GDT: NHL Stadium Series | Detroit @ Columbus | 6 PM EST

[majormajor]

If we define local as Ohio, and if we define fans as people who attend a game, own a shirt or hat, or somewhat actively follow the team, I’d go with:

75% local CBJ fans that overlap with OSU fandom
20% local CBJ fans that are not primarily interested in OSU
5% non-local CBJ fans

CBJ have been around since 2000. In that time OSU football has won 3 national championships and finished in the top ten 20 times. OSU football is huge in Ohio and the areas where it might be less popular are places like Toledo where people might be Red Wings fans (and Michigan or MSU fans) because it is on the Michigan border and closer to Detroit than Columbus.

I think a message board skews more towards your numbers because non local CBJ fans are looking for a community of fellow fans and local non OSU fans are probably more hockey fans in general than other sports fans. But there are plenty of casual CBJ fans in Ohio that might own a shirt or attend a game or two every so often that are huge Buckeye fans and wouldn’t seek out a CBJ message board except maybe to lurk after a big trade or during the NHL draft.

It looks like I underestimated the OSU overlap.

But I think you still have it too high. The reason I didn't define local as just "Ohio" is because the proportion of OSU fans is much lower once you get to Cleveland, Cincy, etc... There are a lot of Blue Jackets fans in those places (not more than the OSU fans there, but still a big chunk of the CBJ fanbase). I understand the out of state fans are a much smaller proportion (5% is probably about right) but they were grouped in with Cleveland and Cincinnati fans in my definition of non-local.

 

[koteka]

But I think you still have it too high. The reason I didn't define local as just "Ohio" is because the proportion of OSU fans is much lower once you get to Cleveland, Cincy, etc... There are a lot of Blue Jackets fans in those places (not more than the OSU fans there, but still a big chunk of the CBJ fanbase). I understand the out of state fans are a much smaller proportion (5% is probably about right) but they were grouped in with Cleveland and Cincinnati fans in my definition of non-local.

OSU football just keeps getting more popular in Ohio as it has been very successful and all the other teams in Ohio have been around Blue Jackets level of successful. Cleveland has never been to the Super Bowl. Cincinnati has never won the Super Bowl. The Reds were once great but haven’t been to (or won) a World Series since 1990. The Guardians franchise last won a World Series in 1948. The Cavs won their championship with LeBron and are currently really good, but they have typically not been a contender. The only consistently successful in team in Ohio is OSU and they have had a great run since the Jackets were founded. OSU is more popular than they were in both Cincinnati and Cleveland than they were 20 years ago. Part of that is because Notre Dame football (used to be more popular in both cities) has not been a winner and Kentucky and UC basketball (both are popular in Cincinnati) have not had recent success.

Lest I piss someone off for omitting them, the Crew have been successful.

 

[majormajor]

OSU football just keeps getting more popular in Ohio as it has been very successful and all the other teams in Ohio have been around Blue Jackets level of successful. Cleveland has never been to the Super Bowl. Cincinnati has never won the Super Bowl. The Reds were once great but haven’t been to (or won) a World Series since 1990. The Guardians franchise last won a World Series in 1948. The Cavs won their championship with LeBron and are currently really good, but they have typically not been a contender. The only consistently successful in team in Ohio is OSU and they have had a great run since the Jackets were founded. OSU is more popular than they were in both Cincinnati and Cleveland than they were 20 years ago. Part of that is because Notre Dame football (used to be more popular in both cities) has not been a winner and Kentucky and UC basketball (both are popular in Cincinnati) have not had recent success.

Lest I piss someone off for omitting them, the Crew have been successful.

What percentage of sports fans in the Cleveland and Cincinnati metros do you think are primarily interested in OSU?

I hear more from Browns - Jackets fans and Bengals - Jackets fans and never a peep about OSU from most of them.

 

[CBJx614]

What percentage of sports fans in the Cleveland and Cincinnati metros do you think are primarily interested in OSU?

I hear more from Browns - Jackets fans and Bengals - Jackets fans and never a peep about OSU from most of them.

I know when I was a kid I moved from Mentor(Cleveland) to Columbus in 6th grade and it was night and day. Nobody really gave a shit about OSU when I was in Cleveland, at least nowhere near the extent as when I moved to Columbus and it was nothing but OSU and nobody really gave a shit about the CBJ. Even when I graduated HS in 2009 nobody really gave a shit about the CBJ at that point. It was definitely better than when I first moved there but the Jackets were 3rd when it came to sports in town.

