Does Rutgers matter in South Jersey?
by On the Banks on Apr 4, 2011 7:00 AM EDT
in Rutgers University
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PrintHere's Ben Doody (formerly of The Trentonian) on Friday:
It's also no secret that Huskymania is a condition far more often experienced in the central and eastern parts of the state than it is in Stamford and Greenwich. Even within Fairfield County, folks dressed in national flag blue and white are more often found in Danbury -- where Interstate 84 provides easy access to Hartford and Storrs -- than in Greenwich.
Even in New Jersey, where the Rutgers football team has risen to prominence over the last five years, there's a far bigger divide between the New York-centric fans in North Jersey and those in the Philadelphia suburbs, for whom Rutgers' Piscataway campus seems a lifetime away.
Connecticut, like New Jersey, is split between two major media markets. A long-standing stereotype is that southwest Connecticut, the wealthier part of the state dominated by New York City, generally is not as fond of UConn sports as the rest of the state. UConn's base of support comes more from blue-collar northern and eastern Connecticut, which are also more representative of Connecticut as a whole.
Are Rutgers sports not as popular in parts of New Jersey dominated by the Philadelphia media market as they are in the rest of the state? Anecdotally that seems to be the case. The Northeast only pays limited attention to college sports to begin with. Rutgers can at least find occasional table scraps with the New York City media, but gets even less interest from Philadelphia, which in turn influences public opinion in South Jersey. Which is not to say that there are not healthy bases of support for Rutgers in down there. In fact, in my experience Rutgers as a university has far less of a negative stigma in that market. It's almost like stepping into the Midwest, where everyone seems to think of the school as a small private university (as opposed to the muddled, so-byzantine-alumni-can-barely-explain-it truth.)
In talking with Ben about his article, he thought that Fairfield County cared more about UConn than Cherry Hill about Rutgers. If any readers had a Facebook account before it was inundated with white noise and decoupled account registration from college enrollment, you may remember that there were a wealth of network-wide statistics available to users (or perhaps that's still around, and merely buried under layers of impenetrable design.) At the time visitors could look up information about popular profile terms in various networks (so far instance, what were the most popular books, or hometowns, or other categories.) Edison and East Brunswick of course lead the list, but, IIRC, Cherry Hill was in third place; even outpacing the distinct pair of New York City and Brooklyn.
So did Ben really mean to say that UConn is bigger in Greenwich than Rutgers is in Cherry Hill, or was he just using "Cherry Hill" as shorthand for "populated, fairly representative South Jersey municipality"? I certainly could have asked him for further clarification, but that would have been annoying. Plus, this exchange also provided a spur here for further discussion unrelated to spring football practice. To someone living in Middlesex County, Bergen for instance might as well be light years away, with the Middlesex resident able to recite a long litany of differences at a moment's notice. An outsider would not notice much variation though, instead focusing on the broader picture of demographic similarity.
In that sense Bergen isn't that far off from Camden County, or any number of locales along the eastern seaboard. The Middlesex resident probably knows little of the difference between Atlantic City and Vineland, but wouldn't have much trouble observing how closely the Raritan Valley follows Rutgers sports. Travel about 10 miles (draw a big circle from Perth Amboy to Hillsborough, Scotch Plains to Monroe) from campus in any direction, and it won't be long before you start losing count of all the Block R stickers and magnets. I'd be curious to see what South Jersey readers would have to say though. Do your neighbors follow Rutgers teams? Are you guys better fans than the stereotypical Greenwich hedge fund manager?
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Does Rutgers matter in South Jersey?
Good post. I’m almost 35 and grew up in Cumberland county outside of Vineland. If someone had asked me this question in the fall of 1994 when I was about to begin my education at RU, it would have taken me all of 2 seconds to say no. Now as I get closer to having spent half my life north of Middlesex county, I have to think about the question for a while and my answer is probably still a no but it is trending toward maybe.
A few reasons for the upward trend:
- Increased Big East exposure. Sure the conference takes its knocks, especially in football, but now even my Mom can find Rutgers games on TV. I literally never saw a Rutgers game on TV before I got to the banks in 94.
- The branding of the block R and the initiative to get Rutgers into every school in the state. Before I started to begin my college selection process I knew nothing about Rutgers. Now my nephews and nieces and their classmates have had exposure to Rutgers books, mini-footballs, and who knows what else in school and in the local malls.
When made my decision to attend RU, and told people not familiar with the college selection process, more often then not I had to specify Rutgers: New Brunswick, not Camden. Now that distinction doesn’t need to be made. - While Philly media still controls the South Jersey market, with the proliferation of the Internet and always on informational devices like smart phones, it doesn’t have as tight as a grip as before. I used to read the sports section of the paper (Vineland Times Journal and Philly Inq on Sundays) every day to get my fix of box scores and to see what was happening on the sports landscape. That lead to me reading mostly pro sports articles, and smaller sections of college sports dealing with Penn State football and Big 5 basketball.
With all that said Rutgers still has a long ways to go to really matter in South Jersey. I don’t know anyone who isn’t connected to a alum or student at RU that roots for them as their primary college team.
