Statistics about fan interest levels in the 4 largest markets nearest schools who made the first college football playoff in 2014-15.

2. NCAA Football Playoff School Fan Stats
1/9/15

3. College football’s first-ever playoff games, the
semifinals that aired on New Year’s Day, produced
historic cable ratings. With the excitement building
for the first college football playoff national
championship we wanted to take a look at how
each of the teams’ loyal fans might give them any
advantage.
Take our quiz to find out how well you know the
stats for the fans!
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4. • Qualifiers about the data used
– Scarborough local market qualitative surveys
• Surveys done in 77 of the larger sized US TV DMAs
• Used most recent available for each market: 2013 or 2014 release #2
– Question asked in survey: “What is your current level of interest
in college football”
• Potential answers “Very, somewhat, a little bit or none”
– This particular question does not call out specific teams
• So people in Jacksonville, the Florida Scarborough market closest to
both U of FL and Florida state University, could have allegiance to
either school (among others)
• And people in Birmingham could have allegiance to U of Alabama or
Auburn (among others)
– Portland OR is the closest Scarborough measured DMA to
Eugene OR where the U of Oregon is located (113 miles)
• And people in Portland could also have allegiance to Oregon State,
located 85 miles from Portland
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5. Question 1:
Which DMA has the highest overall percent of
population that said they were either “very” or
“somewhat” interested in college football?
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Columbus, OH (home to The Ohio State
University)
Portland OR (closest measured DMA to
U of OR, 113 miles from Portland to
Eugene)
Birmingham, AL (home to U of AL)
Jacksonville, FL (closest measured DMA
to FL State, 167 miles from Tallahassee
to Jacksonville)

6. Question 1:
Answer: The Birmingham DMA has the highest
percentage of population that are very or
somewhat interested in college football.
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Columbus, OH (home to The Ohio State
University)
Portland OR (closest measured DMA to
U of OR, 113 miles from Portland to
Eugene)
Birmingham, AL (home to U of AL)
Jacksonville, FL (closest measured DMA
to FL State, 167 miles from Tallahassee
to Jacksonville)

7. Question 2:
What percent of people in the Birmingham DMA
are either very or somewhat interested in
college football?
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52% 64%
32% 72%

8. Question 2:
Answer: a whopping 64% of all adults are very or
somewhat interested in college football in Birmingham.
That’s TWICE the average of all Scarborough measured
markets at 32%!!
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52% 64%
32% 72%

9. Question 3:
Amongst all measured Scarborough markets, 65% of those
“very/somewhat” interested in college football are men and 35%
women. Which DMA has the lowest percent of females that
make up the total pot of all fans that are “very/somewhat”
interested in college football?
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Columbus, OH (home to The Ohio State
University)
Portland OR (closest DMA to U of OR)
Birmingham, AL (home to U of AL)
Jacksonville, FL (closest DMA to FL
State)

10. Question 3:
Answer: the ladies in Portland make up a lower percent of the
overall pot of fans that are “very/somewhat” interested in
college football compared to the other DMAs. Women are
almost half of those “very/somewhat” interested fans in
Birmingham!
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Columbus, OH (home to The Ohio State
University)
57% men / 43% women
Portland OR (closest DMA to U of OR)
64% men / 36% women
Birmingham, AL (home to U of AL)
53% men / 47% women
Jacksonville, FL (closest DMA to FL
State)
59% men / 41% women

11. Question 4:
True or False: in the Portland DMA, a greater
percentage of women that are very/somewhat
interested in college football have watched an Oregon
Ducks game on TV or cable compared to the percent of
men that are very/somewhat interested in college
football.
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TRUE FALSE

12. Question 4:
Answer: TRUE. While the overall number of men that
have watched on TV is greater than women,
surprisingly, 74% of women that are very/somewhat
interested in college football have watched an Oregon
Ducks game on TV or cable. In comparison only 70% of
men that are very/somewhat interested in college
football have watched a Ducks game.
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TRUE FALSE

13. Question 5:
True or False: in the Columbus OH DMA amongst all
adults 18+ regardless of level of interest in college
football, a greater percentage have watched at least 1
OSU game on TV/cable than all other professional
sports teams from Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati
combined*.
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TRUE FALSE
* Includes Cleveland Indians, Cavaliers or Browns; Cincinnati Reds or Bengals; Columbus Crew, Blue Jackets or Clippers

14. Question 5:
Answer: TRUE! They love their Buckeyes in Columbus.
Of all adults aged 18+, 61% have watched at least 1
OSU game on TV/cable. In comparison, only 47% of all
adults have watched at least 1 game of any professional
team of any sport from Cleveland, Cincinnati or
Columbus on TV/cable*.
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TRUE FALSE
* Includes Cleveland Indians, Cavaliers or Browns; Cincinnati Reds or Bengals; Columbus Crew, Blue Jackets or Clippers

15. • Ohio State enjoys a distinct advantage from their
fans in Columbus as compared to the Ducks fans
from Portland
– Ohio State is in market and the hometown football
team; a pro team is nearby but not in the same
market
– They show higher percentages of fans listening to
broadcasts on radio, watching games on TV and
attending games.
Maybe they’ll have higher attendance at the national
championship as well. May the best team win!
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