[DC 86]

I don't think average home attendance is a perfect proxy for national popularity. Notre Dame ranks 15th in average home attendance (and was much further down before they expanded their stadium) but I'm fairly sure they are the most popular college team on a national level. And some teams have tremendous local support but little national footprint.

However I agree that Stanford lags towards the bottom in popularity, given that its alumni base is much smaller than other top teams.

My argument is that perception trails reality by a few years, and that even as Stanford ascended over the last decade the casual fan's (or media member's) view of Stanford was still "great academic school that can't compete with the big boys." I believe that today the same fan/pundit/bettor/recruit would answer "Stanford" if they were asked which team is the top team in the west. I'm not arguing that Stanford is the most popular program or that it receives the most coverage, but it receives the most complimentary coverage at the moment. The national narrative has evolved from "overachieving team, surprisingly competitive" to "top team and program", i.e. currently the flagship for the conference and region, as BC asserted.

[DC 86]

I don't think average home attendance is a perfect proxy for national popularity. Notre Dame ranks 15th in average home attendance (and was much further down before they expanded their stadium) but I'm fairly sure they are the most popular college team on a national level. And some teams have tremendous local support but little national footprint.

However I agree that Stanford lags towards the bottom in popularity, given that its alumni base is much smaller than other top teams.

My argument is that perception trails reality by a few years, and that even as Stanford ascended over the last decade the casual fan's (or media member's) view of Stanford was still "great academic school that can't compete with the big boys." I believe that today the same fan/pundit/bettor/recruit would answer "Stanford" if they were asked which team is the top team in the west. I'm not arguing that Stanford is the most popular program or that it receives the most coverage, but it receives the most complimentary coverage at the moment. The national narrative has evolved from "overachieving team, surprisingly competitive" to "top team and program", i.e. currently the flagship for the conference and region, as BC asserted.