams, 1 basketball and 1 hockey

And Ohio State Buckeye football is more popular than all of them.

The Buckeyes are the only team I make an effort to watch every game

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S_C_H_L_O_R_P@reddit

2 Soccer teams too

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KapowBlamBoom@reddit

A good point

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legend_of_the_skies@reddit

I legitimately forgot Nebraska existed for a bit.

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cookingismything@reddit

Yep. My kid goes to Alabama Roll Tide

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DLS3141@reddit

Yeah, my sister went to school in Omaha and the city basically takes the day off when the Huskers are playing football. If they are working, they’ve got it on at work.

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Sector_Independent@reddit

Or Austin, Texas

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adamrac51395@reddit

College sports are professional sports. The football coach of the large state university is the highest paid state employee in like 39 of the 50 states.

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M1sfit_Jammer@reddit

Iowa fan checking in here… I look forward to the Nebraska vs Iowa football game more than the Subperbowl, NBA championship and MLB World Series combined

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incogspeedo@reddit

Well, yeah, because you guys keep winning. I dread it every year! 😂

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ShinyArticuno_420@reddit

Georgia has professional teams but UGA still tends to fill more seats

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AmbulanceChaser12@reddit

Some of those places don’t have an NFL team because of the college team that’s already there. Columbus, Ohio would do just fine with an NFL team, if it weren’t for the Buckeyes.

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therealbamspeedy@reddit

While an NFL team moving there would certainly have to respect the college team for scheduling conflicts, I think the biggest barrier to them getting an NFL team (assuming the league is willing to expand or an owner wants to move their team there), is the two other NFL teams nearby, in the same state. The city may have the infrastructure for it, but statewide support for yet another team i dont think would be very high.

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AmbulanceChaser12@reddit

Yeah there would be no way to survive without peeling away fan base from the Browns and the Bengals.

Which is sad because the Columbus Metro, by population, is legitimately comparable to the other 2. It’s negligibly smaller than Cincinnati, which is negligibly smaller than Cleveland*. It’s just that Cleveland and Cincinnati got there first.

*Unless you count the wider Cleveland CSA, which yeah, okay, now the difference is well over a million people, and I’m betting football fans in Akron, Canton, Youngstown, and Toledo identity with the Browns.

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GarlicBright552@reddit

Just throwing this out there on a semi related note: Columbus and Cleveland are essentially twin sport cities.

I’d say browns are the plurality favorite in cbus. OSU owns cbus and Cleveland for college football and basketball.
Cleveland guardians triple AAA team in Columbus.
Columbus Blue Jackets minor league team in Cleveland.
Columbus is a primary market for cavs.
Cbus has pro soccer and I’d bet haslam gets Cleveland a minor league tier team to match the pro women’s and men’s teams in cbus.

Long way of saying cbus doesn’t want to eat into CLE markets they want to share success. Cincinnati on the other hand? They like being loners.

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aprendido@reddit

The NFL doesn’t care about college teams. It cares about media markets, competition with current owners, and corporate sponsorships, which are why Columbus would never have a team.

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ammitsat@reddit

Omg, I lived in Columbus for a few years in my early 20s. I grew up in northwest Ohio and was a notre dame fan (and pretty much rooted for Michigan for the BIG game). When I moved to Columbus I was mostly ambivalent about the Buckeyes. Three years in Columbus and even now 25 years later, I fucking HATE the Buckeyes.

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T_so_fly@reddit

You deserve California.

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curious_eyebrow@reddit

Counter point: Michigan (UofM) football super fans when the Detroit Lions are right there. Many such examples. I sometimes think proximity of several prominent teams adds more fuel to the madness.

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Icy-Kitchen6648@reddit

GO BIG RED!!!

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

I live in a state with all four major sports and prefer my college team to my nfl and nba teams, and I’m a pretty dang big fan of my NFL team

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aracauna@reddit

Or even in places like Georgia. I grew up hearing a lot more about Georgia Southern, which wasn't even in the top division when I was a kid, than I ever heard about the Falcons. University of Georgia was much bigger there than any NFL team.

The largest NFL stadium in the US is only the 15th largest stadium in the country. The rest are all college stadiums.

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Drummallumin@reddit

Same with Georgia and Louisiana

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Gex2-EnterTheGecko@reddit

The Cornhuskers stadium in Lincoln is nicer and larger than many professional stadiums. It's wild.

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AffectedRipples@reddit

Its larger than every NFL stadium. Something like 8 of the 10 largest stadiums in the world are College football stadiums.

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Gex2-EnterTheGecko@reddit

Damn I didn't know that!

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EnlightenedCorncob@reddit

Yup Nebraska loves college football. They're not even very good at it! Iowa>Nebraska

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Ok_Shoe_4325@reddit

As a Nebraskan, how dare you say something like this, even if its true. Just you wait till volleyball season!

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elizawatts@reddit

Huge in SC as well. People drive around with license plates with gamecocks and an orange paw with a line separating them, saying, “a state divided”.

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tearsonurcheek@reddit

Same here in Oklahoma with OU and OSU, though the Sooners have a slight edge in the Bedlam rivalry, at least in football. 91-20-7. Though the Cowboys won the last game before OU moved to the SEC.

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tearsonurcheek@reddit

In the southeast you got Bama, Georgia, LSU, Clemson, etc. Vs the NFC and AFC South divisions. Yeah, college is definitely bigger in the south.

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JuanMurphy@reddit

Yeah. Played west coast made it to a PAC10 school. My redshirt year the team played Nebraska. The travel team came back absolutely stunned. 80,000 people rooting for one team. The one comment that stood out came from a brother from Compton “I saw an 80 year old gramma cursing me and wished me death”. To OP these states tgat just have college sports can be a bit crazy

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GandalfTheGrey46@reddit

Not necessarily though. For example Indiana is a big basketball state which has the Pacers but college basketball is still huge.

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rcjhawkku@reddit

And the football Hoosiers notably outperformed the Colts.

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Slow_D-oh@reddit

Well the Hoosiers went from the worst team in CFB history to National champs in two years. So recency bias might be a thing.

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rcjhawkku@reddit

So they’ve won as many championships as Indianapolis Colts.

(Not bitter about a team that left In the Middle of the Night. Not bitter at all.)

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Cromasters@reddit

Same with NC.

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tcup_1214@reddit

As a Nebraskan the college culture here is insane 🙄

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BarrishUSAFL@reddit

Or most of the southeast.

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Brilliant_Floor8561@reddit

Or where the Atlanta Falcons play, see Georgia..

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Artartbobart1@reddit

We don’t have a major pro team in Maine. But holy hell do we love our college hockey!!!!

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CheeseMongoNJ@reddit

Friend of mine went to UNH. Same there.

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CheeseMongoNJ@reddit

Friend of mine went to UNH. Same there.

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big_axolotl@reddit

Heck, even in California the Fresno State Bulldogs fill the desolate, sport-less void of the Central Valley

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BroughtBagLunchSmart@reddit

The south loves college football because it is simpler and the players are basically indentured servants. It lets them LARP as their ancestors who fought so poorly in their war to enslave other humans.

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Ocean2731@reddit

I have pro teams in my area but I love college sports because the players tend to have more enthusiasm and there’s often an element of chaos to the games. You think you know who’s going to win but surprises often happen!

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Intelligent_Quiet424@reddit

Kentucky enters the chat…

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Reddituser45005@reddit

Ohio has 2 professional football teams. OSU is still the preferred team of football fans

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Nebraska_@reddit

College football has been more important in American culture for over 100 years. Professional football, by comparison, is very new. There are far more college teams than professional football teams. College stadiums are bigger, arguably more affordable to attend, have nicer fans, more history, and more interesting and innovative plays on the field.

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SignificantApricot69@reddit

And Ohio, which has multiple professional teams

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Different_Victory_89@reddit

And Oklahoma! Boomer Sooner!

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MessoGesso@reddit

🌽

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doublebogey182@reddit

Exactly. I live I. A small city with no pro sports trams but we have a major university. My parents and many family members went to that university. They are a big American football school as well. The town lives by the tourism. Go Irish.

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powertoolsarefun@reddit

I don’t know. I’m in PA. We have Eagles and Stealers and Penn State football is still a really big deal. They aren’t in exactly the same location — but they are near enough.

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captain_hug99@reddit

Connecticut checking in, we are all about UConn Basketball.

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InnerWolf8337@reddit

Ohio has two professional football teams and they both suck

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DrTenochtitlan@reddit

The Iron Bowl in Alabama between the University of Alabama and Auburn University is the single biggest event in the state of Alabama each year, bar none.

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ProbablyAPotato1939@reddit

Nebraska doesn't even have a college football team.

Or corn.

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AlexFromOmaha@reddit

Council Bluffs is on your side of the border.

Checkmate, atheists

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SirTwitchALot@reddit

As a non-sports person I never understood the obsession, but you hit the nail on the head

My ex went to the #2 university in our state. His cousin, who barely managed to graduate high school pulled him aside at a family holiday gathering and said "I know you go to #2 school, but I'm a #1 fan."

My ex was like... I graduated from college. You can barely read. Why did you feel the need to bring this up?

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river-running@reddit

Virginia here. Same.

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WhereasTherefore@reddit

Can confirm. We had 92,003 people attend a college volleyball match.

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TXHaunt@reddit

I’m fairly sure that school level football is bigger than professional level here in Texas, and we have more than one professional team.

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hassddfg@reddit

We live outside of Atlanta. We do have professional sports, but we are much more invested in our Alma Mater (UGA) sports. We go to games (football, baseball, gymnastics, tennis etc) and we very rarely go to a game for Atlanta sports. However, other than football, it is less expensive to go to a UGA game than a Braves, Hawks, etc. game, and easier to get to. Also, before the current NIL situation (which I hate), I always felt like professional players were in it for the money and college teams still loved the game and were playing harder to make it to the big leagues.

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hassddfg@reddit

Also, let me add, my husband coaches high school football... now some of THOSE games would probably blow your mind!

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TheOfficialKramer@reddit

Football, yes. College football is way better than the NFL.

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TheOfficialKramer@reddit

Football, yes. College football is way better than the NFL.

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FlatElvis@reddit

I'd guess that half or more of Americans care more about college football than the NFL. Very few people care about college baseball though.

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DrSassyPants123@reddit

Yes.. college football games is an event... tailgating, band playing. Love it! Pro games don't have the same vibe.

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CatNapDad@reddit

American football was invented by College.

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RobotShlomo@reddit

In places that there are no professional teams, college sports are huge. Nebraska, Kansas, parts of Michigan, the Carolinas, and Wisconsin are hotbeds of college sports. In the Northeast areas like New York and New Jersey, not so much.

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Piper-Bob@reddit

Yeah. I went to college and graduate school, and I watch those games on TV. Occasionally I go to see them in person. I basically never watch professional sports.

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UMassTwitter@reddit

Yes they do except the area north east of Virginia. We do not care much for college sports

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big_lankey@reddit

Oh yeah, they’ll spend more on the football program than the educational materials. Blew my mind that they required us to buy calculators, but then put in a brand new turf field. Hell we lost the 5th bass and just had to deal with it lmao.

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ABelleWriter@reddit

We don't have pro teams in my state. We are actually the most populous state without one!

What we have is so much college ball. Omg. So so much. And the rivalries are a big deal. People who don't even watch care.

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Low_Computer_6542@reddit

I grew up on Arizona State University sports. I later received 2 degrees from ASU. My children and grandchildren are ASU fans. Given a choice, I would watch an ASU contest over a professional one any day of the week.

It's a better family experience. Tickets and food are cheaper. Tailgating is a great and there isn't a sport they don't have.

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Sylent09@reddit

In short, yes. Then again here in Tennessee while our professional football and basketball teams (Titans and Grizzlies) are historically pretty bad while University of Tennessee has historically been pretty good at those sports. A notable exception would be our NHL team the Predators have done fairly decent since their creation and gets a surprisingly decent sized crowd. From what I've heard our brand new professional soccer team is doing pretty decent as well as far as ticket sales go.

So I guess the best answer, like most questions asked here, is it depends on which part of America. We are a massive country with fairly differing cultures from region to region. In places that have no professional teams nearby or the ones they have are not very good then yeah, the college teams are likely to draw the bigger crowds. Whereas places with well established and decently performing professional teams, those teams may draw the bigger crowds.

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Soithascometothistoo@reddit

The average person is an idiot. So yes, they can.

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The_Nermal_One@reddit

My father was a die-hard Ohio State fan who couldn't be bothered with ANY pro team. So yeah.

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Vikingkrautm@reddit

Yes, because the college athletes work harder.

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No-Agency-6985@reddit

Beer and Circuses, basically. F-U-B-O-L spell FUBOL! And I don't mean soccer, either!

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Then_Dependent1139@reddit

Yes!! Many states don't have a prof team so they fan over the college teams. Alabama is a perfect example with 2 rival colleges. Choosing your team in that state is basically a religion.

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luckystrike_bh@reddit

I do. The only game I care about in football is our big rivalry contest going back over 100 years.

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AToastedRavioli@reddit

Your post and its comments made me think- there are quite a few college rivalries that have roots in literal bloodshed. Ohio-Michigan, my own alma mater Missouri and Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma…traditions are stronger when people died over them lol

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hedgehog18956@reddit

Every year in Birmingham we have at least one shooting over the Iron Bowl

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Comfortable-Leek-181@reddit

Ohio State - Michigan? Army - Navy? Are my guesses

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luckystrike_bh@reddit

You nailed. The Army-Navy Game going back to 1890. All my repressed football fandom goes in to one game. I turn into a raving lunatic,

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PCB-ND89@reddit

Respect to the naval academy! I am a Notre Dame Alum and the history of how the ND/Navy game came about is a cool story. For those that don't know, it is a testimony to both institutions. Basically during WWII the US Navy saved ND from financial ruin since its enrollment was decimated by young men going off to war. The US Navy saved ND and the debt of honor has been being repaid by the continuation of the game. This is a good link explaining it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5bDoFa4gXg

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EK60@reddit

Anchors aweigh!

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Tsquare43@reddit

Go Get 'Em Goat!

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thatguywithatoaster@reddit

Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!

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navair42@reddit

Beat Army!

One school has graduates qualified to operate nuclear reactors and land airplanes on ships. The other can march really well and knows their colors, mostly.

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Kseries2497@reddit

Only need the one color in the Army, green.

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navair42@reddit

I retract my previous statement. Knows one color well.

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GandalfTheGrey46@reddit

Purdue b Notre Dame haha I jest.

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toodleroo@reddit

Rd River Rivalry?

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Papa_Joe_Yakavetta@reddit

Red river shootout

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Derplord4000@reddit

Red River Showdown

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cfbluvr@reddit

Dad was a Cowboys fan but I still rooted for the Eagles over the Chiefs

In contrast I would literally root for al qaeda to beat the horns

The hate isn’t even nearly the same

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_delta-v_@reddit

Same here, but for the Cat Griz game (Montana State University vs University of Montana).

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atomicitalian@reddit

Absolutely. There's a lot of people who think college football, in particular, is more competitive and exciting than professional football.

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hedgehog18956@reddit

I prefer college. The main reason for me is that the teams feel like they represent more. Pro teams don’t really feel like they have a real connection to their city. College football teams are like the champions of their universities. They live there, they learn there. Most of them aren’t going pro, and are here to give it their all for the time that they have. The NFL has higher levels sure, but I just can’t bring myself to care as much as I do for college teams. It just feels more arbitrary

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ValosAtredum@reddit

College football and NFL football have a lot of differences, to the point where it’s not unusual for a football fan to have a strong preference.

I prefer NFL overall but I will admit to liking the wider hash marks in college ball; they allow for more creative plays and more variety.

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OtherlandGirl@reddit

I know nothing about football, but genuine question - if the rules/field are different in college ball vs NFL, does that make it weird for newly drafted players to like, re-learn stuff?

I had never in my life known that there were differences and I’m well into middle age (I first typed that as muddle aged, should have left it, it fits)

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seapilot_@reddit

It doesnt happen super often but it does happen. The biggest example is when a reciever only gets one foot down inbounds on a sideline/endzone which would count as a reception in college. But in the NFL you need both feet down for it to be counted.

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Buffalochickenparm@reddit

Similar thing with pass interference with the NFL being a spot penalty and college being 15 yards. I think men’s basketball has the most obvious differences. College two 20 minute halves vs four 12 minute quarters, 30 vs 24 second shot clock and 10 vs 8 seconds to get it across half court

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nevergoinghome-@reddit

NBA three point line is also almost two feet further than NCAA

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gottarun215@reddit

Wow, I never knew this. Is NCAA lines the same as HS?

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nevergoinghome-@reddit

NCAA is a foot further than HS, NBA is two feet further than NCAA

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gottarun215@reddit

Interesting. I never knew that. Now I wonder which distance the lines on like public rec courts at parks are.

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beach_bum_638484@reddit

I’m not sure. I think it’s further in college, but it changed after my time, so I could be wrong.

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gottarun215@reddit

Wow, I never knew this. Is NCAA lines the same as HS?

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gottarun215@reddit

Wow, I never knew this. Is NCAA lines the same as HS?

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theEWDSDS@reddit

Also, rookie DBs forgetting to touch down guys

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tearsonurcheek@reddit

Yeah, college your down when you hit the ground. In the NFL, an opposing player has to touch you during or after you go down.

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Davethemann@reddit

It depends, like, its more of a learning curve type thing, like, doing some task in general, but as you get older (and more experienced) you get less hand holdy with it. Changing the catch rules between college and nfl is like taking off the training wheels.

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AnatidaephobiaAnon@reddit

Not really since the field differences mainly effects kickers when it comes to skill and the rules differences aren't a big enough jump that most players don't struggle. Occasionally you'll have a player go down to the ground untoched and drop the ball (player is down and there is stoppage of play in college not in the pros) and some guys will get one foot inbounds instead of two (rule difference), but by and large it's not a massive problem.

To me there would be a bigger gap in rules when going from American college football to Canadian Football which has a very large difference in rules, game play and field size.

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pukachu017@reddit

There’s a big difference in the play styles for QB. In college they mainly play in shotgun formation, whereas in the NFL the QB plays under center. It’s one of the biggest reasons that rookie QBs struggle in their first year, specifically when they are thrown straight in without spending a year or two to learn from a vet first

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AnatidaephobiaAnon@reddit

That isn't the biggest reason QBs struggle coming from college to the NFL. The game is faster, the defenses are more complex, the players are better and more. Shotgun has become way more the norm in the NFL over the years.

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

NFL is basically college ball now. Half the league is running almost exclusively out of shotgun at this point. The real difference is spacing. College really helps with horizontal game due to the wider hashes

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althoroc2@reddit

It's pretty close to 50/50 in the NFL now though

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roseccmuzak@reddit

Not what you asked, but you'd probably also find it intriguing that college marching bands that practice and mostly perform on college hashes, but then have pro hashes in the post season, can totally struggle with it big time. Usually post season rehearsals are just the band directors reminding us on loop that the hashes are different, please don't use the hashes, remind your friends not to use the hashes, don't look at the ground...etc

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

No. It’s just more strict in the NFL. Wider hash marks make running the ball harder, which puts way more emphasis on throwing and makes it more balanced. So teams can’t do wide splits and overload a side.

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IMakeOkVideosOk@reddit

No, there isn’t enough of a difference to matter… the biggest change really is for kickers… the rest is close enough to not matter

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UsidoreTheLightBlue@reddit

It’s not THAT big of differences. It’s not like they’re playing baseball in college and cricket in the pros. There are differences but the majority are very minor by way of play.

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Highway49@reddit

There are different rules for high school (although some states use college rules), college, and NFL.

The biggest difference between high school and college rules is that the quarters are 12 minutes long in high school, and 15 minutes long in college. My freshman year of college I needed a snack and a nap at halftime lol. Especially if you are playing much, it’s hard to stay engaged on the sidelines!

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Jusfiq@reddit

…does that make it weird for newly drafted players to like, re-learn stuff?

Yes. There are cases of rookie NFL receivers in their first games just stopped after hitting the ground untouched. In NCAA, a play stops if ball carrier is down, regardless contacted or not. In NFL, a play stops only if ball carrier is down by contact.

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wolfpack_57@reddit

Yes, for example, in college you need one foot in bounds to make a catch, and pro you need two. Some rookies only put one in, leading the catch not to be counted. Alternatively, college announcers will say “good on Sunday too!” When a college player gets two feet in.

More significantly, the play schemes are different. Wisconsin used to run the ball nearly always, a style based on super offensive linemen and running backs. You can’t do that in the NFL because everyone’s defense is good enough, and running doesn’t keep them on their toes.

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Adept_Carpet@reddit

The big difference was that the college offenses historically had a scheme. They were all spread or air raid or triple option or whatever. So it was really fun to see how a triple option offense approached a situation where triple option seemed like a terrible approach.

Now more and more teams are "pro style" which means they change formations and personnel as needed to suit the situation.

The problem is that it takes a QB years to succeed in that kind of offense, so every year several top programs buy a new 25 year old QB who mysteriously has a year of eligibility left. It's less fun and makes the teams all blend together just like the NFL.

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TheFishtosser@reddit

The biggest problem some people run into is play styles that work in college don’t work in the pros, so you often have elite, Heisman winning players flop in the NFL just because there play style isn’t compatible

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duckyd1824@reddit

Sometimes. To catch a ball in bounds by the sideline for NFL requires two feet to come down inboinds. College, only one. A player is down (play over) anytime the go down in college, even if they dive or fall on their own. In the NFL they have to go down because the opponent touched them or touch them while down. Sometimes you'll see a guy forget he's playing NFL rules now and trip and not remember he can get up and keep running.

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AlarmedTelephone5908@reddit

These players grew up watching and playing football since birth - both college and NFL.

They know the rules and when they change.

As others have said, something like one versus two feet in may be a rookie mistake at times. Still, they are aware of the rules in all leagues.

I stopped watching on a regular basis a long time ago. So, when I do watch a game, I find myself unclear about how it works now versus how it worked 15 - 20 years ago, lol.

