Put your shitboots on people! LATE ENTRY! This crapola wins the stupidest youtube video of the past year (participation) trophy! EVERY sentence is pure 💩! College football is alive and well in the entire NE (well, except for Maine). There are multiple college football footprints being left - especially this year. Glancing at the suggested thumbnails I can tell just by the subject that you have been putting out junk for quite a while. Presentation: 🤢🤮👎
Tell me you’ve never been Penn State or the surrounding area without telling me you’ve never been there. PSU’s following is huge everywhere in the state and across the region. PSU has the second largest stadium in the country for a reason and averaged over 108,000 attendees per game in 2024. But yeah go on with your clickbait video.
When The U, VT, Syracuse, and BC were at their best in the 90's early 2000's it was in the Big East. Every week the tri-state area was guaranteed to see these teams on local tv.
It started when college basketball boosters in the North East wanted to reclaim their title of the college basketball hot spot which they were losing to the Southeast and Midwest. So they took the excitement of college athletics and moved them into NBA-quality arenas (as opposed to the 3500 seat gymnasiums they were playing in). The eccentricity of the coaches made the product watchable from the start on TV, which brought viewers and added attention, which in turn brought recruits.
Culture is key. I am a New Yorker born and raised. Outside of professional sports, nobody cares about college or high school sports. Even big programs like Syracuse and Seton Hall, Rutgers get little to no traction.
I'm born and raised in Northern NJ, pro sports is the end all be all here. But, when it comes down to college sports multiple factors are at play. The tri-state is more of a basketball area, plus a lot of people here go to school all throughout the country. Schools like 'Cuse, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Princeton, 'Nova, Fordham, and so on only get coverage when they are doing great.
51 year old New Yorker, my whole life me and my buddies discussed Nfl, mlb, nba.. I could count on one hand the numbers of times we talked college football.. College basketball, a little during the eighties, but college football, never
@@Lazarus132909that’s very true, I also live in northern jersey and collage basketball especially March madness gets more attention than football. Unless Rutgers or Syracuse football change, very few are gonna care up here, despite Syracuse unique dome and Rutgers history.
Another thing I think is impacting this is how these college conferences are not geographically sound. I feel like if schools like Rutgers, West Virginia, Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, and UConn played each other more often, it will rekindle a lot of interest in regional rivalries and competition.
I like this idea too, but unfortunately college sports money will not allow it. Growing up in the 1970s I love this for basketball before the Big East started. Holy Cross vs UConn were some great games.
Delaware is moving up to FBS and has scheduled UConn which rekindles a rivalry that was played annually until UConn joined the big east in football. I wish there was a northeast g5 conference with all those teams again
The Big East went a long way in building prestige for these kinds of schools even if it wasn't a very good football conference by the time it started breaking up. Now they're in entirely different conferences: the six teams you mentioned are now spread amongst 3 different conferences + 1 independent in football when there was one point in time where 5/6 were all in the Big East.
Also: UConn is isolated through independence, West Virginia is HEAVILY isolated geographically and both Rutgers-Maryland and Syracuse-Boston College haven't exactly turned into nationally-recognized rivalries since joining the same conferences together (even in basketball). Realignment killed a lot of potential football interest through conference isolation, especially in WVU and UConn's cases.
In New England, college hockey is kind of big. There are 21 D1 hockey schools in six states (like: BU, BC Quinnipiac, Maine, etc.). And there are some pretty good D3 hockey schools as well like Endicott, Norwich, Trinity, and Salve Regina
I am a UConn Men's Hockey Season Ticket holder and I wouldn't say it is big as much as there are a lot of programs in the Northeast that are staying afloat based off donors/endowments. College hockey is a very niche fanbase and fan support is very conditional. Boston College is the only team in the top 10 of D1 Hockey home attendance as I post this the rest of the teams are in the midwest, mountain west, or mid-atlantic. Take a program like Providence College Men's hockey that made a Frozen Four in 2019 and won it all in 2015 and they are selling just under 85% of their small 3,030 seat arena but their Men's basketball team gets crowds well over twice that for game they play at home. My parents met at Mass and go to a hockey game each year for alumni weekend and the big crowds right after their Natty have cooled off (although they still get decent support compared to the average local D1 teams). I think the death of College Football in the Northeast has more to do with local talent opting for Baseball, Basketball, Lacrosse, and Soccer over football and not the small niche footprint of hockey culture. And I live close to multiple prep schools in Connecticut that get players to the NHL but it's just a very specialized set of kids that come from hockey families.
Lol goatman I was about to say! UMass ‘22 grad here going to UMass during the time makar was there and they won a natty was so sick, glad I was there because apart from hockey UMass is struggling a bit athletics wise 😂
Hockey also brings in the alumni money into the traditional New England boarding schools. It's one of the few sports where both the public and private schools have embraced years ago
I grew up in NJ, and went to Penn State. They’ve always recruited well in NJ, PA and MD. They’ve also pulled in recruits from outside the northeast. Living in NYC now, the college football programs most people follow here are Notre Dame, Michigan and Penn State.
Agreed, and maybe Rutgers and Syracuse too. Because they are usually winning season bowl teams so they get more traction, plus good education especially Rutgers.
@@GhostofTraditionI grew up in South Jersey, Penn State had a huge following in the area because of Penn State graduates in the area and the success that they had. Are people decked out in blue and white as much as Kelly green, nope, but they still watch and follow.
@GhostofTradition Philly area still has a pretty big following for PSU especially for football. Basketball will likely see more Nova than PSU, but Philly area is definitely PSU football.
I’m born and raised in Boston and graduated from UMass. Simply put, when your professional sports teams have been winning for decades and the largest public institution in the state fields the worst football team in the country every year, truly nobody will care about it. The UMass administration severely rushed their jump from FCS to FBS, with little to no investment behind it. Our stadium has the same capacity as damn TD Garden. If the team doesn’t win, nobody will follow it, not even alumni.
@@MbisonBalrog Rutgers is near the New York market which is a very huge market that the Big Ten got. They didn't care about how good or bad Rutgers was, but they wanted the New York City media market.
I’m from Eastern CT originally and can confirm most of this. Outside of UConn basketball, most people are big in to baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in that order. I’ll never forget one time I was at a bar just outside of Hartford, and there was a guy there on vacation from Texas. Really nice dude. He was asking everyone what college football teams we followed, and almost nobody had an answer for him. He seemed genuinely baffled when the response was “idk man, we watch baseball here.”
I agree it is Red Sox and Yankees first ( Eastern Connecticut: Red Sox) ( Western Connecticut: Yankees). Then Patriots, Celtics U-Conn basketball, Bruins, Rangers U-Conn football in that order.
It's funny they call them "subway alumni" since people from places like NYC, Philly, Boston, DC, to a great extent Chicago, etc. are some of the _least_ likely to understand how completely normal it is for locals to have a rabid college fandom in most of the country. What's as natural as breathing over there is a completely foreign concept over here.
@@davidbrown386I'm a CT Islanders fan and I agree with not putting my team on that list as it's virtually irrelevant up here. I live in Hamden and go to CCSU in New Britain so it's pretty much all bruins rangers
A similar effect took place in the Western states where you find that the pro level football, baseball, basketball, and soccer (we have a large Hispanic population) are much bigger than college sports. That said we do have a few powerhouses in the area but they aren’t as big of a deal as the pros are.
I’m from Connecticut and just moved to New Jersey. People used to care about UConn football in the 2000s under Randy Edsall. After Edsall left to go coach his alma mater, Maryland, the program declined significantly in the 2010s and everyone said we should fold the team up. But they just won the Fenway Bowl yesterday against North Carolina from nothing, and people care again in my observation. Is it basketball? No. Is it the Red Sox or Yankees? No. Is it Penn State or Rutgers? Hell no (and I know those are damned serious in New Jersey and worthy of a whole separate comment). But it’s on its way to… something, hopefully bigger.
I’m a UConn football fan too and agree with everything you said. Just glad the football program is moving in the right direction and I’m excited to see what’s in store for them over the coming years
Well man, I don't know if it'll help you keep up hope or not, but remember... Penn State wasn't Penn State until Joe Paterno. From 1887 - 1982 so just under 100 years, they never won a national title. Paterno put Penn State on the map, made it into a powerhouse program, and now it's essentially College Football royalty. If you're talking to ten most storied programs in the sport, it's hard not to include Penn State. UConn could get there, it just takes time. If they end up with the right coach, who is there for the right reason, like their own Paterno.... remember, he turned down a job offer from the Patriots, that included partial ownership of the team... no joke, because he loved Penn State. It's insane but it happened. It could happen at UConn too. With NIL and the transfer portal, there's going to be a lot more parity in the sport, which means UConn could see more talent and compete at a higher level.
I'm sorry, did you mistake Rutgers for another college in another state? Nobody in NJ thinks the scarlet knights are worthy of existing because their stupid games make traffic on 287, the turnpike and the parkway the three main north south routes thru the state horrible during Indian summer when people are trying to squeeze in an extra weekend or two at the shore. Nobody besides the team playing for Rutgers takes Rutgers football seriously here in jersey. 9 pro sports teams in the area before the words soccer or womens are deployed.
I am a Northernor who was born up here, grew up in Maine & currently reside in New Hampshire. However I am a U of Tennessee alum that lived in the South for ten years after graduation before moving back north. That being said, even though I was a college football fan in high school & my yoinger years, I didn't get to experience a true college football atmosphere until my college years. And my god that atmosphere was incredibly awesome. I miss it so much. People up here ask me what it's like, and I have trouble finding a comparison up here. It's like nothing I have ever experienced. When you are in a stadium surrounded by 100k+ other fans being loud, it just gives you goose bumps. So yes I am a U of Tennessee college football fan, but also a Boston Bruins fan, a Boston Red Sox fan, a U of Maine college ice hockey fan & a Green Bay Packer Fan (my family is originally from the midwest).
I'm an Columbus, Ohio guy that recently moved to Boston. I'll take the college sports town feel over a pro sports town (even a highly successful pro sports town) any day of the week. Pro sports towns feel less authentic and personal.
Penn State is a pretty popular college football team in the Northeast but I guess that you can argue that western Pennsylvania has more in common with the Midwest then the Northeast.
How many PSU alum live i the Northeast proper? How long would PSU fans tolerate not regularly playing general peers? PSU had to attach itself to a Midwest centered conference to remain relevant.
@@tarheel7406 they had to attach themselves to a conference to ensure bowl access. As the 90s progressed opportunities for independent teams to have opportunities to the high tier bowls evaporated so one had to join a conference, also TV contracts were moving away from being team centric to being conference centric. PSU put out feelers to the ACC and the Big 10 and the Big 10 said yes.
@@vidguy1976 a) I understand why PSU had to join a conference. The point is that it couldn't be a Northeast centered conference (long-term). b) After the PSU to B1G move was announced, the then ACC Commish stated he would have contacted PSU if he knew it was considering joining a conference. This means the B1G was PSU's only preference at that time. I still maintain that PSU should still consider moving to the ACC if that yields a new, Tier 1 media deal.
Yankees, Celtics, Knicks, Giants, Eagles, Steelers, Mets are such huge franchises that they overwhelm other competitors where as the south east has not as much huge franchises other than the college football teams themselves… it’s like how hockey dominates the northern states vs southern
That's so true. In my NE college, we were confused why people cared about non-professional football at all. Why would an adult without a kid on the team care about a bunch of 18-21yos? If we went to games at all, it was usually basketball. Our school's marching band was probably about the same draw as the game itself
@@Leoniclesclearly those people have never been to an sec or big 10 game before. The college sports environment is far superior to a pro sports environment.
@@MOCskoden that’s ridiculous and false. College sports still dominate in plenty of places that have pro sports teams, (Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, Oregon etc).
@@georgehenan853 Georgia has been more successful than its pro sports, I would argue LSU is more known than the Saints in the state, Florida is in a league of its own with schools and teams, Texas loves football automatically, Michigan has more success history than the Lions, Ohio State has more history success than its pro sports, kinda not much in Utah ngl, same with Oregon… that’s why they can dominate in college popularity wise
UA-cam response template: Start with an unnecessary statement about who you are: * "As a _____" , or * "As someone who______", or * "As a ____, who has ____, I can confirm ____"
@@lightlingzooma-69 Football gets good crowds when the team's great. Or there's the odd Friday night or traditional power team coming to town. But other than that, it's pretty dry tbh. Crowds leave early, specifically the students for some reason. I will say tho, people will absolutely show if the team is doing well. But very often, we're a mid to bad team. Basketball and other sports we're good at like soccer, lacrosse, field hockey tend to have good attendance
I went to an Ivy League game one time. I started cheering for the home to hold on 3rd and short. People looked at me like I was crazy. It was really strange. On the other hand. College hockey is a good time up there!
went to watch Harvard take on Yale once in Cambridge. They are much more reserved, and when I talked to one about his opinion he turned and calmly went they're just not a good team.
The Northeast seems to have a similar college sports dynamic to Europe. - No single large state universities everyone rallies behind but a plethora of unis to go to, sometimes people even switch unis between undergraduate and postgraduate studies. - Lots of professional sports teams behind which most people rally instead of university sports programms. - Academics being more important to the universities than athletics. Of course there's many differences too but these similarities definitely seem to be important factors contributing to a lowered importance of college sports.
@@darylb5564I’m from the south/midwest area and I go to an Ivy League. It’s crazy how different the energy is. It genuinely feels like a high school game
From Massachusetts. Nobody cares about college or high school football but the same level in hockey is ridiculously popular. Every graduating class at every high school has at least one or two kids who get D1 hockey scholarships & usually your most famous alum is an NHL player. For my school it was the Sacco brothers one of whom is now coach of our goddam Bruins. Small world.
Syracuse is a huge college sports town. A lot of the surronding counties follow it too. As for Upstate NY teams Syracuse basketball is probably right behind the Buffalo Bills as the 2nd team. Syracuse also is getting better at football again as they finished in the top 25 and won 10 games which is considered a really good season. Its definitely not like the south or the big mid west schools but football is starting to come back with the new head coach.
Other sports dominate the sports culture at these schools. One of the biggest sports events in Boston is the Beanpot, a hockey tournament between the city’s 4 D-1 schools (BU, BC, Harvard, and Northeastern) While hockey is big in Boston, basketball is big in Philadelphia. Philly has the informal Big 5 (Temple, UPenn, LaSalle, Villanova, and St Joe’s). The Palestra is one of the most historic basketball arenas in the country
Penn State plays at the Palestra sometimes too, both for out of conference games and sometimes as the home team. They play Indiana soon there as the home team.
I've lived in Boston my entire life (i even have friends who attended all 4 of those schools) and I have literally never heard anyone talk about the Beanpot before.
I live in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, which is probably the northeastern-most point in the country where college football is huge. Scranton is 2 hours from New York, 2 hours from Philly and 2 hours from Penn State -- seems like everyone is a Yankees/Giants/PSU or Phillies/Eagles/PSU fan (Mets and Jets less so). Noticeable number of Notre Dame fans here as well, but Penn State is absolutely huge. Great area to be in because it's so easy to see games no matter who you support
From philly. Can confirm that College of that part in PA is bigger than down here. I think a reason for that is the distance from Philly to Penn state, and the college schools here not really doing great or having elite players come out with a few exceptions
@@williefaulkeryea I think the alumni of Penn State in the Philly region don’t bring the passion of State College back to the region compare to those who went to Penn state and now live in other parts of PA with less collegiate competition and only 1 or 2 pro teams to cheer for. You have Major academic powerhouses in Philly and the collar counties including UPENN, TEMPLE, DREXEL, ST. JOES, VILLANOVA, University of Delaware, Penn State at Abington, WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY, Lincoln University, Delaware State and all the other notable colleges in Bucks, Berks, Allentown and Lehigh Valley many of which are smaller state schools which are decent academically and college football school spirit isn’t the overwhelming desire, So Penn State pride in the Philly region is suppressed since many students in the region tend to pick any number of schools within an hours drive from home. Penn State is further away from the center of Philly. Not everyone can go to State College so the 2nd option is either Pitt or stay closer to home and become bitter basketball rival with Temple vs Drexel, St. Joes vs Villanova. UPenn vs the other Ivy’s in Jersey and New York. This is before you even factor in the professional sports culture of Philadelphia and all its teams including EAGLES, PHILLIES, SIXERS, FLYERS, UNION and Minor League baseball in Delaware and Camden, and Allentown. Many of the new immigrants who don’t have a college affinity in the area follow soccer so a lot of the market is fragmented compared to other parts of PA.
On top of the fact that their Basketball program is a juggernaut. They probably want to be a full time Big 12 or ACC program (they should be ACC because of their rivalry with Syracuse)
@@dangerdare4114 right, I think UConn and Notre Dame should join the Acc. Notre Dame is already in the Acc in like every other sport, most of their rivals are in the Acc, and UConn just makes sense for basketball and their football team getting better not to mention geography.
It's due to multiple factors I would say, professional sports are definitely more popular in the northeastern part of the US than college sports are and you see the amount of sports teams in the northeast area: You have 8 NFL teams: Patriots, Jets, Giants, Bills, Steelers, Eagles, Commanders, and Ravens 7 MLB teams: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Pirates, Phillies, Nationals, and Orioles 8 NHL teams: Bruins, Sabres, Islanders, Rangers, Devils, Penguins, Flyers, and Capitals 5 NBA teams: Celtics, 76ers, Knicks, Nets, and Wizards Also I think college basketball is more popular in the northeastern part of the US and that goes back to the Big East. When Pitt and Syracuse were in the Big East, both of their basketball programs were really good, they were consistently ranked in the top 25 and making the NCAA tournament and then you couple that with the success of Georgetown, Villanova, Uconn and others, rivalries in the old Big East were heated, it was like the SEC was college football. Those were highly anticipated matchups that drew a lot of attention.
