I have lived in several Stakes and several different area for almost 3 decades in Orange County, CA. It is my experience that there are very few Utes here and that the BYU faithful here are very strong. I've lived a little bit in the Northwest and in the South, and my experience there is similar. In the OC, I've met some Utes, but they generally keep their traps shut because they generally are ridiculously outnumbered and they generally have actually taken advantage of some of Utah's academics to make something of themselves and make some money, unlike a sizeable portion of RES. Among LDS here it is far and away BYU as the #1 option for kids going to school and adult fandom. Everyone after that if they're even remotely active tries to get the "BYU" experience by going to UVU or BYU extension or BYU-I. Those that have gone to Utah from here or from other areas will either openly or at least begrudgingly admit it was only after they could not get into BYU.

My point is Utah's fan growth is only internal and is due to the fact that BYU is so much more difficult to get into and that there is simply not enough space for all the people that want to go to BYU. And those that leave the state, no one cares about them because they are such a minority, and they are primarily LDS. Why on earth would you leave any state to pay out of state tuition at the U, when you go to your local state school and get the same or better education? I enjoy being a BYU fan and not having to deal with their crap in that state. If we have to conceed more of Utah to get more out of state growth to our fan base, I am cool with that. I beleive it is already been happening for years and that myopic Utes don't see what is happening beyond their state. Sure there will be the occasional Utes transplant, but they will likely be very few in numbers and less likely to be the beer-pouring type of Utes.

Wanted to know if there are other Cougar fans in non-Utah parts of the country that see the same thing where they are at.