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MLD802@reddit

Yeah occasionally a rookie will make a mistake, for example, you need only 1 foot down for a catch to count in college but need both in the NFL, but it’s not super common.

These guys are super athletes and are constantly learning, it doesn’t take them that long to fix their issues.

[-]

jda404@reddit

Very true. My dad prefers college football way more, and I prefer the NFL. I think the NFL is just more entertaining, but also I've never cared for how college football handles the post season that's a big reason I didn't get into it.

I will watch some college games on Saturdays especially if it's cold or raining outside, but never can get into it that much.

[-]

bleedorange0037@reddit

The NFL and college football HAD a lot of differences, but they’ve been slowly eroding over the past couple decades. With each passing year, college football becomes more and more just Saturday NFL. As a lifelong college football fan, that’s not a good thing IMO.

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LouisRitter@reddit

I'm more of a college ball fan since I grew up and live in a football town. But I like the NFL more than I used to as I get older. It's tough being a Bears fan most years.

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beyondplutola@reddit

Basketball and American football started with the college game in the 1800a. The pro leagues are a relatively recent addition.

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cassette1987@reddit

NFL is better if only because there are fewer teams.

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ivhokie12@reddit

I like college better, hence the handle even if we have been sucking for a while but 100% agree about the hashes.

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Archer-Saurus@reddit

Sometimes it's just that the closest high-level football team to someone is the state school/university. Alabama has no NFL team, for example.

Sometimes you're an Arizona Cardinals fan so if you want to watch a football team you root for like, win, you go for Arizona State/CFB over the NFL.

That second one may be kind of personal.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

I prefer the NFL as a whole compared to CFB for a variety of reasons, but I'm into my school a little bit more than the Cowboys. Not by much though.

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Fecapult@reddit

You won't see someone run for 90 yards, fumble the ball, the other team recovers and runs it back for 100 yards in the NFL. I always enjoy seeing the wacky stuff.

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Davethemann@reddit

On that wacky note, we have had multiple qbs pass for 700 yards in college, meanwhile nobody has broken the single game passing record in the pros set some 70 odd years ago

Likewise, we had multiple 420 yard rushers in the same week in college, and the pros have seen a handful of guys even sniff 300, and the last decade has seen guys just limp to 250

Mauling stat lines are just always fun to see

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No-Ice5978@reddit

I feel like I used to see stuff like this in the NFL when I was a kid. I wonder what happened.

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Begle1@reddit

Everybody in the NFL got too good and too professional.

I like the skill disparity you see in college. It gives different teams a lot of character.

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HughJManschitt@reddit

NIL is slowly ruining it but it's still the better of the two.

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rutherfraud1876@reddit

Note that this doesn't mean the worst NFL team wouldn't beat the best college football team

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Drummallumin@reddit

More competitive is gone in the days of NIL

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Luckypenny4683@reddit

Amen to that!

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hercule2019@reddit

O!.. H!..

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amazingtaters@reddit

OH! NO!

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Derplord4000@reddit

S!.. H!..

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Thunderkatt740@reddit

I-O!

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Plastic_Kangaroo675@reddit

And some of those people live in states that are home to the Browns 😁

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Luckypenny4683@reddit

It’s me, I am people

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TremontRhino@reddit

Tradition, pageantry, rivalries, 100,000+ seat stadiums, marching bands, tailgating, unbridled HATE across the aisle, Army/Navy, Keith Jackson, Verne Lundquist, Red River, Civil War, Michigan/OSU, The Iron Bowl, Third Saturday in October, USC Tusk, Spurrier talking shit, Tom Osborne, The Four Horsemen, Fifth Down, Kick Six, Tha U, Woody Hayes punching a kid, THE BAND IS ON THE FIELD!, Appalachian State, the list grows every year.

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PapaEmeritusVI@reddit

N!.. O!..

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External-Creme-6226@reddit

I-O!

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YoungBeef03@reddit

Ohio’s rockin the best marching band program on Earth, which is something else it has over pro ball

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ZonaWildcats23@reddit

Something nobody else attempts to claim!

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YoungBeef03@reddit

K-State’s 2nd though. I’m bias, but only to an extent

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Secure_Teaching_6937@reddit

K-state where men are men and sheep are nervous.

Said by a jayhawk. 😄

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YoungBeef03@reddit

You know, I hate Nazis and confederates and other people of that nature, but William Quantrill is a saint for what he did to Lawrence.

Said by a Wildcat, and a fellow Kansan 🤜

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Secure_Teaching_6937@reddit

Manhattan was just to far away.😂

We can't forget the wonderful things carri nation did.

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ZonaWildcats23@reddit

I was in marching band in HS. I would trade every single marching band award for a single state championship. I’m sure the same applies to college sports

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rythmicjea@reddit

Go Buckeyes!

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t1dmommy@reddit

Go blue!

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Throwawaydontgoaway8@reddit

Hail to the Victors!

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Luckypenny4683@reddit

I only downvote because I’m legally required to. I know you understand.

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Whatever-ItsFine@reddit

So between the Browns and Ohio State, you would actually pick the ...oh I get it now.

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Daddysheremyluv@reddit

One has a salary cap and is top league for talent. The other has no salary cap

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FullofLovingSpite@reddit

Or the Bengals! ... yeah, I get it.

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nosidrah@reddit

The same could be said about college basketball where there are actual rules against taking five steps between dribbles and flopping is penalized.

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General_Killmore@reddit

That's because it is.

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MetalEnthusiast83@reddit

Most college football games with the big schools are huge blowouts. The NFL has good parity, so people who think this don't watch either lol

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rythmicjea@reddit

I came here to say this. I don't think there's any heart in the NFL. They get paid no matter what. It's a job. Sure the Superbowl is great but it's not really a pinnacle of achievement like the NCAA championship is.

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morosco@reddit

College players switch teams every year for more money. It's impossible to develop a connection to the team and it's players. At least in the NFL, star players can stick around a single team for years, even decades.

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SpiceEarl@reddit

Except when the whole team moves to a different city! I’d much rather see players come and go, rather than the whole team leave because the rich asshole who owns them wants the local government to buy him a new arena or stadium.

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

Will be interesting to see what happens to the Chicago Bears - am in NW Indiana and do not believe the Bears want to come to state no matter how much our governor pumps it up.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

CFB is getting taken over by mercenary coaches and players. Whatre you talking about? At least in the NFL your favorite players cant just leave your team willy nilly

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OhThrowed@reddit

NIL is bringing that to the college level.

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courtnet85@reddit

I hate the current NIL system. Players absolutely deserve a cut of the fortunes they’re earning their schools, but these guys playing for five different schools over six years and choosing to sit if the season is going badly are really ruining it for me. I don’t know what the fix is, but there has to be a better way to do this!

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AnatidaephobiaAnon@reddit

There needs to be at minimum a two year contract. You should have to stay at a school for your freshman/ sophomore or freshman/ redshirt freshman year before jumping schools and then only allowed one more transfer after that unless a coach leaves or there's some sort of circumstance beyond the player's control.

I used to love college sports because typically after someone got to their sophomore year you'd be able to really gain a liking of them and you could memorize rosters easily. Now I still watch my favorite teams but in very cautious of really taking a liking to a player because within the next season the could be gone.

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courtnet85@reddit

I agree. Pros sign a contract and are stuck with it to a certain extent. I get with younger players you don’t want to necessarily lock them in to four full years, but it’s nuts that they might not even have to finish out a season (or start a season in some cases?) It’s really ruined my love of college football because half the starters might be gone the next year and playing for your rival.

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Drew707@reddit

I like the general direction NIL is going, just not necessarily the implication of jumping schools for better deals after enrollment.

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rco8786@reddit

NIL :(

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Throwawaydontgoaway8@reddit

What’s NIL?

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Hambone528@reddit

Name Image, and Likeness

College athletes can now be paid directly, unlike being paid under the table like they had been before. This has created a budding war for athletic recruitment. This, coupled with poor rules in the transfer portal, has damaged the soul of the sport in many ways.

Most of us aren't upset that these kids are being paid. They should have been all along. Video games for example made a ton of money from college level games, but the athletes made none. That's fine.

It sucks because the NCAA (College athletics governing body) seriously dropped the ball. They didn't install any serious guard rails, they left the legality murky, they didn't iron out any details. They just said "Fine, you want it? Here it is."

It created an environment where rich donors get to decide national champions. It's killed what I love most about college level athletics: Personal development.

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Throwawaydontgoaway8@reddit

Aww

Thanks for the informative write up

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Frosty_Ninja3286@reddit

name Image Likeness, student athletes can now be paid

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Daddysheremyluv@reddit

The larger and wealthier the fan base the more talent on the team.

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Coctyle@reddit

I would say that is even more true for basketball.

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AlivePatient7226@reddit

The skill level is lower but the plays seem funner to watch

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WabbitFire@reddit

As a pro football fan, I think it's funny the disparity of play, it's like tens of thousands of fans going nuts for single A baseball...

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cfbluvr@reddit

I almost never watch NFL but attend multiple CFB games in person and will watch multiple CFB games simultaneously

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CHICAG0AT@reddit

A lot of people like college basketball better than the NBA as well

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thorvard@reddit

I'll watch the hell out of men's and women's basketball but my god is the professional product just not entertaining to me

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UHElle@reddit

Totally agree. I can’t stand NFL, but NCAA, especially at middle of the road colleges (vs, like, say Bama or LSU or A&M), are the most exciting, imo.

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Mr_Kittlesworth@reddit

I would rather see one college football game than an entire NFL season

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

They do think that way. It was an absolute shock to move from Pittsburgh to Tennessee.

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Playful_Letter_2632@reddit

Pittsburgh has the backyard brawl at least

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

Im a WVU fan. But college football is by far the little brother where I grew up. Its what you do on Saturday while you're waiting for the NFL.

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No-Conversation1940@reddit

Various bars on the north side of Chicago associate with a regional university, sometimes with the alumni association, and get big crowds on game day.

The Indiana bars really raked it in last year. Lots of Hoosiers up here...lots of grads from every classic Big Ten school, really.

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nope-its@reddit

I am one of those people

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LetsGoGators23@reddit

I feel that way about college basketball/NBA. Passionately.

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IShouldChimeInOnThis@reddit

They'd be wrong, but they certainly think it.

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Living_Molasses4719@reddit

Same for basketball

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OconoKing@reddit

University football was hugely popular before the professional version existed. The nascent NFL grew out of a desire to see the college stars continue to play. The same was true for basketball, but on a smaller scale.

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GeekyPassion@reddit

Most places care more about the college team than professional especially if you live near said college.

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xAkMoRRoWiNdx@reddit

Yes. If you look at the deep south, for some fucking reason, college sports is damn near a religion

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schoolydee@reddit

yes, especially in areas without pro level teams, like say ohio state sports is big in columbus.

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Super_Appearance_212@reddit

Yes, there's much more of an emotional connection to a college that you or your friends or family may have attended than to a pro team where the players are there for the money.

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John_Barnes@reddit

Yes to all of the above. And I worked at a couple of sports mad universities and most of the staff professed not to get it either

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Large_Lie9177@reddit

Yeah Nebraska basically has no pro team so college football is literally their entire sports identity. It's wild but I get it.

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DontReportMe7565@reddit

Professionals often dont seem to care. They catch the ball and step out of bounds. They buddy up with opposing players after the game. College players seem to actually care more, try harder. Their team matters to them.

Pro sports are boring.

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guess214356789@reddit

I live in Illinois. We have one professional team in just about every sport, including ⚽️, and two MLB teams. We also have some very highly attended college sports since we've got two B1G (UIUC & NU) schools in the state and several other good D1 schools (SIU-C, ISU, & Bradley).

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Angryrobot420@reddit

The biggest football stadiums in the USA are college stadiums. I live in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State football team is like a secular religion here.

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helpmeamstucki@reddit

I think with all sports it gets boring when the players get good enough. Never been big on american football, but every professional soccer game I see consists of about ninety minutes of ball juggling and overall meandering without scoring two points. Big tennis matches I see they just zip the ball back and forth for a few minutes. Not impressive, and not captivating at all

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tcumber@reddit

Alabama has no professional sports.. And let me tell you that people are SERIOUS about their college football around here. They may not have even gone to the school or know anybody who went to the school, but the do know their Crimson Tide football! I think Kentucky is the same way about basketball.

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racingfan_3@reddit

I live in Nebraska we don't have professional sports teams. We have the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. I have been to professional sports in other states and they don't compare to the college sports in Nebraska

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yoshimipinkrobot@reddit

There weren’t pro teams in my state. America is a big country and each state is like its own country

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stilllikelypooping@reddit

Some college programs are comparable to other professional sports teams. Alabama football alone had about $140m in revenue in 2024. One sport, at one school. The NCAA, the organization that runs all college sports in the US, is a multi billion dollar a year "company." Now that college athletes can legally earn money it's even closer to "professional sports" especially in places that don't have any major professional sports teams. Then there's scarcity, using Alabama again, the state has no top tier professional sports teams, but has NINE Division I universities throughout the state. So it's much easier to follow and go to a, relatively, local college team than a "professional" one.

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Melora_T_Rex714@reddit

I don’t, but absolutely yes, they do.

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StewReddit2@reddit

Ok take our largest and most-watched sport in America 🏈

America football basically started as a disorganized "side show" way for former college stars to make a couple bucks because they'd aged and eligibilitied OUT of the immensely popular and still popular college football.

Yes, the NFL dates back to 1919/20 but it wasn't until television in the 1950s and 60s until the NFL started being what it is today.

"Today" we talk about "playing on Sundays" as being the big deal....but tbh professional football played on Sundays out of necessity.

1).Friday nights belonged to HS and 2) No way in hell were they gonna even "attempt" to eff with college football on Saturdays...

So the only thing left was sleepy Sundays.

We have to remember....where a person went to school and where they LIVED ( especially before cross country recruiting and all that jazz came about) was who TF they were....the pride of community ran deep AF

Think of the Olympics on steriods....THAT is what it was to put on your state/your schools colors

Traditions were built to actual go aka attend these sporting events...again pre-TV ...pre-6900 channels on TV .....college football predates RADIO 📻 as a popular medium in America

Think about that for a second....college football was a darling in America before TV and before radio.....so of course ppl had to mob into giant ass stadiums

The type of local fandom and intimate connection isn't easily duplicated by a professional team.

Truth be told ppl "might" move and can actually change pro team alliances but your SCHOOL is your school.

I like my pro teams for sure but my HS? Are you kidding that's BLOOD, bruh

Ppl talk this "states with no Pro team jazz"

But they are speaking out of ignorance

The Eagles have a huge fan base, even out here in California...but Penn State gets more asses in seats in University Park "not" a big city than the Eagles do in Philly

In Florida with several college football teams and 3 NFL teams....still the top 2 Dawgs in tickets would be UF and FSU

The Browns and Bengals sell c'mon The Ohio State is top dog in Ohio....

Ohio State started playing football in 1890 by contrast the Cincinnati Bengals are 59 years old and have never won a championship OSU will be playing season 136 this fall

No comparison for how deep the roots go

Universities haven't moved either

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BurritoBowlw_guac@reddit

I live in Ohio. We have 2 pro football teams that I care nothing about. It’s ALL about Ohio State Buckeyes, a college team. Never went there but was born and raised in Columbus, where the college is. I don’t care for any pro sports actually. Just OSU football. Go Bucks!

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msklovesmath@reddit

The hype is regional. Many people cheer for the university they attended or that they live nearby. Sometimes they will cheer for a team that their parents liked.

If you dont come from a particular tradition or a school with a good team, you may not care at all.

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say592@reddit

I live in a small city with a major university. I know people who have season tickets to basketball and football, but don't watch professional of either. Our football stadium isnt 100k seats (just over 80k), but it's still larger than all but one NFL stadium, according to lists I saw online. I would argue that it's nicer than most of them too.

On football weekends, the population of my city, which is normally about 105k people, swells to 150k-170k. That brings in millions of dollars in hotel bookings, restaurants, bars, etc. We have businesses that cannot exist without football season, and over the years we've seen bad seasons result in places closing.

It's not for a lack of professional teams either. Less than 100 miles away there are major NFL and NBA teams. You can drive there or take a train in less than two hours. Within a four hour drive, there are at least three NBA/NFL teams. Yet our university teams frequently sell out and see people travel from hundreds of miles away to attend. Well, really thousands of miles, since there are people who will fly in internationally (and our team usually plays at least one game overseas each season).

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PCB-ND89@reddit

South Bend IN?

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Dorito1187@reddit

I live in Columbus, Ohio. Yes, many people here care much more about the Buckeyes than any professional team. There are a lot of Cleveland Browns fans here, and somewhat fewer Cincinnati Bengals fans, but the city basically shuts down on Saturdays in the fall. If you aren’t a fan and want to get anything done without a crowd, you can basically do anything unless what you want to do is hang out at a sports bar.

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anonymous_fart5@reddit

There's like 10+ football leagues in soccer. College sports is just the tier under our professional sports

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meenadu@reddit

Yes

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PCB-ND89@reddit

I think to understand this you have to know about the history of football in the US. It started at universities before there was the NFL. So not only do you have many smaller cities and states that have never had a professional football team to root for, but in addition the tradition of universities football and the rivalries that developed existed before the NFL took off. For reference college football FAR outdrew and got more media attention than the professional football league. In the 1930's and 40's in the US college football was huge and the NFL was really only a small league. The Notre Dame vs. Army games in the 1940's was far bigger than any NFL game. So there is absolutely an evolutionary component as well as a geographic.

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Lanracie@reddit

Yes they do, I live in Nebraska and Husker football is the biggest deal around and its pretty weird. The U.S. and the U.S. has a big problem with their college and youth sports industries.

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stevenmacarthur@reddit

It was a process: colleges had the wherewithal to have sports, offering them as part of the student experience. The Ivy League was where Gridiron Football got big: as wealthier institutions, there was more opportunity to develop the sport into something to be consumed by the public at large.

The early days of the NFL were primarily driven by fans wanting to see their favorite college stars that had graduated: Red Grange is a prime example.

Finally, in the American South, professional leagues didn't expand there until later, due to the economic effects of the American Civil War: mainly, this region was poorer than the rest of the nation for many decades, and Segregationist policies were anathema to sports leagues that had African-American athletes; college sports filled the void there.

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WiseQuarter3250@reddit

wait till you go to Texas when the high school American football stadiums are bigger than some smaller universities.

Where the games are televised, and they get covered by reporters.

University sports has traditions that embody school spirit and bonding with fellow students, and former students.

Not every sport is followed so closely and with such fervor, but some definitely are.

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Pure_Marvel@reddit

Yes.

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LadySandry88@reddit

College Sports: More local, higher possibility you or your kids personally know the players/have attended the school and therefore get invested. More likely you get to see multiple games in person without major travel (home games). Higher chance you can drop in to watch practice (most colleges are open campus). You also get to cheer on someone who is 'aiming higher' (hoping to go pro),as opposed to someone who is trying to maintain their current position. Also no complications from the whole 'these people get paid better than professional surgeons who save lives' issues that pro sports players have.

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Frosty_Chipmunk_3928@reddit

Short answer—yes

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Dazzling-Climate-318@reddit

What’s strange is why anyone would care about Professional Sports. They are entertainment and often aren’t particularly entertaining. The players may or may not be from an area, or even live there. They thus often have no ties except payment for playing there a bit more often than members of an opposing team.

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Airlik@reddit

I moved to the US, and it is crazy to me the level of interest in university athletics. I still don’t get it. Whatever. You went there and paid too much for a degree for four years. Now that town dominates your sports loyalty.

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1234RedditReddit@reddit

Yes—college bowl is much bigger in certain parts of the country.

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Bradadonasaurus@reddit

As someone barely interested in sports, yeah. They play harder, they've got more to prove. College football games are far more interesting than pro.

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Esmer_Tina@reddit

I have a hard time getting excited about professional sports because they are professionals. I love college and high school sports because these are kids learning and working hard because they love the sport and their team. I especially love the ones who suit up for every game and only get on the field every so often. They inspire me!

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BowlingPine@reddit

Go Bruins!

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soccer-fanatic@reddit

Sometimes. Especially when the pro teams of the state aren't that good.

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DankBlunderwood@reddit

>Are these college games actually a bigger deal than professional NFL or NBA games in certain states?

Particularly in the south, yes. The key is history. The college teams long predate professional teams. College rivalries feel personal in a way professional games are not. The college game is 90% about money, but they understand that deep seated antipathies are behind the high interest.

>Also, if you never even attended that specific university, is it normal to still be a die-hard fan of their team?

Yes. I never attended Kansas, but inherited my fandom and I'll be a fan when I die.

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Oodalay@reddit

It's massive in the Southeast. I don't watch any professional sports, just college.

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Felinius@reddit

I must prefer to watch U of M over Detroit.

Being a Michigan fan is such an experience.

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Deep_Contribution552@reddit

I’m a much bigger fan of my alma maters football and basketball programs (both men’s and women’s) than of any of the professional teams in those sports. I have a connection to the university, I chose to go there, while the pros are just teams that happens to be based in cities near me.

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Thausgt01@reddit

Yes, because the college makes more money from sports teams than any other aspect of college, and American culture, for the past three or four generations, has over-valued sports than every other contribution any given college makes.

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GotMyTimberlandsOn@reddit

100%, especially in The South. I’ve never been to a Titans game, but have been to many a Volunteers game.

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OldIrishBroad@reddit

Then you really would not understand small town America’s obsession with their high school football teams 🤣

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Loss-Gloomy@reddit

American football started as a college sport before it existed in high schools or had a professional league. A lot of people feel more connected and tribal about a particular university where many family members may have attended than they do to their state. (Texans are a weird exception that is absolutely rabid about being Texan, but people in other states don’t necessarily feel their state is superior to other states.)

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froction@reddit

Not for most people, but in my case I love college football, but haven't watched any professional sport in at least probably 10 years. None of them, even pro football, are in any way interesting to me.

Sadly, college football is slowly turning into professional football, so I will probably be watching less and less.

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AuroraLorraine522@reddit

A lot of big colleges with large fan bases are in more rural areas or certain markets that don’t have a large professional sports presence.

It’s definitely normal for locals who didn’t attend the university to be diehard fans, but there can be somewhat of a rift between those folks and the actual alumni fan base. Especially when it comes to issues of funding. The people who are only really fans of the athletics teams want the universities/donors to spend more money on revenue-generating sports (football/basketball) and don’t always care as much about the academic side of things. The alumni base generally wants a more balanced approach. I’m a huge fan of my university’s sports teams. But if I had to only pick one, I’d rather have the best research institution in the country than the best athletic department in the country.

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Outrageous_Invite945@reddit

I 💯 percent care more about The University of Miami sports than the professionals. Don't care about the Dolphins, Heat or Marlins. But I do love ❤️ the Florida Panthers

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WhompTrucker@reddit

States like Nebraska and Iowa don't have pro sports so college basically is professional.

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Remote_Pick_1952@reddit

The state of Arkansas has no professional sports teams. So, everyone cheers for their individual college teams. The whole state cheers for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

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alienprincess022@reddit

It’s strange bc even I, someone who doesn’t feel particularly American due to being first gen MexAm, love college football. I don’t really care for the sport itself, but I love all the hooplah and traditions associated with college football. Being an alumni of that school gives it a personal connection, at least for me.

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RV-Hauler@reddit

Spend a little time in Oklahoma. It's truly a disease.

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Disastrous_Eagle9187@reddit

College football predates pro football by decades

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Sparkle_Rott@reddit

See THE Ohio State.

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KilroyFSU@reddit

Yes. College football doesn't beat the NFL in TV ratings, but it's more popular and passionate in a lot of places. College basketball gets better TV ratings than the NBA for their finals.

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ASingleBraid@reddit

Not much in NY, ton of professional sports.

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Charming_Bobcat_2613@reddit

Literally could not care less about pro football, but Ohio State? I LIVE for that shit. 100,000+ people screaming at the top of their lungs in unison is a powerful thing.

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Real-Broccoli-9325@reddit

They don’t have to pay college athletes. There you go. They make millions of dollars off their blood sweat and tears. Their names. Their likenesses. Their effort and pain. And do not have to pay them. They use that money to make stadiums and merchandise.

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CirothUngol@reddit

My father-in-law is a gigantic football fan. Travels to go to games, dresses up to support the team, knows players names and statistics, etc. He hates professional football, it's college all the way for him.

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Kvandi@reddit

I live in Alabama where we don’t have a pro football team. We absolutely care more about University of Alabama football than any pro team.

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DrTeeBee@reddit

University sports franchises at the top level (Division 1) are now fully professional enterprises who license the name and visual identity of the universities with which they are nominally affiliated. So it’s just another sports business.

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Almond_Brother@reddit

The top 10 largest sports stadiums in the USA all belong to Universities.

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takivrepublic@reddit

8 of the 10 largest stadiums in the world are dedicated to college football

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MechanicalGodzilla@reddit

Ha ha.... Beaver Stadium

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Clean-Fisherman-4601@reddit

Personally, no. However, despite living in an area with professional football, hockey and baseball teams, there are many die hard sports fans who will cheer for anyone.

I don't get it. I've only enjoyed sports when I could go in person, back when you didn't have to mortgage your house to go to a game.

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Mesoscale92@reddit

They predate our “professional” leagues by decades. And in regions without professional teams they are the de facto biggest sports teams. Even among fans of professional leagues, college sports is often the main junior/feeder league to see rising stars.

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DartDaimler@reddit

There are 32 pro football teams in the NFL, and 50 US states—and many of our states can take a full day or more to drive across. There just isn’t enough pro ball to feed our hunger for football.

Plus many of us genuinely prefer the rules & creativity of college and even high school football. Many of us have personal memories & fondness that add to the connection—as players, band members, cheerleaders, twirlers, pep squads, as well as college alumni and locals who love the home team.

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WabbitFire@reddit

MLB is the oldest organized sports league in the world.

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Sea-Oven-7560@reddit

Trivia- the Chicago bears uniforms came from the university of Illinois hence the blue and orange colors. The Chicago Cardinals (now Az) got their uniforms from the University of Chicago hence the C on the helmet and the white and Cardinal red(maroon) colors.

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Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit

Yes, I do. I never attend professional football games, but until recently had season tickets for my alma mater, Georgia Tech.

The last time I went to a professional game was over 30 years ago, but went to three Georgia Tech games last year (one which was at Boston College).

(yes, it's difficult to be a Tech fan much of the time)

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MyDaroga@reddit

I was rooting so hard for y’all this year! At least you got to play in the best bowl game.

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Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit

Thanks!

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TeeElH@reddit

I’m a UGA fan and I’m not even from GA lol (I married into a UGA family and my alma mater doesn’t have a football program).

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Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit

It's a contagion!

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Kseries2497@reddit

I got a good laugh out of a family that entered my elevator in Shibuya station, one of them wearing a UGA hat. Just me, my luggage, four Georgian (presumably) tourists, and a few Japanese people. I couldn't help myself.

"How 'bout dem Dawgs?"

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LeroyFinklestein@reddit

I think this is a big reason, there is an ever growing fan base of former students

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msabeln@reddit

Go Yellow Jackets! My dad went to Georgia Tech and met my mom in Atlanta.

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ChimneyCraft@reddit

Absolutely. I think it’s something that people outside of the U.S. won’t understand. It’s almost on the same level as supporting your country.

Like I went to FSU. I was in classes with some of the football players and basketball players. To me, I am a Florida state Seminole. Much like I am an American. There’s that sense of camaraderie because we’re all unified under this one thing because it shaped who we are.

I’m also a big Atlanta Hawks Fan. But to me, no matter how much I love the Hawks and the city, i’ll never be interlocked with it. Never went and sat at a dining hall with any of the players, sat in the same rooms, or even ran into them at parties. I’ll never truly be a “hawk”

That’s changing a bit with how “professional” college football has become. But that was always my biggest thing

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Prize_Consequence568@reddit

"As an outsider, the scale of American college sports is baffling. Do some people genuinely care more about a university team than professional sports?"

If their city or state doesn't have an professional team in that sport, sure. Also since you're not from here I sure you don't know but A LOT of college teams existed before the professional team(s) OP.

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Next_Ad_4165@reddit

I love college football (american) sooooo much more than the nfl! We watch maybe 1-3 nfl games in a season, but we watch college football every week.

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CGGamer@reddit

Pro sports are lame and sterile. College is where it's at

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HydraHamster@reddit

It’s not like in most parts of the world where a club is in the first division based on the merit of its performance. It’s a sports entertainment business here in United States that most of the country don’t take part in because all the focus is on milking the most populated parts of the country for all it’s got. Some major populated cities are even left out for the purpose of threatening existing host cities to fund their major projects or else they leave.

College sports are different. They are more supported than our professional leagues because they are attached to our local colleges that cannot just up and move. Plus, they are in more cities and don’t discriminate on a city’s population size as much. That means they have been in everyone’s community for generations while multiple professional clubs have hopped around different cities in its history. There are some exceptions like Boston’s MLB team. Unlike a professional franchise club, you will see a good amount of local talent in those college teams that helps build a connection to the community. Professional league clubs are different as they typically do drafting that often results in a team not having a single local player on it.

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Commercial-Catch-615@reddit

I watch zero professional sports. I have season tickets to multiple sports at the largest university in the US.

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Individual_Suit1188@reddit

They are all professional now. Unless being paid is somehow amateur

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DevilPixelation@reddit

Yeah. Especially if you’re in an area with big regional universities or an area without a national team, like Nebraska. Ohio State and Michigan are famously some of the biggest rivals in American college sports afaik.

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curious_eyebrow@reddit

To answer your question: Yes, these college games are huge, and a big deal for the fans. It’s truly bizarre, especially when some of the fans didn’t even attend that school. I know people who make fandom of a specific school team a large part of their personality and didn’t even go to college. Those of us who aren’t into sportsball think it’s pretty lame.

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Chips87-@reddit

As a Buckeye, we have a stadium that can fit over 100,000 and so do our rivals, both top 5 in capacity in the world. The rivalry in question dates back to the 1800’s and is a result of a literal war. The pride and passion for some college sports clears most professional ones due to how deeply rooted people’s lives are in their team, whether because they went there, live near it, or have been adopted into the family some other way.

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rdldr1@reddit

Yes. The tribalism of college teams fans is much greater than of its pro sport equivalent.

There’s more of a shared culture and history within these fan groups.

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Augen76@reddit

I'd argue college basketball has deeper and more passionate fans than the NBA. It isn't about stars, it is about traditions and no one is moving the schools. To me the heart of Basketball in the United States is in places like North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, and Connecticut.

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Yodelehhehe@reddit

Absolutely. I a big fan of two schools. One is my Alma mater, the other is my dad’s. My dad took me to tons of games growing up, so I grew up a fan of his school. To me, it makes WAY more sense to have some kind of tie to a university than a professional team.

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porcupineforlyfe@reddit

Yes. I went to Texas A&M and id take college football over the NFL any day.

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jw8815@reddit

If you want to look at it in terms of soccer or futbol, the pro leagues NFL, NBA, MLB are kind of like the champions League. College sports are like Europa and Conference League depending on the size of the school. Big difference is there is no relegation of teams, just promotions of players.

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xristosdomini@reddit

Yes. The USA is very big and very spread out. The NFL (the league with the largest media share in the US) has 32 teams. We have 50 states (provinces). Of those 32 teams, four of them share a stadium with another team (the Chargers and Rams are at SoFi in Los Angeles, the Jets and Giants are at the Met in New Jersey), and quarter of the league are in the same state as another team (Giants, Jets and Bills; Buccaneers, Dolphins and Jaguars; Rams, Chargers, and 49ers; Cowboys and Texans; Eagles and Steelers; Bengals and Browns; soon to be the Colts and Bears).

What does all of that mean for sports? Not everyone has a professional team in their area. Almost everyone has a university team in their area. So yeah, if you like sports and want to be able to go to a game consistently, universities will draw big crowds -- especially true with American Football because there isn't a viable professional second division to follow.

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CardiganHeretic@reddit

Depends on where you are, but yeah. SEC football is practically a religion in the deep south.

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RobVPdx@reddit

To be clear, those 100.000 seat stadia sell out 6-8 times per year.

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Mysterious-Tie7039@reddit

You see it mostly in areas that don’t have their own major professional team.

Places like Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, etc.

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blametheboogie@reddit

Oklahoma Thunder: still not getting respect. 😔

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

Oklahoma has a NBA team the Thunder

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Mysterious-Tie7039@reddit

Correct. Honestly I forgot about them because I don’t really follow basketball.

They’re relatively new to OK, so most of the fans there never had a pro sports team.

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

The Thunder been around since 2008 when the team moved from Seattle. The fans love Thunder basketball.

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RichardAboutTown@reddit

The answer to all of your questions is yes.

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Oliver_Dixon@reddit

Yes there are people who pretty much only watch college sports. I hear a lot of ppl say college football particularly is better than NFL

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eeltech@reddit

Yes, college football is the closest thing we have to soccer here. Professional teams are very popular, but they are very transient, they operate like a business and actually move cities when its more profitable - there's no soul

But college, college teams are forever, they are your local team that will always be there, and you hope your kids go there sometime too

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RawbM07@reddit

I’m an IU and Cleveland Browns fan…yes I care slightly more about college sports than pro.

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Zappagrrl02@reddit

Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoosiers!

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bemenaker@reddit

In a large portion of the US, college sports is life. Hell in Texas, they view high school football this same way.

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Dave3879@reddit

The Ohio State University Marching Band has a bigger fan base than some professional teams lol

Google TBDBITL

Also yes….college sports is about a $20 Billion operation in the US.

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SpasticSparrow337@reddit

College sports are a big deal, people enjoy both professional and collegiate sports. Most people have a college they root for, whether they went to that college, live near it, or just like the program. College games are also more accessible for the middleclass, as pro sports tickets are often stupidly expensive. Most of my friends and I have attended college games, but never a pro one. Most people in my area (central US) also have merch for their favorite college teams, and wear it a lot, whether there's a game on or not.

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Seelie_Mushroom@reddit

I have zero idea which teams are professional vs university. So that may answer that lol

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stinkston@reddit

Northwestern just spent $862 million on a new stadium and they don't even have any fans.

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DannyBones00@reddit

I feel like there’s more people who are diehard fans of such and such college team than there are of professional teams.

Think about it. You go to a college. You met your wife at a football game. Your father went there. You wanted to go to that school from the time you were old enough to walk.

A professional team? Owned by some billionaire who hated you. Filled with players not from your area. Could leave.

Professional sports are fun. College sports are an identity.

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blipsman@reddit

Yes, college football and basketball are as big as professional sports in many parts of the country. The biggest teams/fan bases are often in places without professional teams, say Nebraska or Alabama football, UNC/Duke or Michigan basketball. Fan bases are typically made of statewide fans, alumni. So people in Michigan may be Michigan or Michigan St. fans regardless of whether they attended one of the schools. And alumni carry their fandom across the country even after they graduate.

Other than football and basketball, college sports aren't that popular whether there's a pro league or not... for example, few watch college baseball, volleyball, tennis, etc.

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Realistic_Bug9116@reddit

Millions of Americans care WAY more about college football (American football) than the NFL. MILLIONS.

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Admiral52@reddit

Yes and I’m not even going to pretend I don’t care more about my university team than any professional sports team

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AdamOnFirst@reddit

Yup! Me!

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BigPapaJava@reddit

College football and basketball are both much, much older than the NFL and NBA.

There are a lot of traditions associated with them (some of which are unique to the particular schools) that have grown over the years and a lot of those school alumni feel a much stronger connection to their college team than any pro team. The college games have a very different atmosphere and “feel” to them because of that.

For example. NFL teams may have tailgating, but they don’t have special pregame traditions like the University of Tennessee “Vol Walk” or Ohio’s marching band bringing in a celebrity to dot the “I” in “Ohio” when they march in formation. The arenas the teams play in often have more character and uniqueness to them than the newer, NFL and NBA stadiums that are more generic and corporate in feel.

College sports are also very regional in the USA. They are huge in the South and Midwest, but in the Northeast where many of the big cities (and pro teams) are located, they aren’t as big of a draw.

The marching bands are actually separate entities that are even older than college sports—most began as student organizations (largely with military ties from the 19th century)—and they also perform at the games along with marching in parades and competitions , rather than being created and existing just to perform for those games.

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Misterarthuragain@reddit

U of M (the site of the 100,000 + stadium) has 700,000 alumni.

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3boysandachorkie@reddit

Yes, absolutely. Not all states have professional sports teams and many people feel a tie to their local university. I am far more loyal to my home state university team than I am to any professional sports franchise.

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Playful-Wallaby4097@reddit

This! I could not care one bit about what is going on with the Texans, but I’ll cheer for an Aggie game and actually pay attention. Although I still think high school football is the most entertaining

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

Just to give a contrasting view that I don't mean at all to detract from what you've said: for me I couldn't give two shits about my local university's sports and my Alma Mater was Division 3 so nothing to get excited about there either, but loyal to my hometown pro teams.

Again, don't say this to detract from or dispute what you said, just to demonstrate for OP that there's a big spectrum to this. Proximity of closest pro sports team is a big part of it.

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Bischoffshof@reddit

Die hard to your local sports team until the owner decides he’s had enough or could make more money elsewhere.

Your state university ain’t leaving the state.

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icyDinosaur@reddit

Out of all the cultural differences between US and EU sports, this is the one that will always be absolutely baffling to me. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I had been able to get into pro sports as much if I was American and that could happen to my team.

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Bischoffshof@reddit

You just follow your college team

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3boysandachorkie@reddit

Yes, exactly. I am originally from Iowa where there are no pro sports teams. Most of my pro sports viewing is centered around alum from my favorite university. For instance, I never watched a minute of the WNBA before I followed Caitlin from Iowa. In the NFL I cheer more for former Hawkeyes than any specific team. We now live in Colorado and people here are far more loyal to the Broncos, Nuggets, and Avs than the Buffs. It's just different.

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Glasseshalf@reddit

So... Hawkeyes or Cyclones?

I still root for the Hawkeyes, even though I'm 38 and didn't even attend the university unless you count the class I took there in highschool haha. And I haven't lived there since then either. But Minnesota teams don't have a lot going for them...

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3boysandachorkie@reddit

Hawkeyes! Always and forever!

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dern_throw_away@reddit

Oh sorry friendo. You didn’t hear. Your pro teams are moving next year. Something about tax benefits in Mexico or Florida. I forget which.

Maybe they will let you return the merch!!

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nope-its@reddit

I’m from a city with 4/5 pro sports teams. Lived there for 30+ years.

I now live in a city with 5/5 pro sports teams.

I still prefer college sports.

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

Yes, thats why I explicitly said it was part of it

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qui_tam_gogh@reddit

If you have local pro sports teams, this does not conflict with the previous post.

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

I didnt say it did. I specifically said it was a part of it, not the only reasob

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JohnHazardWandering@reddit

The team owner can tell the city where they are located in that they want a new stadium that costs billions of dollars that the city taxpayers will pay for, yet the teams get the revenue If not, the teams owner can move them to another city on the other side of the country.

Who wants to support a team that has zero loyalty to the town?

A college has its physical campus location and so it's sports teams will be in the area forever.

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exetflagger@reddit

America is one of the only places where sports and education are somehow interlocked. If you've watched American movies and TV then you know we also have high school sports teams.

And universities will go to high school games to recruit star players. It's extremely competitive. An athlete can get a full scholarship at a major univiersity just from playing sports. I can't imagine there are any other countries that have this education/sports dynamic.

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Rare_Philosopher69@reddit

Most of the country cares more about college sports. Something like 80% of the population lives within one big 4 sports franchise but 95% of the population lives within 50 miles of a Power 5 conference school. Only about 40% of the country lives within 50 miles of a city with all 4 pro sports teams.

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Jennings_in_Books@reddit

Most people care more about college sports teams, especially football, than professional football. Especially if you are in a town with a large university.

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ButterscotchOdd8257@reddit

Some areas have no pro teams nearby, so college has become their pro team.
And that has resulted in some colleges being held hostage by sports money, but that's another issue.

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Lkwtthecatdraggdn@reddit

In my circle - absolutely! My family (all generations) genuinely care about watching college sports and not necessarily their own Alma maters.

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Riker_Omega_Three@reddit

College sports is closer to European Club football than any other sport in america.

Only large cities have professional teams.

For instance, where I live, the closest professional football team is a 4 hour drive

But My city has a college football team. And the team I root for? Only 1 hour away. Plus there is another smaller school only an hour away.

So what ended up happening over time, is that if you didn't live in a city with a professional team, odds are you either pulled for the college closest to you...or you pulled for the alma mater your dad/mom/grandparents graduated from

Plus, look at the map of D1 colleges in the US. The entire half of the country from the Mississippi River East...is chock full of universities

There's a team within spitting distance of just about everywhere

It was a lot easier for people to connect with college teams than pro teams

Plus in 2026, it's still way cheaper to go to college games

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Fluid_Anywhere_7015@reddit

More people care about University sports than a University education in this country. And it shows.

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houdini31@reddit

In some states they don't have a pro team so the college team is all they have and in others the college team has always had a major history and become an essential religion.

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ashplanet2020@reddit

I haven't read the whole thread so pardon me if this is repeated.

Ten out of the twelve largest sports stadiums in the world (not just college...pro/national what have you) are US college football stadiums.

The highest paid government official in almost every state is a college football coach, barring one or two where it is the basketball coach.

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coop999@reddit

having a 100,000-seat stadium that sells out every Saturday is absolutely mind-blowing.

Just so you know, the football seasons are much shorter than a professional soccer season. NFL is 17 games, plus up to 4 playoff games. College football is a 12 game season, with up to 4 post-season games (conference championship game, and college football playoff). Comparing this against the Kenyan Premier League, there are 34 matches - 17 home and 17 away in the season.

So, for the huge college football stadiums, you're looking at 6-8 games at home. Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee have 7 home games this fall. Michigan has 8 home games. Notre Dame has 6 home games. Add in the possibility of 1 more if they are in the College Football Playoff first on-campus round. That's it. If you want to see your team play at home, there are only so many times you can go.

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ksink74@reddit

These days University sports are professional sports, but the athletes also have to go to school for some reason.

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Desert_Sox@reddit

Oh - and by the way - HIGH School sports have huge following in large swathes of the states too

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Desert_Sox@reddit

Yes.

Yes

There are states where game days of $college local football team makes it the highest population of the state.

Of the 10 largest stadiums in the WORLD, SEVEN of them are college football stadiums (by seating capacity)

I'm also a little skeptical about the Pyongyang stadium at number one for a "sports" stadium - feels like it might be more political (as they say) - citation needed.

And note - those stadiums are often packed. College football is a religion and predates professional football as a major American sport.

I root for Florida State - and I never attended the school. My father brought me to a game when I was seven years old and I've been a fan ever since (to his chagrin - he roots for their rival the University of Florida)

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QuesoDelDiablos@reddit

Yes. Particularly in the south or places where there isn’t a pro team.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

It probably helps to remember that the United States has almost a full 300,000,000 more people than Kenya and we're also far wealthier.

We just have a ton of people with money to spend and sports are popular. It's also not all sports that have a massive fanbase either. It's pretty much limited to football and men's basketball.

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Charlesinrichmond@reddit

not just some people, lots of people care more about say U Michigan than the Detroit Lions

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NflJam71@reddit

It's baffling to me as well as an American in a region where no-one cares much about college sports. The fact that people have favorite college teams for universities that they didn't attend still is hard for me to comprehend.

An exception for me would be basketball, not because the college game is that great to watch, but because the professional game is absolutely abysmal.

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DoubleResponsible276@reddit

Wait till you hear about high school football in Texas

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Brief-Percentage-193@reddit

Since you said you're a soccer fan think about whatever big European league is your favorite. Now think about the euros. Our college sports are analogous with Europes regular leagues with the playoffs like March madness having a champions league at the end. Our national sports are more similar to the euros.

