Archived Topic

Does BYU have a National Following?

by Mars · 6/26/2010

Mars

6/26/2010, 7:23:06 AM

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/broadband/e3i14a7e72d3d44c14d9857459ab8a8059a?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mediaweek-News-All+%28Mediaweek+News+-+All%29

"ESPN said in a press release yesterday that the U.S. soccer teamâs dramatic win over Algeria on Wednesday (June 23) was the most-viewed single live sports event in the history of the Internet. Not so fast, says CBS. According to CBS officials, a game between Florida (coached by former Providence star Billy Donovan) and Brigham Young University during the NCAA menâs basketball tournament drew an audience of 1,115,097 online viewers. Thatâs slightly more than the 1.1 million unique viewers that ESPN claims streamed part of Wednesdayâs game on ESPN3.com, during which Landon Donovan scored a late goal to thrust the U.S. into the round of 16.

The problem, according to CBS officials, is not just that ESPNâs audience figures actually trailed the audience for the Florida BYU game, but that ESPN boasted that the soccer match drew the âlargest U.S. audience ever for a sports event on the Web.â Thatâs a difficult boast to back up, since audience numbers from live events typically come from Web publishers themselves, and not an established third party."

BYUBALLIN

6/26/2010, 8:46:24 PM

being from Chicago, i would yes very much so they do.

tripwire

6/26/2010, 9:46:14 PM

You do have to remember that that BYU-Florida game was the very first game played in the NCAA tourney this year. IIRC for at least the first half-hour or so it was the only game being played. I imagine there were plenty of people who were watching just because they were so excited to see the tournament start.

However I would assume that BYU would have more fans spread out over a wider area of the country than your average state school. How big that fan base is is hard to say. I think some of you may be over estimating it due to you being Mormon and knowing a lot of BYU fans at church. Not being Mormon and living in Texas I can say that in the entire time I have lived here I think I have met one other BYU fan. Of course all of our experiences are anecdotal.

stuckinbig10country

6/27/2010, 12:16:32 AM

In 1996, ABC (I think, if not it was CBS) had a triple header on championship Saturday. The first game was Nebraska and Texas for the Big XII championship. The middle game was Wyoming and BYU for the WAC championship. The night game was Florida and someone for the SECOND title game.

The highest rated game that day was BYU vs Wyoming, and I doubt it was because of Wyoming's huge following.

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BoiseBYU

6/27/2010, 1:21:42 AM

stuckinbig10country wrote:
In 1996, ABC (I think, if not it was CBS) had a triple header on championship Saturday. The first game was Nebraska and Texas for the Big XII championship. The middle game was Wyoming and BYU for the WAC championship. The night game was Florida and someone for the SECOND title game.

The highest rated game that day was BYU vs Wyoming, and I doubt it was because of Wyoming's huge following.

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It was all those technologically saavy sheep

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Mars

6/27/2010, 3:46:21 AM

tripwire wrote:
living in Texas I can say that in the entire time I have lived here I think I have met one other BYU fan.

You obviously missed the OU game. ;)

tripwire

6/27/2010, 1:07:38 PM

Mars wrote:
living in Texas I can say that in the entire time I have lived here I think I have met one other BYU fan.

You obviously missed the OU game. ;)

Yes I did, and I will regret it forever. I found out the day before that they were selling standing room only tickets for something like $25. I was so close to making the 3 hour drive to Dallas but decided against it. I figured I would be able to see the game better on my HDTV, which I am sure was true. But, man would I have loved to be there with other fans rather than screaming alone in my house with my indifferent wife in the other room.

snoscythe

6/27/2010, 5:29:43 PM

tripwire wrote:
tripwire wrote:
living in Texas I can say that in the entire time I have lived here I think I have met one other BYU fan.

You obviously missed the OU game. ;)

Yes I did, and I will regret it forever. I found out the day before that they were selling standing room only tickets for something like $25. I was so close to making the 3 hour drive to Dallas but decided against it. I figured I would be able to see the game better on my HDTV, which I am sure was true. But, man would I have loved to be there with other fans rather than screaming alone in my house with my indifferent wife in the other room.

You forget that had you paid for the standing room only ticket, you could have watched it on Jerry's HDTV--which blows away any other TV you could have possibly watched the game on. I was there, only about 30 rows up, and I had a hard time remembering to watch the game on the field because I was just in awe of the TV.