Good take. If you start at NYC and radiate outward 300 miles you capture the whole NE region. As you say in that region there are 28 'big 4' professional sports teams. Other than some areas of the Midwest basically everywhere else in the US, 300 miles from a major city with professional sports MIGHT get you one other major city of professional sports teams on the far outskirt of the radius.
@ it’s more spread out in the south than it is up north. The teams are more bunched together than down south. People up north like professional sports more than college sports along with college basketball and hockey.
Grew up in Connecticut and Penn State alum. Penn State matches any major program in terms of pride and atmosphere for Football but it’s the exception. UConn Football has has brushes with winning people over, but Basketball reigns supreme. Putting your stadium off campus might have something to do with it.
Colleges in Northeast put more emphasis in their basketball and hockey programs being really good. Penn State is the only elite football program in that region. Joe Paterno originally wanted the Penn St to join the Big East so football players at the high school and collegiate level get more exposure in the Northeast region. Plus, the schools in that region have high academic standards compared to the deep South and Midwest.
I'm from South Jersey just outside of Philly and it ultimatley boils down to the fact that with pro sports, anything below it is minor league. Even when the worst pro sports teams are a collection of the best college players. If you want to truly understand the northeast's relationship in sports, I suggest you do a video about Philly's "Big 5" of college basketball (Temple, Villanova, St. Joe's, La Salle, and Penn, and some also consider Drexel). Basically you have the hard core fans, which are entirley of alumni and are also Sixers fans. Then there's the casual college fans, who are hard core Sixers fans but don't pay attention to college until March, when they adopt whichever Philly school that is best positioned in the tournament as the school representative of the city (it was Temple in the John Cheney years, except for St. Joe's when it went undefeated, and then was Villanova under Jay Wright). There's even a debate amongst Big 5 fans as to whether they should cheer with their school or with their city in the tournament, that is should they root against their rival or root for it because they are fellow Philadelphiasn.
This is honestly one of my favorite parts about living in Michigan is that all of our sports teams are loved. There aren't many teams in pros or college that aren't talked about daily around here, the Pistons are really the only outlier I can think of. Theres always a game on to watch.
As a diehard Syracuse fan, much of this is valid. For Syracuse football in particular, the past 25 years has been a struggle to say the least. On-field product, lack of local talent, conference realignment, etc. Even though we’ve had blips of success and hope (including right now) I feel a major setback was joining the Big East for football in the early 90s. The program lost northeast rivalries such as Penn State. Now, there’s always a handful of lackluster opponents on the schedule each year it seems- and in the past couple decades, those lackluster opponents would end up winning games. I think the program is on the right track, but we’ll see. Hopefully Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, et al can bring back northeast college football. In addition, I don’t think Syracuse is affected much by pro sports as it’s not close enough to have to ‘make a choice’ on game days as which to attend. Maybe televised sports, I suppose. But for ages, Syracuse basketball ran this region and had no problem drawing fans, support, and success. So the only connection I can draw between football and basketball is what I mentioned above. Lack of football rivalries, big opponents, and being competitive in those big games, which basketball was.
I can understand. The ACC never really wanted CUSE, and the lackluster goes both ways. I suspect that the ACC would release CUSE, BC & PITT on amicable terms. Why don't those three pursue recreating a new BIGEAST even though it would be a Tier 2? More games of fan interest. The old BIGEAST model of a mix of football and basketball only members may work at the Tier 2 level.
I'm from DC and the biggest college sport is basketball. The only big college football team in the DMV is Maryland. But for college basketball, all those little colleges in DC could field a basketball team. An example is Georgetown. If you want to watch football you watch professionally.
DC is the only city in the Northeast where college hoops is more popular than the NBA and it doesn't help that the Wizards haven't won the NBA Finals since 1978. PG County produces a lot of great basketball talent and is where UMD is located. Georgetown has always been DC's team, but GWU, American, and Howard do have their fans. UMD is popular in Maryland and NoVA has a lot of UVA basketball fans as that's where a lot of UVA alumni live. Lacrosse is also big in the DMV as UVA and UMD are two of the best programs. VT football is popular, but most of their fanbase lives in RVA, 757, and Roanoke, and not NoVA. Definitely more UVA fans than VT fans when shopping in Tysons.
Yup, some parts of the country have a sport that's bigger than the other. Within that area, there are so many NFL football teams college football is just not as big. It's not like Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, or Minnesota, for example. Yeah, college football is just as big as the NFL teams because they don't have the number of teams they do in the East.
I’m a Big Rutgers fan and I live in Jersey we have a great turnout when we play big games. But if you go to a normal game against a decent team nobody shows it’s disappointing because I love college football. Everyone loves Pro sports more than college over here.
To be honest most people in NJ hope rutgers stops with the football foolishness. The administration will not commit enough resources to win and be competitive and after 100 years of shitty football everyone in Jersey knows it. If they stop holding their stupid little college football games the traffic on 287, the parkway and the turnpike would be significantly reduced in the early fall when people are trying to get south to enjoy another weekend at the shore. We would rather have no traffic than crappy college football.
@@GR37S0N there's too much blue and yellow in the crowd for michigan games to call the turn out good for rutgers, and illinois isn't good enough to blow out rutgers so you're kinda just proving my point
Last week the Ivy League announced that they will FINALLY participate in the FCS playoffs, could be a boost to the football atmosphere. It’s a big turnaround from a sad history of de-emphasizing football forced by not giving athletic scholarships, most of the schools shrinking their stadiums, and almost 50 years of no postseason play
They don't give athletic scholarships but they do recruit and find ways to get athletes admitted tuition free. Unless you're rich, getting accepted into an ivy school is a freebie.
@ I agree but it’s that limbo period of waiting on financial aid and the schools decision of your acceptance to come through that results in kids going with the guaranteed thing at comparable programs outside the Ivy League. You’ll undoubtedly lose out on potential players who would rather try walking on at a cheaper state school at the FBS level or accepting a full ride at other FCS teams.
Born New Yorker(Harlem) living in Ohio. Back in my time, if you were an H.S Football Player wanting to go D1 and didn't want to go too far away. You had 4 options: 1. Syracuse, 2. Boston College, 3. Rutgers(They were trash back then) and 4. Penn State(They got a good number of kids from the 5 boros to play out there) I didn't understand College Football until I went to my first Ohio State Game. Blew my mind away. You're not going to see that type of energy at SUNY Buffalo. (No offense). When it comes to regional sports makeups, the northeast has basketball on lock.
Penn Stater here. My theory: K-12 schools outside the Northeast *have more land* for outdoor fields where kids can pick up the game. I'd wager not many high/middle schools in NY, Boston, Philly etc can spend ten acres of valuable real estate on a football stadium that may only get used six times a year.
Reads a bit chicken vs. egg to me. Are there few football fields due to lack of interest or the reverse? A high school football field would be multi-purpose.
Smaller high schools are the norm in the Northeast, unlike the South, where schools with 3,000-5,000+ students are common, driven by a culture of big football, marching bands, and cheerleading. Without the "Friday Night Lights" tradition, there’s little foundation for a Saturday college football culture.
@@kkaattyyzz My hometown in NC had a then population of ~15K, which I'd say is third tier in size for the state but perhaps very common. My grad class was ~200, probably lower than average for the demos. Per Goog, Myers Park in Charlotte has ~3,500 enrollment, which would be an exception for the state. Excluding NYC, the State of NY has the same population as NC. Outside of the City, the claimed land restrictions wouldn't apply any more than elsewhere? Again, the low interest in HS football in the region appears to be of a symptom rather than a cause in this discussion.
@@tarheel7406 Northeastern towns are denser, with the original infrastructure designed before cars. I've lived in PA, NY, and CT and visited at least 300 high schools in 20+ states. Limited open space, strict zoning laws, and high property costs restrict school development. Areas built later had access to open land, and schools were built as community hubs. It's not the only reason, but it's a contributing factor for sure.
@@kkaattyyzz I compared NY State outside of the City vs. NC. Even if the cities and towns are smaller in square miles, football fields would more easily located off campus. Again, it seems to me that it's far more likely that HS football isn't a thing due to lack of interest rather than the reverse. From what I've seen, a far bigger factor is the lack of true public flagships and #2s that concentrate the better students and have larger enrollments.
The ivy league killed football in the northeast in 1981 when they left D1a. It's really too bad they pretty much killed there football legacy and all that remains are a few cool old stadiums.
There was a ressurence of interest with Doug Flutie back in 1984 but BC hasnt been a top tier contender for the most part. They had a few good years when Matt Ryan was the QB but not much.
I went to MIT and they have 3 rows of bleachers that are maybe 40 ft wide each of seating for the football field. Of course the stadium, which it's same amount of seating as a middle school YMCA field, is named after a Steinbrenner.
Boston College Football has an opportunity to be New England's 5th Pro Team, but it will take a significant investment from the University. They have to stay competitive at the P4 level and keep up as college football becomes more and more like a pro league. Bill O'Brien was a huge start, but prioritizing athletics and more funding for NIL will be the key.
BC is an anomaly. Other than Notre Dame,Catholic schools have given up on football. I remember as a kid in the 50’s and 60’s schools like Holy Cross and Marquette competing at the highest level. Getting the crap beat out of them every year, they smartened up by realising they could not compete with the state schools. They all dropped down to a lower division,or dropped football entirely. BC is still trying. They just don’t seem to get it.
@@jadedequeljoe3283 very true, BC used to have big football rivalries with Holy Cross and BU (the latter gutted football altogether). Don’t forget about how title xi has killed many football programs as smaller schools no longer have the financial resources to invest and keep teams competitive.
Penn State alum here. Also grew up in State College around the time Penn State made its shift from being an independent institution to a B1G school. For the Commonwealth of PA, Penn State is more of an aberration than the other major D1-A schools (i.e. Pitt and Temple). The talent pipeline isn't the best, that much is true, but given the amount of work Coach Franklin and his staff have done to keep Penn State in the national conversation has been nothing short of extraordinary. Originally, back in the 1980s, Joe Paterno did make an effort to get the major schools in the region into their own conference (this would end up becoming the Big East after Penn State entered the B1G in the early 90s), but the inability or indifference to act before that move pretty much killed the traditional rivalries of those schools.
Respectfully, I disagree with you on one talking point: if you were to drive by car up to four hours in any direction from State College, PA, there is an incredible pipeline of ESPN Top 300 college football recruits in that radius. From Pittsburgh to Northern New Jersey, back down 95 through Philly, Baltimore, DC, and back up to Central Pa. There is a lot of talent. As I mentioned in another post, this story should have been about the death of college football in New England and New York State, not the Northeast.
Correct, Joe had an eastern conference worked out in the early 80’s. West Virginia and some others were on board, but Pitt and Syracuse shortsightedly killed it before it could get started.
@@77mdj total revisionist history Joe wanted two for one home games Joe wanted more revenue for Penn State And the total lie that Pitt kept Penn State out of the big east has been hailed about so many times … guess what Pitt wasn’t in the big east when they rejected Penn State Syracuse, that’s another story
I am a Philly fan and want nothing more than a Penn State football national championship. Have wanted it more than any pro franchise here since I was a kid.
Yes Penn State is the exception here but it is interesting that it's basically the only big program in the state. I don't even think U Penn has a team.
@@GhostofTradition UPenn has a team, but they're in the FCS, not FBS. The other FBS team in Pennsylvania is Pitt. But Pitt is minor compared to Penn State.
Always love your content Maapify. I'm not sure if I've already suggested this video idea to you but you should do videos explaining differences between franchises like the Jets vs Giants, Yankees vs Mets, Chargers vs Rams, etc. History of the 2 franchises, fanbase demographics, where they live, how they make it work, etc. Just an idea I thought I'd throw out there
Many colleges and universities in the northeast are known for the quality of the education they provide and not how well they're doing on the football field. Perhaps it's not a case of football dying but of these schools having sports in the proper perspective.
@@teamrecon2685 You are exactly right. But, those big time colleges love the pay days they get from ESPN and other networks. They would never agree to give up football.
I was looking into this the other day actually. I came to the conclusion that a major part of it is that New England has the highest density of colleges per 100k people in the country. The talent is just spread out so thin amongst all the schools. Obviously there’s other aspects as well, but i feel this is the main contributor.
I think it has a lot more to do with New England universities being much more academically focused. The Ivy League schools, MIT, Northeastern, BU, BC, UMass, UConn, etc are all top notch academic institutions. If you look at the biggest college football schools, there isn't a ton of intersection between those schools and really great academics. Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Penn State, UC Berkeley... the list is relatively thin for top tier academics and top tier football.
As someone who went to a big hockey school (Quinnipiac, who was briefly featured here) and grew up in Albany with two popular college teams, college hockey is almost our version of college football (though on a much smaller scale.) I remember my grad year when North Dakota came to play Quinnipiac in our first home series with fans after the pandemic there was plenty of tailgating across both nights and a monster crowd that filled well more than 100% of capacity.
Bro, Quinnipiac is a school for elite my girlfriends sister goes there yeah college hockey is big there but not every single kid can afford to play hockey and New England was one of the things that I hated about growing up here the access to hockey once you go down south and you see at least every kid can play football at least once in their life hockey you have to start at like age 4 and you’re not in that at that age then you’re not gonna be a good hockey player
@georgeleavitt4487 Yeah my college roommate of 5 years was from Colorado and played Jr. Hockey before he came to college (he was a year older than us all) and he really upped my knowledge about the small details of the sport and recruiting
I’m born and raised in Connecticut and yes basketball is a great deal for us in the college level but as recently as this year Connecticut football is making a comeback with a bigger impact taking on ACC’s UNC football program and by pure luck and the way of recruitment now for football Connecticut football is going to become a major factor in years to come as a bowl contender school. And a congratulations to the 2024 Fenway bowl winner UCONN on a fantastic season and huge win.
I would not count Penn state here as their culture is closer to Pittsburgh than Philly. Anything west of allentown is very different from the culture of Philly (and the northeast)
A lot of small schools have dropped football in the last 25 years: Boston U, Fairfield, Hofstra, Northeastern, St. John's. The only DI teams on Long Island are LIU and Stony Brook, which are both FCS.
When Temple was a top-25 team in 2015, they were the main talk in Philadelphia. While it did help the Phillies were the worst team in baseball, the Eagles would go on to fire Chip Kelly during the season and the Sixers won 10 games, Temple was who the city rooted for that year. They had a crowd with 5,000+ people in downtown Philly at College Gameday. It IS possible for a Northeast city to enjoy college football, but especially harder now in the NIL era.
@ I was there and there was a large Temple crowd. It wasn’t like Oklahoma fans took over the stadium. The game was agreed to be in Philadelphia by Notre Dame because Philadelphia and South Jersey have one of the largest Irish-Catholic populations in the nation.
@@fastmover2598 Temple was a play away from winning, too. Safety took a bad route on the Will Fuller touchdown. Fun season in any event. Will be interesting to see how the Oklahoma fans travel to the Linc next year to the Linc compared to Penn State and Notre Dame.
You're completely correct, save for Penn State. I'm a Penn State student, and my roommates girlfriend is at Maryland. The difference on Saturday's is wild. We get up at 7 (we get up late), go to the tailgate lots, and then go to the game. She maybe goes to the game for a half. If that.
UMD was the same for me with early wakeups and big tailgates. Think it's more focused in Greek Life than the general student pop though, and it's fallen off a lot after covid.
From a college perspective the northeast is more into smaller liberal arts schools (ivy, little ivies, and various small schools). From a sports perspective in close proximity there's NY, BOS, and Philly/DC depending on your definition of Northeast. It's just not a part of our culture almost to a point of pride
The Northeast can't support a Tier 1 athletic conference, but it could a Tier 2. The hodgepodge membership of the old BIGEAST and its eventual death evidences this. With no/few big public flagships in that region, the still relevant private schools could fill that void but they struggle. The West Coast is now in that same situation even with large public flagships and #2s.
Boston College and UMASS are division 1 but they are just not top tier, especially UMASS who is absolutely horrible right now. With NIL I am not sure if the programs sink or swim
@@STMARTIN009 That the Northeast can't support a Tier 1 conference isn't debatable. The region can support a Tier 1 team if same attaches itself to a conference centered outside of the Northeast. For me, the only relevant questions are why ~and~ could things change. The Northeast isn't defective because of this, and the West Coast is now in the same boat.
I am originally from the Northeast ( NY) and I remember once listening to the local sports radio station ( WFAN) and the host was angry more people preferred talking Pre Season Yankee baseball over March Madness. College sports cannot compete against the Yankees (or any team even the Islanders, Devils or Nets) not even St Johns U-Conn or Syracuse basketball. That is why many of the best players leave. They are invisible in NY.
@@davidbrown386 I remember there was a similar conversation about this with Philadelphia sports radio several years ago with people not caring much about Penn state football in the Philadelphia region even with the resurgence of the program there
Honestly that’s what it’s like following a non baseball sport here. Remember the Knicks were in the playoffs last year and all mfers could talk about was Aaron Judge hitting 2 homers against some trash team in April. They barely even play baseball here these days but it just dominates the sports media here for some reason
It’s simple… you pointed out in your opening remarks, because of the population there are professional sports teams. In the major NCAA schools areas, there are no professional sports due to the lack of population to support a NFL team.
That simply isn't true everywhere. Take the state of Georgia for example, specifically the city of Atlanta. Atlanta has the NFL Falcons, NBA Hawks, MLB Braves. Yet Atlanta and the state as a whole is very much supportive of their Georgia Bulldogs and to a smaller degree Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In my home state of Texas, college football and high school football are huge. We have 11 schools that play at the FBS level of college football. But there is still plenty of love for all the professional sports franchises (Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Dallas Stars, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros). I live in NH now and it astounds me that college sports, especially football, is an afterthought. I get it, New England has the Patriots, Bruins, Red Sox, Celtics at the professional levels of sport. But you'd think there would be some love for the local college sports. Crazy how I've seen more people wearing apparel for Texas, Texas A&M and even my alma mater Texas State up here more frequently than the local schools. All I'm saying is, is that it's possible to be a college and pro sports fan. They don't have to mutually exclusive. Along with my alma mater I grew up rooting for the Texas Longhorns because of family ties mostly. But I still have room to cheer on my San Antonio Spurs and Houston Astros. I grew up rooting for the Houston Oilers, but when they moved to Tennessee I couldn't be a Titans fan.
