How many Nebraska fans are there?
- Thread starter AATB
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The definition of fan will be very important in this scenario. Let's start by defining a fan as someone who watches the Huskers play on TV. The Foster Farms Bowl drew just over 4 million viewers. Not a horrible number, but not world beating. So then if you assume maybe some "fans" had tuned out because the team had a poor record, and also have to assume that a decent portion of those viewers are actually UCLA fans.
I'm going to use an educated estimate and say that there are likely 5 million "potential" Nebraska fans in the world but those are certainly not the most active or passionate fans.
I'm going to use an educated estimate and say that there are likely 5 million "potential" Nebraska fans in the world but those are certainly not the most active or passionate fans.
it's higher than that. i still find husker fans in the weirdest places and it's 15 years since we've been good.
I think a couple billion, deep down, are Nebraska fans.
worldwide? easily.
there's probably 5 just in a 250 mile radius around nebraska (which includes denver, kc, minneapolis and st louis).
there's a radio station in seattle that carries husker games. think about that one a second.
I'm thinking it's closer to eleventy-five million. Maybe even closer to eleventy-nine million.
There are radio stations that will do most anything if they are paid to air it. Chicago alumni association used to pay a radio station there to play Husker games too.
If there are so many fans, why aren't they all tuning into the games on TV?
Do you know the population of EVERY person in the state of Nebraska? 1.8 million.
I was kinda just swagging my estimate at first but I'm starting to think it's a pretty good estimate now.
Here is an article I googled. I am extremely surprised at the number of ISU fans in the Omaha TV market. http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ege-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/?_r=0
You are forgetting about... Bars. There is no possible way to know how many Nebraska fans their are by TV viewer for a couple of very big reasons
I could have the game on at my house, and have 20 people over who are all fans of nebraska... that is one TV, but 20 fans... then you have to think about bars, and although the rating may say a Bar TV is worth more than one viewer in the ratings. There is no way it could be accurate!
Also you have to take into account fans of the other team, ANTI Nebraska fans turning in rooting for them to lose ect...
I'm going to say somewhere closer to 25 Million Nebraska fans
this. plus worldwide there's a lot more than you think. for about a decade in there nebraska was a huge name and people around the world had heard of husker football. they're not all dead yet.
if you want to dilute it down to "passionate" fans it's probably in the 2-3 million range. but if you throw in the more casual variety the number is pretty big. 25 million was the number in my head and this guy said it before me.
i'm very aware. i grew up there and own a home here. so what? you have to have a big enough fan base to have a radio station broadcast your games. having lived in the seattle area i'd say there's probably between 50,000 in that area alone -- and i don't think i'm exaggerating. they've got a bar filled with 500 of them called the lucky 7 in kirkland every football saturday and it's not all the same people every week.
once again -- minneapolis, denver, kansas city and st louis are all in a 250 mile radius and the total people is significantly higher. there's hordes of nebraska fans in colorado, missouri and minnesota.
there's a LOT of fans worldwide. you can believe that or not, doesn't really bother me either way.
heck, i'll throw another one out there. ask barry switzer the strangest place he's met a bunch of nebraska fans. I'll bet you he says something similar to the Sistine Chapel.
(ok, to be slightly fair, i loaded that last statement a bit... my brother met barry switzer at the sistine chapel -- yes, really -- but the point stands... we're bloody everywhere).
25 million NEBRASKA fans?? Are you serious? You're saying that approximately 10% (little under) of the US population is a fan of Nebraska football? Once again, let me bring some facts to narrow this down. There are 1.8 million people in ALL of Nebraska. Let's assume (generously) that half of the state is a fan of the team. That's 900,000. The numbers will never get you even close to 25 million. Let's say a city like Chicago (a fairly prominent location for Nebraskans to migrate) has 25,000 fans (that is a mass stretch in my opinion) - you're saying you have to have 100 Chicagos just to get another 2.5 million fans. It just doesn't add up.
I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer here, but the mere thought that "because I've seen fans in places you'd never guess" doesn't mean we're talking about millions of fans.
For the record, I live in New York, and when Nebraska played at Rutgers, Husker fans filled up two bars and had a nice presence at the game, but we're still talking THOUSANDS not tens of thousands and certainly not one hundred thousand. The math simply doesn't add up.
I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer here, but the mere thought that "because I've seen fans in places you'd never guess" doesn't mean we're talking about millions of fans.
For the record, I live in New York, and when Nebraska played at Rutgers, Husker fans filled up two bars and had a nice presence at the game, but we're still talking THOUSANDS not tens of thousands and certainly not one hundred thousand. The math simply doesn't add up.
you're making an assumption that fans are limited to US soil.
that assumption is so far beyond mistaken i don't know where to start.
You use great terms like "hordes" and "big enough" that aren't specific. Let's take your example though - and let's call "hordes" of fans 100,000 (even though there is zero percent chance those numbers are possible.) Let's say there are 100,000 fans in Denver, Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago. That is 500,000 fans. Let's take your 50,000 fans in Seattle (again, a number that is pulled out of the air based on 500 that pack a bar - and not all the same people!) So let's assume there are 10 other cities outside the midwest that each have 50,000 fans - that is another 500,000. Add those together, that's a million fans. Add EVERY person in the state of Nebraska as a fan, now we're at 2.8 million fans. Don't you see how the odds get really tough to reach 10 million, let alone the crazy estimate of 25 million?
I love Nebraska. I'm a fan. But let's be reasonable here.
Let's use one other example - even you must admit that there are National brands that have more fans than Nebraska,right? Notre Dame? Ohio State? Michigan? USC? Those at least are the blue bloods. So if Nebraska has 10 or 25 million, each of those schools must have 15 or 30? We run out of people in the country to cover each of these teams.
Maybe I'm being trolled and don't even know it.
Yes. I have a friend in China who is a Nebraska fan. I have some others in London who are Husker fans. Do you think there's a MILLION Husker fans outside the US? I just don't understand this thinking. I think I am being trolled.
i'm counting casual fans... i already said 2-3 million passionate ones... you're not being trolled, you're just not realizing how many people there are worldwide who get caught up in american sports for various reasons and who pick their team for even more random ones.
25 million isn't a stretch. it might be high, but it's not like i'm sitting here pulling out 100 million or something utterly ridiculous.
how many wives are "husker fans" simply because their husband is insane? it adds up a lot faster than you'd think at first glance.
25 million isn't a stretch. it might be high, but it's not like i'm sitting here pulling out 100 million or something utterly ridiculous.
how many wives are "husker fans" simply because their husband is insane? it adds up a lot faster than you'd think at first glance.
There are a whole lot more in Southeast Asia now with Mike Roley I can tell you that much. Nebraska is becoming a global brand
About half of the engineers I work with are ISU grads. There are more alumni here than you would think. And I'm pretty sure most of them are engineers!