Moved to MN. Interesting observations

TrailCy

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Mar 3, 2021
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We moved to Minnesota this year and I've noticed a few Iowa State-related things.

*I see more Iowa State apparel now than I did up here 10 years ago.

*Hawkeye apperal outnumbers Iowa State apparel 10-1+.

*I see a lot of Gopher sweatshirts but maybe 3 cars with Gopher license plates. It's not "a thing" up here like it is in Iowa.

*When we lived in Iowa for a decade, I did not meet one single Minnesota alumni who lived in Ames/Des Moines. I know they exist, but that seems on purpose :)

*Half this town went to NDSU, or at least they're the proudest fan base

*College football exists, but it's a niche activity. It's weird to not be surronded by collegeite football fans.
 
I also do not live in Iowa and college sports are way down the list here. It goes to show why the state as a whole punches way above its weight. Iowa is 1% of the country in population and has two schools in the top 25 of football attendance (8% of that list). It is definitely an adjustment to see how little people care about CFB in other parts of the country when in Iowa it is the #1 sport or maybe #1(b) just behind the NFL.
 
We moved to Minnesota this year and I've noticed a few Iowa State-related things.

*I see more Iowa State apparel now than I did up here 10 years ago.

*Hawkeye apperal outnumbers Iowa State apparel 10-1+.

*I see a lot of Gopher sweatshirts but maybe 3 cars with Gopher license plates. It's not "a thing" up here like it is in Iowa.

*When we lived in Iowa for a decade, I did not meet one single Minnesota alumni who lived in Ames/Des Moines. I know they exist, but that seems on purpose :)

*Half this town went to NDSU, or at least they're the proudest fan base

*College football exists, but it's a niche activity. It's weird to not be surronded by collegeite football fans.

That lines up with what Meyer says on the podcast. It's an NFL town.
 
I agree with everything but the Hawkeye 10-1. From what I've observed it's pretty even. Maybe depends on where you live?

I was at the Mall of America on Saturday and it was more like 25-1 in favor of the Hawkeyes apparel.

It's a Vikings and Wild town for sure. The Loons (soccer) are really popular too. When the Twins are decent or better they draw pretty well too

I go to every MNUFC home game, it's really fun in the stadium. I think the Vikings and Twins are "default" apparel for people who wants something but aren't huge sports fans.
 
I don't know where you moved to in Minn, but The ISU to Hok ratio that I have seen is almost 50/50 up here. I know this is B1G territory up here, but I see a lot of ISU stuff around. The Gophers are a mere afterthought up here and I will not be surprised to see them lose Fleck sometime soon.
 
I don't know where you moved to in Minn, but The ISU to Hok ratio that I have seen is almost 50/50 up here. I know this is B1G territory up here, but I see a lot of ISU stuff around. The Gophers are a mere afterthought up here and I will not be surprised to see them lose Fleck sometime soon.

I moved to just SW of city of MPLS. Tons of Gopher apparel around me, just not a lot of outward signs like garden rocks with logos, license plates, flags, etc.
 
I moved to just SW of city of MPLS. Tons of Gopher apparel around me, just not a lot of outward signs like garden rocks with logos, license plates, flags, etc.
I agree that the Gopher fans do not do the license plate thing, not many flags, etc. I do see a fair amount of Gopher sweatshirts and hats.
 
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I went to school in Minnesota (not U of M). Seemed like there was only one gopher fan in the entire town. They were more interested in the Twins and the Wild. Not many diehards like you find in the state of Iowa.
 
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That lines up with what Meyer says on the podcast. It's an NFL town.

Kind of makes me wonder how college football would look now if, say, the NFL had somehow ended up with teams in Birmingham, Oklahoma City, or Austin/San Antonio a few decades ago. I suppose you could throw Columbus, Ohio and keeping teams in Los Angeles in the 1990s through 2020.
 
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When I went to ISU I noticed there was a lot of students from Minneapolis, so it doesn't surprise me there is a good amount of ISU fans up there based on what others are saying.
 
When I went to ISU I noticed there was a lot of students from Minneapolis, so it doesn't surprise me there is a good amount of ISU fans up there based on what others are saying.
According to the ISU Alumni Association there are more ISU grads in Minnesota than in any other state in the union that is not named Iowa.
 
Still weird to me the Twin Cities could've been the landing spot of the Dodgers and the Raiders ended up in Oakland (Later-Los Angeles-Oakland-Las Vegas) because of the Twin Cities.

This doesn't even touch on a team named "Lakers" playing in Los Angeles.
 
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Lived in MN for the past 4 years. It is very clearly a Vikings, Twins, Wild town. Literally no one cares about the Timberwolves. You actually find most Gophers fans outside of the cities in smaller towns. Most people I worked with actually went to a MN D2 or D3 school. Not a ton of Gophers alumn. Tons of St Thomas grads and they are very very proud of the fact that they went there….and paid $50k a year.
 
When I went to ISU I noticed there was a lot of students from Minneapolis, so it doesn't surprise me there is a good amount of ISU fans up there based on what others are saying.

Outside of Iowa, Minnesota has the most ISU alumni.

The top 10: Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, California, Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin, Missouri, Nebraska, Florida.
 
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Lived in MN for the past 4 years. It is very clearly a Vikings, Twins, Wild town. Literally no one cares about the Timberwolves. You actually find most Gophers fans outside of the cities in smaller towns. Most people I worked with actually went to a MN D2 or D3 school. Not a ton of Gophers alumn. Tons of St Thomas grads and they are very very proud of the fact that they went there….and paid $50k a year.
The corn maze in the northwest suburbs does a team theme every year. They have done Twins, Wild, Timberwolves, Vikings and Gophers in the time we have been going. I was surprised that this year their theme was St. Thomas.

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I've noticed a similar lack of interest in college sports in Colorado. My daughters both go to CU-Boulder. I figured there'd be Buffs fans all over. There aren't. I can see the lights from Air Force Falcons stadium from my house. A week ago they were just barely outside the Top 25. The only people I know who go to the games are ISU alums who just go for something to do on a weekend. It's weird.
 
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