College Football Questions | Finding CFB’s best answers
As branding is a dynamic process and can evolve over time, so too can the impact that brand carries on the collegiate culture. To put it another way, just because you are the oldest national program, that doesn’t mean people are buying your things now.
These rankings are broken into two tiers, with the top tier having the most influence. A number of factors influence a brand’s current impact but I specifically looked at merchandise sales, attendance, net worth, wins and losses, brand recognition, newsworthiness and influence on the sport.
Top Tier
Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas – Multiple championships, recent to semi-recent success, iconic coaches and players, distinctly recognizable uniforms, top facilities, consistent top attendance, continual top recruiters, merchandise sales, national newsworthy respect
You could make the argument that Texas does not belong in this category but you’d be wrong. Even with recent lack of success, they are still a national program with influence that has remained intact, despite never getting back to where they were before Nick Saban destroyed their entire regime. Other Texas schools are up-and-coming, but they still measure themselves by a longhorn yardstick. What Michigan lacks in recent success they make up for in tradition, sales, regional dominance, and a coach that is being seen everywhere
Second Tier
Florida, Florida State, Notre Dame, Oregon, Southern Cal, Tennessee – Iconic players, coaches, and traditions, unrivaled dominance of state or region, consistent attendance records, recent to semi-recent on-field success not exceeding tier one status
Florida and Florida State are neck and neck here. Both tie for state dominance. Both have recent iconic college QBs with a history of players and coaches that established their programs. Even though FSU’s celebrity quarterback was a punk and alleged-rapist and Florida’s was the epitome athletic role models, both have faithful fans that spend tons of money and nationally recognizable brands. Oregon is consistent and a trendsetter. Fans and non-fans buy their merchandise. They were the first fast on the field to take it to recent success. Along with Hollywood and liberals, Southern Cal will always own the state of California. No win-loss record will change that. Tennessee owns their state like no other school can claim. They have a storied program with some of the best coaches and players in college football history. Attendance records and merch sales are some of the best in country year in, year out. They can play a song 20 times a game and fans still come to sing every word of “Rocky Top.” Notre Dame is Notre Dame and no matter what happens they’ll always be one of the best.
Honorable Mention: Michigan State, Auburn, Miami, Oklahoma, Penn State
Auburn, Miami, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Penn State– These schools will always be compared to another in their state or region. No matter how much success they achieve, they will always be measured against another program. Right or wrong, that’s just the way it will be. Penn State…well that’s kind of obvious. What can I say – It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, if you let a child molester walk around and host “camps” on your campus, it MIGHT hurt your brand just a bit. That’s stink that won’t wash off any time soon.
By the Numbers
Sales
In 2015 Walmart provided the top 25 team merchandise sales and it was no surprise that two titans of the grid iron topped the list. Alabama and Ohio State ranked one and two. Now here’s the interesting part – this is from sales just in August 2015, before Alabama went on to win the National Championship and just after Ohio State’s dominating run of the 2014 season. Here’s a list of the notable teams:
- 1 Alabama
- 2 Ohio State
- 4 Georgia
- 5 Texas
- 6 Tennessee
- 11 Florida
- 14 LSU
- 18 Michigan
- 20 Florida State
Of course, a total of 12 SEC teams topped out the Walmart Top 25 because if there’s anything synonymous with the South and college football, it’s Walmart. Just spend a few minutes on People of Walmart and you’re bound to find some SEC gear pop up.
A more credible source of sales is from the Collegiate Licensing Company, CLC, (shout-out to Bill Battle!) which had the following schools listed as top selling schools based on merchandise. Here are a few notables:
- 1 Alabama
- 2 Texas
- 3 Notre Dame
- 4 Michigan
- 8 Florida
- 10 Tennessee
- 12 Florida State
- The CLC does not represent Ohio State, Oregon, or USC so they are not included in the ranking.
Attendance
Few things provide a brand as much strength as thousands of fans chanting its name every Saturday. That’s why attendance is a great indicator of a brand’s success. Attendance is a something that is both fluid and measurable. It’s one of the few things than can equally be driven by and drive the success of a program. Heck, Michigan gave tickets away to keep a streak alive back in 2014. It didn’t work for UAB and it didn’t work for Michigan either.
