Do BYU Fans Travel Well?

You might notice more fans wearing royal blue in a road venue than you’d expect. While surely a percentage of those BYU fans that you’ll see in opponents’ stadiums made the trip from Provo, others will be friends and family of the players and staff, but the majority of BYU fans you’ll see at the game live within an immediate radius of that university. The major reason for this is that BYU’s sponsoring institution is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This close affiliation builds strong affinity from many Church members, and with the Church’s far-reaching membership brings built-in BYU alumni and fans throughout the United States and the world. This creates a truly unique fan base that does, yes, travel well, but the majority are traveling a much shorter distance to the event than you might think.

The following includes numbers of BYU alumni, Church membership details and related information in the states that comprise Big 12 Conference membership, showing BYU's unique distribution of its fan base throughout Big 12 country.