Home Improvement: Female Football Fans Prefer SEC

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With a run of recent national championships, the SEC has emerged as the preeminent conference in college football among women. And research indicates that Home Depot, the title sponsor of the weekly game on CBS, may be benefiting.

Of 12.9 million women who identify themselves as "very interested" in college football, about 20% said they are fans of the SEC, according to Scarborough Research. That's higher than for five other conferences.

A female SEC fan is tabbed as one who, over the past year, viewed an SEC game on broadcast or cable; listened to a game on the radio; or attended one featuring Georgia, Florida or one of the 10 other schools in the conference.

Separately -- in a possible validation for Home Depot -- among 5.7 million female SEC fans, Scarborough found 23% are more likely to have remodeled a kitchen; 24% to have remodeled a bathroom; and 26% are more likely to have done roof repair in the past year -- compared to the average adult (of either gender) nationally. Also: the women are 12% more likely to have invested in a paint or wallpaper job.

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This year's weekly "Home Depot SEC on CBS" game schedule launches Saturday and runs through late November.

Among the 12.9 million avid female college football fans, Scarborough found the SEC led with 19% -- or 2.4 million -- who listed themselves as fans of the conference. That was followed by 13% for the Big Ten; the ACC at 12%; the Big 12 at 10%; the Pac-10 at 7%; and the Big East at 5%.

Research was conducted during a period from February 2009 through March 2010. The data is projected from Scarborough research that is culled from a national consumer and lifestyle survey of 210,000 adults ages 18-plus of both genders.

Other findings from Scarborough: SEC female football devotees are 12% more likely than the average adult nationally to own a home, and 22% more likely to own a second home.

The data comes from a national base, so the number of female fans of a particular conference are likely to be much higher in specific regions. That may help advertisers running spots on regional game broadcasts.

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