College football attendance dropping
- Thread starter Evan Ceg
- Start date
Perhaps ------ but I really hate this sort of "analysis." Simply taking a straight average of attendance at every college football game involving an FBS level team doesn't introduce any control for various factors. For instance:
(1) There was a game in Bristol, TN in 2016 that drew 157K fans, an all-time college football record. No such similar game occurred in 2017.
(2) UAB played football in 2017, but didn't play football in 2016. UAB average home attendance was around 26K - that's a drag on the FBS average of ~ 43K.
(3) That's part of a long-term trend --- more and more schools playing FBS football. We were at 119 schools in 2007. It was 11 schools (+9%) higher in 2017. Those additional schools certainly aren't ones with above-average attendance.
(4) The MAC basically gave up completely on post-October college football in 2017, while simultaneously moving their biggest rivalry games (CMU v WMU, Miami v Ohio) from October Saturdays to November weeknights.
(5) Hurricane Irma played havoc with schedules in 2017 - postponements or outright cancellations. No similar situation in 2016.
I'm not 100% confident the long-term trend is even down --- much less confident that 2017 is an increase in this long-term decline. Give me a more robust analysis and I'll start listening.
(1) There was a game in Bristol, TN in 2016 that drew 157K fans, an all-time college football record. No such similar game occurred in 2017.
(2) UAB played football in 2017, but didn't play football in 2016. UAB average home attendance was around 26K - that's a drag on the FBS average of ~ 43K.
(3) That's part of a long-term trend --- more and more schools playing FBS football. We were at 119 schools in 2007. It was 11 schools (+9%) higher in 2017. Those additional schools certainly aren't ones with above-average attendance.
(4) The MAC basically gave up completely on post-October college football in 2017, while simultaneously moving their biggest rivalry games (CMU v WMU, Miami v Ohio) from October Saturdays to November weeknights.
(5) Hurricane Irma played havoc with schedules in 2017 - postponements or outright cancellations. No similar situation in 2016.
I'm not 100% confident the long-term trend is even down --- much less confident that 2017 is an increase in this long-term decline. Give me a more robust analysis and I'll start listening.
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The concussion problem will have to become a lot more prominent in order to put a fork in college football. Not buying it at all at this point.
Let's pretend attendance really is dropping...that really wouldn't be surprising. There's less exposable income for those in their 20s-30s right now. Watching football on TV has vastly improved plus you can watch other games that same day without traveling. Or you can just go to a bar. I do think, eventually, attendance is going to start dropping drastically. When those 65+ stop buying tickets who's going to replace them? I don't think attending a game has the same appeal as it used to. All JMO
In looking at the list of FBS schools it seems five moved into the class since 2008. Average 2017 home attendance for those schools are as follows... South Alabama - 17,345. Old Dominion - 20,118. Georgia State - 15, 833. UTSA - 22,821. Charlotte - 11,903.
I don't feel like doing the math but taking those five out of the mix would raise the average but still maybe not to the 2008 level.
I don't feel like doing the math but taking those five out of the mix would raise the average but still maybe not to the 2008 level.
The article said attendance was down overall and not just average attendance per game.
But it matters little to me, Penn State’s attendance was up significantly last year and the B10’s attendance was up slightly.
The rest is somebody else’s problem. If anything it shows that PSU and the B10 are a more reliable in putting people in seats and watching on TV. It could result in the B10 getting better TV contracts in the future compared to their peers and Penn State getting better bowl bids.
But it matters little to me, Penn State’s attendance was up significantly last year and the B10’s attendance was up slightly.
The rest is somebody else’s problem. If anything it shows that PSU and the B10 are a more reliable in putting people in seats and watching on TV. It could result in the B10 getting better TV contracts in the future compared to their peers and Penn State getting better bowl bids.
Not just Hurricane Irma, but also Harvey. Also the California wild fires that kept people away from games.
College football could easily raise attendance if they wanted to.
1. Control prices. Prices everywhere have gotten out of hand. Take a lesson from the new stadium in Atlanta. Lower concession prices and give people more value for their money. Not everyone wants to have a huge tailgate. Allow affordable and quality food inside the stadium.
