name a football team within 500 miles of you that actually fields a decent team every year. UT has many fans that travel from 6+ hours away to attend games. We also compete with fans from every other team in this radius.
Boise State seems to do fine every year. Somehow Oregon State manages to win 8-9 games every year. Washington used to be the resident power, and after a decade of ineptitude, seem to be back. And Stanford would seem to be a pretty damn good team.
The west coast can't be judged against the south, nor vice versa. Each group of Pac schools - Arizona, SoCal, NorCal, Oregon, Washington, and now Colorado/Utah - are minimum 4-6 hours drive from the next, and that's the closes example. In almost ever other case, an expensive flight is required. That also meanns no RV. It means hotel.
Also remember that the Pac schools draw from 8 large/huge metropolitan areas - Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, Salt Lake City, Denver, Las Vegas, and Seattle. Most of our alumni base lives in wealthy regions with many entertainment options (world-class restaurants, shows, bars, nightclubs, numerous professional teams, gambling, etc.).
The west coast is also home to the world's - not just the nation's, but the world's - greatest diversity of outdoor entertainment: beaches, deserts, mountains, national parks, vineyards, snowboarding, mountain biking, surfing, hiking, camping, fly fishing, wine tasting, hunting, etc. The West Coast is simply unmatched in regards to variation of entertainment. Cosmopolitan meets outdoors. There is simply no other place where you can surf, snowboard, ride ATVs in the desert, and eat a 3 Michelin star meal in the same day.
And because we are located in wealthier areas and are an alumni base with a higher income, in an ever-advancing world, that means 70+" TVs, giant living rooms, huge backyards, perpetual BBQ weather. It all means that watching from home for a huge alumni gathering makes more sense on most gamedays. Rooting for your team every stressful second at home with all your buddies, decked out in team gear and screaming and cheering and BBQing and talking strategy doesn't make you any less of a fan than people who choose to do that at the stadium.
And because the economy is tighter, and because our huge big-city alumni base spreads more money around to restaurants, bars, clubs, day trips to other big cities, shows, concerts, etc., people have to be more selective choosing which games they go to. Especially because most away games entail a $500 plane flight instead of a 3 hour drive.
I studied sociology and did a thesis on migration - part of that study focusing on fan commitment to travel. I love your guys' passion. It's effing brilliant and is part of what makes college football amazing. But simply put, the demographics, geography, and social status of the west coast means you cannot compare SEC country and Pac country in regards to who packs more stadiums, particularly for away games.
