Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomcoach
From following European, mostly Premiere League, football for quite a while now, I think that, maybe because there is not a European equivalent of the US college sports scene, support for the local football club is very similar in nature to how Americans root for their college teams.
- While there are passionate supporters for US professional teams, they are nowhere near as crazy as support for college teams.
- Fans of both tend to accept, to some degree, the team's station in life. West Ham supporters are not expecting to win the Prem anytime soon. they want to improve, avoid relegation, perform well against regional rivals, but they know that they are not a Big Six team. Similarly, a team in a smaller conference isn't expecting to make the College Football Playoffs; they want to do well in their conference, get into a Bowl game and win that.Conversely, every NFL team is on fairly level terms, financially, and should expect to make the playoffs every few years.
- Related to the previous point, European teams do not pack up and move to another city. As fortunes wax or wane, they move up and down through the pyramid, but Notts County is still Notts County. they may have once been in the top league, not they are 3rd or 4th division, but they are still the same team, in the same place, with the same history.
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Also, pro teams weren't as widespread 25 yrs ago like they are now. Only the largest of metro cities had teams. But small towns can have colleges. Thus, teams. And they breed fans. Students get wild at the games for 4 years. Each incoming class is a new bumper crop that will stay in touch w/their school after graduation thru homecomings and donations. They will pass that love onto their kids. So Chapel Hill, NC may only have a population of 60,000, but the university has alumni that numbers in the millions.
Not to mention locals love it when the team does well because it "puts them on the map." Who would know anything about Tuscaloosa, Ann Arbor, Norman, South Bend if it weren't for the athletic programs?