In an article for CBSSports.com, Jon Solomon provided data showing the 2015 top ten ranked teams for attendance:
- Michigan
- Ohio State
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Penn State
- LSU
- Georgia
- Florida
- Texas
- Notre Dame (15th)
- USC (18th)
- Florida State (20)
The NCAA home attendance rankings for 2014 (last publically available) were:
- 1Ohio State
- 2Texas A&M
- 3Michigan
- 6Alabama
- 7Tennessee
- 8Texas
- 12Florida
- 14Florida State
- 17Notre Dame
- 21USC
Worth
Money talks and the brands with the most money behind it tend to make the most noise. The Wall Street Journal’s article from earlier this year listed the most valuable teams in college football. To tell you just how significant these brands are, he measured them by the millions;
Ohio State- Texas
- Michigan
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Florida
- Georgia
- LSU
- Penn State
- Tennessee (13th)
- Oregon (18)
- Florida State (21)
- USC (24)
Winning
Nothing makes people notice you more than when you are holding a trophy. Hold it a few times in a row and, like it or not, people form their own theory of expectations for you.
One name you may notice missing from the list is last year’s title contender Clemson. That was intentional. Clemson had a great season and will, by most accounts, be poised for another run at the championship this year. Nevertheless, until they do, they will not be seen as a perennial team on the national stage. They’ve come close, gotten their once, but have not shown us that’s where they belong. Other teams have. Other teams have that on-going expectation.
We recognize that the paths they have taken in past seasons and we know that they know how to get there.
Recognition
Some brands just have it. It means that wherever you go in the U.S., sometimes even globally, people know what that certain arrangement of letters mean. People are able to take one look at the almost spherical yellow “O” or the old block letter grey and scarlet one and know who they mean. It can be cow horns, ancient helmets, or just cursive letters but some teams have brand recognition and some just don’t.
However that’s not all you need to be a great brand. People recognize Miami as “The U” but the program should begin thinking of going to “The I” for irrelevant. USC seems to have forgotten that they are a winning program, but, because of their brand, they continue to recruit the nation’s top talent.
Influence
The “law of influence” is a frequently used idea by John Maxwell when referring to leadership qualities. In business it’s leadership, in marketing, it’s the brand. There have been several programs that changed the way the game was played. Back in the 1960’s, coaching towers became the rage when Bear Bryant found success using them in practice. Soon even professional league coaches started climbing them every day.
Some programs change practices and some change the entire offensive concepts of the game, but few teams have been able to change the way the game looks like Oregon.
In 1999, Oregon unveiled their first eye-popping uniform featuring black, green, neon yellow, and the iconic space-age “O” on the side of their helmets. The combination would been seen as boring by today’s standards, but it was miles ahead of what anyone else was doing. Since that time Oregon has gone on to add all-black uniforms, subtle jersey patters, metal wings on shoulder pads, neon socks, and chrome helmets.
Granted Oregon’s alternate uniforms have much due to Nike and Phil Knight, but it was their program that made the change a trend. No every school seems to have a neon version of their own colors or a chrome helmet to wear at some point during the season. When traditional throwback uniforms become all the rage again, they won’t attribute the trend to Penn State or even USC. They’ll say it was because of Alabama & the power of their brand’s influence.
Newsworthy
When its golf, it’s Tiger. When it’s basketball, it’s Lebron. When it’s college football it’s . . . . . somewhat of a toss-up. I’ll explain.
Newsworthiness is the combination of five factors that actually make a story ”news”; timing, significance, proximity, prominence, & human interest. For college football purposes, news at one school will get more media coverage than the same news at a smaller with no national recognition.
A perfect example of all of this is Notre Dame. You may remember the name of a player who lost his mother and lost his girlfriend (although invisible) and become a semi-household name in the sports world. Forget the fact that this guy well-spoken and had a very wholesome appearance or was an on-the-field stand-out player for one of the country’s best college defense at the time. No, what brought this guy forward was the intertwined “ND” on his uniform. Manti Teo was catfished and it was national news because of who he played for at the time.
Conclusion
The findings are clear and provide a way for fans to see which brands are the best. This is not to say that these teams are the best or deserve the most glory. This only means that these programs carry more weight. Sometimes that weight is equal to the strength required to lift the trophy, but more often than not, it’s the weight of a crushing loss sitting on their shoulders as fans realize that although their brand is strong, their season is finished.
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