Mars

6/27/2010, 9:35:33 PM

tripwire wrote:
Yes I did, and I will regret it forever. I found out the day before that they were selling standing room only tickets for something like $25. I was so close to making the 3 hour drive to Dallas but decided against it. I figured I would be able to see the game better on my HDTV, which I am sure was true. But, man would I have loved to be there with other fans rather than screaming alone in my house with my indifferent wife in the other room.

Sorry to hear it. I drove over 24 hours both ways, and stood at the game for about 6 hours straight. Best road-trip and football game of my life!

Mars

6/29/2010, 7:04:43 AM

" (The Duke-Butler game had an audience of 557,433).

"It was incorrect for ESPN to assume the Duke-Butler championship game, which was viewed by 48 million people on CBS Television in prime time, would produce the largest online number for the tournament," said CBS in a statement. "

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=130958

http://m.mediapost.com/publications/13/WCGames-563b.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0Asfee46f7yrsdHpuWng5QUpTeVFVYjZBeDItdmpqQnc&hl=en&chrome=false&gid=0

"CBSSports.com stood firm, saying it âhas confirmedâ that the Florida-B.Y.U. game âis the single largest online sports event in terms of total audience in 2010.â This little battle raises an intriguing question: isnât 1.15 million visitors for a first-round tournament game an astonishing feat compared with a soccer game featuring the United States team playing in an event marketed by ESPN as it never has any other?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/sports/26sandomir.html

craigoscarson

6/29/2010, 5:48:12 PM

snoscythe wrote:
Mars wrote:
living in Texas I can say that in the entire time I have lived here I think I have met one other BYU fan.

You obviously missed the OU game. ;)

Yes I did, and I will regret it forever. I found out the day before that they were selling standing room only tickets for something like $25. I was so close to making the 3 hour drive to Dallas but decided against it. I figured I would be able to see the game better on my HDTV, which I am sure was true. But, man would I have loved to be there with other fans rather than screaming alone in my house with my indifferent wife in the other room.

You forget that had you paid for the standing room only ticket, you could have watched it on Jerry's HDTV--which blows away any other TV you could have possibly watched the game on. I was there, only about 30 rows up, and I had a hard time remembering to watch the game on the field because I was just in awe of the TV.

I think there are a lot of BYU fans in Big 12 country; they're just spread out (like my family in Kansas City)

My wife and I sat behind the Buckner and Collie families at the OU game and had the time of our lives. I suspect that even more BYU fans would have been at the game if Jerry and OU hadn't hijacked 80% of the tickets long before gameday.(BYU didnt' get close to a fair allotment; they treated it like an OU game in Norman)

I was also at the 96 Cotton Bowl and BYU fans were numerous there too (in fact there were about 500 missionaries or more in attendance too).,..

on another note: I was at the Cowboys game where Emmitt Smith broke the all time rushing record vs Seattle and I didn't notice a lot of BYU fans, but everyone was wearing blue... so who knows.... ;)

The wife and I have already made plans to be at the Texas=BYU game in '11.

gmj81

6/29/2010, 6:14:18 PM

There are tons of BYU fans in Texas. We routinely get a few recruits from Texas every year. And while there aren't quite as many as on the west coast, there are a still a bunch of LDS members in Texas too. While I recognize that not every LDS member is a "BYU fan" per se, many are alumni even if not "football fans" and would associate with the Cougars more than any other team.

In '97, BYU played at Rice, and as I recall, there were a bunch of BYU fans there, at least initially. It ended up raining most of the game which probably chased off a few fans from both sides. That was the last time I lived in a place other than Provo but I would imagine that the Church still "organizes" groups to attend a BYU football game when they are in town as they did then. There are also quite a few BYU alumni association chapters that organize a lot of the "local" support for BYU at away games like in '08 up in Seattle.

Cougy_Monster

6/29/2010, 11:48:58 PM

I've followed the Cougs around the Nation.

I guess that's 1.

CAFB_04-12

6/30/2010, 12:15:06 AM

If you ever listen to a post-game KSL Cougar Call in Show you'd know that not only does BYU have a national following but an international one as well. Lots of ex-pats all over the world. Military BYU grads as well. KSL has enabled a world-wide following by their streaming of the games on the internet.

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