 

[pete goegan]

The Plain Dealer covers OSU extensively and completely ignores the CBJ. Even though the Monsters are a CBJ farm club, there rarely is a mention of the big club.

 

[koteka]

What percentage of sports fans in the Cleveland and Cincinnati metros do you think are primarily interested in OSU?

I hear more from Browns - Jackets fans and Bengals - Jackets fans and never a peep about OSU from most of them.

Primarily, not many. But generally, like will watch OSU on tv and root for them in a bowl game and maybe have a tshirt or hat? The vast majority.

Hell, if I were to rank my favorite teams, the CBJ wouldn’t come in the top 3. Doesn’t mean I am not a fan. If I could choose between an OSU men’s hockey NCAA national championship and a CBJ Stanley Cup, I’m not picking the Stanley Cup.

 

[End of Line]

 

[Long Live Lyle]

If we define local as Ohio, and if we define fans as people who attend a game, own a shirt or hat, or somewhat actively follow the team, I’d go with:

75% local CBJ fans that overlap with OSU fandom
20% local CBJ fans that are not primarily interested in OSU
5% non-local CBJ fans

CBJ have been around since 2000. In that time OSU football has won 3 national championships and finished in the top ten 20 times. OSU football is huge in Ohio and the areas where it might be less popular are places like Toledo where people might be Red Wings fans (and Michigan or MSU fans) because it is on the Michigan border and closer to Detroit than Columbus.

I think a message board skews more towards your numbers because non local CBJ fans are looking for a community of fellow fans and local non OSU fans are probably more hockey fans in general than other sports fans. But there are plenty of casual CBJ fans in Ohio that might own a shirt or attend a game or two every so often that are huge Buckeye fans and wouldn’t seek out a CBJ message board except maybe to lurk after a big trade or during the NHL draft.

Agree with the 5%. I think it’s more likely 65/30 than 75/20 but we’re splitting hairs at this point.

As (now) part of the 5% who used to be part of the 75% but would now be part of the 20% if I moved back, my assessment is probably out of whack anyway.

 

[NotWendell]

Primarily, not many. But generally, like will watch OSU on tv and root for them in a bowl game and maybe have a tshirt or hat? The vast majority.

Hell, if I were to rank my favorite teams, the CBJ wouldn’t come in the top 3. Doesn’t mean I am not a fan. If I could choose between an OSU men’s hockey NCAA national championship and a CBJ Stanley Cup, I’m not picking the Stanley Cup.

For me, it's:
1. CBJ Stanley Cup
2. Bengals Super Bowl
3. Another Crew MLS Cup
4. Ohio Bobcats Upset Win over tOSU

Agree with the 5%. I think it’s more likely 65/30 than 75/20 but we’re splitting hairs at this point.

As (now) part of the 5% who used to be part of the 75% but would now be part of the 20% if I moved back, my assessment is probably out of whack anyway.

 

[Viqsi]

For me, it's:
1. CBJ Stanley Cup
2. Bengals Super Bowl
3. Another Crew MLS Cup
4. Ohio Bobcats Upset Win over tOSU

1. CBJ Stanley Cup
2. tOSU Football National Championship
3. Crew MLS Cup
4. Preds Stanley Cup

I also used to tenatively back New South Wales in State Of Origin, but upon discovering that literally every Aussie friend I have is a Queenslander (and them needling me for it) I may be reconsidering this year. It'd probably also be awesome if tOSU Hockey managed an NCAA Championship but honestly I pretty much don't follow them. Don't care about the NFL except insofar as it employs former Buckeyes, can't bring myself to care about the Premier League, and baseball and basketball both bore me to death.

 

[CarolinaBlueJacket]

Forcing OSU into a CBJ event comes across as small town and small minded.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Forcing OSU into a CBJ event comes across as small town and small minded.

I guarantee that was an ESPN thing.

 

[CarolinaBlueJacket]

I guarantee that was an ESPN thing.

OSU cheerleaders, OSU dance teams, Carmen Ohio??? That was for the stadium crowd. Not sure ESPN has anything to do with that.