@@samelmudir And? Pro franchises are going to be created and moved due to population shifts. There's no evidence that these new pro teams have affected the interest in college football.
@masterjedifunkolobstah4836 sure, but let's say you're from Alabama or Arkansas or Mississippi. Odds are your college team is more popular, because there aren't any pro teams close. Split between Falcons or Saints.
@@masterjedifunkolobstah4836 Texas is the only state I've ever been to where high school football was so popular. I was floored when I saw an advertisement on a broadcast channel for a high school football game there. When it comes to football, I don't think you can truly be a fan of both CFB and NFL teams. The NFL is all about commercialism and profit, and it shows in the gameday and TV experience. College football used to be about tradition, rivalry, and community. The worst part about FBS football is they've recently taken the worst aspects of the NFL and integrated them into CFB, from pay-for-play and free agency to the relentless pursuit for more money at the cost of the soul of the game. It's vile to me as a fan of CFB, although not quite as vile as the favoritism and corruption of the CFI committee. That the FBS ruined all on their own. Sorry for the rambling/rant. To be clear, I used to love watching the NFL. I'm just so disillusioned with both CFB and the NFL and it hurts seeing a sport that used to mostly be about the game become about money and profits.
Irish, Italian, German, and Eastern European Catholics in the north-east care deeply about Notre Dame football. In fact as a boy growing up in Massachusetts, the people in my town were fanatical Fighting Irish fans.
@@bradleywhiteside5177 Notre Dame is the collegiate version of the Dallas Cowboys, who are considered "America's Team." The Fighting Irish also have support from many non-Catholics.
As a New Yorker u touched on most of the major points. Point is here in NY we got 2 teams in every pro sports as well as stuff like UConn basketball & Syracuse basketball that we are oversaturated with teams to root for. For a place like Alabama there isn't any local pro sports teams to root for that their college teams become their pro teams. The 1 thing I wish u touched on is thd influence of Notre Dame in the region. Many college football fans in the region (myself included) flock to Notre Dame to support in college football instead of supporting our local schools. Its no coincidence Notre Dame usually plays in the northeast every year as they are the only school here that pulls massive numbers (outside of Penn State in Happy Valley ofc) despite it being a school in northeast Indiana. Ppoint is every college football fan I met here has said their favorite team is the likes of an Alabama or Notre Dame with the only school the has a significant fanbase outside their alumni is Penn State.
@@NSimmz I gave them love even as a cuse fan we beat them but uconn had a great season for what a few yrs ago looked like. Cuse is in same boat just has better NJ connects w kids that was gigantic.
This video is spot on, especially about pro sports in New England. I grew up in Maine, and have lived here all my adult life, but also lived in South Carolina as a teenager. It took me a long time to understand why my southern buddies were into college sports, and not the Atlanta pro teams (no Carolina pro teams at that time). New England is very loyally into the Red Sox/Celtics/Patriots/Bruins, and college sports has always taken a back seat, especially with fewer broadcast choices in the last century. After learning a love for college sports, I took my spirit to UMaine, which is mostly known for hockey and women's basketball. I've been a season ticket holder for football for over 15 years. We have a great time tailgating, even though are numbers are nowhere near those of FBS schools. Men's basketball still remains a "dance virgin," but I eagerly remain hopeful that one day, Maine will finally win America East and go to the big show.
I’m from Boston, and college football isn’t taken as seriously here. However many people here do watch college football and support big teams. Some top teams people support can be: Penn state Notre Dame (most popular here) Michigan Ohio State Alabama
Born and raised in Massachusetts, I barely gave a second thought to college sports in general until I went to school at James Madison in Virginia, and my eyes were opened. I barely pay attention to the Patriots now, (albiet they're terrible at the moment) as college sports just have much more history and tradition that intrigues me in a way pro teams really don't. My mom even graduated from Syracuse and loved their sports, but growing up we just never watched them unless they were in march madness. I would really love the culture to change, but part of the problem I think is there's just so many smaller schools; if you're someone who wants to root for a team, they most likely aren't going to be playing at a high level. It's really sad because I have grown to love college football tremendously, and I wish my home state would care for it more.
California has the same problem. Smaller schools like Pacific, Long Beach State, and Fullerton no longer exists. It isn't a priority there. That's why USC and UCLA bolted for the Big 10. Only Schools in the Midwest and southeast actually support big time college football.
It’s more complicated than “That’s why USC and UCLA bolted…”. It’s one thing that both schools were getting out-recruited by Oregon half the time (USC is said to have pitched a fit when the B1G accepted Oregon and Washington). Western reporters have been talking to a lot of recruits who left the west altogether, and the usual messages were (1) getting more attention in the games right after College Gameday, when it’s 9 am out west, and (2) NOT getting seen by most of the country in the 7:30 pm Pacific (10:30pm Eastern) time slot that ESPN and even Fox preferred to use for Pac games. The time slot issue became the primary problem… and that’s partly a function of the SEC and B1G frankly cannibalizing the sport.
@@PCSPounder The PAC has always had time zone challenges. It scattered because the region could no longer support a Tier 1 conference due to other factors, and the B1G was the only option that provided a solution. From the B1G's perspective, it has increasingly pressing demo concerns. The hope is that CA, OR & WA will be a source of students going forward, athletics being of secondary concern.
USC and UCLA bolted because the Pac 12 Commisioners (the guy most recently fired and the guy before that) kept messing up TV-deals. Then 8 more schools bolted.
@@DonkeyYote No... The PAC would have replaced clearly incompetent leadership to get a Tier 1 deal if attainable rather than effectively forever scatter. USC/UCLA determined that the PAC had no feasible path to close the widening revenue gap, determined that Tier 1 revenue is a necessity to remain competitive, and contacted the B1G for rescue. The then 10 PAC remainders could have accepted any of the Tier 2 media deals offered, but they kept refusing. The offers kept getting worse, and the rest is history.
I’m from Albany and can pretty much say you nailed this. This is the crossroad between Montreal, NYC, Boston, and Buffalo. An overdose of professional sports teams in any direction. (Syracuse is our only hope otherwise and it seems they may be on the rebound.)
NJ native here. Rutgers was trash for decades and we have two (allegedly) professional football teams, and in South Jersey you have the Eagles. I went to a high school and a college that didn't even have football teams, so Soccer and cross-country were the only fall sports. Instead, basketball was by far the #1 sport at both schools which hooked my interest and got me to get involved with the team as a manager and got me hooked on the sport for life. The NBA however is such a disaster now that I far prefer college and high school basketball to the pros. Yes I'm aware this makes me weird, but realistically the NFL, and baseball own the northeast with pockets supporting college and pro basketball and Hockey more. I'm surprised you didn't even mention Temple and how they're marooned in the American conference with their closest "rival" as East Carolina. Combine that with the "excitement" of 5,000 fans in the Linc where the Eagles play which seats 70k, and it's one of the saddest sports experiences I've ever seen.
The big problems in the Northeast is 1. Our major schools are inconsistent year by year. 2. Notre Dame quietly runs the markets in NJ, NYC, and upstate NY. 3. It's hard to make a connection with a team if you didn't love the team as a kid or an alumni. #GoBlue 4. The structure of the NCAA is confusing to new fans. 5. The Northeast likes superstar > teams
Notre dame I think has always been new englands college football team due to the mascot and catholic emphasis It’s the equivalent of how the Cowboys fans in Utah.
I work for Northeastern Athletics in the video department - our Athletic Director put it very well. Boston is a pro sports city, simply put. New Englanders are focused on the Boston pro teams because they’ve been so dominant for so long, and have rich histories. As much as I would love to see the football team come back (discontinued in 2008), I can’t imagine the logistics involved with covering those games along with everything else on the video side of things. We would have to double the department size.
Life long New Jerseyan here and Rutgers fan. A number of points in the video are spot on but also nothing new. The northeast being saturated with pro teams is one of them. Also, in the Midwest or south football is like a religion which is not the case in northeast. And, in my observations, football tends to attract a more conservative crowd which dove tails with most Midwest and southern areas.
I used to complain about how Georgetown and UMD could never keep the talent in the DMV I get it but at the same time that's why Georgetown and UMD haven't been good in years But the DMV has put endless talent in the NBA and NFL
Tbf as far as UMD basketball they've been occasionally solid but inconsistent. Won the championship in 2002, had a real shot at it in 2020 if not for covid, looking very good this year
People always think NYC is not a college football town. But on any fall saturday, there are alumni groups for EVERY major program gathering at local bars, and you see school colors all over. Its not a college football town, It's EVERY college football town.
@@georgehenan853 The world watches the super bowl, the world has no interest in the NCAA playoffs or the national championship game. College football is minor league Football. If it is big where you live , where you live is small.
One thing you mentioned, but didn't expound upon, and something I think plays a huge role is weather. The weather in any particular region shapes the culture. In the south, our time on task for football is exponentially higher than virtually anywhere else because we can pick up a ball and find an open field year round. That's not the case in places with harsh winters. It's why most of the top prospects traditionally come from from the same places, and those prospects have a tendency to stay close to home when they choose which college to attend.
No one that wants to get noticed in football or get drafted goes to a Ivy league school. You go to a Ivy league school to become a politician or get into business etc.
I’m a New Yorker born and bred. On the pro level I pull for teams that have “NY” on their jersey. At the collegiate level I root for Notre Dame and it doesn’t matter if they’re playing Syracuse, Army, UConn or Rutgers - schools significantly closer to NYC than Notre Dame
The main issue in terms of growing college football in the NE is that people think if they’re cities/metro areas first. The rivalries are only between cities examples such as Boston vs NY, Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh, DC vs Baltimore, NY vs Philadelphia, etc.
I'm a Patriots fan when it comes to the NFL, and I'm a fan of Boston College and UMass when it comes to FBS Football. I'm also a fan of Dartmouth and New Hampshire for FCS football
BC student from Gainesville Florida here (go gators): My first gameday in Chesnut Hill was a bit of a culture shock in of itself. Growing up going to gator games, the entire city of Gainesville would get behind the gators- there is an energy in the air. Everywhere you look there are tailgaters and fans. This is starkly contrasted with gameday in Chestnut Hill, where you really only feel that energy on campus. The vibes of the 2 gameday experiences are so different.
It's unlikely that interest in college football will return in the Northeast US, but not impossible. And here is the small ray of hope. Pro football is so extremely expensive. To attend a Philadelphia Eagles game a family of four would expect to spend at least $380.00 to $400.00. And that's supposing that they could get tickets at face value and just drinks. By contrast a Penn football game for a family of four would cost $150.00 with drinks and that would get excellent seating. If people could see that college football is often a better value for working class families then interest might increase.
Name, Image and Likeness. Shorthand for changes to state laws and NCAA policies that now allow college athletes the opportunity to monetize their Name, Image and Likeness without being disqualified from college sports. At it's most basic it would allow a college athlete to have a monetized social media page and perhaps appear in a commercial for a car dealership or other local business. It is definitely NOT supposed to be "paid" by any school. With that said it is also referred to as "Now It's Legal" reflecting the opportunities that boosters now have to have a legitimate outlet to pay players without it being against the rules.
Grew up in Minnesota, we pay attention to all levels of sports to some degree... Mostly pro and college with a little high school, mainly hockey. Lived in Boston for 3 years. And was shocked at how little people cared about or discussed college sports. I'd always heard about the Bean Pot hockey tournament, but while living in Mass, never once heard anyone mention it.
The simple fact is that in the 1980s Pitt, Boston College, West Virginia, Syracuse and Penn State all had top football programs. When Paterno attempted to put together a football conference and/or join the Big East basketball conference, he was rejected and his program turned to the B1G. When the Penn State 1:00 program left the East behind the other schools found themselves without their flagship. Ask the old PAC 10 schools, the old Big 8 schools, or the old Southwest schools what happened when USC, Nebraska, and Texas went to the B1G and SEC.
I grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, in the shadow of the University of Maryland. After graduating from high school in 1970, I did not go to college until later (being female, I didn't need the student draft deferment), so I never had that undergraduate, rah-rah sports enthusiasm, either living in a dorm or commuting. Eventually, I got a degree, going first to my local community college and then to Maryland's evening and weekend global division, although my classes were all in College Park. This program was administratively separate from University of Maryland-College Park, so we had no pep rallies or student ticket discounts for games. In fact, if there was a Terps home basketball or football game on a night or weekend afternoon when I had a class, it was a nuisance in terms of traffic and finding a place to park. So you can understand why I did not become a Terps sports fan during those years. Except, I really did have state pride. I learned to hate most of their ACC opponents in support of family members, friends, and co-workers who were Terps fans. Plus I especially hated one almost annual football opponent that wasn't in a conference back then. That team eventually joined a conference, and the teams didn't meet again for a while. When they had played, during the many years I paid attention to their rivalry, Maryland lost every game but one, and that game was a tie. I did follow the local pro teams - Redskins, Capitals, Bullets (now the Wizards), and baseball - originally the Senators and then, after they moved, the Orioles. In the mid-1980s, I moved to a Pennsylvania suburb of Philadelphia. Here, college basketball is king, with Temple, Penn, Villanova, LaSalle, St. Joseph's, and in recent years, Drexel, formerly known as the Big Five and now known as the City Six, forming major local rivalries. Only 3 of these schools play football. Penn is in the Ivy League. I don't hear much about Villanova. Temple's football program is constantly under scrutiny. No, the "local" college football favorite team is about 200 miles away. Remember that non-conference rival Maryland had? That's the one - Penn State. They're now both in the Big 10. Penn State continues to dominate Maryland, although the Terps have won at least two of their Big 10 matchups. I still prefer pro sports. I embraced the Phillies as soon as I moved here, since I had never lived in a National League market. It took me longer to switch from Wizards to 76ers and Redskins to Eagles. The Capitals are still my NHL team, though. I have no interest in March Madness. The only sports stories that time of year that interest me come from Clearwater, FL - Phillies spring training.
You're wrong on several things. Pennsylvania has produced the second most NFL hall of fame players. Pennsylvania, along with NJ and MD annually producing a huge amount of highly ranked HS recruits. In Pennsylvania, the WPIAA ( Western PA ) high schools have produced some of the greatest football players ever, Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, just to name a few. Also, Penn State has the second largest football stadium in the country, and it's the fourth largest in the world. Their yearly attendance averages over 107,000 per game with not only fans from PA, but also a decent amount travel from NJ, MD, and NY. Penn State has one of the largest fan bases in the world. Also Pitt , Syracuse and Rutgers have a decent sized fanbase that's extremely loyal. So yes, the old blue bloods of the IVY league city teams have fallen to the way side, and there is a lot competition with the NFL teams, but overall, college football is not dead in the Northeast.
@@scottblevins4925Pennsylvania is the north east by every one including the government censors. the I95 corridor is a whole different animal which houses majority of the pro teams in the region.
@@scottblevins4925, Of course part of the commonwealth is Northeast and part of the commonwealth is Midwest, which is why it’s considered to be a regional gateway. You could even argue that it’s partly Mid-Atlantic.
@scottblevins4925 You could say the Mid Atlantic, but that's not a region, but a sub section of a region. NE, SE, NW, SW, those are regions. Pennsylvania is located in the NE , located NORTH of the Mason Dixon line. Also , about 20 percent of the state is located north of New York City. As for a cultural or demographic feel, like you would find in New England , no, they are not. I believe that's where you're getting confused. If you only look at it from a map perspective, yes, Pennsylvania is definitely in the North East.
I hail from central CT. Our main cultural attraction to college sports is obviously UConn basketball for both Men’s and Women’s (hell, our “Welcome to CT” highway signs are emblazoned with “Basketball Capital of the World” on them). College basketball is our source of pride and what we feel is something that stands out in the nation. As such, much of our fandom and in turn, media attention revolves around basketball. Football, on the other hand, has not been as big. UConn football has been FCS for most of its existence although the initial transition to FBS did spark a brief period of fervor for them. We quickly grew to become stalwarts of the old Big East and were a rising upstart who could upset Notre Dame and compete in a BCS bowl on a good day. However, things collapsed as the old Big East fell apart the Huskies departed for the new American (partly due to a desire by the school to continue its football program). As the basketball championships piled in on the women’s side, the men’s side faltered in the mid 2010s and the women’s team became less of an attention grabber due to the lesser competition of the American. UConn decided to rectify this by moving to the basketball-first new Big East while stranding its football team in the limbo of FBS Independent. UConn football was already outmatched and suffered in its American days and the lack of interest in playing for an independent team only exacerbated the team’s near total downfall. UConn football has been seen as a laughing stock and something to be embarrassed about for a while now. Thankfully, we have been improving under Jim Mora and hopefully the program can right the ship. We do have other college teams but they’re either FCS (CCSU) or D3 which have extremely localized followings. College hockey is pretty popular with UConn and Quinnipiac being big teams nationwide while UConn’s baseball team is also considerably popular. The vast majority of our attention lies in pro sports as we’re split between New York and Boston. Baseball is a huge cultural draw here and NFL is massively popular (although less so recently with the downfall of the Patriots and the mediocrity of New York’s teams). The only reason why I got into college football was because I went to Ohio State for school. Before that, I paid zero attention to college football and was puzzled by its appeal outside of our region.