While the past 5 years in particular have been great for Rutgers exposure it’s hard to undo a lifetime of not being on the radar or in the mindset of people.
But I do see hope, I saw a friend of my nephew wearing a block R hat, I actually made it past 5 in counting R magnets after I got off the Turnpike and started heading down Rt. 55 to my parents house, and I don’t get asked by cousins I haven’t seen in 15 years if I went to Rutgers Camden anymore.
The foundation for this question to go away is there, now we just need to build and keep the attention of the fan base.
I'm from Cherry Hill...
Rutgers only gets attention in CH because the schools send between 60-80 kids a year to RU NB. Otherwise it’s all Philly. Both my parents grew up in Philly, I get Philly TV and I was raised on Philly sports. For a lot (or most) people in SJ/Philly surrounding areas, that is the case.
That’s why RU has no market share in the South.
Managing Editor for Brotherly Game, SBNation's Philadelphia Union blog and contributor for SBN Philly. // @scottdkessler
"College is only 4 years, but the Eagles are for life." - Ironhank
Haddonfield
I disagree with the comments from Cherry Hill above. These days in my area the Block “R” and other signs of support are far more prevalent than PSU. I would say this is new in the last 5 years. In a three block radius around my house are no fewer than 8 different houses with cars sporting a Block “R” or a Rutgers flag flying on the house. This in a town, Haddonfield, which is known for affluence and sending kids to private schools. Many more kids from the local HS are sending thier kids there. My own will graduate from the Honors College this spring.
I work in Pennsylvania and see more Block “R” adorned cars on the road around Philly than I see the PSU pawprint. This I think is due to the large number of RU grads who work in the city and are now proud enough of their alma mater to display their affiliation. I don’t know about Connecticut but I thik SJ is now Rutgers country all the way.
What is missing is presence in the local press and other media, ie. “news radio”. I think it is a case of an underserved market. One “All Sport” local FM status 97.5 signed on and broadcasts Rutgers games. That is great on days when I can’t get to a game and want to listen to it while working outside or driving. Overall there has been a big increase of visibility in the last several years.
Voorhees
On the eastern border of Cherry Hill and a school teacher for the past 7 years. I can tell you right now that there are more middle school kids wearing Rutgers gear than any other college and that includes Penn State, Notre Dame and anybody else. In fact I was walking through the Galleria in Philly on my way to the Pitt game when I passed a sporting goods store. There were three football sweatshirts in the window: Penn State, Notre Dame and Rutgers. And that’s Philadelphia, not South Jersey. People in South Jersey have state pride as well. Until 2006 there was little to choose from besides Penn State and Notre Dame. Those times have changed. Logan Ryan came from our high school, Blaze from just up the road, Sylvestro and Kordell Young just south of us.
Pennington/Princeton/Ewing (Mercer county)
In the strange little corner of the state we call “Mercer County”, college sports weren’t really on the radar when I was growing up (about 10-20 years ago), and Rutgers was often seen as a “Safety School” for kids who couldn’t get into TCNJ/Princeton. There was quite a bit of RU/TCNJ rivalry too, as the two major in-state public schools.
I’ll be honest, I chose TCNJ over RU in a last-minute hat-switching debacle, but I probably would have gone the other way if I had heard the many recent accolades that RU academics have received, and if the football team had been better growing up (yes, this would have swung it, since both schools were so even in my eyes). The perception has definitely changed over the years, especially nationally, where everyone knows about Rutgers academics, largely because of their Football team, and literally nobody knows about TCNJ (fist shake!).
Further, having moved to Morris County from Mercer, the Block R is EVERYWHERE up here. Combined with the change over time in perception of RU and RU Athletics, my adult life and childhood couldn’t have been more disparate in terms of RU awareness.
Mercer's right along the dividing line
Princeton and the Windsors look more towards NYC than Philadelphia. Even then it’s not deep in the heart of South Jersey where it’s Eagles and Phillies 24/7.
Are people in Mercer really attached to Princeton as a college, as opposed to a place you drive into on the weekends (ala Westfield, Montclair, Ridgewood, etc…)? For even the top students in a state that’s not really a college that’s on your radar for the most part.
With TCNJ, I feel like, and this may be entirely wrong, that their perception flipped the instant they changed their name. One minute they’re thought of as the equivalent to Montclair State, and then all of a sudden they’re being entirely being very selective with admissions. That started to be the case right around a decade ago. I know there’s a lot of Mercer (Hamilton, etc..) at TCNJ along with more of a South Jersey lean, just like Middlesex and Central/North are really big at Rutgers.
People still don’t know about TCNJ? I guess I run in the same circles as Stuart Nachbar. For me athletics didn’t play a role in the choice at all (of course, RU sports weren’t anything at the time.) Just couldn’t see myself living in Ewing, much the same as I couldn’t see myself attending a Penn State or another rural school. TCNJ has a very good reputation for selectivity though.
Can’t really speak to Morris County. I can see it in parts, maybe less so in the ritzier areas.
by On the Banks on Apr 7, 2011 10:48 PM EDT up reply actions
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