Chicago is famous for its pro sports teams. Everyone knows about the Cubs and Wrigley Field, the Bulls and Jordan, the Bears and Ditka, the Sox and the Blackhawks. But when it comes to college sports, who do Chicagoans follow?
Northwestern is in Chicago as is DePaul. But most people unless they went to those schools really aren’t big fans. Notre Dame is popular in Chicago. They have a group called “The Subway Alum” which is made of fans who probably didn’t attend Notre Dame, but are likely catholic high school grads of which Chicago has many on the South Side.
But what about out of town schools who are made up of people who attended those schools? People come from all over to work and live in Chicago. But they still love their college teams. They meet on Saturdays at various watering holes throughout the city to watch their games. Which of these groups are the largest?
Click here to skip our analysis and see our official rankings
The largest is the Windy City Seminoles made up of Florida State University alums. They have a group of 1261 members. They meet at the Country Club to watch the games.
Next is the Kansas Jayhawks group which has 1190 members. You may want to wait until basketball season to go find these folks ans football is not really their game. But they probably throw a great basketball watch party.
The next is a team you might not expect. It is the Iowa State Cyclones with 986 members. They meet at Murphy’s Bleachers to watch the Cyclones play. Murphy’s is right across the street from Wrigley Field.
Next we go to the Pac 12 where the Arizona State Sun Devils group has 798 members. They meet up to watch the games at Cubby Bear.
UCLA is next with its 618 strong. The Bruins are good at both football and basketball so you can enjoy both seasons with them. They meet at Brownstone Tavern and Grill for the games.
Next is the Oklahoma Sooners fans with 595 members. You want to find a group who loves their college football, you’ll love the OU fans. The Sooner group meets at Barn & Company Public Grill. Week 2 of the 2017 season they take on Ohio State in a huge game. That will be the place to be on Sept 9.
Next is the Kentucky Wildcats. While they will be the group to hang with during basketball season along with the Jayhawks, don’t sleep on their football team. UK is also pretty fired up about football. They are in the SEC so football is a very big deal, even at this basketball school. They have 595 members also and they meet up at The Pony. Games you will want to watch there would be the Florida and Tennessee games as well as the Louisville game.
Rounding out the top ten are the Denver Pioneers, Northern Illinois Huskies, Alabama Crimson Tide and the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Denver doesn’t have football, so their big sport is hockey. They are the defending National Champions in hockey. Come back to the page closer to hockey season as it hasn’t been updated recently.
Northern Illinois is one of the local teams, so there is probably no shortage of places to watch their games in the city. They have an alumni group of 566.
Alabama of course is all about college football. They live it 365 days a year. Their Chicago Alumni group is 537 strong and they meet at Houndstooth (where the owner is obviously a Bama fan) and Old Town Social. Those will be great places to catch the Florida State game.
On Sunday you may want to catch up with the West Virginia fans. They have the Virginia Tech game on at Old Town Pour House. This is one of the better week one matchups as the Mountaineers are #22 and the Hokies are #23.
You probably don’t have to be a graduate of these schools to join the party, as long as you are a fan of the teams. Florida State, Kentucky, Alabama and Oklahoma are all teams with many fans who didn’t attend the schools. So if that’s you, now you know where your fellow fans watch the games in the Windy City.
Most Popular NCAA Groups in Chicago
Ed. Note: This is data for Facebook groups only. Admittedly I’ve been away from Facebook since my college days. Obviously a lot’s changed since 2005. Apparently, a “page” is different from a “group.” From what I’ve gathered, the main difference is privacy. By default, pages are made public. Groups can be publicly available for anyone to join, require administrator approval for members to join or keep it private and by invitation only.