UConn fan here. For the most part you're correct. Like almost everything there are exceptions to the rule. I think you miss the elephant in the room here and the most obvious exception to the rule. Connecticut doesn't have a professional team in the state. Yes, Boston and New York professional teams dominate the sports airwaves in CT. However, there is no team that the state can coalesce around like UConn. The state goes bonkers about UConn. UConn is the only team the entire state can call its own. It is the states pro team in all sports. There is also one other aspect about the Northeast that you fail to grasp. The elite snobbish attitude of the area. If it isn't the best of the best or a perceived unique winning season the vast majority wont tune in. It is what it is. Oh, and I forgot to mention. The exception to the rule in regards to UConn dominating the sports landscape is Quinnipiac in hockey. Sacred Heart and Yale to a lesser degree as well. Hockey is popular in CT. A recent development due to UConn's upgrade to Hockey East.
And yet UCONN isn't great much less elite academically, has a small endowment, and never made the P5 cut even as backfill. From my perspective, UCONN may be big relative to the other Northeastern schools, but rather small from the P5 (now P4) perspective.
@tarheel7406 Fourtune 2025 top academic lists UConn ranked as 85 in the nation. That's higher than 6 other universities in the ACC. I'd say they're doing pretty well.
@@antayat123 This story is now 3.5 years old. My reference is the chart at the ~11-minute mark in the vid titled below: "Big 12 Expansion Stats and Facts Breakdown | Conference Realignment | Tony Altimore x 365 Sports" UCONN is academically average by ACC standards, a rough peer of #2s like NCSTATE and VATECH. #100 is considered a minimum for the ACC. An east coast flagship should be better.
@@tarheel7406 Honestly dude I couldn't care less. I'm talking about the sports of the University. I think academics are essential, I mean it is a University, I'm talking about the sports. Wither you want to admit it or not sports, if successful, will bring in the highest amount of money for a University. The majority of which will go back into the sports. However, the University and academics will benefit in the long term as well.
@@antayat123 But UCONN's overall sports aren't great much less elite either per that chart. Ignoring the outliers, UCONN is in the bottom third by P4 standards. Why? Why are UCONN and UMASS so low academically and athletically (overall) relative to reasonable expectations for public flagships in a populated and prosperous area?
My experience has been that NY, PA, MA, NJ, and MD all have outstanding and sometimes great local football talent and are recruited by the top university programs around the country. I attended undergraduate and graduate school at universities that shut down their football programs, San Francisco State University and Boston University. I now live in a state whose flagship university shut down its football program, Vermont. I love college football, though, with NIL and the transfer portal, the game is beginning to have an NFL feel to it. I have been a loyal Michigan fan and guest lectured in a graduate program in Ann Arbor for years and years. Go Blue!
College hockey and lacrosse are still really big in the northeast. College basketball has a number of great programs too. It's just that football and baseball dominance has moved south and west for the reasons mentioned in the video.
Your thesis breaks down when you consider Penn State. Penn State draws top talent and consistently draws over 100,000 fans on Saturday. It’s one of the top of the top blue bloods and has a rabid fan base.
I think the idea is Texas and Oklahoma (combined population of 34 million) have 5 state schools (UT, TX A&M, TX Tech, OSU, and UOklahoma) that could beat any other school in the Northeast at least 4 out of 5 times. And forget about the fanfare that would surround each game up here. TX vs Boston College would probably be the third most popular event on any given Saturday.
New Yorker here, All four major sports and even the minor sports (soccer, tennis, Lacrosse, etc.) have seasons that together last all year long. College Football season overlaps with the NFL, NBA, and NHL at the very least. Few colleges nearby field a football team anymore which also plays a role.
Ohio's NFL teams rarely do well, and neither has won a Super Bowl (Cleveland has never been there). Hence the excessive enthusiasm for Ohio State football (which I detest), even from those who have never attended any college at all. My loyalty is to Ohio, our original state university.
I'm from a College Football Crazy Mid-West state. I moved to Connecticut. There I learned that College Football is just something you gambled on and maybe watched a little to pass the time until Sunday when the Pro games were being played.
Agree lower standards for athletes? Allocate 100K for tutors for each football players?Help discount value of college degree by graduating football players?
I grew up in New Jersey, about a 15-20 minute drive from Rutgers. You would think that being this close to Rutgers there would be a lot of Rutgers fans in my area? For college, everyone in CFB realm was either a Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, or Notre Dame fan. For CBB, there was a lot of non-denominational interest, meaning that people will watch if it was March Madness or a marquee matchup like UNC vs. Duke. School pride was shown if you were going to that school. No one is supporting schools like Princeton, Fairleigh Dickinson, Seton Hall, Rider, or Montclair in New Jersey unless you went to that specific school. Also by me, there is a lot of georgeaphical disparity in fanhood. For example, I know a lot of people who are Yankees/Eagles, Red Sox/NY Giants, Yankees/Steelers, and Mets/Broncos. Everyone has these split allegiances for set reasons due to family or favorite players growing up.
@@marcellocgg, Of course it is partly Northeast and partly Midwest, which is precisely why geographically it is considered to be a regional gateway. You could also argue that it’s partly Mid-Atlantic.
Interesting video, seems pretty spot on. We are Syracuse season ticket holders and live two hours away near Albany. Everyone around us thinks we're odd that we like Cuse so much (neither my wife or I are alumni). Everyone around here are NFL fans instead.
There are still quite a few Syracuse football fans. Most of us live in different parts of the country now. I used to go to Cuse football games between the 90s and late 2000s. The Dome is a special venue for college football when it's full or close to it.
As college football programs expanded to recruit players from all areas including African-American players, the Ivy schools chose to separate themselves in the 1950's. Up until 1954 or 55 the term Ivy league was never used. It was invented to differentiate those schools from others that had a program of recruiting minorities. The so-called Ivies have always used academics as an excuse to not recruit blacks on a grand scale. In 1982, these schools finally realized the futility of trying to compete with SEC colleges for instance and so left the top tier and became FCS. Even then, the "Ivies" didn't and don't participate in the FCS playoffs citing academic reasons even though at that time of the year and beyond the basketball and hockey programs of these schools continue to play.
It's my understanding that the IVY first tried to get back into top-level sports circa 1982 by going after DUKE, VANDY, STANFORD, etc. Only after those efforts failed did they retract even more. Regardless, the IVY is a unique animal in this context. The more interesting question is why haven't the public flagships and notable non-IVY privates in the Northeast adequately fill any void?
@@tarheel7406 I don't know, I think Penn State and Pitt do O.K. in football, Boston College and Syracuse used to do alright. The Northeast schools just aren't as big as for instance the SEC schools these days. The Ivies WERE in the top level in 1982, that was the year that they dropped down. I hadn't heard of any negotiations with Vanderbilt or Stanford.
@@ianarchibald1423 PA isn't a Northeastern state, and PSU and PITT had to join conferences centered outside of the Northeast to remain relevant. Being included in the top division does not equate to being competitive in that division. The closer I look, the clearer it becomes that UMASS and UCONN serve the role of a #2 outside of the Northeast. The main difference is that a traditional public flagship also has the more relevant sports. In the Northeast, the #1s are elite private schools with largely irrelevant sports, so why didn't UMASS and UCONN fill that void? Both are below what I would expect in academics and athletics. MICHST, FSU & TXAM are all #2s, and they all have far more relevant athletics. I suspect it has to do with the systems being too fractured. NC has a population of ~11M and 16 public universities. Those 16 include an original public ivy and a near peer #2. NY State has a population of ~20M. Looking at Wiki I remain confused, but it says 64 public campuses under SUNY; however, that apparently includes community colleges but not NYC public colleges? Where are NY State's UNC and NCSTATE? UNC's mission is to educate the top students from the entire state supplemented by top students from anywhere else. NCSTATE is the next tier down but closing due to the rising importance of STEM and its mission in those fields. The rest are generally regionals to educate the "college prep" and a bit lower student. NY State will likely get hit harder than most from the coming drop in graduating high school seniors. Now would seem to be a good time to close some SUNY campuses and restructure to create a true elite public flagship and near peer #2. I also suspect that the political opposition will be too strong.
@@tarheel7406 UConn alum here. A lot of the issues that hindered UConn's growth came down to politics: the CT legislature in those formative years was dominated by Yale loyalists who did the Land-Grant schools no favors (including the CSU schools). As time wore on and more UConn/CSU alums gained status in state government, this 'institutional prejudice' eased and UConn began it's steady ascent to one of the top Land-Grants in the country. Now it's a clear 1-A to Yale in status in the state. The CSU schools? Not so much. They currently have the same issue as the SUNY schools: the state refuses to name a 'flagship' among them, effectively holding all the campuses down. Central Connecticut State (New Britain) is considered the de-facto flagship but officially holds no priority over the other campuses in New Haven (Southern), Danbury (Western) or Willimantic (Eastern). A rebranding of CCSU to "Connecticut State University" and making the others CSU "feeder" campuses would do wonders for all of them, academically and athletically. Such a wasted opportunity...
@@soulprovidermusic5647 a) Per USNWR, Shanghai, and the Altimore chart I reference, UCONN is not close to elite academically. I classify s "good" by P4 standards. b) While "flagship" may have de jure status, de facto is what matters in this discussion. Based on what I've seen, UCONN can't be highly selective given its available pool of expected applicants and maintain a larger enrollment.
Michigan State fan here who went to Boston college for the game we played there this year. I was shocked at the stark difference of tailgating between MSU and BC. Our lots are sometimes open for ten hours for games. At BC, for an 8 PM kick, their lots opened four hours before kick and the tailgating areas were nowhere near as vast. Wild culture shock to me.
Boston College, Syracuse, and Pitt in the ACC. Penn State, Rutgers, and Maryland in the Big Ten. West Virginia in the Big 12. All in all, the Northeast has pretty good representation in the Power-4 conferences. Once the ACC is loses it southern powerhouses, UCONN will be an obviously choice for expansion.
a) All of those NE schools had to join conferences centered elsewhere to remain relevant. b) PA and MD are Mid-Atlantic states. c) UCONN is clearly not wanted by the ACC, which has already backfilled for ~3 departures.
@@djtrankilo231 None of ND, UVA, UNC and DUKE want to join either the B1G or SEC; however, the revenue gap appears to have reached critical mass. None of BC, CUSE and PITT have performed up to expectations after joining the ACC. (Neither has MIAMI or VATECH.)
@@djtrankilo231 BC was only invited by the ACC because of a demand by MIAMI. BC staying and the old BIGEAST surviving wouldn't have stopped its decline to a Tier 2. A Tier 2 BIGEAST would have likely been better than where things are currently heading.
Outside of Penn State you forgot to mention that most of the NE school administrators don’t put a consistent effort into supporting football. BC and Syracuse use to be powerhouses but have fallen off ever since leaving the Big East. Rutgers had a small window of success under Schiano (sp?) but have had as many 1 or 2 win seasons as Temple. So if the administration wants to focus on other cheaper sports and you can’t dominate recruiting in your home state you’ll always be mid to the bottom of FBS standings.
The move by CUSE and BC to the ACC likely slowed their decline, but the decline was likely inevitable due to the factors discussed in the vid. The ACC only added CUSE/BC due to MIAMI's demand.
@@BillDotree Yes. One can see from the expansion history and other events. I've also read it from various sources. There are some great self-critical threads on those events on the UCONN message board as well. The ACC's goal was to get to 12 mainly with MIAMI+2. I suspect the original plan was just MIAMI and then +2 later. The revised plan was MIAMI and its demanded CUSE/BC. VATECH was politically forced, which messed up things. Why add BC and later CUSE/PITT to go to 14 if not due to some binding agreement with MIAMI? Also, UNC/DUKE voted against MIAMI/VATECH, likely due to the agreement to add BC+ later. They then voted for BC et. seq. because they had to be invited. I'm ~100% confident in all of this.
I think it also has to do with cultural priorities of the northeast demographics prioritizing academic and intellectual pursuits over sports. Educated parents also don’t want their kids playing football due to concussion concerns. California will likely see the same decline in football (if it hasn’t already) as the Northeast did and the death of the Pac-12 is the confirmation of that.
Agreed, the West Coast can no longer support a Tier 1 conference as evidenced by the death of the PAC. That region does have large public universities and #2s, so its decline is more from demo/cultural changes.
@@tarheel7406 Do you mean the most academically prestigious P4 schools? If that's the case its 1. Stanford 2. Duke 3. Cal 4. UCLA Or the US News Top Schools with the best athletics programs (past twenty years: 1. Florida 2. Michigan 3. UNC 4. UCLA
Your assertion that people from the South and Mid-West don’t care about their children’s health and/or they are too dumb to recognize the injury risk associated with football is the kind of elitist attitude that makes people from those areas resent the parochial nature of North Easterners.
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3:02 putting Auburn for the State of ALABAMA is comical 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 yall reallllllllllly hate Bama 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Misinformed and Misleading
Put your shitboots on people! LATE ENTRY! This crapola wins the stupidest youtube video of the past year (participation) trophy! EVERY sentence is pure 💩! College football is alive and well in the entire NE (well, except for Maine). There are multiple college football footprints being left - especially this year. Glancing at the suggested thumbnails I can tell just by the subject that you have been putting out junk for quite a while. Presentation: 🤢🤮👎
Tell me you’ve never been Penn State or the surrounding area without telling me you’ve never been there. PSU’s following is huge everywhere in the state and across the region. PSU has the second largest stadium in the country for a reason and averaged over 108,000 attendees per game in 2024. But yeah go on with your clickbait video.
Maryland and Delaware are not in the Northeast, they are mid-Atlantic states, and Maryland is below the Mason Dixon line.
A discussion of this cannot be complete without talking about the rise and fall of the original Big East.
When The U, VT, Syracuse, and BC were at their best in the 90's early 2000's it was in the Big East. Every week the tri-state area was guaranteed to see these teams on local tv.
It broke my heart. They all left for greener pastures, only to fall into mediocrity.
It started when college basketball boosters in the North East wanted to reclaim their title of the college basketball hot spot which they were losing to the Southeast and Midwest.
So they took the excitement of college athletics and moved them into NBA-quality arenas (as opposed to the 3500 seat gymnasiums they were playing in).
The eccentricity of the coaches made the product watchable from the start on TV, which brought viewers and added attention, which in turn brought recruits.
The demise of the Big East began when they rejected Penn State for membership.
The true original Big East did not have football.
Culture is key. I am a New Yorker born and raised. Outside of professional sports, nobody cares about college or high school sports. Even big programs like Syracuse and Seton Hall, Rutgers get little to no traction.
I'm born and raised in Northern NJ, pro sports is the end all be all here. But, when it comes down to college sports multiple factors are at play. The tri-state is more of a basketball area, plus a lot of people here go to school all throughout the country. Schools like 'Cuse, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Princeton, 'Nova, Fordham, and so on only get coverage when they are doing great.
51 year old New Yorker, my whole life me and my buddies discussed Nfl, mlb, nba.. I could count on one hand the numbers of times we talked college football.. College basketball, a little during the eighties, but college football, never
@@Lazarus132909that’s very true, I also live in northern jersey and collage basketball especially March madness gets more attention than football. Unless Rutgers or Syracuse football change, very few are gonna care up here, despite Syracuse unique dome and Rutgers history.
They get so little respect, you called them Serin Hall
(And not even the Jersey commenters gave af)
@@salvadorromero9712 dang autocorrect
Another thing I think is impacting this is how these college conferences are not geographically sound. I feel like if schools like Rutgers, West Virginia, Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, and UConn played each other more often, it will rekindle a lot of interest in regional rivalries and competition.
Agreed. Just add some teams in TV markets to that list like Pitt, UBuffalo, Temple and you have an OK league with teams of comparable caliber.
I like this idea too, but unfortunately college sports money will not allow it. Growing up in the 1970s I love this for basketball before the Big East started. Holy Cross vs UConn were some great games.
Delaware is moving up to FBS and has scheduled UConn which rekindles a rivalry that was played annually until UConn joined the big east in football. I wish there was a northeast g5 conference with all those teams again
The Big East went a long way in building prestige for these kinds of schools even if it wasn't a very good football conference by the time it started breaking up. Now they're in entirely different conferences: the six teams you mentioned are now spread amongst 3 different conferences + 1 independent in football when there was one point in time where 5/6 were all in the Big East.
Also: UConn is isolated through independence, West Virginia is HEAVILY isolated geographically and both Rutgers-Maryland and Syracuse-Boston College haven't exactly turned into nationally-recognized rivalries since joining the same conferences together (even in basketball). Realignment killed a lot of potential football interest through conference isolation, especially in WVU and UConn's cases.
In New England, college hockey is kind of big. There are 21 D1 hockey schools in six states (like: BU, BC Quinnipiac, Maine, etc.). And there are some pretty good D3 hockey schools as well like Endicott, Norwich, Trinity, and Salve Regina
Yes college hockey is the money sport in a lot of these colleges. Upstate NY too. The northernmost sliver of the US in general.
I am a UConn Men's Hockey Season Ticket holder and I wouldn't say it is big as much as there are a lot of programs in the Northeast that are staying afloat based off donors/endowments. College hockey is a very niche fanbase and fan support is very conditional. Boston College is the only team in the top 10 of D1 Hockey home attendance as I post this the rest of the teams are in the midwest, mountain west, or mid-atlantic. Take a program like Providence College Men's hockey that made a Frozen Four in 2019 and won it all in 2015 and they are selling just under 85% of their small 3,030 seat arena but their Men's basketball team gets crowds well over twice that for game they play at home. My parents met at Mass and go to a hockey game each year for alumni weekend and the big crowds right after their Natty have cooled off (although they still get decent support compared to the average local D1 teams).
I think the death of College Football in the Northeast has more to do with local talent opting for Baseball, Basketball, Lacrosse, and Soccer over football and not the small niche footprint of hockey culture. And I live close to multiple prep schools in Connecticut that get players to the NHL but it's just a very specialized set of kids that come from hockey families.
