One of the most evergreen stories in sports the past decade is college conference realignment. SEC. Big Ten. Pac-12. Big East. ACC. Big 12. They’ve all experienced it. Oregon and Washington in the Big Ten with conference games in Maryland? New Jersey? Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC?
As strange as it may be, the revolving door of conference foes does get us thinking.
In many ways, conference realignment is just like soccer in America. What you knew five years ago is different today and will be different five years on. As the maturing industry continues to evolve, so too do fans. Interests change. Behaviors shift.
So, here’s our thought: what if we take the spirit of these college conferences—the regional groupings of schools—and look at them through a soccer lens. In other words, how does soccer fandom differ from one pocket of the country to the next?
Splitting the country into “soccer conferences”
To do this, we reviewed demographic and consumer behavior data from YouGov through the lens of what the U.S. Census Bureau calls their “Census Divisions.”
There are nine distinct divisions: New England, Middle Atlantic, South Atlantic, East North Central, East South Central, West North Central, West South Central, Mountain, and Pacific.
With conferences sorted, we turned to YouGov to pull a handful of demographic and consumer behavior insights to help define each. As we continue, we’ll touch briefly on age, gender, ethnicity, soccer participation, and soccer consumption.
The information below is characterized by those with at least “a little interest” in any of the following leagues: MLS, NWSL, Liga MX, Premier League, La Liga.
How do soccer demographics differ across the country?
Let’s begin with age. Which regions have a higher percentage of 18-34 year olds? Fans in the Middle Atlantic and the Pacific each have 49% of fans in this age bracket—the most of any divisions. Conversely, New England (30%) features the lowest percentage of 18-34 year old fans.
However, New England has the highest percentage of fans who are women, with this segment accounting for more than half (54%) of all fans in the division.
As for Hispanic fans, the West South Central division (30%) has the highest percentage, while the East South Central has the lowest (9%). The East South Central and South Atlantic divisions each have the highest percentage of Black fans (20%) and the Mountain division has the lowest percentage (9%).
As for education, New England (17%) and the Middle Atlantic (16%) have the largest percentage of fans with a post-grad degree, while the Pacific, Mountain, and New England each feature 28% of fans with a household income above $100,000.
How do the divisions engage with soccer?
To help answer this, below are insights into three ways in which fans engage with the sport: playing, watching on TV, and betting / playing fantasy soccer.
When it comes to participation, the Pacific is the only division where more than a quarter of fans (26%) have played soccer in the past year. New England has the lowest percentage of fans (6%) who fit this category.
While New England has the lowest percentage of fans over 18 who have recently played, they do have the highest percentage (14%) of fans with kids under 18 who play soccer competitively or recreationally. The East South Central has the lowest percentage (5%).
What about watching? The Pacific region has the highest percentage (21%) of soccer fans watching most or nearly all of their favorite team’s games in MLS. With the passion of fanbases like those from the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers, and both Los Angeles teams residing in the region, this isn’t surprising.
The Middle Atlantic region takes the top spot in watching the Premier League as 27% of fans in the region watch at least most of their favorite teams’ games. Markets like New York City and Philadelphia consistently feature among the list of markets with highest local TV ratings for the league.
The Middle Atlantic region’s soccer fans are the most likely to bet on (31%) and play fantasy soccer (21%) within the past year. This does not come as a surprise when you consider this region has the highest percentage of Males (62%—not pictured above) and 18-34 year old soccer fans in the country—two segments with a high prevalence of sport betting.
What are our takeaways?
Fandom is complicated—something we wrote about in our latest United States of Soccer report. Whether by demographics, psychographics, or consumer behaviors, soccer fandom can be reviewed in numerous ways. Location, like we’ve done here, is another.
Additional insight: In some cases, the demos above mirror that of each region’s general population. But there are plenty of differences, as well. For example, the percent of fans in the Middle Atlantic who are ages 18-34 is 17% higher than that age group’s share of the region’s general population. And all regions have a lower percentage of White fans than the general population, except for the Pacific.
As is the goal with many of our blog posts and newsletter insights, we want to challenge brands and marketers to think about soccer fandom a little differently and illustrate that one size cleat doesn’t fit all.
Just as the SEC may have the most elite athletes and most die-hard fans in football and the ACC is powered by blue bloods on the hardwood, these “soccer conferences” and the fans that live in each have their own perspectives and influences on fandom that make each unique.