(10-15-2023, 10:19 PM)JeffInCorvallis Wrote: Stanford and Cal have a big leg up not being located in Pullman or Corvallis (yes, that's where I live) but neither seems willing or capable of taking advantage.What advantage? Competing with pro teams would mean spending NFL level money for publicity. Top headline tonight on both SF Chron and SJMN was the 49ers loss (with 4 associated articles under it). On both, the Gaza war was about the 4th major article.
When I recently looked back at the demise of the Southwest Conference, one article from decades ago noted the college football in Houston (Rice, UH) pretty much disappeared after the Oilers took over the market. That’s a market that still has a strong high school football presence.
There are 32 NFL teams
In the top 20 ranked NCAA FB teams, 2 are in the city of a pro team, 15 are more than 100 miles from the city of the nearest pro team, the other 3 are 40, 70, and 80 miles. Cal is 13 miles; Stanford is 37 miles.
Want to suck the air out of the University of Alabama FB team? Put a NFL team in Tuscaloosa, but the state legislature would block you.