Which SEC team has the biggest fan base?
Given the nature of college football, it's not easy to say which SEC team has the biggest fan base in the conference. Every school has its massive legion of fans, making it difficult to say which one outnumbers the other by far.
In this article, we will try to answer this question using numbers. So without further ado, let's get started.
Which SEC team has the biggest fan base?
The short answer: Alabama.
Sports fan data by the marketing firm SBRnet (reported by AL.com) revealed that the Crimson Tide had 3.4 million total fans at the start of 2023. But while this is lower compared to previous years, no other SEC team has a bigger fan base. Some of them can come close, though.
The team with the second-biggest fan base in the SEC is the Georgia Bulldogs with a reported fan base of 3.1 million fans as of this year. Furthermore, the numbers say that the Bulldogs have the fastest-growing fanbase in the United States for the past six years. This could be mainly due to them having won back-to-back national championships (beating Alabama in 2021).
Where does Alabama's fan base rank among the NCAA?
Outside of the SEC, though, the Crimson Tide's fan base is still not that big compared to others. Ohio State has the biggest fan base in college football.
As per Sports Illustrated, there are an estimated 11.26 million Buckeyes faithful all across the country as of last year. This is followed by Notre Dame (8.21 million), Texas (7.82 million), Penn State (6.36 million), and Michigan (6.26 million).
The SEC still has more fans than any other conference
Alabama might not have the biggest fan base in all of college football, but the SEC remains the top dog when it comes to overall following. The conference lords it over everyone else with a massive 54.1 million fans for good reasons.
Multiple SEC teams have remained consistently good over the past few years, for one. Nick Saban's Crimson Tide is the conference's poster child, but things have been changing. More fans jumped on the Georgia bandwagon after their repeat championship run, and they're hungry for a historic three-peat.
So which team will come out of the SEC? We'll know as the season rolls along.