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Volume 136, Issue 9
Monday, September 17, 2018
Inside: • The Organization Resource Group (ORG) is a student organization to help student organizations. Staff Writer Natalia Capella breaks down the organization’s goals and ambitions on page 2. • Third most unfriendly toward the LGBTQ community. Six-spot drop in ‘Top 25’ rankings. For Staff Columnist Grey Mangan, we’re top 25 in hate. Read his column on page 3. • From 2009 to 2017, Jimmy Cheek served as UT’s chancellor. Now, student band Jimmy’s Cheeks is keeping his name alive by performing around campus. Contributor Bailey Fritz profiles the band on page 4. • The Vols had a sloppy win against UTEP on Saturday. Sports Editor Blake Von Hagen breaks down the game and grades each position’s performance on page 6.
The student section cheers during the UTEP game at Neyland Stadium on Sept. 15, 2018. Megan Albers / The Daily Beacon
Tennessee ranked as second-best brand, fanbase by Emory University Tyler Wombles
Managing Editor
While the Tennessee football team looks to move up the rankings, its fans have already done their share. Emory University associate professor of business Michael Lewis ranked Tennessee’s brand and fanbase as the second-best in his 2018 College Football Brands and Fans list. Lewis’ ranking is based off of viewing college football programs as brands, comparing them to product-based companies. He utilized three individual methods: comparing revenue of teams of “similar quality,” determining return of investment and brand strength, and analyzing the actual football revenue accumulated by the schools.
Lewis determined Tennessee’s spot on the list by taking into account the revenue garnered from games and the amount of people that fill up Neyland Stadium on Saturdays. “Tennessee has struggled in recent years, but they deliver financial results and amazing attendance,” Lewis says in the article. The Vols are listed behind only Texas, which sits at the top spot. Notre Dame, LSU and Oklahoma take up spots three, four and six, respectively. Georgia, Auburn and Florida are the other SEC teams included in Lewis’ top ten, with the Bulldogs at six, Tigers at nine and Gators at 10. The Vols will face each of those teams this season, hosting Florida on Sept. 22, traveling to Georgia on Sept. 29 and playing Auburn at JordanHare Stadium on Oct. 13. Lewis did not include Alabama
in his top ten and compares the Crimson Tide’s fan situation with that of Tennessee’s. “The question that needs to be asked (and we will keep this in the SEC) is what would happen if Tennessee had a run like Alabama’s,” Lewis said in the article. “Would the Volunteer fan base be as intense as the Crimson Tide? How about LSU? Or Georgia? “As someone who has lived in SEC territory for the better part of the last twenty years I think the answer is yes.” Vols fans have already filled the seats for the program this year. In Tennessee’s first home game this season, a 59-3 win over ETSU on Sept. 8, the announced attendance was 96,464. “It was exciting that we were able to come back in Neyland and get a win,” senior defensive back Micah Abernathy said following the game. “It was excit-
ing with the crowd, but we are on to the next week.” Tennessee’s brand strength was even effective in bringing head coach Jeremy Pruitt to campus. He referenced the Vols’ history and status during his introductory press conference on Dec. 7, 2017. “When you talk about tradition – I grew up in a small town in North Alabama, just on the Tennessee River,” Pruitt said. “You grow up knowing all about the University of Tennessee – where you are running through the Power T, Smokey, the great teams that Coach Neyland, Coach Dickey, Coach Majors and Coach Fulmer put on the field. “There was a time and place when this university was feared among the SEC teams. My goal as the head football coach at Tennessee is to get us back to that point.”