Samford study: Which SEC team has the most engaged fans? Not Alabama or Auburn

Dec 5, 2014, 2:56pm CST

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Alabama might be playing for the SEC title this weekend, but its fans aren't the most engaged in the league, a Samford study claims.

Alan Alexander: Reporter- Birmingham Business Journal; Email

A new study from students out of Samford University's Sports Marketing class shows that Alabama and Auburn fans may not be as engaged as those of other Southeastern teams.

The SEC Football Ultimate Fan Engagement Index surveyed 2,500 fans of the 14 SEC football teams on seven factors ranging from social media activity and performance tolerance to time commitment and management cooperation.

Auburn ranked No. 7 and Alabama ranked No. 10, but those lower-than-expected rankings have a lot to do with the recent success of the two football programs.

Darin White, professor of sports marketing in Samford's Brock School of Business, says that the study defined fan engagement as a way of promoting the team on a level that is unique from the standard "loyal' fan who attends games and purchases merchandise.

"The fan engagement index really emphasized on how a fan consistently promotes the teams across those seven factors," he said. "While Alabama and Auburn certainly have a devoted fan base that fits that criteria, the recent success of those two programs expanded their fan bases and added fans who may not be as engaged, and those fans were part of the survey as well."

White says he was surprised Alabama and Auburn weren't closer to the top, but says the factor that most likely brought the teams down was their performance tolerance.

"If you observe how fans react after Alabama wins a game but doesn't perform to the levels expected, those reactions are seen as negative and doesn't really help the team," he said. "On the other hand, Alabama was near the top for social media activity and had the most followers."

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Alan Alexander covers health care, technology and education for the Birmingham Business Journal. Click here to follow him on Twitter.

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