[SamuelMcF]

The interesting thing is that it's not like there aren't major cities in the Southeast (Atlanta, New Orleans, etc.), it's that the SEC schools are not located in them.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-fo...tion-size/

The largest population centers in the SEC — Nashville and Lexington — also represent the programs with the lowest average attendance at football games. Go figure.

Similar story (outside of Ohio State in Columbus and Northwestern which is close enough to Chicago to count) in the BigTen.

BC

Nashville has the Tennessee Titans and a similar array of fun things to do (being the home of country music and all), plus Vandy is a prestigious private school with a very similar small undergrad size to Stanford's and it isn't great at football anyways. Kentucky is a basketball blue blood. AFAIK they, like Indiana, Duke, Kansas, Syracuse, and even UNC to an extent, don't really care about the football team since the hoops squad is the main event in town. One of my friends who went to Indiana for undergrad told me her sorority would tailgate a football game, then go home and nap through the game to prepare for their nights out. Lol.

Re: Northwestern, see Vandy above. Re: Ohio State, note that there are no NFL, MLB, or NBA teams in Columbus. It is the second most populous city in the country without a "Big 3" sports team, after San Jose...which isn't exactly home to a collegiate blue blood.

[SamuelMcF]

The interesting thing is that it's not like there aren't major cities in the Southeast (Atlanta, New Orleans, etc.), it's that the SEC schools are not located in them.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-fo...tion-size/

The largest population centers in the SEC — Nashville and Lexington — also represent the programs with the lowest average attendance at football games. Go figure.

Similar story (outside of Ohio State in Columbus and Northwestern which is close enough to Chicago to count) in the BigTen.

BC

Nashville has the Tennessee Titans and a similar array of fun things to do (being the home of country music and all), plus Vandy is a prestigious private school with a very similar small undergrad size to Stanford's and it isn't great at football anyways. Kentucky is a basketball blue blood. AFAIK they, like Indiana, Duke, Kansas, Syracuse, and even UNC to an extent, don't really care about the football team since the hoops squad is the main event in town. One of my friends who went to Indiana for undergrad told me her sorority would tailgate a football game, then go home and nap through the game to prepare for their nights out. Lol.

Re: Northwestern, see Vandy above. Re: Ohio State, note that there are no NFL, MLB, or NBA teams in Columbus. It is the second most populous city in the country without a "Big 3" sports team, after San Jose...which isn't exactly home to a collegiate blue blood.