We frequently mention that the University of Houston is a prime candidate for a P5 invitation because it is located in the 4th most populous city in the United States of America.
This got me thinking, how many P5 Football programs are actually located inside the city limits of one of the 100 most populous cities in the United States. These schools have to be located within the city, a regional school, or a school “only hours” away but in the TV market does not count. I’m not looking at Universities that have large alumni bases because of the proximity to a regional school…I’m looking at the location inside the large city. I did include ones that are relatively close to the hub city because it is reasonable to assume a University 5-10 miles from the city is IN the city.
As we’ve learned with UH’s current Final Four…the city Houston does not a support a P5 school I their region (i.e. Texas A&M) or another state school (i.e. Texas, Baylor, Texas Tech) the same way it supports a University inside its actual city.
I’m just putting the information out there.
Here’s what I found:
NEW YORK CITY
2. LOS ANGELES- YES- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES & UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (PAC-12)
3. CHICAGO- YES- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY (EVANSTON, ILLINOIS) (B1G 10)
HOUSTON
5. PHOENIX- YES- ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY (TEMPE, ARIZONA) (PAC-12)
PHILADELPHIA
SAN ANTONIO
SAN DIEGO
DALLAS
SAN JOSE
11. AUSTIN- YES- UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN (BIG 12)
JACKSONVILLE
13. FORT WORTH- YES- TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY (BIG 12)
14. COLUMBUS, OHIO- YES- OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY (B1G 10)
CHARLOTTE
16. SAN FRANCISO- YES- STANFORD UNIVERSITY (PALO ALTO) (PAC-12)
INDIANAPOLIS
18. SEATTLE- YES- UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (PAC- 12)
DENVER
20. WASHINGTON, D.C.- YES- UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND (COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND) (B1G 10)
21. BOSTON- YES- BOSTON COLLEGE (CHESTNUT HILL. MASSACHUSETTS) (ACC)
EL PASO
23. NASHVILLE- YES- VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY (SEC)
DETROIT
OKLAHOMA CITY
PORTLAND
LAS VEGAS
MEMPHIS
29. LOUISVILLE- YES- UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE (ACC)
BALTIMORE
MILWAUKEE
ALBUQUERQUE
33. TUSCSON- YES- UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA (PAC 12)
FRESNO
MESA
SACRAMENTO
37. ATLANTA – YES- GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (ACC)
KANSAS CITY
COLORADO SPRINGS
OMAHA
41. RALEIGH – YES- NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY (ACC)
42. MIAMI – YES- UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI (CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA) (ACC)
LONG BEACH
VIRGINIA BEACH
45. OAKLAND- YES- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKLEY (PAC-12)
46. MINNEAPOLIS- YES- UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA (B1G 10)
TULSA
TAMPA
ARLINGTON
NEW ORLEANS
WICHITA
BAKERSFIELD
CLEVELAND
AURORA
ANAHEIM
HONOLULU
SANTA ANA
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA
CORPUS CHRISTI
60. LEXINGTON- YES- UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY (SEC)
HENDERSON, NEVADA
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA
SAINT PAUL
CINCINNATI
ST. LOUIS
66. PITTSBURGH- YES- UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH (ACC)
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA
68. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA- UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA (B1G 10)
ANCHORAGE
PLANO, TEXAS
ORLANDO
IRVINE
NEWARK
74. DURHAM – YES- DUKE UNIVERSITY (ACC)
CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA
TOLDEO
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
LAREDO
JERSEY CITY
CHANDLER, ARIZONA
82. MADISON, WISCONSIN- YES- UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN (B1G 10)
83. LUBBOCK- YES- TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY (BIG 12)
SCOTTSDALE
RENO
BUFFALO
GILBERT, ARIZONA
GLENDALE
NORTH LAS VEGAS
90. WINSTON-SALEM – YES- WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY (ACC)
CHESAPEAKE
NORFOLK
FREMONT
GARLAND, TEXAS
IRVING
HIALEAH, FLORIDA
RICHMOND
BOISE
SPOKANE
100. BATON ROUGE- YES- LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY (SEC)
Only thing UH is in football crazy state so that helps us. Like I mentioned, if we keep growing there will always be chances outside the 2024 realignment but worse case, the aac is the 6 th best conf overall and could become the new big East.
Size of the city doesn’t matter nearly as much as the television size for college football audiences. Houston is 4th in population size but not in the top 10, or even 20, in college football viewership.
The Metroplex plus Greater Houston has at least 14 million people and yet has only TCU as a P5 school.
Find that to be astonishing. Seems like you could sell College Football tickets to 14 million people. Would also think that lots of TV viewers exist for College Football.
Thats an interesting way to look at where the
P5s reside. One conclusion I would draw from
this is that there is a large potentially untapped
market that could be developed if some entity
or consortium wanted to develop it.
For better or worse , I tend to think of college football as semi-pro ball these days. We have had probably 3 or more failed secondary professional startup leagues that I can recall ( usfl, wfl, xfl, ???). If somebody wanted to develop or cultivate these untapped markets by working with the excluded schools it might be interesting. The investing party would not
have to start from scratch or pay high salaries or need facilities, etc.
Just trying to think outside the box here. Im not
sure the long hopeful 2024 contract negotiations will include calling many, if any, schools up. Unless the money to the bottom 2/3 of the P5 was gigantic enough to make expansion a must do deal.
I’d say there’s an apples to oranges comparison between cities like Houston and say Baton Rouge or Lexington, KY. Also, some of the teams were well established before TV and the NFL exploded.