Seven Takeaways from the Learfield FanBase Fan Report
Last week, Learfield released its Fanbase Fan Report. The report aims to deliver its readers important insight into the behavior of college sports fans. Below are seven takeways from our review of the report.
October 16, 2024
Let’s dive right into the report. Learfield begins the report with some figures providing scope of the entire fan base.
Takeaway # 1
According to the Learfield Fanbase Fan Report, college sports fans are the biggest fan base in the United States, more than any other sports league, including pro football, pro basketball, and pro baseball. Learfield estimates that there are currently 195 million total fans.
And to top that figure, Learfield claims they are 2 million plus Freshmen added annually, giving the college sports fan industry a boost every year.
Lastly, its stated that 55% of college sports fans are male.
Next, Learfield goes into the topic of NIL, also known as Name, Image, and Likeness.
Takeaway # 2
Suprisingly, to analyze NIL, Learfield only surveyed 10,000 college fans, we found this figure possibly too low to dicover any real conclusions. Learfield states in the report that they have access to over 150 million college fans, with that amount of access, why not survey more college fans?
Takeaway # 3
Learfield asked 10,000 college fans if they support the payment of student-athletes by brands through Name, Image, and Likeness.
In the response, Learfield found that a little less than half, 43%, of respondents are ‘nuetral’ or ‘disagree/strongly disagree.’
Takeaway # 4
Learfield asked 10,000 college fans if they would be more likely to buy a product or service from a brand endorsed by a stundent-athlete they liked.
In the response, Learfield found that the majority of the respondents, 58%, were ‘neutral’ or ‘disagree/strongly disagree.’
Takeaway # 5
According to the report, NIL doesn’t really appreal to those that are age 55 and over. It was found that the majority of this age bracket do not have a positive sentiment toward NIL and do not have a positive sentiment toward NIL motivating them to buy.
Takeaway # 6
According to the report, when it comes to NIL motivating to buy, there was only one age category where the majority of respondents had a positive sentiment, this category is 25 to 34 year olds.
Takeaway # 7
According to the report, when it comes to income brackets, NIL sentiment showed that all income brackets by a majority did not have positive sentiment toward the question of likely to buy. With best being 50% for the lower income bracket of below $50k per year.