America is about the size of all of Europe. We tend to feel the most connection to our most local team. I'm a baseball fan but the closest professional team to me is like a 3 hour drive. Baseball is different from football in basketball since they have the minor leagues which largely cut into the college fan base. I live less than a 5 minute drive from the closest AAA team. This could be thought of as a team in the championship in England. It's not exactly the same since all of the AAA teams are owned by MLB teams, but it's the closest analogy I can come up with

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loweexclamationpoint@reddit

Football has an interesting history: college football has been massive since the 1920s. But pro football was pretty small time stuff until the Super Bowl era. Pro players through the mid 1960s typically had ordinary jobs in the off season to make ends meet.

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International_Snow44@reddit

As a socal native, I always thought it was odd. The athletes stick around for 3+4 years and it’s even less now so you’re not really watching huge growth spurts in athletic development for players. I get being a fan because you attended the school. Maybe because I’m from socal and there’s a few to pick from so I never really cared but I can see why someone else in another state really cares because most states have 1 or 2 colleges to pick from.

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Odd-Staff6245@reddit

College football comes to mind. College football is a religion in most southern states of the USA

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cjdapd@reddit

Think of it this way; college sports is the essentially the only way that EACH state can field a team consisting mostly of their own natives. I imagine Kenyans are extremely passionate about their national football team, that same context can be applied to states’ college teams.

Most Ohioans cheer for Ohio State football because for the majority of its existence the roster has been filled by a majority of Ohioans. Roster construction has changed a lot with college sports moving towards a professional model (free agents via NIL) but the traditions are too deeply ingrained for it to make much of a difference in allegiances.

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boner4crosstabs@reddit

College sports rivalries often transcend sports and make it feel that much more intense. My school and our main rival are more about the states than the school or teams. Goes back to literal bloodshed in the Civil War. Militias. Burning down town.

There’s a hate there that can’t be replicated in pro sports and THATS what make it extra special.

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icyDinosaur@reddit

Not saying you are wrong, genuine followup question, why can that not be replicated (or perhaps the better question is why does that not exist) in pro sports? Because it sounds a lot like European pro sports.

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boner4crosstabs@reddit

The part about the fanbases hating each other going back 150 years to a *literal* war where people in the states the schools are from *literally* killed each other and burned down *entire towns* is not replicable in pro sports here.

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sean8877@reddit

For basketball I enjoy NCAA more than pro. For football I only watch NFL and not college.

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IntelligentWay8475@reddit

College sports at the D1 level are huge. I watch pro football and baseball but I am invested in college football and baseball.

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ngroot@reddit

Why is it weirder to be obsessed with college-aged athletes playing sports than slightly older ones?

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nomadschomad@reddit

College sports is professional sports. It makes a lot more sense if you just think about it as our second professional league.

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Felderburg@reddit

A note about marching bands specifically: they're a significant extracurricular in schools, but like many things don't really have a significant way to continue after school. So college is the highest level of that particular endeavor.

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sitewolf@reddit

IMO sports betting is ruining sports. 18 yr old quarterbacks should not be getting $5mil deals before even throwing a college pass, but there's just so much money being thrown around now.

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Utterlybored@reddit

I care about my university’s basketball team, because it’s nearby, I have a degree from the school and I’ve been following them since the mid-1960s. The nearest professional basketball team is about three hours away.

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LogicalFallacyCat@reddit

Here in northeast Ohio you have to cheer for a college team if you want to cheer for a winning team.

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Amazing_Divide1214@reddit

Yeah, lots of people don't care about professional sports and root for the local college team they may have attended.

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meowmix778@reddit

Yes. They have.

The NCAA and some schools have found a way to position the college version of sports (looking at you football) as a legitimate alternative to the NFL.

Football in some places is a religion.

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vdWcontact@reddit

Alabamanians basically will kill for the crimson tide

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Altruistic_Cat_7979@reddit

Came here to say this. I LOVE watching and going to games, seeing the guys improve and then watching them get drafted. I have no desire to watch NFL, as that just seems like a job to me. Roll Tide.

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rcjhawkku@reddit

One of my extremely liberal* high school classmates lives in Alabama, and she won’t stop talking about the Tide.

*To be fair, I’m right there with her, except for the Tide thing.

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roseccmuzak@reddit

Tuscaloosa is a blue dot and it is a college town with a university that is over 50% out of state. We aren't all raging bigoted hicks lol

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PunctualDromedary@reddit

They’ll definitely kill a tree.

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No-Pomegranate3070@reddit

Pros seem overpaid and full of themselves. Could not care less about pro sports. College/University is way more fun.

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Defiant_Ingenuity_55@reddit

Some places don’t have a professional team anywhere near them.

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cain11112@reddit

I think that college sports are much more local and connected to a community than their professional counterparts.

In pro teams, the players can be from anywhere. They can be traded. Someone who plays for New York one year can play for Tampa the next. So the team feels less like a part of your community but more like a business that operates out of it. If there is a particularly skilled or famous team, it is fun to support them. But there isn’t really a connection.

College sports on the other hand are formed by players who have an actual connection to where they play from. You know that the athletes are from that school, and have likely lived in the state for an extended period if not their entire lives. It is just a little less corporate and a tad more human.

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cameronpark89@reddit

yes.

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kl987654321@reddit

I used to be a HUGE fan of the NFL team closest to where I live. I’ve mostly lost interest in the NFL, partly due to them being ok with men abusing women but aren’t ok with a player wearing the wrong socks.

I’ve been a much bigger fan of college football for about the past five years. But NIL is ruining that, too.

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tempest1523@reddit

Yes

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Wadsworth_McStumpy@reddit

Yes, it's perfectly normal to be a fan of any team you choose. Often it might be a team from a place you've never even visited. Many people like watching the game, regardless of who's playing. Others will have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the history of a particular team, to the point where they'll talk about games that happened before they were born.

"You know, if Sam Palumbo hadn't intercepted that pass early in the second half, I think the Rams could have shut down Otto Graham and come back to win the championship in '55."

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-RedRocket-@reddit

Yes, particularly if there is no professional team in their region.

In rural areas high school sports have that same fanatical following (and local aura of importance).

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Roadies2@reddit

Your perceptions are true, and honestly even I find it baffling. The closest city to where I grew up has professional football, basketball, and baseball teams, but as an adult I live in the southeast in a state with none of those things. My friends and neighbors tailgate at the closest big football university an hour away. Lots of them did not go to this school. I don't get it. And also, lots of people go to the tailgating but don't even have tickets to the game.

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anonanon5320@reddit

I have 3 NFL teams within a few hours drive of me. Haven’t watched an NFL game in years and never cared for it.

Last season I missed one college game, but NIL is killing the sport so it won’t be long until it is no longer interesting unless they make a few changes.

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MetalEnthusiast83@reddit

Yeah. I love Uconn basketball but the NBA does absolutely nothing for me.

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Reasonable_Mood_5260@reddit

America only has one professional league per sport. Europe has many professional leagues per sport per country, so the total investment in sports combined is not much different. College is better than pro because in America your pro team can move to another city.

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Old_Desert_Gamer@reddit

It’s because college sports has existed in the U.S. for much longer than professional sports.

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kbell58@reddit

In the southern US, that’s a loud yes. SEC land should be ashamed of the amount of money squandered away on college sports

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HegemonNYC@reddit

Overall, NFL (pro) is the bigger sport for viewers and money, but college football is integral to American society.

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AwesomeOrca@reddit

The NFL and NBA functionally serve as the top level of a pipeline where college sports act as the de facto minor leagues. Baseball has several levels of well-established minor league teams, so college baseball is much less prominent.

I find the easiest comparison the to be the NFL is like Premier League, and college football is the UEFA Champions League, when trying to give context to non-Americans.

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nis_sound@reddit

It also wasn't always this way. I'm not googling it right now, but I think it wasn't until the 1990s that the NFL became larger than the NCAA.

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cfbluvr@reddit

The asterisk being the CFB has more total actual attendance than NFL as well as larger stadiums

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notonrexmanningday@reddit

Poor ol' Aggie

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cfbluvr@reddit

Ain’t no damn longhorns in Chicago

Y’all some city boys

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notonrexmanningday@reddit

You'd be surprised.

No Aggies though. Not enough pigs around to attract them.

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cfbluvr@reddit

Funny enough last time I was in Chicago it was loaded with aggies everywhere I went.

Went to a Cubs game and they played the War Hymn.

this was for the notre dame game

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notonrexmanningday@reddit

I know. I remember the smell of cow shit you tracked everywhere

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cfbluvr@reddit

Thanks for the compliment

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aagusgus@reddit

College football is the 2nd most popular sport in America, behind the NFL.

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TheScrote1@reddit

College is pro too FWIW

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kobayashi_maru_fail@reddit

Fight on! ✌️

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bearfootin_9@reddit

Go Ducks

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navair42@reddit

Go Beavers.

Purely for educational purposes for our Kenyan friend. Also, because I graduated from OSU and have a reflexive dislike of UO.

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bearfootin_9@reddit

I have no animosity towards the Beavers, but living in Springfield, practically on the Eugene border, it'd be more than my life's worth to root for the traditional enemy.¯\(ツ)/¯

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zombie_girraffe@reddit

I used to until they changed the college rules to be more like pro sports and the athletes started switching schools for more pay. Now they're both pay to win.

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Esb5415@reddit

Yes, I am one of those people. Between 2012 and the pandemic, I did not miss a home game of my team. Especially since the NFL took my football team away, I care way more about my Tigers than any pro team.

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Peepaw50@reddit

Alabama here. American College football is king.

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jakerooni@reddit

I live in Lexington, KY. The "passion" and absolute fanataic bullshit people have towards our college basketball team is mind boggling. They bleed blue, as they say. It's exciting and brings money and visitors but it gets on my nerves lol

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Icy-Blacksmith-313@reddit

Yes- unless you live in a city with historic pro sports teams, a lot people (nationwide) prefer college. A lot of people don't like the money/flash/hype/PR in pro sports as well, though that's changing now with new NCAA rules. I know a lot of people from big college sports states who can take or leave their pro sports (Alabama, Nebraska, Texas, Georgia) and I know a lot of people from states with both who are hard core into both pro and college (Michigan, California, Wisconsin, MN, Illinois, etc.). In New England, college sports is a cultural mystery bc they don't have a big schools, and they seem to think everyone is inferior to Boston pro sports and that's why college sports appeal- which is hilarious.

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Matilda-17@reddit

With the caveat that I’m not a sports fan at all, I think people feel more connected to the university sports. I work at a major university in a small city, and everyone seems connected to the school in some way or another. They work there, or their kids went there for school, or they’re hoping to attend, or they just visit and walk around the place because it’s part of the town. The University sports teams are intermingled with the area, more than pro sports teams could be.

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therealdrewder@reddit

If you compare the 30 nfl stadium seating capacity in aggregate to the top 30 largest college stadiums, you'll find that the college stadiums have 362,886 seats more capacity. There are hundreds of college stadiums so that should tell you something about the size of the audiences.

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therealdrewder@reddit

Some Texas high school football stadiums seat 20,000+

With jumbotrons, luxury suites, and marching bands that put European pro teams to shame. Friday night lights in places like Allen or Katy aren’t just games — they’re community events with more production value than many lower-tier European professional soccer matches.

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Kindergoat@reddit

I follow both professional and college football, college ball is pretty big in Florida. There’s an intense rivalry between Florida and Florida State and every year they play each other. I like college football a lot, it can be more fun to watch than the NFL.

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Current_Poster@reddit

A lot of people do, yes. Part of it has to do with the distribution of colleges and universities vs. pro teams. Almost half the US states don't have pro teams in the major sports, *every* state has a University of [whatever] due to landgrant colleges.

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PersonalBrowser@reddit

This is like asking do people in Kenya care about Kenyan soccer more than the Premier league or USA football?

Yeah, you end up watching and supporting the team that’s in your town / area.

Also, if you’re a college student, you’re gonna be able to get tickets to watch your team for free or very cheap, relatively compared to spending hundreds of dollars to go to a professional game.

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foodweneedfood@reddit

In Japan, high school baseball is more popular than professional.

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travelinmatt76@reddit

Wait till you learn about High School football in Texas

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thedawntreader85@reddit

The United States is extremely large and states that don't have professional sports teams tend to make a big deal out of college sports.

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SCCock@reddit

Just check out this link that rank orders stadium size with the yellow being professional sports stadiums.

Personally I don't follow professional sports.

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SCCock@reddit

I have no interest in professional sports. Love college athletics.

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SCCock@reddit

I have no interest in professional sports. Love college athletics.

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Pangaeabeliever@reddit

There’s a stadium in the Dallas area that seats 18,000…FOR A HIGH SCHOOL. We Texans take football seriously.

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turbografx-sixteen@reddit

For sure. Paying thousands of dollars to a university that plays all the major sports and also being indoctrinated into your local state schools culture will do that.

I’m pretty blasé and root for the local pro sports teams in the city I live in just for proximity.

I would rather die than support another school besides my Alma mater.

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Colinbeenjammin@reddit

There are high school football stadiums in Texas that seat more fans than some English Premier League stadiums.

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Rick-20121@reddit

Absolutely!

I haven’t watched an NFL game in years. In addition to the politics, they’re simply too good and too well matched at every position. Nobody makes mistakes and nobody exploits mistakes.

I love college ball. Fumbles, missed coverages, interceptions, trick plays.. The games are much more exciting. I’m not a fan of any particular college team but I enjoy watching them play.

I don’t watch baseball. Golf is more exciting since you can look at scenery while you watch the grass grow. Basketball has turned into some kind of street ball with no rules. I’ve never understood the appeal of tennis. Soccer could be interesting if it weren’t for the really annoying announcers.

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sarahshift1@reddit

I was a member of a major university marching band. I was very invested in our team because it determined where I was going to get paid to vacation during winter break. 😊 I don’t watch the games anymore because it was never really about the football for me, but I still root for the team because it was a major part of my life that I think of fondly.

The only other sports teams I bother caring about are a few local minor league teams, because it’s a fun community vibe to go to a game here or there. Pro level sports, couldn’t care less.

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roseccmuzak@reddit

I was in Alabama's band recently. It was not uncommon for me to want my team to lose because I was tired of the traveling and trips. Conference championships - playoffs - to possibly national championships gets exhausting lol. Last year my boyfriend was in the band and I wasn't and I was REALLY excited Bama got knocked out because it brought my man back for the holidays, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to come home for all of December.

Side note, the 12 team playoff is awful lol, there's no way ANYONE actually wants to keep playing that long. Ugh. Glad I mostly dodged it.

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GladChef1206@reddit

College sports are a huge deal in the US. Our colleges are run like businesses so big stadiums mean lots of money. On top of oppressive tuition costs, universities are a money printer.

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External-Creme-6226@reddit

I live in Columbus, OHio, home to THE Ohio State University. The Buckeyes football stadium is the 5th largest stadium in the world and seats over 105,000. Sell out every home game and THE best damn band in the land (nickname for the marching band).

Buckeye football is absolutely the biggest thing in our area. We have an NHL hockey team, an MLS soccer team, both bring 25,000 people to a game and have fans, but the Buckeyes are the main game in town.

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The_Hydra_Kweeen@reddit

Yeah who has the largest stadium in the US?

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External-Creme-6226@reddit

You all are Really churning through those head coaches these days.

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GbQ8194v@reddit

Michigan coaches cheat, usually one way or another

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GbQ8194v@reddit

go bucks

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naruda1969@reddit

Take your pretentious THE and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine. Probably a Walmart Buckeye ^^^.

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naruda1969@reddit

Does your wife say she graduated from THE Ohio State University? Just typing that out makes me gag. Since you aren’t a graduate I bet you’ve X’d plenty of Michigan signs huh champ?

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muchquery@reddit

I see the rivalry has bled into this nice, clean reddit thread. xD

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External-Creme-6226@reddit

Season ticket holder for football and husband of alumni.

Where the sun don’t shine….Michigan in winter?

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istilldontknough@reddit

8 of the world’s 10 biggest stadiums are college football stadiums!

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rythmicjea@reddit

There's so many OSU fans in this thread already. I love it! 😂

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B_A_Beder@reddit

... Oregon State University?

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spacefaceclosetomine@reddit

Oklahoma State, obviously . . .

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HackDaddy85@reddit

OSU football games are the best time to get errands done in the city.

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nachobitxh@reddit

I'll agree with you about TBDBITL, but ima have to ask who has more Nattys this year?

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Atlas7-k@reddit

Are we including all sports or just NCAA regulated ones?

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roseccmuzak@reddit

I was in the University of Alabama marching band for 4 years, 100,000 person stadium and massive marching band included. ask me anything.

In my experience part of it definitely seems to be the lack of professional sports in the deep south where college football is probably the biggest. Like it's huge all over the country, but elsewhere there are large followings for professional teams alongside college sports. We don't have them in Alabama or Mississippi, and then the closest teams aren't typically doing too hot. I don't think there's anywhere in the US where people care more about pro sports than college sports.

I've always loved college sports more too because I have real connections to the programs. Grew up a fan of a different team because every person in my family went to that school, learned to enjoy Alabama football a little bit too because it's home. Hard not to cheer for the team thats a 10 minute walk from your house.

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GbQ8194v@reddit

I grew up in Ohio, yes definitely. As a child, I first learned what “prejudice” by relating it to how we view the state of Michigan, and that’s mostly because of the rivalry between The Ohio State University, and the University that Kaczynski taught at

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Detonation@reddit

Some states don't have a single professional team for any sport.

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MrsMiterSaw@reddit

I care much more about my Alma master's american football team than any pro team. Hell, I care more about the college team located near where I grew up than any pro team.

However, college football in the usa has recently become essentially minor league pro, so it's a moot point.

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JellyfishStill9537@reddit

It’s basically part school, part minor-league sports, part town identity, and part alumni religion. Hard to explain until you see a whole city turn into game day traffic.

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94_stones@reddit

You have to understand that the NFL, the largest & most powerful sports league in the country, has no relegation, and they don’t have a feeder league either. That leaves the university league as the de facto feeder league, and that’s why college football is so massive.

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Ms-Metal@reddit

Yes of course. You don't think we set up those news feeds showing you that just for the hell of it, do you? Here's the thing I know it's mind-blowing to you and frankly it's mind-blowing to me because even though I'm American, I have zero interest in sports, so I can't imagine spending 4 hours watching a game regardless of whether they're professional or college. Here's the thing though, different cultures are different! I'm sure we would find many things that are normal in your culture to be "mind blowing" too! I mean honestly, I think it's mind-blowing that you can probably drive an hour to an hour and a half and actually see lions and elephants in their natural environment. Now that's something I would spend 4 hours on!

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TeamTurnus@reddit

Yah absolutely, the college teams in a lot of areas are older than the professional sports in certain areas (particuarlly those that only got pro teams as expansion teams in the 90s or so) so if those pro teams failed to gain a strong following (maybe they were consistently mediocre) and there is a strong university program nearby, you'll get lots of people who care more about the college sport. You also have folks who identify with the Alma Mater moreso than a location based pro team, so that can also help.

Sports where people care more would most commonly include American Football or Basketball. As those are both popular college sports where many colleges have old very established programs with big fan bases and a lot of money. They also may have had better TV deals in certain areas over the years, which certainly affects adoption.

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normiepitbullmom@reddit

I’m from Maryland and college sports aren’t that big there. It’s nothing compared to the college sports culture in Michigan. College sports are everything in Michigan.

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heybud_letsparty@reddit

So to make it sound crazier. Those 100,000 person stadiums don't sell out every Saturday. They were built to host 7 or 8 games per year. Half the season is played away and half at home. So 7 weekends a year 100,000 people will fill it. Then the rest of the year it might be used for a big concert once.

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FormicaDinette33@reddit

They most definitely care for some college teams than professional teams. The nostalgia and love is strong.

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Other-Resort-2704@reddit

There are certain areas where there is no professional team nearby, so the university team gets a significant amount of support over a professional team.

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Comprehensive-Buy558@reddit

The Chiefs and Cowboys are the 2 main pro teams where I live that peoplw are fans of. But I still prefer college

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nightowl1135@reddit

100%. I am one of them. Go Ducks.

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Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit

Sameeee! Only Go Bucks.

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HippityHopMath@reddit

Are these college games actually a bigger deal than professional NFL or NBA games in certain states.

Yes.

If you never attended that specific university, is it normal to still be a die-hard fan?

For certain universities, yes. Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State all come to mind as ‘Walmart fan bases’ (fanbases who buy their gear at Walmart instead of the school bookstore).

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Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit

Kohl’s has better stuff than Walmart. And how many alumni are going back to buy gear in the student bookstore?

Either way, it’s silly to have pejorative names for fans. I went to a small college that didn’t even have a football team, so why not root for the team I had rooted for since before I even went to college? My CFB allegiance is a birthright, it’s not conferred by a diploma.

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Brilliant_Account_31@reddit

I got ripped off so badly at my college bookstore that I would never spend a dime there again.

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Wrong-Rich5564@reddit

1 spectator sport in America..... NFL football

2 spectator sport in America.... college football

Everything else is distant in tv ratings and tickets sales and merchandise sales

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Gtown2ATLBraves@reddit

I live in Georgia. UGA football is way more popular than Atlanta Falcons football

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ianfromdixon@reddit

I went to Penn State. Football was a religion. Eagles fans would watch the Penn State game and record the Eagles for later.

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CKLPaul@reddit

Absodamnlutely!

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boilface@reddit

I used to teach ESL composition at a large US university and I had many students who had come here on scholarships from other countries because they had an interest in continuing their sports career and also continuing their studies. This possibility isn't available in most countries, especially packaged together in one program.

In terms of how college sports are viewed here, I think they are more analogous to the football club system in England. They are fixed in the community, and they will never leave. You have families who have been following the same school for a hundred years plus

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DeathByFright@reddit

The University of Texas football team has an average attendance of over 100,000 fans.

The city of Houston is significantly larger than the city of Austin, yet the Houston Texans (professional) only averages 72,000. But many will point out that the Texans have struggled to build a fanbase since their creation. So let's move to "America's Team."

The Dallas Cowboys average 92,000. Dallas is also substantially larger than Austin.

Now, someone will likely point out that while both Dallas and Houston are larger than Austin, Austin is still one of the largest cities in the US, so here's the kicker: Texas A&M, in the town of College Station, Texas, also averages over 100k for their home games.

Some population numbers for reference:
Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex: 8.47 million
Houston metro area: 7.9 million
Austin metro area: 2.5 million
Bryan/College Station metro area: 350,000.

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Ananvil@reddit

AS a New Yorker, I find it equally boggling

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Brennisth@reddit

Absolutely. "March Madness" (college basketball finals) got 10.7M viewers during the first week of the sweet 16 this year; the NBA (professional) games are currently averaging 4M in their playoff finals. In addition to being affordable enough and local enough you might be able to see a game, and that players might even be from your hometown, there's often a view since these players aren't directly paid they play "for the love of the game". The players are just more relatable than someone with a $59.6M salary.

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WonderfulProtection9@reddit

I generally enjoy college sports way more than pro sports. NFL, NBA, MLB? No thanks.

Not every college sport, but football and basketball for sure.

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Budgiejen@reddit

In Nebraska, yes.

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New-Hunt4169@reddit

Oh yeah*. Go to basically any state with an SEC team.

I got buddies who didn’t even go to college that make one of those school teams their entire identity.

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LAWriter2020@reddit

Absolutely. In the Southeasten Conferrnce (SEC) most people care much more about college football than NFL football. First of all, historically there were not as many pro football teams, and the players on those teams are not typically from
Wherever the team may be based. Local/ regional pride is much more aligned with local universities, especially the state supported ones.

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CronosWorks@reddit

College sports stadiums in the US make up 8 of the 10 largest in the world.

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14Rage@reddit

Yes, he is me.

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Prior_Two1814@reddit

Two words, March Madness.

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elpollodiablox@reddit

I think college football (American football, that is) is superior to pro football. The atmosphere, rivalries, the bands, all of it. The pro experience is so sterile in comparison for me.

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hella_cutty@reddit

People care about the things close to them. Those are the things in their life and the day today.

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

I just had a 20 minute conversation with a rando about our college teams. Bro is locked in on recruiting

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Illustrious-Art-7465@reddit

College football is genuinely much more entertaining than the NFL, its the most passionate sport we have by far. I love soccer but almost never go to MLS matches because why am I spending more money to watch mls than someone pays to watch the best team in the world

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bernard_gaeda@reddit

It’s hard to understate how much people care and affiliate themselves with certain universities and their sports programs. It’s huge.

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Red_Beard_Rising@reddit

Yea, some states have better college athletes than professional ones.

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luckycherries@reddit

Yes. Penn State always comes to mind for me, I have met a lot of diehard fans and they act like they are in a cult.

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maybach320@reddit

I care more about college football than the NFL, it’s just more enjoyable to watch. Baseball and Hockey I watch the pros, well I’ll watch any hockey to be fair.

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h4baine@reddit

Not every college has that sort of mega stadium but some definitely do and they sell it out. For some people college football and pro football compliment each other. Colleges play on Saturday and NFL plays mostly on Sunday and some games during the week. If you're a football fan it's more football.

In some areas there isn't a pro team so the college team is the biggest and best.

There are people who didn't go to that school that support the team. When I was a kid I got into University of Michigan football for awhile for no particular reason. They were just good and relatively close.

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h4baine@reddit

Not every college has that sort of mega stadium but some definitely do and they sell it out. For some people college football and pro football compliment each other. Colleges play on Saturday and NFL plays mostly on Sunday and some games during the week. If you're a football fan it's more football.

In some areas there isn't a pro team so the college team is the biggest and best.

There are people who didn't go to that school that support the team. When I was a kid I got into University of Michigan football for awhile for no particular reason. They were just good and relatively close.

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Icey-Emotion@reddit

Nationally...no.

Regionally....yes.

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grayMotley@reddit

Yes. College Football in the SEC borders on religion.

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lz425@reddit

Just adding that it’s confusing for some people from cities with pro teams or colleges that do not have significant athletic departments, too. When I went to New York University, most people had no idea where the gym was.

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funguy07@reddit

Oh yeah, think of college teams in America the way the UK or Spain think of their football clubs.

It’s something you are born into in most cases or you graduate from a school and it’s your team for life. It’s significantly more accessible than pro sports for 90% of the country.

It’s a big deal.

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smorones@reddit

Oh, yes

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Cicero912@reddit

Depends on the area. Northeast? Pro Sports (Sans UConn BB in CT). Southeast? College.

College Football is our closest thing to European Soccer at the moment.

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Playful_Question538@reddit

I care more about my favorite college team if we're talking about American football. I could care less about the professional teams. I do have a favorite professional baseball and hockey team/league. I watch more motocross racing than anything else. These are my entertainment interests at this point.

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AtTheRealFuture@reddit

The way I see it is that professional sports team can and do move. They follow the money, understandably, because they’re a massive business entity. A professional sports team (their owner) in my city literally threatened to leave the city if they weren’t given more money. A group of fans got together and basically forced a buyout using a clause in the original contract because they cared about *the city*. The owner only cared about the money.

On the other hand, college sports teams can’t move cities. Because of that, along with other reasons, they’re *way* more loyal to the cities in which they’re based. That’s the biggest drawl for me.

I also appreciate that many college athletes desperately want to go pro. It’s like the undercards in a prize fight. The top dawgs are already making money, but the undercards are playing to make it big. They want it more, or differently, and you can feel that energy.

Additionally, many people are very very fond of the college they went to, so there’s a sentimental attachment.

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Status-Effort-9380@reddit

I grew up in Alabama, which has a legendary rivalry of the University of Alabama and University of Auburn football teams.

Some true things I’ve personally witnessed:

When the all time winningest coach of the Alabama team, Bear Bryant, died, one of my friends sobbed so hard, it was as if her own father died.
My best friend’s dad recently died. He was buried in his University of Alabama shirt.
One of my friend’s Facebook posts memorializing a dead uncle claimed that he would be met at the pearly gates by Bear Bryant. I guess St. Peter has now hired the winningest coach as his right hand man.
I once drove to the mall during the Alabama / Auburn game. I have never seen so few cars on the highway.
I had a co-worker tell me with deadly seriousness, “I don’t think I could marry an Alabama fan.”

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TopperMadeline@reddit

Sometimes, especially if said person lives in a city/town that does not have any big sports teams.

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AnotherMinorDeity@reddit

Yes. I live in Georgia and couldn’t care less about our pro football team but we watch every University of Georgia football game.

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Suspicious-Froyo2181@reddit

Hell, I'm an Ohio State fan, and even I watch more UGA football than NFL.

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EK60@reddit

"And I told em, 'How bout them fuckin Dawgs!'"

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RedPanther1@reddit

People here in America can be fanatically loyal to their or their parents Alma mater. Going to the several hundred colleges around here is such a common thing and it's easier to connect with those teams than a large professional regional team. Some people also see college ball as more authentic and less preplanned than professional ball.

Think of it as your local towns team, but there's like 200 other teams they compete with. When your team does well you go nuts because there's so many others that could potentially beat it.

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BonBonOfFive@reddit

Yes! I’ve always preferred college sports. I’m also, a big OKC Thunder fan (I live in Oklahoma). But if I could only watch college OR professional, I would pick college.

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kitchengardengal@reddit

Georgia has one pro NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons. But UGA is the team everyone in Georgia celebrates. There are "Dawg" statues and flags in front yards all over the state.

I was surprised when I moved here from Northwest Indiana. It was all about the Chicago Bears there, with a side of Notre Dame. I was not used to college ball being more popular than the NFL.

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Avalanche325@reddit

I know several people that religiously follow college football and don’t care at all about the NFL.

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CTeam19@reddit

There are 4 big things: 1) College Teams are Older then Pro teams for the most part. 2) Pro Sports being a Gated Community 3) Pro Sports Started in a Limited Area 4) Pro teams move

1) College Teams are Older then the Pro teams and even rival the Primer League for Football(Soccer) in terms of age:

Arsenal F.C. -- 1886
Iowa State Football/Liverpool F.C. -- 1892
Arizona Cardinals(oldest operating American Football team) -- 1898
Chelsea F.C. -- 1905
Iowa State Men's Basketball -- 1907
Chicago Bears(2nd oldest operating American Football team) -- 1920

2) Pro Sports in General have a very "gated committee" where you need to buy into the leagues. Colleges have a bit more wiggle room there. I could drop One Billion dollars into a small school like Drake and buy my way into a National Title in a few sports.

3) Pro Sports Started in a limited area. I could lump just about all sports teams during the "first season" into basically into just the Midwest and Northeast save for a few others in Washington DC, Maryland, Denver(Colorado), Louisville(Kentucky) because those regions had the highest populations at the start of the 1900s and Maryland, DC, and Louisville were easy jumps out of the region being right next door. Overall, Iowa itself had a higher population then California and Florida combined in 1900.

Population Rank(population)	State	US Census Region	NFL(1922 First on the NFL name)	NBA(1949-1950)	MLB(1901 first Modern era)	NHL(1926-27 first season with more American teams then in Canada)
1st(7.2 Million)	New York	Northeast	2 teams	3	2	2
2nd(6.3 Million)	Pennsylvania	Northeast		1	3	1
3rd(4.8 Million)	Illinois	Midwest	3	2	2	1
4th(4.1 Million)	Ohio	Midwest	6		2
5th(3.1 Million)	Missouri	Midwest		1	1
6th(3 Million)	Texas	South
7th(2.8 Million)	Massachusetts	Northeast		1	2	1
8th(2.5 Million)	Indiana	Midwest	2	3
9th(2.4 Million)	Michigan	Midwest			1	1
10th(2.23 Million)	Iowa	Midwest		1
11th(2.21 Million)	Georgia	South
12th(2.1 Million)	Kentucky	South	1
13th(2 Million)	Wisconsin	Midwest	2	1	1
19th(1.7 Million)	Minnesota	Midwest	1	1
26th(1.1 Million)	Maryland	South		1	1
31st(0.5 Million)	Colorado	West		1
39.5th(0.2 Million)	Washington DC	South		1	1

Due to this thing. The South(SEC) has on average larger College Football Stadiums on average then the north.

4) Pro sports have moved a lot for the most part or are knew with some places having overall a very young fan base compared to the Colleges and are less tied to an area overall then the colleges that basically never have moved for the most part meanwhile. Just using the pro teams from California, Texas, and Florida as examples:

State	Football	Basketball	Hockey	Baseball	Average Age of the teams in their current state	Notes
California	Rams(relocated from Cleveland in 1945), 49ers(founded 1946), and Chargers(founded in 1960)	Lakers(relocated from Minnesota in 1960), Warriors(relocated from Philly in 1962), Clippers(relocated from Buffalo in 1978), and Kings(relocated from Kansas City in 1985)	Kings(founded in 1967), Sharks(founded in 1991) Ducks(founded in 1993)	Dodgers & Giants(relocated from New York in 1958), Angels(founded in 1961), Athletics(relocated from Kansas City in 1967), and Padres(founded in 1969)	59.3 years on average	Every one of the Basketball teams and 3 of Baseball teams(Dodgers, Giants, and Athletics) are accounted for in Point number 2 I made above.
Texas	Cowboys(founded in 1960) & Texans(founded in 1999) & Rangers(relocated in 1972)	Mavericks(founded in 1980), Rockets(relocated in 1971), and Spurs(founded in 1967)	Stars(relocated in 1993)	Astros(founded in 1962)	51.5 years	Texas has had 2 Football teams move out which weakens their age with Chiefs(now in Kansas City) and the Oilers(now in Tennessee as the Titans) were established in 1959
Florida	Dolphins(founded in 1965), Buccaneers(founded in 1974), and Jaguars(founded in 1993)	Heat(founded in 1988) and Magic(founded in 1989	Lightning(founded in 1992) and Panthers(founded in 1993)	Marlins(founded in 1993) and Rays(founded in 1998)	38.5 years old	Only one of these 3 not to steal a team.

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jay34len@reddit

Yeah a big reason is people have a connection to the schools bc they weren’t there or has family or friends go to that school and the rivalries are better or were better until the ncaa ruined the conferences

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WildMartin429@reddit

Yes there are many people who are invested in a specific college sport over the professional sport. This most often occurs with football but can vary amongst just about anything.

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Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

Yes

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furniguru@reddit

I live in Michigan. The University of Michigan has one of the largest football stadiums in the country that seats something like 110,000 people. And an hour and a half away is Michigan State University that has a football stadium that seats about 80,000 people. There are a number of smaller schools that have stadiums that have seating for 30,000 or so. That’s just one state and not a huge state when it comes to football.

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ljculver64@reddit

Omg yes. College football is HUGE. And the rivalries can make best friends not speak to each other over a single game. I have a vanity plate with my college on it. We have season tickets.

College basketball is big too, and id bet theres people who like it more than pro teams.

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Next-Bit883@reddit

Absolutely. I haven't watched an entire pro sports game since before COVID, and that was Minor League baseball in person. Saturdays in the Fall are for college football.

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Leather-Resource-215@reddit

Yes, that is me. Roll Tide!

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Disastrous-Group3390@reddit

Absolfuckinglutely. I LOVE my Georgia Bulldogs. The Falcons? I care less about them than I do Georgia Tech…

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Porcupine-in-a-tree@reddit

Yes, I have some extended family from Alabama and they care to an almost absurd degree.

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soap---poisoning@reddit

As someone who grew up in Alabama, I can second this. Some people treat the in-state rivalry almost like a religion.

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LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit

As someone who is from the Northeast, it is amazing how into it people are. I was listening a sports radio show while in the south and a woman called in crying about some decision that was made like someone was cut from the line up or something.

It means a lot to some people.

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DarthMutter8@reddit

I don't understand the love for college sports either. I feel really removed from this part of American culture. Being from Philly, I had pro teams to follow and the whole northeast is the same. My family are poor and blue collar. None of them went to college so I don't have any generational connection to these colleges.

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WabbitFire@reddit

As someone who lives in closer proximity to pro sports teams than a D1 Football team...

I've never really understood how people can go so crazy over a veritable farm league.

Also, I'm a baseball fan primarily, so college sports are particularly irrelevant except as a feeder competition.

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FileAClaim@reddit

That’s wild. College baseball is an absolutely beautiful game with one of the best post season formats in all of sports.

While the NIL era has made college and professional sports more similar than ever before, the pride and passion displayed by college athletes for their university makes college football, basketball, and baseball so much more entertaining than their pro counterparts. Pro sports have lost most of that romance.

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WabbitFire@reddit

We're back to the only argument in favor of college sports, it's more romantic/wholesome/whatever.

Totally vibes based, and ignoring the fan tradition pro sports have, nevermind the vast skill disparity.

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FileAClaim@reddit

I mean, that’s why I watch sports, personally. The passion displayed on the field and corresponding energy of the fanbases is vastly superior in college sports. I guess if that’s “vibes based” to you, then fair enough, we just disagree.

I find the skill disparity argument entirely unconvincing. We’re probably a handful of years away from having humanoid robots capable of playing tennis at a level no human could ever achieve. If a display of skill is the primary driver of one’s fandom, I guess that person would choose to watch the robots over the world #1 and #2 duke it out? Feels like a Black Mirror episode to me.

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Ok_Entrepreneur_8509@reddit

We don't have local and minor leagues like most of the rest of the world. College sports is our version of that. It lets people cheer for something closer to their hearts than their state or their city.

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Front_Effort_3584@reddit

College sports in many cases are now professional leagues with players making millions and not doing much in the way of school work.

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capsrock02@reddit

You have to remember that in some places, especially in the south, they are hundreds miles from the nearest pro sports team. The major university is the only gig in town. Outside of the Oklahoma City Thunder, which only moved to OKC in 2008, the closest professional sports teams to The University of Oklahoma are in Dallas, which is almost 200 miles away. Now do the for some of the middle-of-nowhere places in the Big 10.

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swervecity36@reddit

1000%. College sports are absolutely electric. The vibe, the atmosphere, the comrade- Nothing comes close. Watching the 5 star recruit who will be drafted day 1 line up against the 2 star who is there to get a free degree in electrical engineering is insanely.

You don’t even have to go to the school to be a diehard fan. Most of time it’s based solely where you live/grew up or who has the coolest color scheme, logo, etc. In fact- I’d wager at least 70-80% of fans never got any education past high school, let alone attended the university.

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centex@reddit

College football is a religion in the south.

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Straight-Clue8864@reddit

College football started before professional teams. Most nfl teams initially were in the northeast and mid-west with the rest of the country favoring college teams. And yes one did not have to go to college to be fam of the school. High school soccer in U.S. wasn’t that popular until the 1980’ s and that is a stretch. Soccer is not as popular as football, basketball, and possibly baseball. It is gaining in popularity though. Americans are used to scoring.
Why do people play soccer ? So they don’t have to watch it!! No offense.

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Zealousideal_Sea_258@reddit

There’s only a handful of states with pro teams, a lot of those states care about the college team more than

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DonAmechesBonerToe@reddit

Just over half the states have a pro team in the big 4 sports…you have giant hands

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Zealousideal_Sea_258@reddit

I would say ask your girl, but your loser ass definitely doesn’t have one

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Bargle-Nawdle-Zouss@reddit

OP, for prospective, Kenya is about the size of our state of texas. The US is tremendously larger than your country, and we have huge areas that do not have any of the four, or should I say now five major professional sports leagues. Particularly in those areas, but not limited to them, top level University sports are vastly more prominent, especially for American football and basketball, and to a lesser extent baseball and ice hockey.

So in terms of proximity, University sport filll a need that top five sports simply can't cover geographically.

Until recently, there was also a school of thought (pun intended!) that said University athletics were 'purer' than professional, because the student-athletes were playing for the love of the game, and their education, which was their compensation (a scholarship) in lieu of a salary. * That has now changed in the past few years, and top level University sports are undergoing huge challenges regarding legal payments to athletes... but THAT is a vast, deep rabbit hole way beyond the scope of your question.

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ZeldaHylia@reddit

I live for college football. People spend their entire day watching games. It’s me. I’m people. Is it fall, yet? 😟

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Icy-Whale-2253@reddit

Some states don’t have professional sports teams at all so… yes.

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Ill-Lou-Malnati@reddit

Yeah, if you live in an area without a professional sports team, Nebraska, Iowa, Columbus Ohio, than college teams can be very popular and make money comparable to pro teams. But you know, Kenya is much smaller than the USA and more affluent so even smaller markets can support these teams.

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Ok_Bandicoot_814@reddit

Depends on the sport and where, if it's football in the Deep South, yes roll tide; If it's college football in a state like Pennsylvania where there's plenty of colleges and plenty of pro sports teams yeah there might be some you know overlap people might like college sports more than like the pros more i mean in football in Pennsylvania you've got Penn State you've got Temple and you have pittsburgh and there's still a lot of love for the Eagles or the Steelers. If you go to a state like New York, it depends on the sport not a lot of people care about college football but college basketball definitely St John's.

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Discount_Plumber@reddit

Some do, some don't. I don't follow really any sports much unless our local major teams make it to some championship game. I like watching games in person with like our minor hockey and baseball, though I don't really follow them. Neither of my parents were into any sports or play any. I did, but only through high school.

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onlyreason4u@reddit

Football (American Football) is the most popular sport in the US. The regular season is 18 weeks. Teams play 17 games, mostly on Sundays but also one Monday and One Thursday. Only half of those games are home games. So with the popularity and limited number of games it's expense to go to an actual game for a lot of people and there is demand for more games. College football fills that gap. Games are on Saturday, games are easier to go to and there s tailgating before the game.. essentially a cookout in the parking lot where people mingle. Since the NFL does not recruit from high school (you have to be at least 3 years post high school to be draft eligible), they recruit from universities (coaching staff too). Part of the fun for fans with American sports, is the statistics. It's common to play fantasy footbal where you and your friends/family/coworkers put together your own team, pool some money, and based of the stats of your players status your team wins and loses, with the final winner taking the pot. People sort of do similiar stats base evaluation of the best college players, who is going to be drafted in what round and by who, etc. Betting is often involved. High school football is on Friday nights. You go to games to watch your kids play or because they are in the band. Other kids go because it's a social event for them. Nobody else cares too much about high school football, unless it's some town with nothing else going on or Texas.

Baseball is the second most popular professional sport. Nobody gives a shit about college baseball. Pro teams recruit from minor league farm teams. There are tons of games to go to. If you don't live near the pro team the minor league teams are usually in the area.

Basketball is 3rd. College basketball is somewhat popular as they recruit from colleges and overseas teams and not directy from high school (anymore). There are a ton of pro basketball games to watch though. So most college basketball is watched during a tournament called March Madness where teams play each other all day for 3 weeks.

NHL Hockey is 4th where I live, now 5th after MSL soccer's growing popularity in warmer areas where people don't play much hockey. Nobody gives a shit about college hockey either. Like baseball they have farm teams and lots of pro games.

There are ton of other college sports that don't get much attention other than friends/family watching and occationally landing on a 3rd tier sports channel as filler.

The pro sports the most popular for all of them. Second is the big colleges with the top athletic programs. There are die hard fans of those that never went the that school who mostly like to tailgate. Smaller colleges with lesser sports teams are really only followed by people that went there.

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

Dudes -Don't forget girl/ women/female teams

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Happy_Macaroon2726@reddit

I love college/university basketball, but can't stand pro basketball. Its just not my thing. Also dont care for football, but give me pro baseball is good

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a_bounced_czech@reddit

I was curious about the largest stadiums in the world and how my university compares.

6th largest IN THE WORLD. And it’s not even the largest university stadium in the country.

That’s insane to me

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notonrexmanningday@reddit

It's 9:43 pm and OU still sucks

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redditreader_aitafan@reddit

I used to live in Oklahoma. Yes, some people, as in at least an awful lot of people in Oklahoma, genuinely care more about a university team than a professional team. Oklahoma didn't used to have a professional team of anything, so the college football rivalry was, and still is, very intense. Very intense.

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PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit

In all meaningful ways, American college sports are professional sports. At least football and basketball.

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New-Sheepherder2239@reddit

Yes

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jeff1074@reddit

There are a LOT of people whose entire house is decorated and wardrobe and identity is dedicated to THE Ohio State University. And they never went to school there they didn’t have kids go there. It’s just the football.

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Fine-Amphibian4326@reddit

My assumption would be that this stems from the us being 7x larger than Kenya and college life being a much more common thing here. People go to universities, root for a team, and many enjoy continuing that for the rest of their lives

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Shadow_Lass38@reddit

Yes. Here in the Atlanta,GA, area, there are more fans of University of Georgia than there are of the Atlanta Falcons.

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Prairie_Crab@reddit

It’s normal for large universities, but not for small ones. I live in the area of a major university that I didn’t attend, and I find it baffling.

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Willing_Ad_699@reddit

College football is bigger in Florida than their pro baseball teams.

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shecky444@reddit

I think once again America’s size is the factor here. Some folks live a really long way from their nearest football team. Like days of travel for 9 max home games. College games are usually closer, some people stay close to a university they loved, and are also usually cheaper. College game-day environments are unmatched in the NFL. Not to say some NFL cities aren’t fun and exciting, but college towns are something to behold especially on rivalry weekends. If you went to a school and a bunch of your family went to that school that has a lot more affinity than a the nearby NFL team you picked. Again we have plenty of folks who are multigenerational NFL families too, but there are way more division 1 football teams in the NCAA than nfl teams at a ratio of approx. 267:32.

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AmazingRefrigerator4@reddit

I like college more. I went to a college. I have an emotional connection there. Wherever I move to, I might watch the local professional team, but the university where I spent 4 years is always closer to me emotionally.

From a pure game perspective, I like the college experience better. I like the marching bands, the rivalries, the fact the guys are still prone to mistakes that send you on an emotional roller-coaster.

The NFL and NBA are just sterile in comparison. Yes, the athletes are better but it just feels different when its millionaires playing a game.

Also for football specifically there are many more varieties of offense and defense which are fun to watch. The NFL teams generally run more similar plays.

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ku_78@reddit

Jambo! Yes. For many schools, it’s a strong bonding ritual for students. Then, they graduate and as alumni they continue to support the school.

Rich alumni contribute to the program and that is usually where the school gets the money to afford the coaching staff, the facilities, etc.

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ku_78@reddit

Jambo! Yes. For many schools, it’s a strong bonding ritual for students. Then, they graduate and as alumni they continue to support the school.

Rich alumni contribute to the program and that is usually where the school gets the money to afford the coaching staff, the facilities, etc.

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Rudyjax@reddit

Yep. i care way more about my college football team and college baseball team than any pro sport.

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Left-Nothing-3519@reddit

As an outside who moved here (I live in college basketball country, go big blue) YES! it’s a huge deal.

This is probably one of the few countries in the world where you can start your entire career as a college athlete, and have a second career come from that first career. You can be successful using your natural talent. You don’t need a day job to pay your rent.

Where I came from all the professional sports people had day jobs.

College sports and pro sports is mega mega millions of dollars in revenue, and it starts in middle and high school. College is the best of it all.

Sports franchises create economies.

Something to keep in mind - the USA is physically a big country with a very large population.

You and I come from similar sized countries, and Kenya is a little smaller than Texas, there another 47 contiguous states, so, imagine another 40 Kenya’s all next to each other, with all of those schools and colleges and athletes and teams adding up into some huge mega league with tv time and exciting playoffs.

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loudcomputer69@reddit

College > professional for me. There’s way more connection and association between fans and their team and there’s a certain culture around it that is lost with professional sports

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EastAd7676@reddit

No. Some of us don’t care for any of it.

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Ambitious-Break4234@reddit

I only care about College basketball.

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Top_Independence2676@reddit

Former die-hard Baltimore Colts fan. They left and took the name.

Professional teams and owners are just mercenaries.

Your school is not 'owned', is not going to move so you can identify (or even attend) with them for generations.

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RektInTheHed@reddit

A thing to remember is that American football was created as a university/school game, professionalism came later, and professional leagues weren't really relevant until the mass adoption of television in the 1950s and 60s. So there were many decades where university teams were seen as playing at a higher level with better, more innovative coaching and management than the professionals.

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dagmara56@reddit

Dallas fort Worth area. People are insane over UT or Baylor or Texas Tech or TCU college sports.

The cotton bowl at the state fair has the red river rivalry with Oklahoma vs UT. It has an attendance of over 200,000 on game day and the stadium only holds 90,000. The rest are hanging around outside listening to the game. A cowboys game typically has 90,000 fans in attendance.

So yeah, people are nuts over college sports

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mypen-ismadeofcheese@reddit

I had a friend who showed so much hate to a rival college team that I had to remind him that these are just college kids participating in an extracurricular activity.

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No_Importance_750@reddit

My dad is a diehard Oregon ducks (college football team) fan and he didn’t go to the University of Oregon.

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videogames_@reddit

Some states only have college sports so that’s what local fans root for.

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Strange_Specific655@reddit

Yes only cfb for me tho

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kemarti1@reddit

Yes- but this is more prevalent in certain parts of the country. America is huge and there are large parts of it where there is very little to do. (Don’t hate on me- I used to live in some of these parts of the country and loved it!). For example- my college boyfriend went to grad school in southern Illinois. The people there would drive 3 hours each way just to try a new sandwich place. So yeah- a college sports game is definitely a big deal. Now there are other parts of the country, where you can’t give those tickets away. It just varies by location and school.

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Ok-Tackle-5128@reddit

Yes especially in the South

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_Internet_Hugs_@reddit

I don't like pro football, but I love college games.

A lot of people have a fondness for the school they graduated from, so while watching pro sports is okay... college ball is great!

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patty202@reddit

Most definitely yes.

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ParticularYak4401@reddit

Yes. Sailgating is a thing if you are a University of Washington fan. Since the football stadium is right on Lake Washington people boat over and have their tailgate party on their boat before going to the game. We also have one of the prettiest settings in college football. Go Dawgs!

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Wermys@reddit

Yes. Especially fans in states without pro teams.

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sloppy_sheiko@reddit

I just went to my first SEC (South Eastern Athletic Conference) baseball games a few weeks ago and it had a higher attendance than probably half of the Major League games with almost 16,000 people in the crowd.

Crazy part? That’s tiny compared to how many go to the SEC football games (average attendance is over 80,000 with some stadiums filling up over 100,000).

In the Deep South, college athletics reign supreme.

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TedBundylol@reddit

Keep in mind college football has been around much MUCH longer than professional football in America. There are also more teams that are more representative of the regions that they’re in. Kind of like how in England there are five or six levels of professional football and each region has their own team whether or not they are in the Premier league

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Ginger630@reddit

I think watching college teams is more exciting. They have my heart in my opinion. They’re also not being paid millions.

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Plastic-Chest67@reddit

Honestly, if I had to watch a game, I'd prefer college over the professional version. And for many fans there's a bigger tie-in because they went to the school, so they feel closer.

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HorrorAlarming1163@reddit

Every other team I care about could go to shit and I wouldn’t care as long as the Vols are winning

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DCStoolie@reddit

8 of the top 10 largest stadiums in the world are American College Football Stadiums. As our Southern brethren like to say (to the displeasure of the rest of the country):

It just means more.

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Toadcola@reddit

For schools they didn’t even go to. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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vespers191@reddit

Frankly, the fans don't seem to care about the specifics of the sport. There are religions that wish they could have this level of devotion to seasonal sports.

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SterileCarrot@reddit

I’ll start going to church again if Jesus comes back to lead the Sooners to a national title

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OldShaerm@reddit

Not gonna happen. Jesus is clearly a free safety. Going to need some help.

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Reduak@reddit

Yes they do, and many of them are what we call "Walmart Fans" That means their only connection to the university is that they bought the university's gear (t-shirts, sweatshirts hats, etc.) at Walmart.

There's a big urban/rural culture divide here in the US, and people in rural areas, especially the southeast and midwest connect with the colleges in their states more than they do city-based pro teams.

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Ok_Watercress_7801@reddit

Some of us don’t care for sports at any level, but yeah, it’s pretty wild.

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LouisRitter@reddit

I live in sight of one of the oldest and most storied college football teams in the US. 80-100k people come into town for game days depending on who we're playing. Many local businesses live and die by the business they get based around the 6-7 home games a year. Just the football program TV deal is 50 million a year. The local economic influx is almost 250 million a year.

It's a pretty big deal.

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skyking11702@reddit

Absolutely. College sports are much more fun and passionate.

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otbnmalta@reddit

Yes. Especially if it's our Alma Mater

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ifallallthetime@reddit

I’ll pick college football any day over pro football for 2 reasons:

Since they’re slightly less skilled, there’s less perfection which allows for more blown up and therefore exciting plays
Due to the rating and ranking system, it’s like the whole season is playoffs. A single loss for a top team can cause them to miss the playoffs and therefore a chance at the National Championship. The ratings and rankings also make so many complicated and interesting storylines

I don’t know if the current transfer portal and salaries will cause this to last in the future, but the kids seem like they care more and play harder too. I’ve been a long time college football fan over NFL, but I’m starting to like college baseball better than MLB too

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PoolSnark@reddit

Absolutely.

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PinCurrent@reddit

Absolutely, but they did just start allowing betting on college sports so, college sports are probably rigged now too.

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lflj91@reddit

I'm from Alabama. I like to joke that you're assigned your college team at birth. We have no professional sports teams, save some minor league baseball that no one really cares about, but our two main college football teams (Auburn and University of Alabama) are historically some of the better or more well known teams in the sport. College football is a BIG DEAL. The annual rivalry game, the Iron Bowl, is basically a holiday. Even if you don't care much about football or never attended college, you almost certainly like one team over the other.

There's also a certain amount of identity politics that can factor into it. Auburn is an agricultural college, so that fandom can appeal to more rural, or less well off, folks. While University of Alabama is generally seen as a having a more storied pedigree, a richer history, and can appeal to folks with more money.

Alabama even opposed the creation of Auburn as a school in the first place, since they wanted that money and land grant, so there's another layer to the animosity.

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xnatlywouldx@reddit

Yes.

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foobarney@reddit

Wait till you see high school football in some places.

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Many_Echidna_9957@reddit

yes

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ColbysHairBrush_@reddit

Absolutely. No problem teams in Alabama

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SkiMonkey98@reddit

One important aspect of this that I'm not seeing in the comments is that college sports are the main path to most of our professional leagues. These aren't just students playing a friendly game, they're likely the top talent for their age and the best of them will be the next generation of NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL stars. Somewhat less true in baseball due to a stronger professional minor league system and hockey because of Canadian junior leagues

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Codered0289@reddit

The college teams are huge partially because we feel more connected to them because we went there or go there.

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tryptanfelle@reddit

I grew up in the northeast and went to a then-Division III school so I don’t even care about my own college football team let alone someone else’s. While there are places that have both college and professional team with avid fan bases, the college teams are usually older. In fact, football initially popular as an amateur collegiate sport and the idea of a professional league was not always well received.

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HeilStary@reddit

Some people even try to claim college sports are better (they arent)

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dancingdandydaisies@reddit

Absolutely. My dad grew up in West Virginia and wvu sports may suck, but as a now graduate, it’s our favorite to follow their sports! We now live 10 hours away and still drive up every fall for a game. It’s more than college. It often represents the area where you grew up, where you got your education, and where you became you. Professional sports are fun, but I’d rather put my money towards my old school

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SamCanyon@reddit

I don’t. Never have.

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PsychoFaerie@reddit

There's a football game every fall known as "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" Its the UGA (Bulldogs) vs FL (Gators) game. Held in Jacksonville FL... People show up a week in advance to party. UGA actually changed the dates of some of their testing to accommodate this. Its the biggest game in the SEC.

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Independent-Story883@reddit

Yes!!! I do

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chickenjoes@reddit

College football had been around for like 50 years before the NFL

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ianfromdixon@reddit

Yes. Some college teams have a larger following than professional teams.

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meshqwert@reddit

It feels more genuinely passionate about the sport, is aspirational for kids, I'd prefer my money go to a college than the NFL, and GENERALLY, can be cheaper to attend.

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TokyoDrifblim@reddit

Down in the southeast college football is absolutely the king. People talk about Georgia everyday in my office. Never once heard anyone bring up the falcons. No one cares

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Souledex@reddit

Way more. Because unlike professional teams you actually feel a personal connection with the institution doing the sports.

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TigerSpecialist5889@reddit

I’d say college sports are bigger than professional in America. There’s more history, better traditions, more rivalries, better culture, etc. some may disagree but I know many people who religiously follow college football/basketball that only tune in casually to professional counterparts

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cfbluvr@reddit

I give 0 shits about the NFL and spend thousands every year on CFB

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Travelsat150@reddit

It is mind-blowing. I see those same clips and wonder if we are living in the same country.

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wakondatree@reddit

In most states the highest salaried official is a college football head coach. The generally make about 10x more than the governor. But then, most of us are uninsured & can't afford college.

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Severe-Rise5591@reddit

It's one of the many ways America tries to peacefully steer our tribalistic human tendencies.

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OK_Stop_Already@reddit

in my opinion, college sports are better. They have better competition and aren't inundated with ads like professional leagues if you watch on TV.

obviously its all fun going in person, though. Hockey is the best.

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RoppFTW@reddit

As an American, my mind is also blown by the obsession with sports.

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Techman10@reddit

Not everyone, but very many people are. For me personally, college football is my favorite sport.

For further research, I would recommend checking out r/cfb especially during the football season (mid-August to mid-January). The folks there are a pretty welcoming bunch and are self-aware enough to poke fun at themselves.

For fun weekly videos during the season, the YouTube channels for "SEC Shorts" and "SEC Roll Call" both have folks that dress up and act out the reactions of different teams to their wins or losses each week.

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midnightsun47@reddit

I have a personal connection to my university. Professional teams are just a group of people watch once a week.

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Wontbackdowngator@reddit

In the south absolutely SEC football is a much bigger deal than the NFL.

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yellowrose04@reddit

Yep. OSU fan here. It’s even crazier than you can imagine.

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Onyx_Lat@reddit

I'm more involved in college basketball than the NBA, primarily because the college variety has teams that are more local to my area. I wouldn't call myself a big fan though. I would say that college basketball probably has a bigger following relative to the NBA, vs college football and the NFL, mostly because everyone gets really into March Madness (the NCAA tournament).

Also yes, people can be fans of teams from schools they never attended. In Kansas the big rivalry is between KU and K State, and anyone who is at all into college basketball has a preference, whether they actually went to that school or not. My mom used to have a best friend who was originally from Nebraska, and they decided that whenever their teams were playing each other, they'd root for KU in basketball and Nebraska in football to keep the peace.

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abelacres@reddit

Yes

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supermuncher60@reddit

D1 college sports (football and Basketball) are basically professional sports at this point.

They have similar sized or larger stadiums than NFL or NBA teams and are televised. The players can even actually get paid now.

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mentalbackflip@reddit

Yes. I assume it’s for areas that are less populated and don’t have professional teams. Although I know s as. Older couple whose bucket list is to go to every university stadium to see s as game in one of the leagues. When I moved from a big city to a dmss as Lee city

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CheesE4Every1@reddit

Yes. I live in a city built around a mediocre college football team and they live it up every year.

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capitalsfan08@reddit

Yes, and yes. College sports are huge, football especially. In the South and parts of the Midwest college football is far more ingrained culturally than professional football. Part of this is due to the fact that professional football lagged other professional sports and college football became established first but the other part is due to geographic isolation. Colleges represent the largest team of a lot of given regions and all of the locals will root for them, whether they attended or not. If you live in Alabama there's just not a professional team anywhere reasonably close, but there are multiple college teams with long histories and fanbases.

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ThrowawayMod1989@reddit

Definitely, especially in NC. These are often long standing family loyalties that you just sort of grow up with. It’s especially strong if you attended a school with a known program.

I love tailgating and then watching a college football game. Meanwhile I don’t even watch the NFL on my own accord. I catch games when they’re on at the bar or wherever but I have zero emotional investment.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

That last sentence is becoming a problem in CFB.

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ThrowawayMod1989@reddit

It’s unfortunate but true

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Bobcat2013@reddit

At least NFL players and fans are real about it and not acting like CFB is stuck is in some good ol days era.

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ThrowawayMod1989@reddit

Fan culture is still a lot closer to the good ol days though 🤷‍♂️

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0nThe0utside@reddit

The All-State Insurance commercial where the NC Tar Heel family closes the front door on the daughter's Duke boyfriend plays on those loyalties.

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ThrowawayMod1989@reddit

My good friend was dating a gal at UNC but he’s die hard Duke. Anytime he would go visit her in Chapel Hill he wore a shirt that said “Go To Hell Carolina.”

It runs deep lol

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Tardisgoesfast@reddit

Oh, yes. And quite a lot of them never went to the school they're supporting.

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AMB3494@reddit

1000% yes. Especially in the south

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SabresBills69@reddit

in small towns not near the big cities of pro sports, they root for college teams.

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Naritai@reddit

Most of the areas where college sports are particularly popular, are far away from the more professional sports teams. Remember, America is very big so there are lots of smaller places with no professional sports representation.

Take, for example, Boise, Idaho – college football is huge there, but note also that the nearest professional sports team of any type is about a 7 Hour drive away in Salt Lake City or Portland.

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navair42@reddit

And that's "just" to get to an NBA team. You have to go to Seattle or Denver to get to football, baseball, or hockey

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dborger@reddit

You should see the map with the highest paid public employees in the US. They are almost all football and basketball coaches.

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WhereNextCols@reddit

OH ! IO !!

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Lefaid@reddit

I always think of it as what happens when no FA like system is formed. Every town in England has a football club that is beloved with thousands of fans, even if it is in the National League.

The US has college sports instead. And given that there was never a time you and your buds could get together and make a club to compete in the NCAA, colleges end up covering a ton of land and people.

So if you want to cheer on your state of Michigan in anyway, you really just have Michigan and Michigan State, in a state with about 10 million. Michigan itself could support an entire league, but instead you watch the Professionals or one of 2 colleges compete.

There is a similar story to all major colleges with giant stadiums, especially if they had a golden era. That is also why most colleges has fans who never went to the school.

This also applies to high school sports to some extent as well, especially in the South.

That is why college sports are so massive in the US.

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madogvelkor@reddit

Yes, my dad watches his college football team games on TV even though he graduated in 1973.

In Florida college football is bigger than the NFL.

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navair42@reddit

Some of that is thanks to the Jags, Bucs, and Fins. I'm also married to a UF grad of the Tebow era so I get it.

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the_incredible_hawk@reddit

There are great rivalries, like UF/FSU and UF/UGA, but I think Florida's NFL teams being pretty bad for a lot of the last 20 or 30 years contributes, too.

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Curious_Owl78@reddit

East TN...

Everyone is a Vols fan here!

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ARW1991@reddit

The state of Alabama has zero major league professional sports teams. (Some minor leagues, no majors.)

The University of Alabama holds 18 national championship titles, and that's just in football.The other major university, Auburn, has 9 football championships.

The Auburn stadium seats more than 80,000 and Alabama's seats more than 100,000, and they're both packed for their respective home games. So yeah, more important than pro sports there.

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Tandom@reddit

A lot of people definitely have preferential ties to a college sport versus professional.

Plus, the price is for a ticket at a professional team have now gotten ridiculous ridiculously expensive.

College games are a heck of a lot cheaper.

A professional NFL American football game ticket might run an average person between $100-$150 while a college football game ticket might run about $15-$20.

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Soggy-Attempt@reddit

Think of university sports as replacing low level soccer.

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thuaq@reddit

Part of it is that we have much fewer professional sports in general. For instance, in the UK, there are 40,000 registered football clubs (vast majority are amateur, but that's still WAY more than the US), and virtually all cities and villages have a pro or semi pro team to follow. Sport is part of the local identity, and in the US college and even high school sports fill that same role.

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AnUnexpectedUnicorn@reddit

I am all about college sports. I only care about the pro teams my favorite college athletes end up playing for, but even that is nominal.

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misagale@reddit

Absolutely. College sports is more personal here. It’s about your alma mater, the community you love, etc. Sometime in the US, professional teams move states. Professional teams are also beloved, especially in certain places. College sports are much more local and affordable as a fan.

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Harkers144@reddit

Yes

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Wicket2024@reddit

I would rather watch college basketball and football than the pros, although recent changes to NCAA NIL is taking that away. Pros are rich whiney dastardly who care more for the money than the game. Before NIL ruined it, college sports were about the love of the game and the pride of representing your team.

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largos7289@reddit

Yes and if you're from a southern state it's almost like it's a religion.

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Creepy-Floor-1745@reddit

What til you hear about Friday Night Lights in Texas 😎

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Artartbobart1@reddit

I’ve stopped following the NHL really and just focused on NCAA hockey.

Go Black Bears!!!

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PowerfulAssistant738@reddit

I live in Texas and football is a religion here from High School to College and the NFL. I’m in Dallas and High School football is a hotbed so many powerhouse programs with history and state championships. Some of these schools play in million dollar stadiums paid by the taxpayers of the city they’re in. I prefer College Football over NFL even though I love my Cowboys and they disappoint me all the time lol.

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Bobcat2013@reddit

I think one think non Americans and Americans who dont follow sports dont understand is how high of a level our college athletes are. Like most D2 and higher football players would be among the best athletes in a lot of other countries

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P00PooKitty@reddit

Yes they love in unimportant places that don’t have real sports teams

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blackhawk905@reddit

Yeah, I prefer college mostly since it's so much more dynamic IMO and it isn't as rigid as pro for many things IMO. You can have some serious underdogs and shake ups which is super exciting.

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Oreo_Cow@reddit

Folks attend universities with sports teams for 4+ years. Going to classes and parties with the athletes. That’s a much closer connection than living in the same city or state as a pro team.

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N226@reddit

Yes, I hate pro sports

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ThingFuture9079@reddit

Yes. Especially when the Buckeyes from OSU - Ohio State University play against Michigan Wolverines from University of Michigan and unless you live in Ohio or Michigan, you'll never understand how bad the rivalry is especially if you're in Ohio and find a Michigan fan and vice versa.

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LiqdPT@reddit

There are only 32 teams in the NFL. Many people aren't local enough to go to NFL games, and they're expensive.

Colleges are much more local and affordable. Add on that college football existed long before the NFL and the tradition stuck

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Ill-Butterscotch1337@reddit

Yes. College football is huge and the south. College basketball is huge all over the country too. I watch the NBA a little, mostly just the finals and a few games here and there, but I follow college basketball pretty religiously.

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OperationStraight808@reddit

not everyone but some are enthralled with it

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moonmoonboog@reddit

I’m hoping my sons get into college ball so it might encourage me. My homestates college team kinda sucks so it wasn’t a huge deal. Some states go all out and it looks fun. I now live around UW(Washington state) and they for sure get excited over them.

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HotSauceSwagBag@reddit

I’m not a sports person, but it seems to me it depends on the area. I grew up in Oregon, which doesn’t have an NFL team, so people go nuts over OSU vs UO games instead. People get pretty passionate about the schools they went to.

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WolfThick@reddit

I work oil in Odessa Texas in the early 80s every weekend during football season on Saturday night that town was overwhelmed by the game. Go Permian!!

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TheJokersChild@reddit

Some areas don't have a pro team to root for, but they may have a college, and that's the next best thing. Families may have someone on a college team who may go pro if they're good enough.

I spent time living in a rural area where the college had a legendary football team, and let me tell you...it was a religion. The population of the town literally tripled on game days. If there wasn't any college action, the focus was on high school, and the TV sports reporters spent lots of time on that.

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SpookyBeck@reddit

Yeah alabama checking in. My whole entire family says roll tide. (Not me though, i don't care. I married an auburn fan.) Even playing dirty santa at xmas the theme is always crimson tide gifts, so my husband and i don't play.

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dgmilo8085@reddit

Very much so

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DopeCookies15@reddit

Lots of big college teams in states without pro teams help

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CriticalSuit1336@reddit

Yes, yes, and yes. It's absolutely massive, especially in the South and Midwest and a few other places. I definitely prefer pro football, but the passion of a good college rivalry game is pretty hard to beat. And yes, some of the most passionate fans have no connection to the school.

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caldv33@reddit

Yes, especially if you live in a metro area with no major (top tier) pro sports teams. Another thing, the university teams don’t threaten to leave you for another city if you don’t approve a massively expensive tax payer funded new stadium for them.

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Long-Zombie-2017@reddit

A lot of people do prefer college sports. Higher turnover of athletes keeps things fresh and fierce. I tend to prefer professional sports (basketball, baseball, as far as team sports go) but thats an upbringing thing.

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Jcamp9000@reddit

I love the NFL but enjoy college football because that’s mostly where the NFL players come from. But some are drafted right out of high school like the Kelce brothers. They were drafted from Heights High School in Cleveland.

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JTRogers45@reddit

I watch FAR FAR MORE college sports than professional. Football and Men’s & Women’s basketball are far more interesting than the pros. This is especially true here in the southeast.

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HazmatSamurai@reddit

Yes but it's state dependent for sure.

Nebraska is a great example. There aren't any professional sports teams in Nebraska, so many follow the college football team instead.

When you consider there are nearly 25k students at the school, along with a 300k population in the city, it makes sense that they fill up those stadiums, especially since it's on a Saturday when almost everyone has the day off. It's almost like a tradition for a lot of those people

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CreativeRiddle@reddit

I prefer college sports because this where you see the most player transformation. Watching someone go thru 4 years of struggle and accomplishment makes you feel like you know them. Commentators often show key players’ families and share some of their backstories. For me it adds a layer of enjoyment I find lacking in professional sports. It creates a connection, almost like watching your own children develop and grow.

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chuckles65@reddit

College football is absolutely more exciting than professional football and it's not even close. Especially when you're watching with a group of people who were students at the college thats playing. Pro football tends to be just people who either live close to the city or chose a team at some point. They're still fans but it's not the same level of investment in the team.

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GrowlingAtTheWorld@reddit

I think people are more emotionally attached to their college team so for some the college game is more valuable. Frankly I don’t care about either

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Khpatton@reddit

My sister is OBSESSED with Alabama football, and she didn’t go there (nor did anyone in our family). It’s utterly baffling to me, too, but then again I’ve never understood caring about how well some random people play a game.

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BaroqueNRoller@reddit

They do, and the students pay for it.

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natoned1@reddit

Yes. Many care much more about their college team than any professional one

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EmperorGeek@reddit

Much more.

I can identify with my favorite College team. While the Millionaires playing professional sports are just not relatable.

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jeffporten@reddit

Just to add that some Americans think that everyone else here is insane. I went to Penn, an Ivy League school. Ivy League = one of eight very old, very good colleges and universities, where sports have been played forever. They’re also known for having bad-to-middling quality teams. Princeton usually makes it to the NCAA basketball playoffs and gets blown out in the first round; maybe two or three football players in the entire league have a chance of playing NFL ball.

At these schools, people have what I’d call a normal interest in sports. We cheer on our teams, then we go do other things. Win or lose doesn’t make that much difference. And notably, the players on the field by and large passed the same academic requirements we did. They’re student-athletes, not athletes with a student hobby. Penn has massive stadiums; they’re only filled for special events.

I was in Band and attended most games. Now I’m an alum and go a few times a year. I couldn’t tell you the standings of any of our teams this past year. See? Normal. Most of the country is batshit crazy.

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EK60@reddit

I care enough about college sports and support my team strongly enough, I won't date a person if she's a fan of a rival team, especially one of the orange-complected teams. To that point, I also won't drink a ubiquitous sports drink (Gatorade) specifically because it was developed by my team's biggest rival.

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applesandoranges_@reddit

In the south college football is life

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RedLegGI@reddit

There are a lot of people who absolutely don’t care about pro sports and see college as the pinnacle of sports. Most will cite something about money ruining it, etc.

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Educational-Big-6609@reddit

Yup, especially in areas without a professional team in that sport. I live near Portland, OR, so the Ducks and Beavers are big business here.

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Odd_Tie772@reddit

Faster and Freeer

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afdawg@reddit

What happens to Mississippi State University's football, basketball, and baseball teams can make or ruin my day. I will only occasionally watch pro sports. There are many people like me for many different teams.

It was different when I lived in New Jersey. Everything revolved around the Eagles and Phillies. I'm not sure I ever met anyone who really cared about, say, Rutgers.

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Dignam3@reddit

There was a time when both the prominent college team and NFL team from my state were garbage. Then, a period where both had consistent success. I'd say here at least, it kind of alternates, with the edge toward the NFL team given its history. The city where it's based is all ABOUT that team.

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Heavy72@reddit

Yes. Hook 'em! 🤘

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ms_directed@reddit

As someone who lives in Georgia...YES AND DON'T YOU DARE TALK TRASH ABOUT THEIR TEAM.

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ms_directed@reddit

As someone who lives in Georgia...YES AND DON'T YOU DARE TALK TRASH ABOUT THEIR TEAM.

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chihuahua2023@reddit

Yes. March is my favorite month 🤩

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Yeahboyeah@reddit

College football has so much in the line. A couple of losses, 3 or more, and forget about the National Championship. In the Pros you can have more and still win a Super Bowl

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Outrageous_Chart_35@reddit

College sports are big, especially because there's the built-in audience of students and their families. I'm a "fan" of my college teams even though I don't care about sports, and my dad became a huge fan of my college teams.

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Beautiful-Cake8922@reddit

I'm American, but this surprises me too. With the way so many people show up to these games, you'd think these were national events. But they're just college events.

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seemebeawesome@reddit

I went to a small community school with no teams. My wife went to the big state school. I'm more invested in her school, Georgia, football than our historically bad pro team, the Falcons. But the Falcons have made some big moves this off season. I'll probably keep up with them this year.

Fans like me, who didn't go to the school, are called "sidewalk alum." As in we didn't go in, we just walk by on the way to the stadium

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dadsgoingtoprison@reddit

Absolutely!

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GMane2G@reddit

Love college football and a huge venue or even a smaller awesome one like Montana Grizzlies or Appalachian State is better than the NFL live games, which are great for tv viewing

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Any_Nectarine_7806@reddit

The further South (and maybe West?) one gets the more important college and even high school sports gets.

In the Northeast professional sports gets top billing.

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danimaniak@reddit

100%. I care more about my college teams than pro Baseball, Basketball, and Hockey.

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molten_dragon@reddit

Yes, some people genuinely care more about college sports than pro sports in the US. There are a couple factors that play into it that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

The US has relatively few top-level pro sports teams compared to a lot of countries. The Kenyan premier league has 18 teams in a country with a population of around 58 million. The NFL has 32 teams in a country with a population of around 350 million. So on a per capita basis Kenya has about 3.3x the number of top-level soccer teams that the US has NFL teams.

The two most popular college sports are football and men's basketball and neither of these sports has a meaningful professional minor league. So in the US college sports serve the same role that lower levels do in your league system.

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InnerWolf8337@reddit

Yes. I strongly prefer college football over NFL

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DickSugar80@reddit

College football used to be way better than pro football. Now, with the crazy NIL money and over-used transfer portal, it's become minor-league football. I'm too old to care about the players, anyway. At this point I'm just cheering for the uniforms.

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pikkdogs@reddit

NCAA basketball may be bigger than the nba.

Some ncaa football games are bigger than some nfl games.

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Fred42096@reddit

Universities, especially large state ones, are businesses. The “customer-facing” side of that is the sports teams. Thus, many universities are just a sports enterprise wearing a school as a disguise.

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JayPlays40k@reddit

It can get to an almost religious level, especially with some of the rivalries. UT Texas and A&M, for example (go Aggies!).

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Annual-Visual-2605@reddit

The US is huge and diverse. So it depends on state/region.

As a born and raised Kentuckian in the ‘70s, I didn’t know that the NBA was much of a thing until Michael Jordan came along. It was the Kentucky Wildcats, the Louisville Cardinals, or the Indiana Hoosiers. And then everybody else. As for me and my house, we bled UK blue. Go ‘Cats!!!

Seriously, kids of my era (Gen X) and area didn’t grow up dreaming of playing in the NBA. Rather they dreamed of playing at Rupp Arena for Kentucky. The NBA was second tier. Still is to many in KY.

Football, the state’s second sport, on the other hand, was and still is a different story. Lots of Titans fans, as well as Bengals fans in northern KY. Neither UK nor U of L have ever vied for a national title.

Baseball is also a MLB > NCAA sport in KY. Many StL Cardinals and Reds fans. Some Braves. Not many college baseball fans in KY. Although both UK and U of L have had good teams in recent years.

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lifeofGuacmole@reddit

There are also a few High School stadiums that seat 10,000-12,000. They have box seats, and other amenities. I went to one in TX. They sell out too.

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StillC5sdad@reddit

It's usually people who didn't go to college, too.

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Coldfyre_Dusty@reddit

Not every state has an NFL team. There are only 32 teams in the NFL, located in 22 states. If you include the big 4 (NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA) the number goes up to 26 states, so 24 don't have any professional major league teams. But every state has a college or university, and often in states that have both, the college team is more competitive in their league than the professional one.

There's also loyalty. Lots of people go to college, so it makes sense to root for that team. Even after you leave, it's still an attachment.

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chodan9@reddit

In Kentucky we have no pro basketball team so college basketball is life here

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Fossilhund@reddit

Yes.

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velociraptorfarmer@reddit

NFL
College Football
College Basketball
50ft gap
NBA
NHL
MLB

In that order

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HaphazardFlitBipper@reddit

People often root for the school they attended, which can have tens of thousands of alumni plus their families. People don't get that personal connection with a corporation that happens to employ football players.

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17Girl4Life@reddit

A lot of people do. I lived in a town with an SEC university and it was astonishing how seriously people took it. The population of the town was 60,000 but the stadium held 88,000 and was often full. I couldn’t care less, except I discovered that going shopping during the games was fantastic. No people, no lines.

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Dunnoaboutu@reddit

I can’t tell you what any of the NBA teams are, but I watch the Carolina vrs Duke basketball games each year.

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Apprehensive-Log3638@reddit

University teams have heritage. Your family could have been alumni at a particular University for generations. Professional sports teams come and go. Chicago Bears for example. That is one of the original NFL teams and it is moving out of Chicago.

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xGeorgieGirlx@reddit

College hoops > NBA

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Primary_Excuse_7183@reddit

100%. There’s only like 30ish teams in most pro leagues. Theres states with multiple teams and states with no teams.

College sports have multiple teams per state often with a big flagship and name sakes or a few. It gives everyone a “home team” even if you’re not an alum. Broader appeal in that way.

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SigmaSeal66@reddit

What boggles my mind is how many people think of sports as the main thing that defines a university, over academics.

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stinkyrobot@reddit

College basketball is the real game. NBA is just a shell of a memory.

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USNCCitizen@reddit

Sports fanaticism is a type of insanity imo. It’s great to be a fan and watch sports on tv or go to a game live for entertainment, but when taken to extremes is unhealthy. And don’t get me started on online sports gambling…this is truly gonna ruin many lives.

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Prestigious-Name-323@reddit

College football is definitely more popular than some professional sports.

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Frosty_Ninja3286@reddit

When I moved from Louisiana to New Jersey I was shocked at the lack of interest in College football

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tylersalt@reddit

College football is significantly older than the NFL. Lots of history.

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_gooder@reddit

Yes, definitely. I'm not into either, and very glad neither of my kids wanted to go to a university known primarily for football-watching. I think it's insane, personally. Lots of my friends are very into college football, though, and you're right that some of them didn't even go to those schools.

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Emotional-Loss-9852@reddit

I care so much more about the university of Texas than any of my local pro sports teams. It’s not even remotely close

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BreakfastBeerz@reddit

There are a lot of local and even regional markets that have no professional sports teams. College sports is the only thing they have.

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FondleGanoosh438@reddit

I’m not willing to say college athletics aren’t professional now that they can make money.

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AllAreStarStuff@reddit

When my husband and I got married, one of our vows was that he had to support the Texas Aggies as though they were the Green Bay Packers and I had to support the Packers as though they were the Aggies.

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FilthyMindz69@reddit

Sure. I’m a Washington Huskies fan above any pro sports, in a region where we have decent professional sports teams.

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Dave_A480@reddit

There are many, many more college teams than pro teams...

So if you live in, say, Oklahoma... You are much more likely to be a college football fan than an NFL fan.

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sheburn118@reddit

We live in suburban Chicago and have a ton of professional sports teams to follow. But our favorite team is the University of Missouri's football team and we love attending their games. Our son went there, not us! We've gone with friends and family and they all agree they're more fun to attend than professional sports. There's just something magical about the college sports atmosphere. We also enjoy attending games at our alma maters, Northern Illinois and Western Illinois.

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phouchg0@reddit

It's craaaaaazy! If you ever visit Northwest Arkanasa, you must attend a Razorback game in Fayetteville. The entire stadium, often sold out with a capacity 76,000 people, will do the hog call. All home team fans, so most of them, 10s of, thousands of people, will (spontaneously? ) erupt with calls of

"Woooooooo Pig Sooie! Woooooooo Pig Sooie!

They repeat this several tines. It's wild man! 😂

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k8username@reddit

Crazy, isn’t it? Some “colleges” are just sports organizations with extras. Many other Americans agree with me

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Radiant_Music3698@reddit

The trick is that all these college kids are in the prime of their life and going all out to try tonget noticed by the NFL. Add to that the fact that you can go full hipster and have known about the newest NFL star before anyone else and you can see why people are into it.

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LetsGoGators23@reddit

Yes they are. The largest stadiums in the country are college football stadiums.

Very few major college teams also play in a city with a professional team, college towns are simply not often the largest city and tend to be in smaller towns and state capitals. Theres less overlap than you might think.

Also - it’s a different sport. Collegiate sports are really team/system/coaching based since you don’t have players for very long. I don’t watch the NBA at all for instance, but absolutely love college basketball.

It’s also just something to do. Other countries have small local soccer clubs. We have college sports.

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HermioneMarch@reddit

In the South, college football is way more popular than the NFL.

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Johnny_From_The_Bay@reddit

People care about their favorite professional teams, but college teams often have a larger “regional identity”. If you live in the relevant area, Alabama and Auburn feel like the Man United/Man City of their area - both fandoms are fierce and combative and cover a shared geographical area. Rivalries in particular are much more intense and inherited in college sports than in pro sports - in pro sports, you mostly want to make the playoffs or win the league title, but in college sports you have a lot of passion about your regional rivals and regional conference (league).

Conference realignment has blurred this a little bit in recent years, sadly, but many of the most important rivalries still draw intense passion - Ohio state vs Michigan, Texas vs Oklahoma, Georgia vs Florida, USC vs UCLA, games like these make or break the entire season for the fans of their teams. In contrast, even a big rivalry in pro ball like Browns vs Steelers matters less to the respective teams’ fans than making the playoffs does

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Feather83@reddit

I went to UW-Madison and the scale is amazing. Football, Basketball, Hockey are big but a good chunk of the women in my dorm did Crew. The band, drill team and mascot made games fun and exciting. Fans were current students, alumni and the area at large.

It is exciting and gives a sense of community. Although Madison was great at partying win or lose.

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JustGiveMeAnameDude9@reddit

The only sports I follow anymore are college sports. Football in particular. I do not follow any professional sports.

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Littleboypurple@reddit

Absolutely. Take the NFL for example, there are only 32 official NFL teams. Not enough for every state and some states have multiple teams. California has 2 and Florida has 3. So what exactly are the many States without NFL teams supposed to do? Well, they gravitate towards College Football since every state has at least one College Football team.

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richbiatches@reddit

Yep

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5hallowbutdeep@reddit

Yup college basketball even got their own month it's called March Madness.

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momonomino@reddit

I live in a city where people care more about the rivalry between two private high schools than they do about college or professional sports.

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FireHammer09@reddit

Yeah, pro sports are very... corporate. The fanbases are there they just are almost polite in a way. Except the Eagles.

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rcjhawkku@reddit

They’re getting soft. There’s no longer a jail at Lincoln Financial.

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Apart_Reindeer_528@reddit

Insane isn't it? The amount of time, money and effort spent on playing a game is absolutely ridiculous

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casapantalones@reddit

I certainly care way more about my college football team than I do about any NFL team.

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Invisibleolderwoman@reddit

I went to a big football university in Florida. It’s like a religion. But honestly it’s like that all over the US for college and professional football. My uncle never went to college but goes to football games for his team. I never really cared about it. I went to a few games when I was a student but it wasn’t a big deal for me. I was there for an education

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Complex-Royal9210@reddit

Yes. I am a huge college football fan. Don't really care for the pros. My teams stadium holds 90,000. It is always sold out.

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tduke65@reddit

Most of the country I think cares more about college sports than

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pslush01@reddit

College sports fans in the US probably come closest to the fanaticism of soccer fans everywhere else

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AcadiaRemarkable6992@reddit

Alabama, Nebraska, Kentucky. Many states that don’t have a pro football, baseball, basketball or hockey team will focus their fandom on a nearby big university’s football team.

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emaddy2109@reddit

College sports have a much different feel than professional ones, at least they used too, they’re quickly starting to lose much of made them special.

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ju5tjame5@reddit

Some people live the entire length of Kenya away from the nearest professional sports team

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ZonaWildcats23@reddit

Yes.

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KJHagen@reddit

College sports seem more local. The professional teams recruit and trade players from all over the country. Some of the best players have no connection to the cities where they play.

Colleges do some of that too, but the players are much more likely to be from the local area. I like the idea of supporting college players who may be from my own hometown.

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Dpg2304@reddit

I live in the south. Yes, people are INSANE about college (American) football down here.

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Strict_String@reddit

Entire states are that way, especially when there’s no local professional teams.

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Ill_Pressure3893@reddit

Yes.

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PabloPicasshooole@reddit

Wait until you hear about high school football in places like Texas.

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BoukenGreen@reddit

Hell yea. Especially if you are in a state that doesn’t have a MLB, NFL, NBA, MLS, OR NHL team

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Responsible_Side8131@reddit

Yes. A lot of people feel much more connection to a college team than a professional team.

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boner4crosstabs@reddit

I absolutely care more about my college sports teams (they are in a power conference called the SEC so lots of exposure and TV time…it just means more…iykyk lol) than I am for my pro teams (except for the Seahawks, which are right up there with my college teams).

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pinaple_cheese_girl@reddit

With college football, there’s a sense of inclusion because you went to that very same college, as if you somehow supported their team and support it still

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Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

For me, college sports fandom is sentimental and portable. I enjoy the Bengals, but I'm a Bearcat.

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SluggoRemains@reddit

Absolutely

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Ninja0428@reddit

Some states don't have top level professional teams. Where I'm from, college sports are king.

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1235813213455_1@reddit

College basketball is a completely different play style than the NBA, it's much more fun to watch. Most everyone in KY at least loosely follows college basketball I don't know many people that watch the NBA.

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Auquaholic@reddit

College players don't get paid. They're playing their hearts out just for a shot at pro.

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JustAnotherDay1977@reddit

Yes, I definitely care more about college basketball and football than the pro versions. My favorite team is one that I have followed since childhood, because my dad had attended it years earlier. Then I attended it as well.

I also enjoy watching teams from schools I never attended, but I don’t get nearly as wrapped up in their success.

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Hoosier_Jedi@reddit

Professional game tickets are expensive. College games are very affordable.

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Unknown1776@reddit

I think it’s because with college football, people live there for 4+ years and it’s part of the culture so it becomes so ingrained throughout the school year, and for 18-22 year old it also mean lots of parties and drinking to go along with it. And you might/probably know at least a few players personally. And tickets for students are normally cheap so they can attend games. In the NFL, you normally root for the closest team to where you are and might go to 1 game a year but it’s expensive. So most people watch on the TV at home. So college football is more hands on and has more fun memories associated with it

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ophaus@reddit

Many, many people care more about college football than pro. Other sports aren't as big, unless it's the March college basketball tournament, that's pretty big.