UMass won the title recently!
Lol goatman I was about to say! UMass ‘22 grad here going to UMass during the time makar was there and they won a natty was so sick, glad I was there because apart from hockey UMass is struggling a bit athletics wise 😂
Hockey also brings in the alumni money into the traditional New England boarding schools.
It's one of the few sports where both the public and private schools have embraced years ago
I grew up in NJ, and went to Penn State. They’ve always recruited well in NJ, PA and MD. They’ve also pulled in recruits from outside the northeast. Living in NYC now, the college football programs most people follow here are Notre Dame, Michigan and Penn State.
Note Dame has always been popular with Irish Americans, even in the NYC area
Lifelong Michigan fan here from the Bronx
WE ARE
@@cesardejeronimo8184 PENN STATE!!!!
It’s a shame they pick those schools instead of Syracuse
All of this is spot on... Penn State is the only exception
Yes pa resident here, they're huge everywhere except the Philly area
Agreed, and maybe Rutgers and Syracuse too. Because they are usually winning season bowl teams so they get more traction, plus good education especially Rutgers.
@@GR37S0NRutgers isn’t comparable they have trouble filling their stadium and student tickets are basically free
@@GhostofTraditionI grew up in South Jersey, Penn State had a huge following in the area because of Penn State graduates in the area and the success that they had. Are people decked out in blue and white as much as Kelly green, nope, but they still watch and follow.
@GhostofTradition Philly area still has a pretty big following for PSU especially for football. Basketball will likely see more Nova than PSU, but Philly area is definitely PSU football.
I’m born and raised in Boston and graduated from UMass. Simply put, when your professional sports teams have been winning for decades and the largest public institution in the state fields the worst football team in the country every year, truly nobody will care about it. The UMass administration severely rushed their jump from FCS to FBS, with little to no investment behind it. Our stadium has the same capacity as damn TD Garden. If the team doesn’t win, nobody will follow it, not even alumni.
Should just stay in FCS. Rutgers should move down. Ivies stayed.
@@MbisonBalrog Rutgers is near the New York market which is a very huge market that the Big Ten got. They didn't care about how good or bad Rutgers was, but they wanted the New York City media market.
@@M_11_m41n But did Rutgers bring the B1G the New York City media market?
Really?
At least the B1G got LA correct.
@@M_11_m41n Yet the B1G only settled on UMD/RUT after UVA/UNC passed. The primary targets were more south than the greater Northeast.
@@PCSPounder Rutgers is the closest FBS team to the New York City media market and New Jersey is a part of that area as well.
I’m from Eastern CT originally and can confirm most of this. Outside of UConn basketball, most people are big in to baseball, football, basketball, and hockey in that order.
I’ll never forget one time I was at a bar just outside of Hartford, and there was a guy there on vacation from Texas. Really nice dude. He was asking everyone what college football teams we followed, and almost nobody had an answer for him. He seemed genuinely baffled when the response was “idk man, we watch baseball here.”
I agree it is Red Sox and Yankees first ( Eastern Connecticut: Red Sox) ( Western Connecticut: Yankees). Then Patriots, Celtics U-Conn basketball, Bruins, Rangers U-Conn football in that order.
It's funny they call them "subway alumni" since people from places like NYC, Philly, Boston, DC, to a great extent Chicago, etc. are some of the _least_ likely to understand how completely normal it is for locals to have a rabid college fandom in most of the country. What's as natural as breathing over there is a completely foreign concept over here.
@@davidbrown386I'm a CT Islanders fan and I agree with not putting my team on that list as it's virtually irrelevant up here. I live in Hamden and go to CCSU in New Britain so it's pretty much all bruins rangers
I am an Islanders fan as well. I left them off ( Devils as well) because they are far behind
A similar effect took place in the Western states where you find that the pro level football, baseball, basketball, and soccer (we have a large Hispanic population) are much bigger than college sports. That said we do have a few powerhouses in the area but they aren’t as big of a deal as the pros are.
I’m from Connecticut and just moved to New Jersey. People used to care about UConn football in the 2000s under Randy Edsall. After Edsall left to go coach his alma mater, Maryland, the program declined significantly in the 2010s and everyone said we should fold the team up. But they just won the Fenway Bowl yesterday against North Carolina from nothing, and people care again in my observation. Is it basketball? No. Is it the Red Sox or Yankees? No. Is it Penn State or Rutgers? Hell no (and I know those are damned serious in New Jersey and worthy of a whole separate comment). But it’s on its way to… something, hopefully bigger.
I’m a UConn football fan too and agree with everything you said. Just glad the football program is moving in the right direction and I’m excited to see what’s in store for them over the coming years
Well man, I don't know if it'll help you keep up hope or not, but remember... Penn State wasn't Penn State until Joe Paterno. From 1887 - 1982 so just under 100 years, they never won a national title. Paterno put Penn State on the map, made it into a powerhouse program, and now it's essentially College Football royalty. If you're talking to ten most storied programs in the sport, it's hard not to include Penn State. UConn could get there, it just takes time. If they end up with the right coach, who is there for the right reason, like their own Paterno.... remember, he turned down a job offer from the Patriots, that included partial ownership of the team... no joke, because he loved Penn State. It's insane but it happened. It could happen at UConn too. With NIL and the transfer portal, there's going to be a lot more parity in the sport, which means UConn could see more talent and compete at a higher level.
I'm sorry, did you mistake Rutgers for another college in another state? Nobody in NJ thinks the scarlet knights are worthy of existing because their stupid games make traffic on 287, the turnpike and the parkway the three main north south routes thru the state horrible during Indian summer when people are trying to squeeze in an extra weekend or two at the shore.
Nobody besides the team playing for Rutgers takes Rutgers football seriously here in jersey. 9 pro sports teams in the area before the words soccer or womens are deployed.
I think good things are happening there with Coach Mora.
Hoping UMass can follow a similar trajectory with our new coach, new QB, and joining MAC.
I am a Northernor who was born up here, grew up in Maine & currently reside in New Hampshire. However I am a U of Tennessee alum that lived in the South for ten years after graduation before moving back north. That being said, even though I was a college football fan in high school & my yoinger years, I didn't get to experience a true college football atmosphere until my college years. And my god that atmosphere was incredibly awesome. I miss it so much. People up here ask me what it's like, and I have trouble finding a comparison up here. It's like nothing I have ever experienced. When you are in a stadium surrounded by 100k+ other fans being loud, it just gives you goose bumps.
So yes I am a U of Tennessee college football fan, but also a Boston Bruins fan, a Boston Red Sox fan, a U of Maine college ice hockey fan & a Green Bay Packer Fan (my family is originally from the midwest).
Go Vols!
Very similar story, Rhode Islander here who went to WVU when they were sick at college football from around 2008-2012!
What up fellow granite stater!
I'm an Columbus, Ohio guy that recently moved to Boston. I'll take the college sports town feel over a pro sports town (even a highly successful pro sports town) any day of the week. Pro sports towns feel less authentic and personal.
I live in Maine, and on any given Saturday, you'd think my family was headed to Neyland Stadium. Go Big Orange!!!
Penn State is a pretty popular college football team in the Northeast but I guess that you can argue that western Pennsylvania has more in common with the Midwest then the Northeast.
How many PSU alum live i the Northeast proper?
How long would PSU fans tolerate not regularly playing general peers?
PSU had to attach itself to a Midwest centered conference to remain relevant.
@@tarheel7406 they had to attach themselves to a conference to ensure bowl access.
As the 90s progressed opportunities for independent teams to have opportunities to the high tier bowls evaporated so one had to join a conference, also TV contracts were moving away from being team centric to being conference centric. PSU put out feelers to the ACC and the Big 10 and the Big 10 said yes.
@@vidguy1976
a) I understand why PSU had to join a conference. The point is that it couldn't be a Northeast centered conference (long-term).
b) After the PSU to B1G move was announced, the then ACC Commish stated he would have contacted PSU if he knew it was considering joining a conference. This means the B1G was PSU's only preference at that time. I still maintain that PSU should still consider moving to the ACC if that yields a new, Tier 1 media deal.
Yankees, Celtics, Knicks, Giants, Eagles, Steelers, Mets are such huge franchises that they overwhelm other competitors where as the south east has not as much huge franchises other than the college football teams themselves… it’s like how hockey dominates the northern states vs southern
That's so true. In my NE college, we were confused why people cared about non-professional football at all. Why would an adult without a kid on the team care about a bunch of 18-21yos? If we went to games at all, it was usually basketball. Our school's marching band was probably about the same draw as the game itself
@@Leoniclesclearly those people have never been to an sec or big 10 game before. The college sports environment is far superior to a pro sports environment.
@@MOCskoden that’s ridiculous and false. College sports still dominate in plenty of places that have pro sports teams, (Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Utah, Oregon etc).
You should go to an eagles game.
@@georgehenan853 Georgia has been more successful than its pro sports, I would argue LSU is more known than the Saints in the state, Florida is in a league of its own with schools and teams, Texas loves football automatically, Michigan has more success history than the Lions, Ohio State has more history success than its pro sports, kinda not much in Utah ngl, same with Oregon… that’s why they can dominate in college popularity wise
As a Maryland native, this video is spot on tbf.
And I wish that wasn't the case. I'm always jealous of what the CFB culture is like elsewhere tho
UA-cam response template:
Start with an unnecessary statement about who you are:
* "As a _____" , or
* "As someone who______", or
* "As a ____, who has ____, I can confirm ____"
@rg1649 ?? This literally a video about the northeast lol Just confirming this video to be true from my POV being a resident here
what about the terps?
also how is Maryland even northeast but west Virginia is not
@@lightlingzooma-69 Football gets good crowds when the team's great. Or there's the odd Friday night or traditional power team coming to town. But other than that, it's pretty dry tbh. Crowds leave early, specifically the students for some reason. I will say tho, people will absolutely show if the team is doing well. But very often, we're a mid to bad team. Basketball and other sports we're good at like soccer, lacrosse, field hockey tend to have good attendance
I went to an Ivy League game one time. I started cheering for the home to hold on 3rd and short. People looked at me like I was crazy. It was really strange. On the other hand. College hockey is a good time up there!
went to watch Harvard take on Yale once in Cambridge. They are much more reserved, and when I talked to one about his opinion he turned and calmly went they're just not a good team.
@ that’s true. It’s not the SEC but it was still a football game… right?
The Northeast seems to have a similar college sports dynamic to Europe.
- No single large state universities everyone rallies behind but a plethora of unis to go to, sometimes people even switch unis between undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
- Lots of professional sports teams behind which most people rally instead of university sports programms.
- Academics being more important to the universities than athletics.
Of course there's many differences too but these similarities definitely seem to be important factors contributing to a lowered importance of college sports.
@@darylb5564I’m from the south/midwest area and I go to an Ivy League. It’s crazy how different the energy is. It genuinely feels like a high school game
@ i thought it felt like going to a yacht race only at a stadium
From Massachusetts. Nobody cares about college or high school football but the same level in hockey is ridiculously popular.
Every graduating class at every high school has at least one or two kids who get D1 hockey scholarships & usually your most famous alum is an NHL player.
For my school it was the Sacco brothers one of whom is now coach of our goddam Bruins. Small world.
Syracuse is a huge college sports town. A lot of the surronding counties follow it too. As for Upstate NY teams Syracuse basketball is probably right behind the Buffalo Bills as the 2nd team. Syracuse also is getting better at football again as they finished in the top 25 and won 10 games which is considered a really good season. Its definitely not like the south or the big mid west schools but football is starting to come back with the new head coach.
Bills football is king in Syracuse and in CNY & WNY in general
@@stevejamieson8468id say there are as many giants fans as bills fans in Syracuse
Syracuse is one of only seven schools to have won a football championship and a men's basketball championship.
@@markhousman8447 Yes and what have they done since Donavan McNabb was their QB?
@@stevejamieson8468 Syracuse is king in CNY.
Born and raised in New York. College hockey is the only collegiate sport I follow.
Other sports dominate the sports culture at these schools. One of the biggest sports events in Boston is the Beanpot, a hockey tournament between the city’s 4 D-1 schools (BU, BC, Harvard, and Northeastern)
While hockey is big in Boston, basketball is big in Philadelphia. Philly has the informal Big 5 (Temple, UPenn, LaSalle, Villanova, and St Joe’s). The Palestra is one of the most historic basketball arenas in the country
Penn State plays at the Palestra sometimes too, both for out of conference games and sometimes as the home team. They play Indiana soon there as the home team.
The Beanpot is greatly overrated as a sporting event. It's really just a networking event for the alumni of these schools.
@@billo6938 Sounds like someone doesn't like hockey
@@humanthursday199 If your response is to me you are way off the mark.
I've lived in Boston my entire life (i even have friends who attended all 4 of those schools) and I have literally never heard anyone talk about the Beanpot before.
I live in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, which is probably the northeastern-most point in the country where college football is huge. Scranton is 2 hours from New York, 2 hours from Philly and 2 hours from Penn State -- seems like everyone is a Yankees/Giants/PSU or Phillies/Eagles/PSU fan (Mets and Jets less so). Noticeable number of Notre Dame fans here as well, but Penn State is absolutely huge. Great area to be in because it's so easy to see games no matter who you support
From philly. Can confirm that College of that part in PA is bigger than down here. I think a reason for that is the distance from Philly to Penn state, and the college schools here not really doing great or having elite players come out with a few exceptions
@@williefaulkeryea I think the alumni of Penn State in the Philly region don’t bring the passion of State College back to the region compare to those who went to Penn state and now live in other parts of PA with less collegiate competition and only 1 or 2 pro teams to cheer for. You have Major academic powerhouses in Philly and the collar counties including UPENN, TEMPLE, DREXEL, ST. JOES, VILLANOVA, University of Delaware, Penn State at Abington, WEST CHESTER UNIVERSITY, Lincoln University, Delaware State and all the other notable colleges in Bucks, Berks, Allentown and Lehigh Valley many of which are smaller state schools which are decent academically and college football school spirit isn’t the overwhelming desire, So Penn State pride in the Philly region is suppressed since many students in the region tend to pick any number of schools within an hours drive from home. Penn State is further away from the center of Philly. Not everyone can go to State College so the 2nd option is either Pitt or stay closer to home and become bitter basketball rival with Temple vs Drexel, St. Joes vs Villanova. UPenn vs the other Ivy’s in Jersey and New York. This is before you even factor in the professional sports culture of Philadelphia and all its teams including EAGLES, PHILLIES, SIXERS, FLYERS, UNION and Minor League baseball in Delaware and Camden, and Allentown. Many of the new immigrants who don’t have a college affinity in the area follow soccer so a lot of the market is fragmented compared to other parts of PA.
@@JeanClaudeCOCOtemple alum here. We don’t have “fans” everyone that goes/went here is more of a fan of the pro sports teams in the city
Uconn Huskies went 9-4 this year and won the Fenway Bowl in D1. They are growing a program.
On top of the fact that their Basketball program is a juggernaut. They probably want to be a full time Big 12 or ACC program (they should be ACC because of their rivalry with Syracuse)
lmaoooooooo the fenway bowl. you won something that john henry did just to make more money. congrats
@@dangerdare4114 right, I think UConn and Notre Dame should join the Acc. Notre Dame is already in the Acc in like every other sport, most of their rivals are in the Acc, and UConn just makes sense for basketball and their football team getting better not to mention geography.
UConn Football was the quickest program to go from FCS to a NY6 Bowl
@@elicook1We don't want to join a dying conference. Everyone is trying to leave the ACC and it'll go the way of the PAC12 soon
It's due to multiple factors I would say, professional sports are definitely more popular in the northeastern part of the US than college sports are and you see the amount of sports teams in the northeast area:
You have 8 NFL teams: Patriots, Jets, Giants, Bills, Steelers, Eagles, Commanders, and Ravens
7 MLB teams: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Pirates, Phillies, Nationals, and Orioles
8 NHL teams: Bruins, Sabres, Islanders, Rangers, Devils, Penguins, Flyers, and Capitals
5 NBA teams: Celtics, 76ers, Knicks, Nets, and Wizards
Also I think college basketball is more popular in the northeastern part of the US and that goes back to the Big East. When Pitt and Syracuse were in the Big East, both of their basketball programs were really good, they were consistently ranked in the top 25 and making the NCAA tournament and then you couple that with the success of Georgetown, Villanova, Uconn and others, rivalries in the old Big East were heated, it was like the SEC was college football. Those were highly anticipated matchups that drew a lot of attention.
Good take. If you start at NYC and radiate outward 300 miles you capture the whole NE region. As you say in that region there are 28 'big 4' professional sports teams. Other than some areas of the Midwest basically everywhere else in the US, 300 miles from a major city with professional sports MIGHT get you one other major city of professional sports teams on the far outskirt of the radius.
Balitimore and Washington are in the south bud.
The south has more nfl, mlb, and nba teams than the north east
@ it’s more spread out in the south than it is up north. The teams are more bunched together than down south. People up north like professional sports more than college sports along with college basketball and hockey.
@ they actually do not the south has 7 NFL teams, 3 MLB teams, 4 NHL teams. The only one that has more is NBA 6. So your take is incorrect.
Grew up in Connecticut and Penn State alum.
Penn State matches any major program in terms of pride and atmosphere for Football but it’s the exception.
UConn Football has has brushes with winning people over, but Basketball reigns supreme. Putting your stadium off campus might have something to do with it.
Colleges in Northeast put more emphasis in their basketball and hockey programs being really good. Penn State is the only elite football program in that region. Joe Paterno originally wanted the Penn St to join the Big East so football players at the high school and collegiate level get more exposure in the Northeast region. Plus, the schools in that region have high academic standards compared to the deep South and Midwest.
LOL... The top academic power conferences are the ACC and B1G. The old BIGEAST was not full of elite academic schools.
