No Correlation Between Minneapolis’ Population and Golden Gopher Football Wins? Think Again!

• December 4, 2014

I like cities, specifically Minneapolis. In addition, I like football, specifically the team that represents my alma mater, the University of Minnesota. Since I like both of these things, I thought: “They MUST be related somehow!”

Well, it turns out there has been a correlation between Minneapolis population and Golden Gopher wins per year since 2008. Who woulda thunk?

Population estimates were taken from the Minnesota State Demographic Center, and win data was taken from memory (but actually from Gophersports.com). Also, TCF Bank Stadium is in Minneapolis, so there is that connection too.

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If you like football but not cities, I can tell you that Minneapolis and St. Paul are in the midst of an urban population revival, and have led the state in population growth since 2010. If you like cities but not football, I can tell you that the Gophers have had a great past couple seasons, and head coach Jerry Kill won Big Ten coach of the year this week.

If you like neither, you probably don’t read this site and most likely wouldn’t get along with me.

Chris Iverson

About Chris Iverson

Chris Iverson is a transportation engineer & planner for the City of Bellevue, WA and currently lives in Seattle. He holds degrees in both Civil Engineering & Urban Studies from the University of Minnesota, and worked on a myriad of transit & multimodal transportation projects in the Twin Cities. He is a former Minnesota Daily columnist, RAGBRAI participant, bad musician, marathon finisher, and an unabashed generalist.