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EV9110@reddit

Yes! I know many people who like either college or NFL football, but not both. A lot of college football fandom is geographic, in that there might be a good college team nearby but the state doesn’t have an NFL team.

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0nThe0utside@reddit

For the die-hard fan, there's the local high school game on Friday, their College team on Saturday and Pro team on Sunday.

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pappapirate@reddit

8 of the 10 largest stadiums in the entire world are American college football stadiums.

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jackof47trades@reddit

College sports engender a lot of loyalty. And the player turnover is huge. And most players don’t make a bunch of money doing it. Or at least that’s the idea.

It’s a huge point of pride for a city.

And even if you move away, you love your college and even your parents’ college.

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SparklePantz22@reddit

I live in a college town, and game days are a huge deal. I'm not really into football, so i plan my schedule to avoid those areas. Our whole town and even outside communities plan events around the football games. On the rare weekend there is no game, there are so many other events.

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michaelincognito@reddit

Yes. I care way more about my university’s teams than I do any professional team, and I graduated more than 20 years ago.

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sunsleepr@reddit

In some places like Nebraska college football is literally their only team

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hannahstohelit@reddit

Worth noting, it makes a big difference where you’re located. I live in NYC and we have pretty much two pro teams for each sport, and very minimal college sports presence. So hearing how big a deal college sports are elsewhere is always interesting.

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cntodd@reddit

In Oklahoma we have the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and the OKC Thunder. That's how it goes. Lol

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jsmeeker@reddit

Yes.

College football (i.e. the American variety) was much more popular than professional football for a very long time in American history. At some point pro football became more popular overall through the whole United States, but the college football remains very popular today in many places in the USA.

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Trick_Photograph9758@reddit

Yes, absolutely. In the South, people live and die with college sports, and in general, they don't care about pro sports. The reason being, they are loyal to the colleges they attended. So if you went to the U of Alabama, then you are loyal to the Crimson Tide, way more than you are to the New Orleans Saints or the Atlanta Falcons.

In the North, I think people are more into pro sports. But colleges are massive in the South.

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GandalfTheGrey46@reddit

Oh yeah. I prefer college because the crowds get into it lot more and compared to the NBA or baseball the stakes are alot higher in the regular season so more competitive and fun to watch . My dad also preferred college because he was a high school athlete so he found it much more relatable.

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kartoffel_engr@reddit

I care more about collegiate sports, specifically football than I do the NFL. Those kids were playing for a shot at the big leagues. NIL money has changed that and players are jumping ship left and right to chase money. Some could argue it’s the same thing, but I felt like there was more heart in it before NIL.

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Silver_Breakfast7096@reddit

UW Madison has entered the chat.

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Swimming_Crab_972@reddit

Yes, absolutely. No one cares about any professional sport as much as, say, the students at Duke who will live outdoors for weeks, which seems kind of crazy to me. I don’t really understand it as my part of the country isn’t really like that, but in a lot of the country you are very far from a major population center with nationally televised sports but with a lot of athletic talent and public interest in seeing competitive games and having a shared fan culture

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Smooth_Monkey69420@reddit

My dad is an NCAA fanatic. He doesn’t really give a shit about the NFL

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MrHandsRadDay@reddit

Yes, there are many stupid people like that in America.

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Vyckerz@reddit

Yes

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ivanadie@reddit

Kenya population is about 47.5 million and the U.S. population is 349 million. Many of our states do not have professional teams. I personally prefer college sports to professional, which is a good thing because we have some pretty good colleges.

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OneofTheOldBreed@reddit

Yes very much so. Though some of the new rules involving player compensation are destroying it.

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LordBaranof@reddit

I was a big pro football fan, rooted for the local team, until I went to college, and began rooting for that team.

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musaXmachina@reddit

Yes. Most of the pro teams are on coastal states. Parts of the south college sports is on par with religion.

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inhocfaf@reddit

I prefer college football and college basketball to their professional counterparts. Hell, watching college football all day Saturday is easily the thing I miss most since becoming a true adult (wife, kids, etc.).

I'd wake up, get some coffee and turn on college gameday. I'd then proceed to watch football until 2am or so. Good times!

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RatonhnhaketonK@reddit

Yes

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Interesting-Run-6866@reddit

Yes

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georgia_moose@reddit

To your first, yes. To your second, yes. Case and point - University of Alabama (Roll Tide!)

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GrimSpirit42@reddit

The state I live in does not have any professional football teams.

But, we have two excellent college football teams. One of which wins the national championship on a regular basis.

In this state, a 'mixed marriage' is not people of two different races and/or religions. It's a couple where one went to one of those colleges and the other to the other.

I'm a huge fan of one of them. My daughter went to the other. It's an excellent school. But I still had to give her a hard time about going to 'that' school.

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Semirhage527@reddit

I grew up in Georgia but I absolutely know way more die-hard UGA fans than Falcons fans. I was raised on GA Football, SEC football is practically a religion.

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thelmaandpuhleeze@reddit

We have every kind of people here. The spectrum is huge, from antis n title IX people to hardcore sports fanatics at any and all levels, and everything in between.

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riskyjbell@reddit

Most of college sports are more exciting than the pros..

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TimeMasterBob@reddit

Are these college games actually a bigger deal than professional NFL or NBA games in certain states?

In some cases, sure. This tends to be because that specific state may not have a professional NFL/NBA/MLB team. And all they have is the University team.

Also, if you never even attended that specific university, is it normal to still be a die-hard fan of their team?

Again, it's going to be subjective and largely based around how well the University marketing department does. For example, about 50% of university graduates in my city went to the local state university but they have been one of the top college football teams for almost 50 years.

To really understand why, you need to consider the distance between major sports teams and when they started playing. For example, the Cleveland (City in Ohio) Browns (Football) started in 1944 and joined the NFL in 1950. From Columbus (Capital City of Ohio) it currently takes about 3 hours to drive to Cleveland. In 1950, they didn't let you travel at 70mph/112kmph it was between 50 and 60mph/80 and 90kmph which would add another 1-2 hours just to drive. But Ohio State University is 20 minutes away and they had a good team. And this was a pretty common story across America. So here we are, 3-4 generations down the line, and people still really love their local college team and are massive fans.

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Budsygus@reddit

Generally speaking I enjoy college sports more than professional sports. Especially basketball. The NBA has become kind of a joke. Flopping all over the place and walking everywhere... No thanks.

College kids have hustle and energy and they have something to prove. Pro athletes already have their multi-million dollar contract so their main concern is not getting injured and putting that payday at risk.

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AbbreviationsTop4959@reddit

Representing the minority who don't care about sports!

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Zayknow@reddit

Way, way more.

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badger_on_fire@reddit

Oh yeah, it's really, really big some places. I almost got fired from a job for wearing a shirt with the logo of the owner's wife's favorite team on it. Dead serious. Granted, she's kind of an extreme exception -- pretty sure she was popping pills in the back, and you never really knew exactly what she was gonna do that day, but I never did wear that shirt back.

But among normies, I know people who live for college ball but maybe only have a passing interest in the pros.

I guess it just depends what you're into. I mean, people watch other people golf on TV all the time. I don't get the draw for that either, but it's tough for me to judge when I'll tune in for 2 hours to watch racecars go in circles.

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OO_Ben@reddit

I'm this way with basket ball. College basketball is way more fun to watch I think

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eracerx59@reddit

Especially if it's your alma mater

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taskforceslacker@reddit

I despise professional athletics as it caters to ego and becomes about the individual. Collegiate athletics displays the players at their most hungry and dedicated. They are wearing their school uniform proudly.

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lithomangcc@reddit

Basketball is also a big college sport. Remember there are only 32 NFL teams many states don’t have a pro team. It helps they both play on different days on the weekend. Some states the Friday night high school game draws attendance equal to the town

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acme_oo_breeders@reddit

Western New Mexico University was slashing degree programs right and left and slacking off on adequate lighting on the campus streets and stuff like venetian blinds, central heating and dishwashers in the dorms, while financing a football team that hardly ever even won games. I thought the administration's priorities were really misplaced--it was a college with an athletic program, not the other way around; the college I go to now doesn't have a football team and colleges don't really need one--but maybe that changes now that they've gotten rid of their president.

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FreeStateOfPortland@reddit

It’s a pretty big deal. In Oregon, the University of Oregon has a massive fan base. Many of the people I work with in Portland are alumni of U of Oregon and huge Ducks fans.

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StinaFail@reddit

I don’t particularly care about professional sports but I will always love my Clemson Tigers!

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HayTX@reddit

Wait until you realize how much some of these “amateurs” are making playing in college now. I think with as much money as these schools make I think the kids need to be paid but they need to figure out the rules and transfer portal.

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Capt_Tinsley@reddit

If you think College sports is crazy look up Texas High School football

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Smorgas-board@reddit

Yes. Especially in areas that are desolate of pro sports

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Lothar_Ecklord@reddit

I’ve been to “The Big House” (University of Michigan football stadium, formally called Michigan Stadium). It has no formal “seats” per se (the seating is a continuous “bench”, like an old Roman stadium), but it’s designed for 100,000 people comfortably… I believe the official record is over 112,000 but it’s suggested they can fit 115,000 or so. The day I went there was the season opener and it was just over 110,000 in attendance.

The population of the City of Ann Arbor, in which it is located is about 120,000.

So, yes, college football is MASSIVE.

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zoppaTheDim@reddit

Lots of people in America, not everyone lives near a sports franchise.

And more the point, a lot of people spend the best four years of their lives drinking and watching their team.

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Donald_J_Duck65@reddit

As an insider it is mind blowing! I have lived my entire life so far in the US and never understood the big deal with college sports. Some people will try and tell you it is because the fans don't live near a professional team and that is simply not true.

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MarionberryPlus8474@reddit

It is absolutely like that in many areas of the country, AND we have a lot more different sports teams at both college and professional level. Football, basketball, baseball (not huge on college level, admittedly), hockey and soccer. The first 3 are the biggest. Plus tennis and golf. People go nuts for sports here.

British actor Steven Fry went to a college football game and was AMAZED at the scale and intensity of it. He said it was a remarkable display of wealth that tens of thousands of people were devoting all this time and energy to this, including bands, fireworks, etc. And this was a medium sized college game, there are many hundreds like it, every week, all over the country.

I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world.

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professorfunkenpunk@reddit

Yes. And unfortunately a lot of people care more about the sports than actual college

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PerfectlyCalmDude@reddit

It depends on the market. Some states don't have any major-market professional sport teams, so college sports is all they really have.

There are also some rule differences between collegiate and professional sports. One may not care for one but prefer the other.

Also some sports just do things differently. Basketball is an example. The NBA has a certain degree of paritity between all the teams. The playoffs are serieses of games before the finals, which is another series. The NCAA basketball tournament includes qualifying teams from smaller conferences along with qualifying teams from larger, more competitive conferences in a single-elimination tournament to see who advances and eventually wins the single championship game. You never know which underdog from a smaller conference will end up advancing or how high they will get.

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iamStanhousen@reddit

I'm from Louisiana originally and yeah they absolutely do. LSU is a much bigger deal across the state than the Saints or Pelicans or any other pro sports team.

My wife is from Alabama, and her father doesn't even watch pro sports, he's all about the Tide.

It does depend on where you're from largely. Living in southern California now, and nobody here gives a damn about college sports. I worked with people from Boston who were the same way.

But in the south, and then certain cities like Austin, TX or Columbus, OH, college sports is king.

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onehalflightspeed@reddit

Many American universities are affectionately described as a football or basketball program with a serviceable liberal arts college attached to them

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wekilledbambi03@reddit

I live in a location where there are no less than 10 professional NFL, MLB, NBA, etc teams within an hour drive. And at least half of them are good enough to always be at least in the playoffs. I have never watched a college game of any kind.

Yet in other states there are places where there is no professional teams within 2-3 hours. College and high school sports is all they have.

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JellyfishFit3871@reddit

Oh yeah. I don't give the first crap about the professional American football team in my state. I will absolutely cheer myself hoarse for the college ones that I follow, and hate that other team because of historic rivalries.

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ScarletDarkstar@reddit

Yes. There are people who lose their minds over college sports.

Yes, some of them did nit attend the university in question and still support it with every fiber of their being.

I have lived in the US my entire life, and it blows my mind as well. We all share a country, but we are very much not alike. Lol

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SunsetGrind@reddit

It's very common to find college sports more entertaining than professional sports.

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berlenba@reddit

Alot of this is due to how big America is

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Bogside_Bibliophile@reddit

It’s odd, but not unheard of. My old boss followed college football but had virtually no interest in the NFL.

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HandbagHawker@reddit

welcome to american capitalism. if money can be made, someone is going to exploited it

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thedicestoppedrollin@reddit

Stephen Fry went to what is known as the Iron Bowl, a in-state rivalry in Alabama. Watch this vid and you'll get a good idea how much we care: https://youtu.be/FuPeGPwGKe8?si=mO_YLxdYU2Z_5v-H

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Jazzlike_Duck678@reddit

Yes!

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ripplenipple69@reddit

Lots of people have emphasized stated that don’t have a pro team, but down in Louisiana we all love our pro team, the saints, but LSU football is arguably a bigger deal. The stadium is larger, the tailgates are massive, and people come in from all over the state, and all over the country really. LSU even has a vast network of alumni bars all over the country that host watch parties with things like a giant inflatable LSU tiger out front, free purple and gold shots for touchdowns, and even free Jambalaya. I’ve been to them in San Francisco and LA

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claudiatiedemann@reddit

College football is huge in many places, even those with pro sports teams. I live in Georgia and the stadium at the University of Georgia seats 93,033 and games usually sell out. Game day is huge here. Atlanta has a pro football team but college games are bigger here. A lot of people who attend college games either went to the college or have family and friends who did so there is a connection that people don’t have with pro teams.

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Capacitorfailure@reddit

The NBA is unwatchable the players too big for the court. It’s like watching teens play on a lowered basket. Fun for like 5-minutes. With college especially the mid-majors at least they need to work plays to fight for a score. It’s partly why the WNBA is gaining a bit of traction. I’d rather see a Clark impossible assist than Luka or LeBron barreling down the lane untouched like a steam engine (Curry excluded).

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soldiernerd@reddit

You have to understand the “university team” is a professional team with a 60,000+ seat stadium, huge staff and a coach making millions.

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krendyB@reddit

This is a regional issue. I grew up in a southeastern state with rabid college allegiances & very few who care about pro sports. My grown cousin punched a hole in her drywall when she found out her college team lost (she was late 20s, way past graduation). Here, there are waitlists for YEARS if not decades to get tickets. Every game tends to sell out. I’ve also lived in states that are the other way around. 🤷‍♀️

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ayebrade69@reddit

Yes absolutely

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kentuckyrulz@reddit

I see you.

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Dr_MJI@reddit

Absolutely, College football and baseball are my go to. Honestly don't really even care about the professionals anymore.

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Kestrel_Iolani@reddit

I grew up in a very large city in the Midwest and we had no professional team. For many generations, my family actively followed the local university teams (American football, basketball, and gymnastics). My cousin and i were the first in our family to actually graduate from that University.

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GlitteringLocality@reddit

Depends, some states don’t have NFL teams they have college teams. It’s very big in the south too and parts of the Midwest because a lot don’t really have an NFL team but they have a college team.

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areohbeevee@reddit

Not (american) football but basketball for me – I went to a school with an elite college basketball program but never followed professional basketball growing up. It’s hard to get excited about professional basketball for me because I don’t feel a genuine connection to the team like I do with the college team.

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theycallmethevault@reddit

College basketball > NBA, NFL > college football. It’s just a personal preference.

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thirdeyefish@reddit

I know a lot of people who follow college sports to try and spot people before they go pro.

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WearyThought6509@reddit

I do. College kids actually play the game. Professional sports - the ball goes one way then the other and back n forth. Relatively boring. Though I do love some professional teams.

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Helpinmontana@reddit

There is an absolutely huge following for college football from either alums (which is shorthand Latin for alumni in the plural form, which cracks me up) or people who have a firm belief that pro football is corrupt/rigged and college ball is more “pure”.

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ShipComprehensive543@reddit

Absolutely. I know some people who prefer college basketball, over pro basketball, for example. It varies by person. For example, Big 10 College teams have massive and dedicated fans. All ages, not just fellow college students. Where people went to Uni also plays really big into these numbers, I would say the average sports fans likes pro sports in addition to college though.

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ShipComprehensive543@reddit

To add, no American university is selling out 100k stadiums for soccer - that is for basketball and football (American) only.

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Rheumatitude@reddit

So I grew up in Vermont and we don’t have a professional team of any sport, and our state university isn’t one of those massive college ball towns. Or heck, maybe it is now but I don’t see Burlington bringing that kind of energy. I’ve lived in a lot of places and typically it’s the big teams that have followings. You have baseball people, hockey people, football (soccer) people and then there is the religion of football. I moved to Columbus Ohio a few years ago and WOW these people are SERIOUS about being buckeyes and watching the games. I work in a hospital and they made a rule that if it’s the day before a football game for OSU then staff can wear “buckeye gear”. They are truly next level. For myself I have zero interest in attending. I avoided universities that had that because to me it always seemed like a bad idea.

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jayjello0o@reddit

Kentucky has entered the chat

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ChristyLovesGuitars@reddit

For sure. I couldn’t get fewer fucks about the NFL (professional American Football), but love the college game.

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must-stash-mustard@reddit

Yes, and some of us agree it's ridiculous.

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cormack16@reddit

I absolutely care more about my favorite college team than a professional team. In fact I would rather watch college teams that I have no affiliation with rather than professional teams.

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Pugilist12@reddit

If you can find the Friday Night Lights streaming anywhere that would give you a pretty good idea of what it’s like in some of these towns. And it’s a great show, too. Or even the movie would shed some light if you can’t find the show. Good movie.

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TybeeGreg@reddit

Absolutely. While money is creeping more into the college level over the past few years, college sports have always felt more about the love of the game than earning a paycheck. Also, less drama.

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DosZappos@reddit

Oh the money is done creeping. College sports are just professional sports now, with almost no loyalty

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Vert354@reddit

I mean between my university team and a pro team that 200 miles away in a city I never actually lived in, the choice seems easy.

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Goff1976@reddit

Your eyes do not deceive you.

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Huskerschu@reddit

Welcome to Nebraska. Huskers are all we have the chiefs are over 3 hours away as the closest pro stadium.

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Dry-Cash-4304@reddit

Clearly you've never met an Iowan.

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chile-pica@reddit

Personally I find it infuriating that there’s this whole system that’s basically a professional sport but rather than make it its own business it leeches off of what is supposed to be an educational institution.

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Ti_Cocodrie@reddit

As most things, it depends on where you are.

Louisiana (outside of New Orleans), LSU is normally more heavily followed than the Saints. It has a lot to do with the fact that LSU has been moderately to majorly successful for some times (and the Saints were ass prior to Drew Brees), and the fact that LSU football has been a cultural institution in Louisiana for decades before the Saints were founded in 1966.

In the South, and in many rural areas, college football generally dominates. On the coasts, it's typically the NFL by a large margin.

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MCE85@reddit

Yes, i feel more comfortable watching kids play kids games over shitty adults getting paid millions to play kids games.

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DosZappos@reddit

Not just some people, entire regions. Basically the entire “South” cares wayyyyy more about college football. The 14 largest stadiums in the US are college football stadiums

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TheBimpo@reddit

Do some people genuinely care more about a university team than professional sports?

Yes. For lots of reasons.

Are these college games actually a bigger deal than professional NFL or NBA games in certain states?

College football and basketball are considerably older than our professional leagues. Some of the most historic programs are in states that still lack professional sports franchises (Alabama, Nebraska, Kansas, Connecticut...)

Also, if you never even attended that specific university, is it normal to still be a die-hard fan of their team?

Very much so. The university represents the state. Most fans of the "big" programs didn't attend those universities.

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abcdefghijkistan@reddit

Pro sports are still much bigger than college, but as others have noted, not every state has pro sports. And college football is basically professional in all but name.

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Gremlin1001001@reddit

Oh, yes. College is huge in the U.S. and there are many who prefer it to pro.

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Troutmandoo@reddit

Yes. Collegiate sports in America are huge, and a lot of people care more about that than professional sports. For some, like me, it can be both. I prefer college basketball to the NBA, but I prefer the NFL to college football. A lot of that may be proximity. I live in Washington State where the Seahawks have a huge fan base, and I have been rooting for them since the 80's, but the closest NBA team is the Portland Trailblazers, and they just don't have much of a presence in Washington. We're still angry at the NBA over the Sonics, lol.

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Ok-Energy-9785@reddit

Why would that be baffling?

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Wunktacular@reddit

Yes is the answer to every question you asked.

College football predates professional football in the US, so the fan bases are older. Also, the teams don't move cities like NFL teams do.

College ball is a lot more accessible. Tickets are cheaper, it's easier to see games in person. Many universities here are massive, and students often get preferential treatment such as reduced prices or even free admission to their team's games, so it's easy to become a fan.

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StargazerRex@reddit

Yes, especially in more rural parts of America - college sports is far more important than professional sports.

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thomsenite256@reddit

Yes its a much more personal connection. You went to this relatively small (compared to a city) school so its a personal connection. However Its not in total bigger than professional sports I would say. And most people watching college sports are also watching professional sports. Football is maybe 20 games a year only.

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No_Butterscotch_5612@reddit

Yes. College sports are very, very big. In most places, professional sports are bigger, but there are exceptions, most notably in the South.

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Fooby56@reddit

Yes. One of the college stadiums near me, nicknamed The Big House (University of Michigan), seats over 100,000 people. College sports are huge all over the country.

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BusinessWarthog6@reddit

Yes, I care more if my alma mater loses than of my NFL team does. One hurts for a day, the other stings for a week or 365 days depending on if we lost

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Self-Comprehensive@reddit

College football is equally as popular as the NFL, and probably more popular in states that don't have a professional team. Same with basketball. Other sports, not as much. Any way you cut it, it's a high level of athletic achievement and enjoyable to watch

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