I think the big reason is that NFL teams are much more loved in the Northeast then College.
Bingo. Don’t let anyone lie to you, they don’t care about their NFL teams in the south
@yahcracka lot of those states don't have professional sport teams period. That's the real issue. College football is all those places have going on.
I live in the Midwest and it’s a good mixture of both NFL and college football
I'm from South Jersey just outside of Philly and it ultimatley boils down to the fact that with pro sports, anything below it is minor league. Even when the worst pro sports teams are a collection of the best college players. If you want to truly understand the northeast's relationship in sports, I suggest you do a video about Philly's "Big 5" of college basketball (Temple, Villanova, St. Joe's, La Salle, and Penn, and some also consider Drexel). Basically you have the hard core fans, which are entirley of alumni and are also Sixers fans. Then there's the casual college fans, who are hard core Sixers fans but don't pay attention to college until March, when they adopt whichever Philly school that is best positioned in the tournament as the school representative of the city (it was Temple in the John Cheney years, except for St. Joe's when it went undefeated, and then was Villanova under Jay Wright). There's even a debate amongst Big 5 fans as to whether they should cheer with their school or with their city in the tournament, that is should they root against their rival or root for it because they are fellow Philadelphiasn.
This is honestly one of my favorite parts about living in Michigan is that all of our sports teams are loved. There aren't many teams in pros or college that aren't talked about daily around here, the Pistons are really the only outlier I can think of. Theres always a game on to watch.
They’re the red headed stepchild of Detroit sports. They were pretty popular during the 2000s though and are playing better recently
As a diehard Syracuse fan, much of this is valid. For Syracuse football in particular, the past 25 years has been a struggle to say the least. On-field product, lack of local talent, conference realignment, etc. Even though we’ve had blips of success and hope (including right now) I feel a major setback was joining the Big East for football in the early 90s. The program lost northeast rivalries such as Penn State. Now, there’s always a handful of lackluster opponents on the schedule each year it seems- and in the past couple decades, those lackluster opponents would end up winning games. I think the program is on the right track, but we’ll see. Hopefully Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, et al can bring back northeast college football.
In addition, I don’t think Syracuse is affected much by pro sports as it’s not close enough to have to ‘make a choice’ on game days as which to attend. Maybe televised sports, I suppose. But for ages, Syracuse basketball ran this region and had no problem drawing fans, support, and success. So the only connection I can draw between football and basketball is what I mentioned above. Lack of football rivalries, big opponents, and being competitive in those big games, which basketball was.
I can understand. The ACC never really wanted CUSE, and the lackluster goes both ways.
I suspect that the ACC would release CUSE, BC & PITT on amicable terms. Why don't those three pursue recreating a new BIGEAST even though it would be a Tier 2? More games of fan interest. The old BIGEAST model of a mix of football and basketball only members may work at the Tier 2 level.
Fran Brown has CUSE back!
I'm from DC and the biggest college sport is basketball. The only big college football team in the DMV is Maryland. But for college basketball, all those little colleges in DC could field a basketball team. An example is Georgetown. If you want to watch football you watch professionally.
DC is the only city in the Northeast where college hoops is more popular than the NBA and it doesn't help that the Wizards haven't won the NBA Finals since 1978. PG County produces a lot of great basketball talent and is where UMD is located. Georgetown has always been DC's team, but GWU, American, and Howard do have their fans. UMD is popular in Maryland and NoVA has a lot of UVA basketball fans as that's where a lot of UVA alumni live. Lacrosse is also big in the DMV as UVA and UMD are two of the best programs. VT football is popular, but most of their fanbase lives in RVA, 757, and Roanoke, and not NoVA. Definitely more UVA fans than VT fans when shopping in Tysons.
Yup, some parts of the country have a sport that's bigger than the other. Within that area, there are so many NFL football teams college football is just not as big. It's not like Michigan, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, or Minnesota, for example. Yeah, college football is just as big as the NFL teams because they don't have the number of teams they do in the East.
I’m a Big Rutgers fan and I live in Jersey we have a great turnout when we play big games. But if you go to a normal game against a decent team nobody shows it’s disappointing because I love college football. Everyone loves Pro sports more than college over here.
Yup, fans only show up against 6-6 teams or better usually
@@GR37S0N even then, rutgers fans don't show up versus strong opponents either since rutgers has been blown out so many times
To be honest most people in NJ hope rutgers stops with the football foolishness. The administration will not commit enough resources to win and be competitive and after 100 years of shitty football everyone in Jersey knows it. If they stop holding their stupid little college football games the traffic on 287, the parkway and the turnpike would be significantly reduced in the early fall when people are trying to get south to enjoy another weekend at the shore. We would rather have no traffic than crappy college football.
@@bobboberson8297 not true they still show up for big games like Michigan or Illinois.
@@GR37S0N there's too much blue and yellow in the crowd for michigan games to call the turn out good for rutgers, and illinois isn't good enough to blow out rutgers so you're kinda just proving my point
Last week the Ivy League announced that they will FINALLY participate in the FCS playoffs, could be a boost to the football atmosphere. It’s a big turnaround from a sad history of de-emphasizing football forced by not giving athletic scholarships, most of the schools shrinking their stadiums, and almost 50 years of no postseason play
They don't give athletic scholarships but they do recruit and find ways to get athletes admitted tuition free. Unless you're rich, getting accepted into an ivy school is a freebie.
@ I agree but it’s that limbo period of waiting on financial aid and the schools decision of your acceptance to come through that results in kids going with the guaranteed thing at comparable programs outside the Ivy League. You’ll undoubtedly lose out on potential players who would rather try walking on at a cheaper state school at the FBS level or accepting a full ride at other FCS teams.
Born New Yorker(Harlem) living in Ohio. Back in my time, if you were an H.S Football Player wanting to go D1 and didn't want to go too far away. You had 4 options: 1. Syracuse, 2. Boston College, 3. Rutgers(They were trash back then) and 4. Penn State(They got a good number of kids from the 5 boros to play out there) I didn't understand College Football until I went to my first Ohio State Game. Blew my mind away. You're not going to see that type of energy at SUNY Buffalo. (No offense). When it comes to regional sports makeups, the northeast has basketball on lock.
Penn Stater here. My theory: K-12 schools outside the Northeast *have more land* for outdoor fields where kids can pick up the game.
I'd wager not many high/middle schools in NY, Boston, Philly etc can spend ten acres of valuable real estate on a football stadium that may only get used six times a year.
Reads a bit chicken vs. egg to me. Are there few football fields due to lack of interest or the reverse? A high school football field would be multi-purpose.
Smaller high schools are the norm in the Northeast, unlike the South, where schools with 3,000-5,000+ students are common, driven by a culture of big football, marching bands, and cheerleading. Without the "Friday Night Lights" tradition, there’s little foundation for a Saturday college football culture.
@@kkaattyyzz My hometown in NC had a then population of ~15K, which I'd say is third tier in size for the state but perhaps very common. My grad class was ~200, probably lower than average for the demos. Per Goog, Myers Park in Charlotte has ~3,500 enrollment, which would be an exception for the state.
Excluding NYC, the State of NY has the same population as NC. Outside of the City, the claimed land restrictions wouldn't apply any more than elsewhere?
Again, the low interest in HS football in the region appears to be of a symptom rather than a cause in this discussion.
@@tarheel7406 Northeastern towns are denser, with the original infrastructure designed before cars. I've lived in PA, NY, and CT and visited at least 300 high schools in 20+ states. Limited open space, strict zoning laws, and high property costs restrict school development. Areas built later had access to open land, and schools were built as community hubs. It's not the only reason, but it's a contributing factor for sure.
@@kkaattyyzz I compared NY State outside of the City vs. NC. Even if the cities and towns are smaller in square miles, football fields would more easily located off campus. Again, it seems to me that it's far more likely that HS football isn't a thing due to lack of interest rather than the reverse.
From what I've seen, a far bigger factor is the lack of true public flagships and #2s that concentrate the better students and have larger enrollments.
The ivy league killed football in the northeast in 1981 when they left D1a. It's really too bad they pretty much killed there football legacy and all that remains are a few cool old stadiums.
There was a ressurence of interest with Doug Flutie back in 1984 but BC hasnt been a top tier contender for the most part. They had a few good years when Matt Ryan was the QB but not much.
I went to MIT and they have 3 rows of bleachers that are maybe 40 ft wide each of seating for the football field. Of course the stadium, which it's same amount of seating as a middle school YMCA field, is named after a Steinbrenner.
@@DL-fl5ul Old Steinbenner has several fields named after him and his friend Lou Saban. Someday I want to visit Harvard stadium & the Yale bowl.
Boston College Football has an opportunity to be New England's 5th Pro Team, but it will take a significant investment from the University. They have to stay competitive at the P4 level and keep up as college football becomes more and more like a pro league. Bill O'Brien was a huge start, but prioritizing athletics and more funding for NIL will be the key.
The NIL is killing amateur athletics. You might as well just call it semi pro. It's a joke. These are not student athletes. They are mercenaries.
BC is an anomaly. Other than Notre Dame,Catholic schools have given up on football. I remember as a kid in the 50’s and 60’s schools like Holy Cross and Marquette competing at the highest level. Getting the crap beat out of them every year, they smartened up by realising they could not compete with the state schools. They all dropped down to a lower division,or dropped football entirely. BC is still trying. They just don’t seem to get it.
@@jadedequeljoe3283 very true!
UConn Basketball is New England's 5th pro team
@@jadedequeljoe3283 very true, BC used to have big football rivalries with Holy Cross and BU (the latter gutted football altogether). Don’t forget about how title xi has killed many football programs as smaller schools no longer have the financial resources to invest and keep teams competitive.
Penn State alum here. Also grew up in State College around the time Penn State made its shift from being an independent institution to a B1G school.
For the Commonwealth of PA, Penn State is more of an aberration than the other major D1-A schools (i.e. Pitt and Temple). The talent pipeline isn't the best, that much is true, but given the amount of work Coach Franklin and his staff have done to keep Penn State in the national conversation has been nothing short of extraordinary. Originally, back in the 1980s, Joe Paterno did make an effort to get the major schools in the region into their own conference (this would end up becoming the Big East after Penn State entered the B1G in the early 90s), but the inability or indifference to act before that move pretty much killed the traditional rivalries of those schools.
Respectfully, I disagree with you on one talking point: if you were to drive by car up to four hours in any direction from State College, PA, there is an incredible pipeline of ESPN Top 300 college football recruits in that radius. From Pittsburgh to Northern New Jersey, back down 95 through Philly, Baltimore, DC, and back up to Central Pa. There is a lot of talent. As I mentioned in another post, this story should have been about the death of college football in New England and New York State, not the Northeast.
Welp, he killed his reputation after he did that thing
Correct, Joe had an eastern conference worked out in the early 80’s. West Virginia and some others were on board, but Pitt and Syracuse shortsightedly killed it before it could get started.
@@JavMacHer, Who are you talking about?
@@77mdj total revisionist history
Joe wanted two for one home games
Joe wanted more revenue for Penn State
And the total lie that Pitt kept Penn State out of the big east has been hailed about so many times … guess what Pitt wasn’t in the big east when they rejected Penn State
Syracuse, that’s another story
I am a Philly fan and want nothing more than a Penn State football national championship. Have wanted it more than any pro franchise here since I was a kid.
Probably one of those weird Cowboy fans in Philly who just wanted to be different in the 90s when they were winning
Yes Penn State is the exception here but it is interesting that it's basically the only big program in the state. I don't even think U Penn has a team.
@@GhostofTradition UPenn has a team, but they're in the FCS, not FBS. The other FBS team in Pennsylvania is Pitt. But Pitt is minor compared to Penn State.
To be fair Temple is FBS in PA but like Pitt they are closer to Ivy League Penn in football to Penn St
@@davidbrown386 I forgot about Temple. I'm sure a lot of people forget about Temple.
Always love your content Maapify. I'm not sure if I've already suggested this video idea to you but you should do videos explaining differences between franchises like the Jets vs Giants, Yankees vs Mets, Chargers vs Rams, etc. History of the 2 franchises, fanbase demographics, where they live, how they make it work, etc. Just an idea I thought I'd throw out there
Great idea 👍
Cubs vs White Sox as well. That is the the most one sided fan interest of them all ( Dodgers > Angels included).
@@davidbrown386 Yes!
Many colleges and universities in the northeast are known for the quality of the education they provide and not how well they're doing on the football field. Perhaps it's not a case of football dying but of these schools having sports in the proper perspective.
Said this for years. Why not just have minor league football and have schools be...a school?
@@teamrecon2685 You are exactly right. But, those big time colleges love the pay days they get from ESPN and other networks. They would never agree to give up football.
@@teamrecon2685 thats how it should be but the NFL wont pay for it
University of Georgia, Notre Dame, Michigan, Stanford, etc seem to be able to do both with no problem.
I was looking into this the other day actually. I came to the conclusion that a major part of it is that New England has the highest density of colleges per 100k people in the country. The talent is just spread out so thin amongst all the schools.
Obviously there’s other aspects as well, but i feel this is the main contributor.
I think it has a lot more to do with New England universities being much more academically focused. The Ivy League schools, MIT, Northeastern, BU, BC, UMass, UConn, etc are all top notch academic institutions. If you look at the biggest college football schools, there isn't a ton of intersection between those schools and really great academics. Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Penn State, UC Berkeley... the list is relatively thin for top tier academics and top tier football.
Respect for dropping some clips of Quinnipiac Hockey in there
As someone who went to a big hockey school (Quinnipiac, who was briefly featured here) and grew up in Albany with two popular college teams, college hockey is almost our version of college football (though on a much smaller scale.) I remember my grad year when North Dakota came to play Quinnipiac in our first home series with fans after the pandemic there was plenty of tailgating across both nights and a monster crowd that filled well more than 100% of capacity.
Bro, Quinnipiac is a school for elite my girlfriends sister goes there yeah college hockey is big there but not every single kid can afford to play hockey and New England was one of the things that I hated about growing up here the access to hockey once you go down south and you see at least every kid can play football at least once in their life hockey you have to start at like age 4 and you’re not in that at that age then you’re not gonna be a good hockey player
@georgeleavitt4487 Yeah my college roommate of 5 years was from Colorado and played Jr. Hockey before he came to college (he was a year older than us all) and he really upped my knowledge about the small details of the sport and recruiting
I’m born and raised in Connecticut and yes basketball is a great deal for us in the college level but as recently as this year Connecticut football is making a comeback with a bigger impact taking on ACC’s UNC football program and by pure luck and the way of recruitment now for football Connecticut football is going to become a major factor in years to come as a bowl contender school. And a congratulations to the 2024 Fenway bowl winner UCONN on a fantastic season and huge win.
I would not count Penn state here as their culture is closer to Pittsburgh than Philly. Anything west of allentown is very different from the culture of Philly (and the northeast)
A lot of small schools have dropped football in the last 25 years: Boston U, Fairfield, Hofstra, Northeastern, St. John's.
The only DI teams on Long Island are LIU and Stony Brook, which are both FCS.
When Temple was a top-25 team in 2015, they were the main talk in Philadelphia. While it did help the Phillies were the worst team in baseball, the Eagles would go on to fire Chip Kelly during the season and the Sixers won 10 games, Temple was who the city rooted for that year. They had a crowd with 5,000+ people in downtown Philly at College Gameday. It IS possible for a Northeast city to enjoy college football, but especially harder now in the NIL era.
@ I was there and there was a large Temple crowd. It wasn’t like Oklahoma fans took over the stadium. The game was agreed to be in Philadelphia by Notre Dame because Philadelphia and South Jersey have one of the largest Irish-Catholic populations in the nation.
@@fastmover2598 Temple was a play away from winning, too. Safety took a bad route on the Will Fuller touchdown. Fun season in any event. Will be interesting to see how the Oklahoma fans travel to the Linc next year to the Linc compared to Penn State and Notre Dame.
You're completely correct, save for Penn State. I'm a Penn State student, and my roommates girlfriend is at Maryland. The difference on Saturday's is wild. We get up at 7 (we get up late), go to the tailgate lots, and then go to the game. She maybe goes to the game for a half. If that.
Joe Knew
@@rillest75 he did. And he reported it.
@@williamkeffer8234 He didn't fire Sandusky which is what should've also happened. Joe is burning in hell but keep on culting.
UMD was the same for me with early wakeups and big tailgates. Think it's more focused in Greek Life than the general student pop though, and it's fallen off a lot after covid.
From a college perspective the northeast is more into smaller liberal arts schools (ivy, little ivies, and various small schools). From a sports perspective in close proximity there's NY, BOS, and Philly/DC depending on your definition of Northeast. It's just not a part of our culture almost to a point of pride
You clearly don't know what a "small liberal arts" school is if you think that an Ivy League school or a state school qualify.
The Northeast can't support a Tier 1 athletic conference, but it could a Tier 2. The hodgepodge membership of the old BIGEAST and its eventual death evidences this. With no/few big public flagships in that region, the still relevant private schools could fill that void but they struggle.
The West Coast is now in that same situation even with large public flagships and #2s.
Boston College and UMASS are division 1 but they are just not top tier, especially UMASS who is absolutely horrible right now. With NIL I am not sure if the programs sink or swim
@@STMARTIN009 That the Northeast can't support a Tier 1 conference isn't debatable. The region can support a Tier 1 team if same attaches itself to a conference centered outside of the Northeast.
For me, the only relevant questions are why ~and~ could things change. The Northeast isn't defective because of this, and the West Coast is now in the same boat.
I am originally from the Northeast ( NY) and I remember once listening to the local sports radio station ( WFAN) and the host was angry more people preferred talking Pre Season Yankee baseball over March Madness. College sports cannot compete against the Yankees (or any team even the Islanders, Devils or Nets) not even St Johns U-Conn or Syracuse basketball. That is why many of the best players leave. They are invisible in NY.