 

[CarolinaBlueJacket]

In my section at the game, about 50% of the people were participating in the OSU cheers and about 25% of those were in Red Wings gear.
I am a university grad, but not a university in Ohio. I did live in Columbus for many years and was a Jackets fan from day one. We moved away years ago.
There was a guy with us that had never been to Ohio before but is a Jackets fan because he is friends with my family and he started following hockey and chose the Jackets because of us.
There was next to no CBJ pump-ups between play, but plenty of OSU propaganda. It didn't offend me, but it was weird and made Columbus look amateur imo.
Having the band play the OSU victory song after an ex Michigan player just scored the ENG for the Jackets struck me as strange.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I'm not an OSU grad, I am not an OSU football fan by any means. I had fun. I'm not splitting hairs. We played hockey in a football stadium. When OSU plays arena football in Nationwide Arena we can make sure it's CBJ related. This was still a huge event for the team and the city and I'm not going to focus on minutiae.

 

[squashmaple]

I'm not an OSU grad, I am not an OSU football fan by any means. I had fun. I'm not splitting hairs. We played hockey in a football stadium. When OSU plays arena football in Nationwide Arena we can make sure it's CBJ related. This was still a huge event for the team and the city and I'm not going to focus on minutiae.

This is how I felt about it, too. My only personal connections to OSU are my grandfather getting his masters there in the 60s and my own employment at one ot the Jimmy Johns locations in the campus orbit. That's it. I went to OU. I'm from NE Ohio. I don't know OSU lore or care about it, and I didn't notice things I don't know anything about at the game. I don't know what Carmen Ohio is. I don't know who the university president is, so the old guy dropping the ceremonial puck was just an old guy dropping a ceremonial puck to me. It's not like I could hear anything or they announced anything insiide the Shoe, anyway. They just assumed since you were there that you knew everything already.

 

[CharlotteJacket]

As Portzline wrote in his "Ode to the Blue Jackets" this past summer he commented the CBJ has pretty much lost a whole generation of fans do to their losing and dysfunction. The Jackets simply don't have those traditions for fans to follow while OSU has become an annual monster.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

As Portzline wrote in his "Ode to the Blue Jackets" this past summer he commented the CBJ has pretty much lost a whole generation of fans do to their losing and dysfunction. The Jackets simply don't have those traditions for fans to follow while OSU has become an annual monster.

Not sure I completely agree. This team is only 25 years old. It just doesn't have the history of the Red Wings or OSU football. OSU was a pretty mediocre team the first 25 years of their existence too. That just happened to be 100 years ago.

When I see the amount of youth hockey being played here versus when I was growing up in the 80's and 90's and the growth from the Chill until now I don't see generations lost because of losing. I see a history being built.

People want to make it about the losing because we weren't afforded the expansion opportunities that Vegas got to buy an immediate winner.

 

[CharlotteJacket]

We're talking about two different things. The effect the CBJ has had on amateur hockey is remarkable. and unquestioned by I think every suburban HS in the area now has a team and the youth hockey, like you mentioned is phenomenal. What Portzline was talking about and he makes valid points is the CBJ fanbase hasn't grown at anywhere near the rate compared to amateur hockey. We still struggle a good part of the year to sell tickets and I think this is because the constant losing just turned potential fans off. This team desperately needs a loooong run of championships contending seasons to bring it all back.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

We're talking about two different things. The effect the CBJ has had on amateur hockey is remarkable. and unquestioned by I think every suburban HS in the area now has a team and the youth hockey, like you mentioned is phenomenal. What Portzline was talking about and he makes valid points is the CBJ fanbase hasn't grown at anywhere near the rate compared to amateur hockey. We still struggle a good part of the year to sell tickets and I think this is because the constant losing just turned potential fans off. This team desperately needs a loooong run of championships contending seasons to bring it all back.

That's the difference between being a die hard and being a bandwagon fan.

Every team has bandwagon fans when they win. Even the Panthers magically stared selling tickets because they won. Pittsburgh won cups, then sucked, then won cups again. The years they sucked the arena was 1/2 empty and they almost moved to Kansas City.

How quickly will Ohio Stadium start going empty if the football team has a couple of losing seasons?

History builds diehards win or lose but winning only brings bandwagon fans. Maybe long consistent winning builds diehard loyalty faster. I'm a Bengals fan so I know losing there but look at how many Browns die hards there are and that team has not been good for decades. Winning isn't the only thing but it helps.