2. Fewer homes games and improve quality. I would love for the NCAA to mandate a 6 home game schedule. Let’s eliminate bought games. I would rather see 6 P5 homes games then 7 games with two rent a victims. The other advantage is for us fans who travel distances it get exhausting when you open up with 3 or 4 straight home games back to back. The schedule this year is awesome as there not two home games back to back.
4. Fewer weekday games and more flexibility with start times. Weekday games often kill attendance. Allows schools to have more late games that are better attended. In my opinion no game should start prior to 1 pm eastern. This especially hurts attendance at some of the smaller schools.
5. Start the season a week earlier. Give fans and players more recovery time. Allow schools to choose wether they want to play over thanksgiving weekend which often hurts attendance. It will also allow more flexibility with TV times. There will be fewer teams playing each week.
1. Control prices. Prices everywhere have gotten out of hand. Take a lesson from the new stadium in Atlanta. Lower concession prices and give people more value for their money. Not everyone wants to have a huge tailgate. Allow affordable and quality food inside the stadium.
2. Fewer homes games and improve quality. I would love for the NCAA to mandate a 6 home game schedule. Let’s eliminate bought games. I would rather see 6 P5 homes games then 7 games with two rent a victims. The other advantage is for us fans who travel distances it get exhausting when you open up with 3 or 4 straight home games back to back. The schedule this year is awesome as there not two home games back to back.
4. Fewer weekday games and more flexibility with start times. Weekday games often kill attendance. Allows schools to have more late games that are better attended. In my opinion no game should start prior to 1 pm eastern. This especially hurts attendance at some of the smaller schools.
5. Start the season a week earlier. Give fans and players more recovery time. Allow schools to choose wether they want to play over thanksgiving weekend which often hurts attendance. It will also allow more flexibility with TV times. There will be fewer teams playing each week.
This would lower attendance as the teams that are the 7th home game for the big schools are those schools averaging 20K in their games. While their attendance would go up some by a PSU team coming to play at Georgia State, the overall attendance would be a net loss.
Wouldn't more people attending Big Ten games mean there's less people to watch them on TV? Not sure how that translates to more TV money. Ratings are all they're looking at.
The bowl system really doesn't factor in travel much...at least not the bowls we want to go to. The NY6 have nothing to do with travel...which is honestly better
The majority schools are not at capacity. Only 13 schools averaged 100% capacity or more. That includes Penn State who we all know not every was filled. Most have plenty of room to grow.
Attendance has little impact on TV ratings. For example Akron/Penn State game 2.332 million people watching. Even 10,000 more people attending the game and not watching the game would result in a 0.4% decrease in viewership. That not going to move the needle.
Decent ideas, but won't happen as long as TV is paying the big bucks and controlling the schedules.
Disagree, strong attendence shows the strength of the brand.
It also looks better on TV if the stands are filled to capacity with a raucous crowd.
Why do networks care if there's people in the stands? You're not even making sense
They care a lot. For example, in the week before the white out game virtually all the promos show the crowd, aerial views of the stadium etc, obviously they care if the stands are filled.
And large crowds do show the strength of the brand, i.e. how much people care about the product. Sponsors want to be associated with people and organizations that are successful and popular. Lots of fans in the stands equals more sponsors, more money for ads, higher expected tv ratings.
To say tv executives don’t care about the atmosphere at games is ridiculous.
You need to get a grasp on reality. Not a single one of these things has any chance of happening ever.
They don't care at all about the number of people in the seats. The care about what ratings come back. When Clemson is playing Pitt in a half empty stadium they're still getting ratings. When Penn State is playing Georgia State in a stadium with 85-90k there (and all tickets sold) they aren't getting ratings.
Fans in the stadium doesn't equal ratings...it can be an indicator but that's it
When PSU is playing Georgia State it's on the BTN and nobody gives a phuck about ratings other than Joe's Car Wash in Bellefonte
But you are correct, all the TV guys care about is ratings and they're looking at them 10-15 years (or more) forward when they negotiate contracts. How they do that is complicated and they look at a bunch of demographic data pertinent to a program. Attendance is one of them. How much does it count? It ain't that scientific.
And the networks do care about fans in seats and the gameday atmosphere. While the announcers may make fun of empty seats and snoring fans, the network execs cringe. All the ACC can hope for is that the scenes don't repeat themselves in run ups to contract renegotiation and that memories are short.
