I find it humorous that we have this debate over and over. Northwestern is what it is when it comes to student interest in athletics and local support (including alumni). NU has 8,000 undergrads. Rutgers has nearly 50,000 at their main campus (and over 70,000 across their three campuses). Rutgers has over 250,000 alumni who live in New Jersey. Using just undergrads from NU, it would takes us 125 years to generate 250,000 alumni regardless of location.
Let’s say you have 10% student interest in the basketball team (probably overstated, but why not). 10% of Rutgers undergrads would fill 63% of Welsh Ryan Arena.