@@davidbrown386 I remember there was a similar conversation about this with Philadelphia sports radio several years ago with people not caring much about Penn state football in the Philadelphia region even with the resurgence of the program there
Honestly that’s what it’s like following a non baseball sport here. Remember the Knicks were in the playoffs last year and all mfers could talk about was Aaron Judge hitting 2 homers against some trash team in April. They barely even play baseball here these days but it just dominates the sports media here for some reason
It’s simple… you pointed out in your opening remarks, because of the population there are professional sports teams. In the major NCAA schools areas, there are no professional sports due to the lack of population to support a NFL team.
That simply isn't true everywhere. Take the state of Georgia for example, specifically the city of Atlanta. Atlanta has the NFL Falcons, NBA Hawks, MLB Braves. Yet Atlanta and the state as a whole is very much supportive of their Georgia Bulldogs and to a smaller degree Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
In my home state of Texas, college football and high school football are huge. We have 11 schools that play at the FBS level of college football. But there is still plenty of love for all the professional sports franchises (Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Dallas Stars, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros).
I live in NH now and it astounds me that college sports, especially football, is an afterthought. I get it, New England has the Patriots, Bruins, Red Sox, Celtics at the professional levels of sport. But you'd think there would be some love for the local college sports. Crazy how I've seen more people wearing apparel for Texas, Texas A&M and even my alma mater Texas State up here more frequently than the local schools.
All I'm saying is, is that it's possible to be a college and pro sports fan. They don't have to mutually exclusive. Along with my alma mater I grew up rooting for the Texas Longhorns because of family ties mostly. But I still have room to cheer on my San Antonio Spurs and Houston Astros. I grew up rooting for the Houston Oilers, but when they moved to Tennessee I couldn't be a Titans fan.
@@masterjedifunkolobstah4836the Atlanta pro teams are recent additions front the late 60s
@@samelmudir And? Pro franchises are going to be created and moved due to population shifts. There's no evidence that these new pro teams have affected the interest in college football.
@masterjedifunkolobstah4836 sure, but let's say you're from Alabama or Arkansas or Mississippi. Odds are your college team is more popular, because there aren't any pro teams close. Split between Falcons or Saints.
@@masterjedifunkolobstah4836 Texas is the only state I've ever been to where high school football was so popular. I was floored when I saw an advertisement on a broadcast channel for a high school football game there.
When it comes to football, I don't think you can truly be a fan of both CFB and NFL teams. The NFL is all about commercialism and profit, and it shows in the gameday and TV experience. College football used to be about tradition, rivalry, and community. The worst part about FBS football is they've recently taken the worst aspects of the NFL and integrated them into CFB, from pay-for-play and free agency to the relentless pursuit for more money at the cost of the soul of the game. It's vile to me as a fan of CFB, although not quite as vile as the favoritism and corruption of the CFI committee. That the FBS ruined all on their own.
Sorry for the rambling/rant. To be clear, I used to love watching the NFL. I'm just so disillusioned with both CFB and the NFL and it hurts seeing a sport that used to mostly be about the game become about money and profits.
Irish, Italian, German, and Eastern European Catholics in the north-east care deeply about Notre Dame football. In fact as a boy growing up in Massachusetts, the people in my town were fanatical Fighting Irish fans.
Agree. I'm in South Philly and tons of Notre Dame fans around here
That’s a mid west team tho.
@@bradleywhiteside5177 Notre Dame is the collegiate version of the Dallas Cowboys, who are considered "America's Team." The Fighting Irish also have support from many non-Catholics.
@@bradleywhiteside5177 notre dame has a national fanbase
@@fastmover2598 The Subway Alumni.
As a New Yorker u touched on most of the major points. Point is here in NY we got 2 teams in every pro sports as well as stuff like UConn basketball & Syracuse basketball that we are oversaturated with teams to root for. For a place like Alabama there isn't any local pro sports teams to root for that their college teams become their pro teams. The 1 thing I wish u touched on is thd influence of Notre Dame in the region. Many college football fans in the region (myself included) flock to Notre Dame to support in college football instead of supporting our local schools. Its no coincidence Notre Dame usually plays in the northeast every year as they are the only school here that pulls massive numbers (outside of Penn State in Happy Valley ofc) despite it being a school in northeast Indiana. Ppoint is every college football fan I met here has said their favorite team is the likes of an Alabama or Notre Dame with the only school the has a significant fanbase outside their alumni is Penn State.
The disrespect to the 9-4, reigning Fenway Bowl champion Connecticut Huskies
@@NSimmz I gave them love even as a cuse fan we beat them but uconn had a great season for what a few yrs ago looked like. Cuse is in same boat just has better NJ connects w kids that was gigantic.
This video is spot on, especially about pro sports in New England. I grew up in Maine, and have lived here all my adult life, but also lived in South Carolina as a teenager. It took me a long time to understand why my southern buddies were into college sports, and not the Atlanta pro teams (no Carolina pro teams at that time). New England is very loyally into the Red Sox/Celtics/Patriots/Bruins, and college sports has always taken a back seat, especially with fewer broadcast choices in the last century.
After learning a love for college sports, I took my spirit to UMaine, which is mostly known for hockey and women's basketball. I've been a season ticket holder for football for over 15 years. We have a great time tailgating, even though are numbers are nowhere near those of FBS schools. Men's basketball still remains a "dance virgin," but I eagerly remain hopeful that one day, Maine will finally win America East and go to the big show.
I’m from Boston, and college football isn’t taken as seriously here. However many people here do watch college football and support big teams. Some top teams people support can be:
Penn state
Notre Dame (most popular here)
Michigan
Ohio State
Alabama
BC doesn't even let you tailgate on campus unless you donate thousands of dollars.
@ Notre dame is going to play BC next season, it’s gunna be a home game for Notre dame 💀
@ but that is true in nearly every market with ND
@@kingneptune4200absolutely no respect for BC. ND was the home team when they played at Fenway Park a while back. Makes no logical sense whatsoever.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, I barely gave a second thought to college sports in general until I went to school at James Madison in Virginia, and my eyes were opened. I barely pay attention to the Patriots now, (albiet they're terrible at the moment) as college sports just have much more history and tradition that intrigues me in a way pro teams really don't. My mom even graduated from Syracuse and loved their sports, but growing up we just never watched them unless they were in march madness. I would really love the culture to change, but part of the problem I think is there's just so many smaller schools; if you're someone who wants to root for a team, they most likely aren't going to be playing at a high level. It's really sad because I have grown to love college football tremendously, and I wish my home state would care for it more.
There are 12 colleges and universities in the Worcester, Massachusetts area alone according to the Google machine.
.
California has the same problem. Smaller schools like Pacific, Long Beach State, and Fullerton no longer exists. It isn't a priority there. That's why USC and UCLA bolted for the Big 10. Only Schools in the Midwest and southeast actually support big time college football.
USC/UCLA played other large state schools like. ASU, Arizona, UDub, Wazzou, Oregon.
It’s more complicated than “That’s why USC and UCLA bolted…”.
It’s one thing that both schools were getting out-recruited by Oregon half the time (USC is said to have pitched a fit when the B1G accepted Oregon and Washington). Western reporters have been talking to a lot of recruits who left the west altogether, and the usual messages were (1) getting more attention in the games right after College Gameday, when it’s 9 am out west, and (2) NOT getting seen by most of the country in the 7:30 pm Pacific (10:30pm Eastern) time slot that ESPN and even Fox preferred to use for Pac games.
The time slot issue became the primary problem… and that’s partly a function of the SEC and B1G frankly cannibalizing the sport.
@@PCSPounder The PAC has always had time zone challenges. It scattered because the region could no longer support a Tier 1 conference due to other factors, and the B1G was the only option that provided a solution.
From the B1G's perspective, it has increasingly pressing demo concerns. The hope is that CA, OR & WA will be a source of students going forward, athletics being of secondary concern.
USC and UCLA bolted because the Pac 12 Commisioners (the guy most recently fired and the guy before that) kept messing up TV-deals. Then 8 more schools bolted.
@@DonkeyYote No... The PAC would have replaced clearly incompetent leadership to get a Tier 1 deal if attainable rather than effectively forever scatter.
USC/UCLA determined that the PAC had no feasible path to close the widening revenue gap, determined that Tier 1 revenue is a necessity to remain competitive, and contacted the B1G for rescue.
The then 10 PAC remainders could have accepted any of the Tier 2 media deals offered, but they kept refusing. The offers kept getting worse, and the rest is history.
I’m from Albany and can pretty much say you nailed this. This is the crossroad between Montreal, NYC, Boston, and Buffalo. An overdose of professional sports teams in any direction. (Syracuse is our only hope otherwise and it seems they may be on the rebound.)
NJ native here. Rutgers was trash for decades and we have two (allegedly) professional football teams, and in South Jersey you have the Eagles. I went to a high school and a college that didn't even have football teams, so Soccer and cross-country were the only fall sports. Instead, basketball was by far the #1 sport at both schools which hooked my interest and got me to get involved with the team as a manager and got me hooked on the sport for life. The NBA however is such a disaster now that I far prefer college and high school basketball to the pros. Yes I'm aware this makes me weird, but realistically the NFL, and baseball own the northeast with pockets supporting college and pro basketball and Hockey more. I'm surprised you didn't even mention Temple and how they're marooned in the American conference with their closest "rival" as East Carolina. Combine that with the "excitement" of 5,000 fans in the Linc where the Eagles play which seats 70k, and it's one of the saddest sports experiences I've ever seen.
Rutgers was not trash in the 2000s and also has winning seasons in the past 2 years under Schiano
Born and raised in NJ, Michigan alumni. Love my Giants, Mets, and Wolverines! It would have sucked if I chose NYU or something back then.
GO BLUE!
The big problems in the Northeast is
1. Our major schools are inconsistent year by year.
2. Notre Dame quietly runs the markets in NJ, NYC, and upstate NY.
3. It's hard to make a connection with a team if you didn't love the team as a kid or an alumni. #GoBlue
4. The structure of the NCAA is confusing to new fans.
5. The Northeast likes superstar > teams
Syracuse runs Upstate NY, not Notre Dame
PSU is making inroads in those markets nowadays and will continue to. The Notre Dame Irish thing is dying out. I’m a testament to that
Notre dame I think has always been new englands college football team due to the mascot and catholic emphasis It’s the equivalent of how the Cowboys fans in Utah.
I work for Northeastern Athletics in the video department - our Athletic Director put it very well. Boston is a pro sports city, simply put. New Englanders are focused on the Boston pro teams because they’ve been so dominant for so long, and have rich histories.
As much as I would love to see the football team come back (discontinued in 2008), I can’t imagine the logistics involved with covering those games along with everything else on the video side of things. We would have to double the department size.
Life long New Jerseyan here and Rutgers fan. A number of points in the video are spot on but also nothing new. The northeast being saturated with pro teams is one of them. Also, in the Midwest or south football is like a religion which is not the case in northeast. And, in my observations, football tends to attract a more conservative crowd which dove tails with most Midwest and southern areas.
I used to complain about how Georgetown and UMD could never keep the talent in the DMV
I get it but at the same time that's why Georgetown and UMD haven't been good in years
But the DMV has put endless talent in the NBA and NFL
They go to Villanova/UNC/Duke for basketball and the current SEC schools/Ohio State/Michigan/Penn State for football.
Tbf as far as UMD basketball they've been occasionally solid but inconsistent. Won the championship in 2002, had a real shot at it in 2020 if not for covid, looking very good this year
People always think NYC is not a college football town. But on any fall saturday, there are alumni groups for EVERY major program gathering at local bars, and you see school colors all over. Its not a college football town, It's EVERY college football town.
I once went to an Utah alumni bar in NYC to watch the Rose Bowl.
But that is saturday, real football is played on sunday. I bet the turnout you see in those bars is 1000 times greater on sunday.
Alumni groups from outside of the Northeast do not make NYC a college football town. They aren't supporting the regional teams.
@@From-North-Jersey college football has more of a claim on being real football than the nfl does.
@@georgehenan853 The world watches the super bowl, the world has no interest in the NCAA playoffs or the national championship game. College football is minor league Football. If it is big where you live , where you live is small.
One thing you mentioned, but didn't expound upon, and something I think plays a huge role is weather. The weather in any particular region shapes the culture. In the south, our time on task for football is exponentially higher than virtually anywhere else because we can pick up a ball and find an open field year round. That's not the case in places with harsh winters. It's why most of the top prospects traditionally come from from the same places, and those prospects have a tendency to stay close to home when they choose which college to attend.
Born and raised in NJ. I root for mostly Philadelphia and Baltimore teams. Eagles, Flyers, Orioles, UMD football and Villanova basketball.
So you're from South Jersey obliviously.
@ central but i went to rowan
Temple?
@ hell no
@@codewriter3000what do you consider central Jersey ?
Was always curious about this. Great video!
No one that wants to get noticed in football or get drafted goes to a Ivy league school. You go to a Ivy league school to become a politician or get into business etc.
Very well done, interesting, and good perspective!!!!! Thank you!
I’m a New Yorker born and bred. On the pro level I pull for teams that have “NY” on their jersey. At the collegiate level I root for Notre Dame and it doesn’t matter if they’re playing Syracuse, Army, UConn or Rutgers - schools significantly closer to NYC than Notre Dame
Same
The main issue in terms of growing college football in the NE is that people think if they’re cities/metro areas first. The rivalries are only between cities examples such as Boston vs NY, Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh, DC vs Baltimore, NY vs Philadelphia, etc.
I'm a Patriots fan when it comes to the NFL, and I'm a fan of Boston College and UMass when it comes to FBS Football. I'm also a fan of Dartmouth and New Hampshire for FCS football
BC student from Gainesville Florida here (go gators):
My first gameday in Chesnut Hill was a bit of a culture shock in of itself. Growing up going to gator games, the entire city of Gainesville would get behind the gators- there is an energy in the air. Everywhere you look there are tailgaters and fans. This is starkly contrasted with gameday in Chestnut Hill, where you really only feel that energy on campus. The vibes of the 2 gameday experiences are so different.
It's unlikely that interest in college football will return in the Northeast US, but not impossible. And here is the small ray of hope. Pro football is so extremely expensive. To attend a Philadelphia Eagles game a family of four would expect to spend at least $380.00 to $400.00. And that's supposing that they could get tickets at face value and just drinks. By contrast a Penn football game for a family of four would cost $150.00 with drinks and that would get excellent seating. If people could see that college football is often a better value for working class families then interest might increase.
That's before nil now that the players are being paid legally college games are going to be just as expensive as pro
@andymerritt8145 No that's this season not the past. By the way, what's nil?
Name, Image and Likeness. Shorthand for changes to state laws and NCAA policies that now allow college athletes the opportunity to monetize their Name, Image and Likeness without being disqualified from college sports. At it's most basic it would allow a college athlete to have a monetized social media page and perhaps appear in a commercial for a car dealership or other local business. It is definitely NOT supposed to be "paid" by any school. With that said it is also referred to as "Now It's Legal" reflecting the opportunities that boosters now have to have a legitimate outlet to pay players without it being against the rules.
Grew up in Minnesota, we pay attention to all levels of sports to some degree... Mostly pro and college with a little high school, mainly hockey.
Lived in Boston for 3 years. And was shocked at how little people cared about or discussed college sports. I'd always heard about the Bean Pot hockey tournament, but while living in Mass, never once heard anyone mention it.
The simple fact is that in the 1980s Pitt, Boston College, West Virginia, Syracuse and Penn State all had top football programs. When Paterno attempted to put together a football conference and/or join the Big East basketball conference, he was rejected and his program turned to the B1G. When the Penn State 1:00 program left the East behind the other schools found themselves without their flagship. Ask the old PAC 10 schools, the old Big 8 schools, or the old Southwest schools what happened when USC, Nebraska, and Texas went to the B1G and SEC.
I grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, in the shadow of the University of Maryland. After graduating from high school in 1970, I did not go to college until later (being female, I didn't need the student draft deferment), so I never had that undergraduate, rah-rah sports enthusiasm, either living in a dorm or commuting.
Eventually, I got a degree, going first to my local community college and then to Maryland's evening and weekend global division, although my classes were all in College Park. This program was administratively separate from University of Maryland-College Park, so we had no pep rallies or student ticket discounts for games. In fact, if there was a Terps home basketball or football game on a night or weekend afternoon when I had a class, it was a nuisance in terms of traffic and finding a place to park. So you can understand why I did not become a Terps sports fan during those years.
Except, I really did have state pride. I learned to hate most of their ACC opponents in support of family members, friends, and co-workers who were Terps fans. Plus I especially hated one almost annual football opponent that wasn't in a conference back then. That team eventually joined a conference, and the teams didn't meet again for a while. When they had played, during the many years I paid attention to their rivalry, Maryland lost every game but one, and that game was a tie.
I did follow the local pro teams - Redskins, Capitals, Bullets (now the Wizards), and baseball - originally the Senators and then, after they moved, the Orioles.
In the mid-1980s, I moved to a Pennsylvania suburb of Philadelphia. Here, college basketball is king, with Temple, Penn, Villanova, LaSalle, St. Joseph's, and in recent years, Drexel, formerly known as the Big Five and now known as the City Six, forming major local rivalries. Only 3 of these schools play football. Penn is in the Ivy League. I don't hear much about Villanova. Temple's football program is constantly under scrutiny.
No, the "local" college football favorite team is about 200 miles away. Remember that non-conference rival Maryland had? That's the one - Penn State. They're now both in the Big 10. Penn State continues to dominate Maryland, although the Terps have won at least two of their Big 10 matchups.
I still prefer pro sports. I embraced the Phillies as soon as I moved here, since I had never lived in a National League market. It took me longer to switch from Wizards to 76ers and Redskins to Eagles. The Capitals are still my NHL team, though.
