Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field, Univeristy of Florida, Gainesville. Photo: B.S. Laiken

Last year the Sporting News named the University of Florida football fans the top college crowd in the nation and ranked their 90,000-seat Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field in Gainesville as the nation's loudest.

Up the way in Tallahassee, UF’s in-state rival Florida State University needn’t feel too put out about that. The magazine ranks 83,000-seat Doak Campbell Stadium just a tad behind in the fan category, at No. 8.

The Sunshine State is the only state out of 50 that has two schools in the Top 10 best-fan category.

Why is that? Why are Floridians so football-crazy when it comes to their college teams? For that matter, why is this week – officially  the start of the NCAA football season – better than an amusement park thrill ride in a state so full of fun attractions and distractions?

“I’ll tell you why,” said Carlos-Manuel Rivera, a UF alum and a spokesman at the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Center. “We’re successful. Florida schools win national championships and get invited to all the best bowl games.

"Football is just downright fun in Florida.

“Florida high schools produce football players that every school in the country wants, but you know what most of them prefer to do? Stay right here playing at a Florida university.

“There are more NFL scouts checking out Florida schools than there are in any other state in the country,” Rivera said. “Our players are a cut above.”

Rebecca Malowicz, an assistant in NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s New York City office, acknowledged Rivera is on target. “I don’t have the stats in front of me, but that’s pretty much a widely acknowledged fact. Scouts always have a large contingent of players to watch in Florida,” she told Sunshine State News.

Dave Wannstedt, head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2000 to 2004 and now head coach of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, said that weather is a huge factor in recruiting the best high school players.

“Football is nowhere near as big in Northern high schools as it is in schools down South,” Wannstedt said. “Mothers don’t want their kids out in long johns, hitting each other in below-zero temperatures. And the kids don't get the spring training in. Up here, we have to do a lot of recruiting from Southern schools.”

Wannstedt talks about South Florida linebacker Alvin Despartes, who played high school ball in Miami. He wasn't on the Hurricanes' radar, but the Connecticut Huskies recruited him hard.

Despartes turned the Huskies down.

"How am I going to survive there? I've never seen snow. I've never experienced cold, cold weather," he said. "It was like, 'Connecticut, South Florida. Connecticut, South Florida.' I was like, 'I'm staying here.' That was a no-brainer."

With schools like South Florida, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic and Florida International in the Sunshine State, Despartes doesn’t have to migrate north to find a football scholarship. He can remain parka-free, play big-time football and maybe catch the eye of one of those NFL scouts roaming the state.


The bottom line is this: In a state of successful football schools, the University of Florida is by far the most successful in the modern era. According to the NCAA office, the SEC had six of the top 10 revenue producers. And of the top 10 schools in gross revenue for the 2008-09 school year, only four -- Florida, Texas, Ohio State and Alabama -- earned BCS bowl berths.

UF is ranked third nationally in net revenue, behind Texas and Georgia, with $43.29 million.

All of the major Florida universities pump big bucks into their programs, but unlike so many other schools nationwide, their programs are largely successful: