NJDuck Moderator No. 1 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Wait until you read this! Dubious indeed! Fandom in college football is sometimes a touchy subject. There are teams that you love more than anything in the world and teams that you hate with a fiery passion. Despite the passionate feelings, there is often a sense of respect between groups, though. Even college football fans who can’t stand the Oregon Ducks acknowledge that the team in Eugene is popular. It doesn’t matter how much you despise the green and yellow, it’s hard to deny that with the uniforms, the connection to Nike, and the rise to national prominence over the past couple of decades, the group of individuals that call themselves Oregon fans has grown exponentially. However, a recent study that was done by SBRNet and analyzed by AL.com has a different view. The study uses polling data from the marketing research firm in partnership with the Center for Sports Analytics at Samford University, working to find out which schools in the nation have the largest fanbases for college football programs. According to the study, Oregon doesn’t have a top-10 fanbase; nor do they have a top-20 fanbase, when looking at size. Somehow, the study conducted by SBRNet determines that the Ducks have the 37th largest fanbase in the nation — which ranks sixth in the Pac-12 conference alone — boasting just a total of 921,746 fans. For reference, the No. 1 fanbase per the study is Ohio State, with a number of 6,151,180. You can see why we are dubious about the data. Oregon Football: New study shows questionable view of Ducks fanbase DUCKSWIRE.USATODAY.COM Oregon’s fanbase is how big? A new study claims that the Ducks have a way smaller following than you might think. We respectfully disagree. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augduck No. 2 Share Posted July 21, 2023 In the famoous words of Albert Einstein: Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastBayDuckDad Moderator No. 3 Share Posted July 21, 2023 A nice treatise on why statistics are deceiving. Here's the one statistic that really matters: How many 4 and 5 star recruits say "I grew up a Rutgers/Georgia Tech/Duke (insert school with bigger fanbase sited by this study) football fan and would rather get an an offer from them instead of Oregon"? 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kamikaze Kid Moderator No. 4 Share Posted July 21, 2023 According to these numbers, it looks like the only folks interested in the Ducks are a few Oregonians and a bunch of 4-5 star recruits. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 5 Share Posted July 21, 2023 It always amazes me how Oregon seems to have a target on its back for many out there. Again...when millions more Pac-12 and Oregon fans get access to all conference sports via streaming--even the distorted numbers of this analysis written will change. The Ducks will be just fine. 3 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 6 Share Posted July 21, 2023 On 7/21/2023 at 10:46 AM, Charles Fischer said: It always amazes me how Oregon seems to have a target on its back for many out there. Again...when millions more Pac-12 and Oregon fans get access to all conference sports via streaming--even the distorted numbers of this analysis written will change. The Ducks will be just fine. It will be interesting to see if Oregon's narrative changes when the LA teams are out of the conference. I feel it's USC bias and hate for Oregon that is leaning through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie No. 7 Share Posted July 21, 2023 “Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” Mark Twain 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanLduck No. 8 Share Posted July 21, 2023 This is so funny! The Beavers higher than the Ducks?!? They aren't even more popular within their own state! This says a lot about the accuracy of this poll. If it was basketball, maybe. But football, no way! The only caveat might be that Oregon fans are not as over the top "fanatical" as say, SEC fans. But Duke? Rutgers? Cal?!! LMAO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountryProf No. 9 Share Posted July 21, 2023 So, the "study" was "conducted" by Al.com (an Alabama "news" site) and a marketing research company (were they hired to market Alabama's brand?). I couldn't find any reference to the survey methodology used (how was it conducted, what was the sample size, what cities/towns/states were included in the sample, etc.--all points already made by smart Duck fans on this thread). I thought that the claim that UCLA was the most popular team in the western half of the US was especially laughable. I grew up in Oregon, but graduated from UCLA. Even I am not a UCLA fan. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudslide No. 10 Share Posted July 21, 2023 (edited) On 7/21/2023 at 2:48 PM, CountryProf said: So, the "study" was "conducted" by Al.com (an Alabama "news" site) and a marketing research company (were they hired to market Alabama's brand?). I couldn't find any reference to the survey methodology used (how was it conducted, what was the sample size, what cities/towns/states were included in the sample, etc.--all points already made by smart Duck fans on this thread). I thought that the claim that UCLA was the most popular team in the western half of the US was especially laughable. I grew up in Oregon, but graduated from UCLA. Even I am not a UCLA fan. I went to Cal, and not only am I not a Cal fan, but I also don't know anyone who attended Cal who are Cal fans ... or for that matter, anyone at all who is a Cal fan. I wonder how much this "research team" was paid. Hmmmm.............. Edited July 21, 2023 by Mudslide 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven A Moderator No. 11 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Proves the point that statistics show 87% of all statistics are meaningless. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 12 Share Posted July 21, 2023 You bet; I know that it is 100% right about half the time! Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
