Statistics Prove Texas Tech Fans Are Among The Best In The Nation
The recent college football arms race has placed an increased emphasis on the size of stadiums and big screens on each campus. Fans across the country boast about having the biggest stadium or the most unique amenities but that is no indication of how passionate and devoted a fan base is. And when considering the dedication of college football fans, statistics suggest that Texas Tech fans are one of the most devoted fan bases in the nation.
Amy Daughters recently published an article for the website FBschedules.com, in which she analyzed how close to capacity universities filled their stadiums in 2014.
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In her piece, Daughters specifically compliments Red Raider fans:
"She classified Tech as an “overachiever” because; “Texas Tech drew an average of 58,942 to its six home games in 2014, earning it the No. 23 rank in the FBS and No. 5 in a stacked Big 12. Not bad for a team that suffered a 4-8 mark, its worst performance since 1990.”"
The percentage to capacity numbers are telling and worth analyzing. Among the Big 12 teams, Kansas St. (106.2 percent capacity filled) is second in the nation and tops in the league. Oklahoma (103.7 percent), and Baylor (103.5 percent) are second and third in the Big 12, respectively, and in the top ten nationally.
Though Tech is not in the top ten of the nation and is only 5th in the conference, consider the disadvantages the program has overcome when trying to draw fans to Jones Stadium.
In spite of the product on the field, the face of the program, or the geographic isolation of Lubbock, the Red Raider fans faithfully flock to Jones Stadium every week proving that Tech fans are undeniably some of the best in the nation.
The first obstacle Tech has had to overcome is the disappointing play on the field. Of the top 10 teams in stadium fill percentage, all have been to a BCS Bowl in the past five years and two of them played for the national title last year (Oregon and Ohio State). Meanwhile, in the past five years, Tech has a combined record of 33-28 winning no more than eight games in a single season, and missing out on a bowl game twice.
Another hurdle Tech has overcome is that the identity of the football program has been in constant flux since 2009. At the height of the Mike Leach dynasty, Tech fans were united as a big pirate crew ready to pillage and plunder the Big 12. Then, Tommy Tuberville was hired dividing the fan base into two factions: a pro-Leach group, and a pro-Tuberville / anti-Leach group.
When Kilff Kingsbury was hired in December of 2012, Red Raider fans were still wounded by the sudden firing of Mike Leach and angry over the excuses and complaints of Tuberville who skipped town at the first opportunity to coach in the American Athletic Conference.
There was a fissure that might as well have run down the center of the Tech campus, and had the former quarterback turned coach, Kingsbury, not been hired, the fan base might have continued with their infighting and petty arguments that had festered for far too long. However, when the prodigal son returned from College Station to lead the Red Raiders, the Victory Bells on campus rang out in a late night celebration where hundreds of fans gathered together to mend old wounds and put aside petty grievances.
While Kingsbury reunited the fan base, the football program has still had to battle perhaps its greatest challenge to attendance, geography. Looking at the number of people living within three hours of each school gives us an idea of how challenging it can be to fill a stadium.
Within two hours of the Kansas State campus are the Kansas City Metro area and Wichita, Kansas with a total combined population of 2,423,909. Meanwhile, Bill Snyder Family Stadium holds only 50,000 fans, requiring only 2 percent of the 2,480,054 people living in Manhattan, or within two hours are needed to fill the stadium.
The University of Texas is located in a metro area of nearly 2,000,000 people, an hour from San Antonio’s 2,294,927 people, only 2 ½ hours from Houston’s population of 6,180,000, and within three hours of the 6,954,330 people in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. So to fill Texas’ D.K.R. Memorial Stadium with 100,119 people, only 0.57 percent of the 17,429,257 people within a reasonable day’s drive to campus.
This exercise would play out similarly for every Big 12 school (Baylor and TCU have similar population bases as Texas and stadiums only half the size). Even Iowa State is within three hours of 1.7 million people. But for Texas Tech, the situation is much different.
By adding the populations of Amarillo, Abilene, Midland, and Odessa (and generously estimating 200,000 people in all of the small towns in the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico), one can see that the population within three hours driving distance of Lubbock is only 1,056,354. That means that over 5 percent of this population needs to show up to fill Jones Stadium.
Plus, keep in mind that thousands of people make the 5+ hour drive to Lubbock from Dallas-Ft. Worth each week, and the statistics suggest that Texas Tech fans are the most devoted in the Big 12, and Tech should be in consideration for the most dedicated in the entire nation.