US College football is just HUGE!

[Thankyou4calling]

I was looking at the list of the worlds largest sports stadiums.

8 of the top 10 are US college football arenas.

Does anyone know just how popular the sports are out there? It struck me as remarkable that what I guess is amateur sport can be so popular.

Does anyone have an insight into how it works?

[London424]

Thankyou4calling said:

I was looking at the list of the worlds largest sports stadiums.

8 of the top 10 are US college football arenas.

Does anyone know just how popular the sports are out there? It struck me as remarkable that what I guess is amateur sport can be so popular.

Does anyone have an insight into how it works?

What do you want to know?

College football is enormous and is very very big business. The players, especially at the big schools, are basically professionals, apart from they can’t get paid. They make an awful lot of money for their schools though.

College sports is a feeder to the professional leagues.

Interesting article here.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-co...

Edited by London424 on Thursday 23 November 21:25

[Matt Harper]

Just got home from the FSU vs Gators needle match at The Swamp, in Gainesville FL.
Attendance was down this year - only 90,000 - a great game (if you're a 'Noles fan).

[Matt Harper]

I suspect that the article referenced above was written by someone a little biased and/or anti-NFL.

The college game is entertaining because it is slower paced and presents more opportunity for plays that would be considered risky at best and reckless at worst in the NFL setting. Risky plays gone wrong means more turn-overs, higher scores and of course, more spectacle when it does go according to plan.

I think the main reason so few (relatively) collegiate players are successful in the pro game is that they are just not fast enough.

Another contributory factor to popularity is college allegiance. In the US, if you go to, or went to university, your alma mater stays with you and every other student of that institution for life. One of my business clients lives and works in Chicago IL, but attends every home game that U of F play. That loyalty is absolutely solid and very prolific.

College football ain't cheap either, unless you are a current student. Our tix for yesterdays game were more than $100 apiece - but students of both colleges (Florida State and U of F) pay around $10 to get in.

[Phud]

As I understand from talking to my US friends, NFL is pinnacle football, the lower of feeder process is college football, so each program is much like a professional club who hope to get the best youngsters into those programs to breed success.

If a player does not get an NFL contract, that is really it, there is no way of playing on after college, with so few NFL teams in the states, football is followed by a few types of fans, alumni, football fans who want a local team and students.

I was amazed at the crowds but trying to get to an NFL game is no easy.

[ICallCustard]

Going to see the big uni teams is as hard as trying to get an NFL ticket. Tried to get a ticket to see a Texas team and it was sold out for next two seasons.
However contrary to the poster above I paid $10 for a college game a few years ago and that was a local derby game too. Much easier to get access to but still a great evening out.

[Highway Star]

Matt Harper said:

Another contributory factor to popularity is college allegiance. In the US, if you go to, or went to university, your alma mater stays with you and every other student of that institution for life. One of my business clients lives and works in Chicago IL, but attends every home game that U of F play. That loyalty is absolutely solid and very prolific.

For much of the US, the allegiance to the college game is greater than the pros, especially for the vast swathes of the country where there is no local pro franchise.

I lived in Iowa for 3 years, in the town where Iowa State University is based (Ames, north of Des Moines). There are no pro teams in any sport in the state and college is king - the same is true for much of the Midwest. I've been to a sold out 60,000 attendance Iowa State vs University of Iowa game (GO 'CLONES!!!!1!!!!) and the atmosphere was better than 6 Nations Rugby at Twickenham. Doesn't matter about the standard.

When you realise than some people have never been outside of the state (this was true for several of my work colleagues and these were all professional, college educated people), the allegiance to local college teams starts to make more sense. For an Iowan, University of Iowa vs. Iowa State or Iowa State vs Nebraska or Kansas is a lot more relatable than Cowboys vs Patriots.

[London424]

Highway Star said:

Matt Harper said:

Another contributory factor to popularity is college allegiance. In the US, if you go to, or went to university, your alma mater stays with you and every other student of that institution for life. One of my business clients lives and works in Chicago IL, but attends every home game that U of F play. That loyalty is absolutely solid and very prolific.

For much of the US, the allegiance to the college game is greater than the pros, especially for the vast swathes of the country where there is no local pro franchise.

I lived in Iowa for 3 years, in the town where Iowa State University is based (Ames, north of Des Moines). There are no pro teams in any sport in the state and college is king - the same is true for much of the Midwest. I've been to a sold out 60,000 attendance Iowa State vs University of Iowa game (GO 'CLONES!!!!1!!!!) and the atmosphere was better than 6 Nations Rugby at Twickenham. Doesn't matter about the standard.

When you realise than some people have never been outside of the state (this was true for several of my work colleagues and these were all professional, college educated people), the allegiance to local college teams starts to make more sense. For an Iowan, University of Iowa vs. Iowa State or Iowa State vs Nebraska or Kansas is a lot more relatable than Cowboys vs Patriots.

Quite...pretty much every state will have at least one or 2 very big schools that get the locals involved in supporting. Then as someone said above you also have all the kids who go to the school (and then often their families by default).

[London424]

Matt Harper said:

I think the main reason so few (relatively) collegiate players are successful in the pro game is that they are just not fast enough.

This doesn't make sense. Pretty much every single player in the NFL went to college.

Then it's just a numbers game that you see in every pyramid sport that exists. Only a certain number will be good enough to make it to the top.

Next season you'll get players who are too injured, too old, want to retire, or who aren't as good as someone new and they'll have their place taken by the new college crop to come along.

[offspring86]

My girlfriend lives just outside Nashville. Her and her 3 sons barely seem to pay attention to the NFL. Eldest son is a Florida Gators fan, middle son is an LSU fan and she, along with her youngest son are Vanderbilt fans. The attendance numbers are crazy.

[Matt Harper]

London424 said:

Matt Harper said:

I think the main reason so few (relatively) collegiate players are successful in the pro game is that they are just not fast enough.

This doesn't make sense. Pretty much every single player in the NFL went to college.

Then it's just a numbers game that you see in every pyramid sport that exists. Only a certain number will be good enough to make it to the top.

Next season you'll get players who are too injured, too old, want to retire, or who aren't as good as someone new and they'll have their place taken by the new college crop to come along.

Correct - but the vast majority of collegiate players don't make it into the professional game was my point. Let us not forget that most students in athletic programs are somewhat lacking in the scholastic field - so options other than sports are limited, for a lot of them
Bear in mind that in the case of those that dome it into the draft, not many get to do anything other than train/condition for their first couple of seasons, by which time, most have been nixed. As a result only a very small percentage of the collegiate pool ever make it as pro players.

The pace and intensity of the college game is visibly less than the pros. As stated earlier - that can make for very entertaining sport (particularly the passing game), but any pro team that played 'college-style' in the NFL would get crushed - even by the crappy Bengals, Browns and Bears.

[Challo]

Matt Harper said:

London424 said:

Matt Harper said:

I think the main reason so few (relatively) collegiate players are successful in the pro game is that they are just not fast enough.

This doesn't make sense. Pretty much every single player in the NFL went to college.

Then it's just a numbers game that you see in every pyramid sport that exists. Only a certain number will be good enough to make it to the top.

Next season you'll get players who are too injured, too old, want to retire, or who aren't as good as someone new and they'll have their place taken by the new college crop to come along.

Correct - but the vast majority of collegiate players don't make it into the professional game was my point. Let us not forget that most students in athletic programs are somewhat lacking in the scholastic field - so options other than sports are limited, for a lot of them
Bear in mind that in the case of those that dome it into the draft, not many get to do anything other than train/condition for their first couple of seasons, by which time, most have been nixed. As a result only a very small percentage of the collegiate pool ever make it as pro players.

The pace and intensity of the college game is visibly less than the pros. As stated earlier - that can make for very entertaining sport (particularly the passing game), but any pro team that played 'college-style' in the NFL would get crushed - even by the crappy Bengals, Browns and Bears.

Good stats about the number of college athletes that make it pro.

http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/estim...

[Halb]

Thankyou4calling said:

I was looking at the list of the worlds largest sports stadiums.

8 of the top 10 are US college football arenas.

Does anyone know just how popular the sports are out there? It struck me as remarkable that what I guess is amateur sport can be so popular.

Does anyone have an insight into how it works?

I've been to a big ten game.
We had to park over a mile from the stadium, then a leisurely walk in, through basically, a small town of people. It's a full day event, a sort of party carnival atmosphere with booze and full party affair surrounds the stadium in make-do village, with marquees and things. Face painting etc, it's like a night club, meets village fete meets sports game. If you're into sports, it's a great feel good thing, with none of that english football gang scum mentality.
The stadium, fk me, it was like being in a fantasy video game representation of Roman times, huge. Then the after game party and then the walk back!