Dec. 7, 2006

The University of Notre Dame has the top brand in collegiate sports, according to a new reader poll released by Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal.

Notre Dame ranked number one by nearly a four-to-one margin, receiving 40.7 percent of the 1,251 votes – in answer to the following question, “What university is the top `brand’ in college sports?”

Michigan was second with 9.1 percent, followed by Duke, third at 8.3 percent. Next in line were USC at 8.2 percent, Texas at 6.7 percent, North Carolina at 5.9 percent and Ohio State at 5.0 percent.

Notre Dame increased its lead over the other institutions by more than 80 percent compared to a year ago when Notre Dame also finished first with 33.3 percent of the vote, compared to second-place Duke with 15.8 percent.

Also, of the 1,445 responses asking for a selection of respondents’ “favorite college football stadium,” Notre Dame Stadium finished first with 20.2 percent of the votes. Second was Michigan Stadium (Michigan) at 12.9 percent, followed by Ohio Stadium (Ohio State) at 7.9 percent and the Rose Bowl (UCLA) at 6.2 percent.

The SBJ reader survey was based on polling through the SportsBusiness Journal Web site and that of its sister publication, SportsBusiness Daily. Working in conjunction with research partner Turkey Sports & Entertainment, the results were collected between Oct. 2 and Oct. 25.

The reader survey was published in the Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2006 edition.