I have no interest in March Madness. The only sports stories that time of year that interest me come from Clearwater, FL - Phillies spring training.
You're wrong on several things. Pennsylvania has produced the second most NFL hall of fame players. Pennsylvania, along with NJ and MD annually producing a huge amount of highly ranked HS recruits. In Pennsylvania, the WPIAA ( Western PA ) high schools have produced some of the greatest football players ever, Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, just to name a few. Also, Penn State has the second largest football stadium in the country, and it's the fourth largest in the world. Their yearly attendance averages over 107,000 per game with not only fans from PA, but also a decent amount travel from NJ, MD, and NY. Penn State has one of the largest fan bases in the world. Also Pitt , Syracuse and Rutgers have a decent sized fanbase that's extremely loyal. So yes, the old blue bloods of the IVY league city teams have fallen to the way side, and there is a lot competition with the NFL teams, but overall, college football is not dead in the Northeast.
Pennsylvania isn't really considered the northeast
@@scottblevins4925Pennsylvania is the north east by every one including the government censors. the I95 corridor is a whole different animal which houses majority of the pro teams in the region.
@@scottblevins4925, Of course part of the commonwealth is Northeast and part of the commonwealth is Midwest, which is why it’s considered to be a regional gateway. You could even argue that it’s partly Mid-Atlantic.
MD is a southern state tho
@scottblevins4925 You could say the Mid Atlantic, but that's not a region, but a sub section of a region. NE, SE, NW, SW, those are regions. Pennsylvania is located in the NE , located NORTH of the Mason Dixon line. Also , about 20 percent of the state is located north of New York City. As for a cultural or demographic feel, like you would find in New England , no, they are not. I believe that's where you're getting confused. If you only look at it from a map perspective, yes, Pennsylvania is definitely in the North East.
I hail from central CT. Our main cultural attraction to college sports is obviously UConn basketball for both Men’s and Women’s (hell, our “Welcome to CT” highway signs are emblazoned with “Basketball Capital of the World” on them). College basketball is our source of pride and what we feel is something that stands out in the nation. As such, much of our fandom and in turn, media attention revolves around basketball. Football, on the other hand, has not been as big. UConn football has been FCS for most of its existence although the initial transition to FBS did spark a brief period of fervor for them. We quickly grew to become stalwarts of the old Big East and were a rising upstart who could upset Notre Dame and compete in a BCS bowl on a good day. However, things collapsed as the old Big East fell apart the Huskies departed for the new American (partly due to a desire by the school to continue its football program). As the basketball championships piled in on the women’s side, the men’s side faltered in the mid 2010s and the women’s team became less of an attention grabber due to the lesser competition of the American. UConn decided to rectify this by moving to the basketball-first new Big East while stranding its football team in the limbo of FBS Independent. UConn football was already outmatched and suffered in its American days and the lack of interest in playing for an independent team only exacerbated the team’s near total downfall. UConn football has been seen as a laughing stock and something to be embarrassed about for a while now. Thankfully, we have been improving under Jim Mora and hopefully the program can right the ship. We do have other college teams but they’re either FCS (CCSU) or D3 which have extremely localized followings. College hockey is pretty popular with UConn and Quinnipiac being big teams nationwide while UConn’s baseball team is also considerably popular. The vast majority of our attention lies in pro sports as we’re split between New York and Boston. Baseball is a huge cultural draw here and NFL is massively popular (although less so recently with the downfall of the Patriots and the mediocrity of New York’s teams). The only reason why I got into college football was because I went to Ohio State for school. Before that, I paid zero attention to college football and was puzzled by its appeal outside of our region.
UConn fan here.
For the most part you're correct. Like almost everything there are exceptions to the rule. I think you miss the elephant in the room here and the most obvious exception to the rule. Connecticut doesn't have a professional team in the state. Yes, Boston and New York professional teams dominate the sports airwaves in CT. However, there is no team that the state can coalesce around like UConn. The state goes bonkers about UConn. UConn is the only team the entire state can call its own. It is the states pro team in all sports.
There is also one other aspect about the Northeast that you fail to grasp. The elite snobbish attitude of the area. If it isn't the best of the best or a perceived unique winning season the vast majority wont tune in. It is what it is.
Oh, and I forgot to mention. The exception to the rule in regards to UConn dominating the sports landscape is Quinnipiac in hockey. Sacred Heart and Yale to a lesser degree as well. Hockey is popular in CT. A recent development due to UConn's upgrade to Hockey East.
And yet UCONN isn't great much less elite academically, has a small endowment, and never made the P5 cut even as backfill. From my perspective, UCONN may be big relative to the other Northeastern schools, but rather small from the P5 (now P4) perspective.
@tarheel7406 Fourtune 2025 top academic lists UConn ranked as 85 in the nation. That's higher than 6 other universities in the ACC. I'd say they're doing pretty well.
@@antayat123 This story is now 3.5 years old. My reference is the chart at the ~11-minute mark in the vid titled below:
"Big 12 Expansion Stats and Facts Breakdown | Conference Realignment | Tony Altimore x 365 Sports"
UCONN is academically average by ACC standards, a rough peer of #2s like NCSTATE and VATECH. #100 is considered a minimum for the ACC. An east coast flagship should be better.
@@tarheel7406 Honestly dude I couldn't care less. I'm talking about the sports of the University. I think academics are essential, I mean it is a University, I'm talking about the sports. Wither you want to admit it or not sports, if successful, will bring in the highest amount of money for a University. The majority of which will go back into the sports. However, the University and academics will benefit in the long term as well.
@@antayat123 But UCONN's overall sports aren't great much less elite either per that chart. Ignoring the outliers, UCONN is in the bottom third by P4 standards. Why? Why are UCONN and UMASS so low academically and athletically (overall) relative to reasonable expectations for public flagships in a populated and prosperous area?
My experience has been that NY, PA, MA, NJ, and MD all have outstanding and sometimes great local football talent and are recruited by the top university programs around the country. I attended undergraduate and graduate school at universities that shut down their football programs, San Francisco State University and Boston University. I now live in a state whose flagship university shut down its football program, Vermont. I love college football, though, with NIL and the transfer portal, the game is beginning to have an NFL feel to it. I have been a loyal Michigan fan and guest lectured in a graduate program in Ann Arbor for years and years. Go Blue!
you see that when you hear about an Eagles player from South Jersey but they went to an SEC school.
Baseball is king in northeast. I went down south wearing a detroit tiger jacket and people were high fiving me thinking i was a LSU fan
Did the jacket clearly say Detroit Tigers? Lol
It just said tigers in orange and black
@@stephentrench9488 that is strange.LSU colors are purple and gold. Geaux Tigers!!! 😂😅
College hockey and lacrosse are still really big in the northeast. College basketball has a number of great programs too. It's just that football and baseball dominance has moved south and west for the reasons mentioned in the video.
Your thesis breaks down when you consider Penn State. Penn State draws top talent and consistently draws over 100,000 fans on Saturday. It’s one of the top of the top blue bloods and has a rabid fan base.
I think the idea is Texas and Oklahoma (combined population of 34 million) have 5 state schools (UT, TX A&M, TX Tech, OSU, and UOklahoma) that could beat any other school in the Northeast at least 4 out of 5 times.
And forget about the fanfare that would surround each game up here. TX vs Boston College would probably be the third most popular event on any given Saturday.
New Yorker here, All four major sports and even the minor sports (soccer, tennis, Lacrosse, etc.) have seasons that together last all year long. College Football season overlaps with the NFL, NBA, and NHL at the very least.
Few colleges nearby field a football team anymore which also plays a role.
Ohio's NFL teams rarely do well, and neither has won a Super Bowl (Cleveland has never been there). Hence the excessive enthusiasm for Ohio State football (which I detest), even from those who have never attended any college at all.
My loyalty is to Ohio, our original state university.
I'm from a College Football Crazy Mid-West state. I moved to Connecticut. There I learned that College Football is just something you gambled on and maybe watched a little to pass the time until Sunday when the Pro games were being played.
Imagine living in a region where your colleges are known more for high-quality education instead of being a minor league for professional football.
Outside of the Northeast, there are college known for both high-quality education and competitive athletics.
Sounds like you go to Rutgers 😂
@@bruhbruhhh6592 Except that RUTGERS doesn't offer either an elite or even a great education from what I've seen. Good by P4 standards.
Agree lower standards for athletes? Allocate 100K for tutors for each football players?Help discount value of college degree by graduating football players?
I grew up in New Jersey, about a 15-20 minute drive from Rutgers. You would think that being this close to Rutgers there would be a lot of Rutgers fans in my area? For college, everyone in CFB realm was either a Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, or Notre Dame fan. For CBB, there was a lot of non-denominational interest, meaning that people will watch if it was March Madness or a marquee matchup like UNC vs. Duke.
School pride was shown if you were going to that school. No one is supporting schools like Princeton, Fairleigh Dickinson, Seton Hall, Rider, or Montclair in New Jersey unless you went to that specific school.
Also by me, there is a lot of georgeaphical disparity in fanhood. For example, I know a lot of people who are Yankees/Eagles, Red Sox/NY Giants, Yankees/Steelers, and Mets/Broncos. Everyone has these split allegiances for set reasons due to family or favorite players growing up.
Penn State is the power college football program in the Northeast and can recruit nationally.
Penn State isn't Northeast
@@marcellocgg, Of course it is partly Northeast and partly Midwest, which is precisely why geographically it is considered to be a regional gateway. You could also argue that it’s partly Mid-Atlantic.
@@marcellocgg Pennsylvania is in the Northeast, and was included in this video. He specifically mentions PSU.
Interesting video, seems pretty spot on. We are Syracuse season ticket holders and live two hours away near Albany. Everyone around us thinks we're odd that we like Cuse so much (neither my wife or I are alumni). Everyone around here are NFL fans instead.
There are still quite a few Syracuse football fans. Most of us live in different parts of the country now. I used to go to Cuse football games between the 90s and late 2000s. The Dome is a special venue for college football when it's full or close to it.
As college football programs expanded to recruit players from all areas including African-American players, the Ivy schools chose to separate themselves in the 1950's. Up until 1954 or 55 the term Ivy league was never used. It was invented to differentiate those schools from others that had a program of recruiting minorities. The so-called Ivies have always used academics as an excuse to not recruit blacks on a grand scale. In 1982, these schools finally realized the futility of trying to compete with SEC colleges for instance and so left the top tier and became FCS. Even then, the "Ivies" didn't and don't participate in the FCS playoffs citing academic reasons even though at that time of the year and beyond the basketball and hockey programs of these schools continue to play.
It's my understanding that the IVY first tried to get back into top-level sports circa 1982 by going after DUKE, VANDY, STANFORD, etc. Only after those efforts failed did they retract even more. Regardless, the IVY is a unique animal in this context. The more interesting question is why haven't the public flagships and notable non-IVY privates in the Northeast adequately fill any void?
@@tarheel7406 I don't know, I think Penn State and Pitt do O.K. in football, Boston College and Syracuse used to do alright. The Northeast schools just aren't as big as for instance the SEC schools these days.
The Ivies WERE in the top level in 1982, that was the year that they dropped down. I hadn't heard of any negotiations with Vanderbilt or Stanford.
@@ianarchibald1423 PA isn't a Northeastern state, and PSU and PITT had to join conferences centered outside of the Northeast to remain relevant. Being included in the top division does not equate to being competitive in that division.
The closer I look, the clearer it becomes that UMASS and UCONN serve the role of a #2 outside of the Northeast. The main difference is that a traditional public flagship also has the more relevant sports. In the Northeast, the #1s are elite private schools with largely irrelevant sports, so why didn't UMASS and UCONN fill that void? Both are below what I would expect in academics and athletics. MICHST, FSU & TXAM are all #2s, and they all have far more relevant athletics.
I suspect it has to do with the systems being too fractured. NC has a population of ~11M and 16 public universities. Those 16 include an original public ivy and a near peer #2. NY State has a population of ~20M. Looking at Wiki I remain confused, but it says 64 public campuses under SUNY; however, that apparently includes community colleges but not NYC public colleges?
Where are NY State's UNC and NCSTATE? UNC's mission is to educate the top students from the entire state supplemented by top students from anywhere else. NCSTATE is the next tier down but closing due to the rising importance of STEM and its mission in those fields. The rest are generally regionals to educate the "college prep" and a bit lower student.
NY State will likely get hit harder than most from the coming drop in graduating high school seniors. Now would seem to be a good time to close some SUNY campuses and restructure to create a true elite public flagship and near peer #2. I also suspect that the political opposition will be too strong.
@@tarheel7406 UConn alum here.
A lot of the issues that hindered UConn's growth came down to politics: the CT legislature in those formative years was dominated by Yale loyalists who did the Land-Grant schools no favors (including the CSU schools). As time wore on and more UConn/CSU alums gained status in state government, this 'institutional prejudice' eased and UConn began it's steady ascent to one of the top Land-Grants in the country. Now it's a clear 1-A to Yale in status in the state.
The CSU schools? Not so much. They currently have the same issue as the SUNY schools: the state refuses to name a 'flagship' among them, effectively holding all the campuses down. Central Connecticut State (New Britain) is considered the de-facto flagship but officially holds no priority over the other campuses in New Haven (Southern), Danbury (Western) or Willimantic (Eastern). A rebranding of CCSU to "Connecticut State University" and making the others CSU "feeder" campuses would do wonders for all of them, academically and athletically.
Such a wasted opportunity...
@@soulprovidermusic5647
a) Per USNWR, Shanghai, and the Altimore chart I reference, UCONN is not close to elite academically. I classify s "good" by P4 standards.
b) While "flagship" may have de jure status, de facto is what matters in this discussion.
Based on what I've seen, UCONN can't be highly selective given its available pool of expected applicants and maintain a larger enrollment.
Michigan State fan here who went to Boston college for the game we played there this year. I was shocked at the stark difference of tailgating between MSU and BC. Our lots are sometimes open for ten hours for games. At BC, for an 8 PM kick, their lots opened four hours before kick and the tailgating areas were nowhere near as vast. Wild culture shock to me.
UCONN football has seen a major resurgence and has a bright future ahead
As someone who grew up in New England, it's weird to be watching and supporting a college that you no longer attend or have never attended
Boston College, Syracuse, and Pitt in the ACC. Penn State, Rutgers, and Maryland in the Big Ten. West Virginia in the Big 12. All in all, the Northeast has pretty good representation in the Power-4 conferences. Once the ACC is loses it southern powerhouses, UCONN will be an obviously choice for expansion.
a) All of those NE schools had to join conferences centered elsewhere to remain relevant.
b) PA and MD are Mid-Atlantic states.
c) UCONN is clearly not wanted by the ACC, which has already backfilled for ~3 departures.
If UNC and Duke decide to join the SEC, that'll be a sad day.
@@djtrankilo231 None of ND, UVA, UNC and DUKE want to join either the B1G or SEC; however, the revenue gap appears to have reached critical mass.
None of BC, CUSE and PITT have performed up to expectations after joining the ACC. (Neither has MIAMI or VATECH.)
@tarheel7406 BC should've never left the Big East. And I hate how they dissolved the original Big East just to create the non-basketball version.
@@djtrankilo231 BC was only invited by the ACC because of a demand by MIAMI. BC staying and the old BIGEAST surviving wouldn't have stopped its decline to a Tier 2. A Tier 2 BIGEAST would have likely been better than where things are currently heading.
Outside of Penn State you forgot to mention that most of the NE school administrators don’t put a consistent effort into supporting football. BC and Syracuse use to be powerhouses but have fallen off ever since leaving the Big East. Rutgers had a small window of success under Schiano (sp?) but have had as many 1 or 2 win seasons as Temple. So if the administration wants to focus on other cheaper sports and you can’t dominate recruiting in your home state you’ll always be mid to the bottom of FBS standings.
Syracuse has had more success in the ACC than they had in the Big East. We never even won a conference title in the big east
The move by CUSE and BC to the ACC likely slowed their decline, but the decline was likely inevitable due to the factors discussed in the vid. The ACC only added CUSE/BC due to MIAMI's demand.
@@tarheel7406Miami demanded to add BC/Syracuse?
@@BillDotree Yes. One can see from the expansion history and other events. I've also read it from various sources. There are some great self-critical threads on those events on the UCONN message board as well.
The ACC's goal was to get to 12 mainly with MIAMI+2. I suspect the original plan was just MIAMI and then +2 later. The revised plan was MIAMI and its demanded CUSE/BC. VATECH was politically forced, which messed up things. Why add BC and later CUSE/PITT to go to 14 if not due to some binding agreement with MIAMI? Also, UNC/DUKE voted against MIAMI/VATECH, likely due to the agreement to add BC+ later. They then voted for BC et. seq. because they had to be invited.
I'm ~100% confident in all of this.
I think it also has to do with cultural priorities of the northeast demographics prioritizing academic and intellectual pursuits over sports. Educated parents also don’t want their kids playing football due to concussion concerns.
California will likely see the same decline in football (if it hasn’t already) as the Northeast did and the death of the Pac-12 is the confirmation of that.
Agreed, the West Coast can no longer support a Tier 1 conference as evidenced by the death of the PAC. That region does have large public universities and #2s, so its decline is more from demo/cultural changes.
Yeah cause them country folk are dumb. They don’t care about their children like us city folk. 🙄
Forgot to ask... Why are the best college athletic programs attached to the most academically elite P4s?
@@tarheel7406 Do you mean the most academically prestigious P4 schools?
If that's the case its
1. Stanford
2. Duke
3. Cal
4. UCLA
Or the US News Top Schools with the best athletics programs (past twenty years:
1. Florida
2. Michigan
3. UNC
4. UCLA
Your assertion that people from the South and Mid-West don’t care about their children’s health and/or they are too dumb to recognize the injury risk associated with football is the kind of elitist attitude that makes people from those areas resent the parochial nature of North Easterners.