It’s no secret that a large portion of Notre Dame’s fan base is in the Chicago area. That’s reflected by the fact that every writer on this site is based there. But is that reflective of the state of Illinois as a whole?
Big Game Boomer, a top college sports list and graph aficionado on social media, has been mentioned on here many times before. His latest entry as of this writing is a U.S. map that lists the biggest college brand by state. Notre Dame is listed for Illinois and the only school not located in the state it represents:
The Biggest College Brand In Every State 📈 pic.twitter.com/hPVB7ec8GK
— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) July 31, 2023
Inevitably, someone asked about this, and he was quick to respond:
Because everyone in Chicago is a Notre Dame fan.
— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) July 31, 2023
And when asked why Indiana doesn’t have Notre Dame, he said this:
Walk through the Indianapolis airport. There are vendors selling Indiana and Purdue gear. Notre Dame gear is nowhere to be found. It’s a Hoosier state.
— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) July 31, 2023
The first event I covered on location for this site was the now-defunct Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis. Even though the Irish were the designated home team, the crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse was heavily for the Hoosiers. So the statement about the Hoosiers owning the Hoosier State is not wrong.
Still, as nice as it is to see Notre Dame represented on this map, it’s hard to call it the best college brand in the Land of Lincoln. Sure, Northern Illinois is too small for consideration, and everyone is distancing themselves from Northwestern right now, but what about Illinois? While the Illini football program has done little to help the brand lately, it’s a little unfair to discount those fans.
Anyone who lives in Illinois knows that the further south you go, the more you’ll find people who don’t care for Chicago. I won’t go into the reasons for that here, but this is one case where Chicago probably shouldn’t represent the whole state.
Illini fans reign supreme throughout Illinois, and one merely needs to travel throughout to find them. They are proud, and they are passionate about their team. Many of them still are mourning the loss of Chief Illiniwek as an official university symbol.
So as nice as it is to have Notre Dame as Illinois’ representative on this map, it really should be a school from Illinois. And Illini fans probably are most deserving to represent the state. After all, Chicago is a pro sports town first, so it should not be taken into account when making a map like this. Consider the rest of the state please next time, Big Game Boomer.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89