The Holy Land of Hoops

I found this information on another site. The main thing to consider is that it is for "AVID COLLEGE BASKETBALL FANS" not just basketball fans in general. It includes Cincinnati (and by extension the Big East.) I understand why NYC, Philly and Chicago are not included as they are primarily NBA towns. This is also true of Washington but surely other BE cities might be qualified. Perhaps it is because many of our schools are not in major markets. PC and Creighton are in much smaller DMA's but they list Indy (home of Butler) which is a major market.

http://www.scarborough.com/services/con ... hts/sports
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/n ... -fans.html

Top U.S. Markets for Avid College Basketball Fans
% Avid College Basketball Fans
Note: Avid college basketball fans are age 18 or over who describe themselves as "avid basketball fans" per the article.

Rank DMA

1 Louisville DMA 44%
2 Lexington DMA 42%
3 Syracuse DMA 29%
4 Kansas City DMA 24%
5 Raleigh/Durham DMA 23%
6 Memphis DMA 22%
7 Indianapolis DMA 21%
8 Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem DMA 20%
9 Cincinnati DMA 19%
10 Des Moines/Ames DMA 19%
11 Columbus DMA 19%
12 Charlotte DMA 19%
13 Richmond/Petersburg DMA 18%
14 Hartford/New Haven DMA 17%
15 Tucson DMA 17%

Comments please

Did you subscribe to that service to get the listing? If not, could you link the listing direct? Thanks.

paulxu wrote:Did you subscribe to that service to get the listing? If not, could you link the listing direct? Thanks.

Try this it should work for you. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/n ... -fans.html

But isn't it more about absolute numbers than percentages?

I may be a bit biased, but overall I bet Indy is the top sports market in the nation. Basketball + Football + Racing (both IndyCar & NASCAR) really carry this town. If you counted the number of TV & Radio stations doing high school games too, it would probably blow away the rest of the country.

Major sporting events have noticed (i.e. Super Bowl / NCAA Football Championship (possible) / NCAA Final Four contract / Indianapolis Motor Speedway events)

I work for a mid-sized radio station - the school we cover the most, we do every game of football and basketball (boys and girls). Most nights of football and boys basketball, there are a minimum of 2 radio stations covering.

Yea, not sure how Indy isn't at the top of this list. No question it has to be the most sports centric city overall (its widely documented that amateur and professional sports have shaped the local economy for 30+ years).
Obviously basketball is synonymous with Indiana, especially between HS and college.

Xavier is lucky to be so close, yet just far enough away to benefit...

butlerguy03 wrote:I may be a bit biased, but overall I bet Indy is the top sports market in the nation. Basketball + Football + Racing (both IndyCar & NASCAR) really carry this town. If you counted the number of TV & Radio stations doing high school games too, it would probably blow away the rest of the country.

Major sporting events have noticed (i.e. Super Bowl / NCAA Football Championship (possible) / NCAA Final Four contract / Indianapolis Motor Speedway events)

I work for a mid-sized radio station - the school we cover the most, we do every game of football and basketball (boys and girls). Most nights of football and boys basketball, there are a minimum of 2 radio stations covering.

I certainly can't disagree with your statement. That's why we have what's called "Hoosier Hysteria" wrapped around basketball.

Perhaps one of the more telling signs of Indiana basketball at the high school level is the number of large basketball gymnasiums in the state. A few years ago Indiana boasted nine of the ten largest high school gyms in the country. Seventeen venues in Indiana have a capacity of over 6,000, the largest being the New Castle Fieldhouse, seating 9,325.

Maybe the highlight of post-Milan high school basketball in Indiana was the 1990 State Championship game, in which the paid attendance was over 40,000 fans. This phenomenal turnout of fans who witnessed Damon Bailey's Bedford-North Lawrence Stars win the State Championship stands as the largest crowd ever to witness a high school basketball game.

But unfortunately interest in high school hoops is not what it was 3 decades ago. When the brain trust divided the state schools into classes, interest started to slip. In the old days Hinkle and then Conseco were packed for even semi-state action. Not so much anymore.

As we know, with reportedly 7th most avid market is comprised of IU fans, Purdue fans, Butler fans and Notre Dame fans. My uneducated guess is that the order listed would be the pecking list, with maybe ND and BU interchangeable.

anXUfan wrote:But isn't it more about absolute numbers than percentages?

That's for sure for the advertisers. 10 % of New York is a hell of a lot more people than 42 % of Lexington.

Hmmmm....after listening to all the UD fans here, I expected Dayton to be 100%.