College football has largest attendance drop in 34 years - CBS Sports

Iceland12

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Major-college football experienced its largest per-game attendance drop in 34 years and second-largest ever, according to recently released NCAA figures.

Attendance among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in 2017 was down an average of 1,409 fans per game from 2016. That marked the largest drop since 1983 when average attendance declined 1,527 fans per game from 1982.

The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997.

That average attendance drop marked the second-sharpest decline since the NCAA began keeping track of college football attendance in 1948. For the first time in history, average attendance declined nationally for four consecutive seasons.

The 2017 numbers include FBS home games, neutral-site games, bowl games and the College Football Playoff.

Since establishing an all-time high average attendance in 2008 (46,971), FBS attendance has slipped a record 10.1 percent over the last nine years.


https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ion-with-largest-attendance-drop-in-34-years/
 

Would like to see a graph of the average ticket price increase during that same time period.
 

Would like to see a graph of the average ticket price increase during that same time period.

No kidding. Didn't view the clip, but it's a long article and the price of going to the games isn't mentioned. The closest they get is to say "College sports has long been at odds with how to manage the time/value relationship"

Their answers all revolve around the "viewing experience" in the stadium. None of them involve lowering the price to make that "time/value relationship" more palatable.
 

Ticket prices play a part. Teams switching conferences and adding teams that destroy long time geographic rivals. Start times all over the board and on different days for the benefit of TV. The TV money is a deal with the devil for the fans that actually go to the games.
 

Bringing your family to every home game is becoming out of reach for many people.

The rising cost to attend games is becoming unsustainable. I think even the SEC is starting to see cracks.

More schools with D1 Football Programs have to spend money on new facilities to remain competitive. Sooner or later some of these schools may consider bowing out of D1 Football instead of bankrupting their athletics programs.
 


Totally agree the price has to be a big factor. Not to mention you may have to pay for a seat license. Adding to that, the cost of parking and getting something to eat. I love college football but between recruiting and coaches salaries soaring, its losing some appeal.
 

The current and then the next generation of fans have no sentimentality, loyalty to their team, and have too many other things to do. The glamour and traditions are being changed so drastically that the whole experience is watered down. Expect even more decline going forward. it is not the money.
 

It seems the discussion in the media, and often from Athletic Directors, revolves around the improved viewing experience on television impacting attendance at the games. While that may be true for some, I think the significant increases in tickets, ever-changing game times, and ongoing changes in conferences have a lot to do with it. There just is not the same excitement for games with Maryland and Rutgers for most people, and you also lose some of the "fun" of playing traditional Big Ten teams when you no longer play them as often. It almost feels like a non-conference game if we played Indiana now. Finally, with so many bowl games and the Rose Bowl not being the game to play for in the same as the past, the regular season games just do not seem to mean as much.
 

Ticket prices play a part. Teams switching conferences and adding teams that destroy long time geographic rivals. Start times all over the board and on different days for the benefit of TV. The TV money is a deal with the devil for the fans that actually go to the games.

Good Points! Nebraska vs Oklahoma, Texas vs Texas aTm, etc....These were all sell out games that now, no longer exist.
 



The only way that it will be sustainable is if you have a strong donor program who would fully support the athletic programs in its entirety, lower the ticket costs to a manageable level, and lower the cost of food and beverage concessions.

The fan donation or seat licenses should be voluntary. Let those that can afford more to give more willingly.
 

The only way that it will be sustainable is if you have a strong donor program who would fully support the athletic programs in its entirety, lower the ticket costs to a manageable level, and lower the cost of food and beverage concessions.

The fan donation or seat licenses should be voluntary. Let those that can afford more to give more willingly.

Donors are going to disappear gradually....
 

I think another factor is how much the at-home experience has improved over the last 10 years. HD TV, easily accessible large screens, access to nearly every game, ability to easily monitor the scores and highlights of other games going on, all in the comfort of your own home.
 

I think another factor is how much the at-home experience has improved over the last 10 years. HD TV, easily accessible large screens, access to nearly every game, ability to easily monitor the scores and highlights of other games going on, all in the comfort of your own home.

Yeah, and all these also apply to the bar experience as well. I do think it comes back to the cost to attend in the end.
 



I think another factor is how much the at-home experience has improved over the last 10 years. HD TV, easily accessible large screens, access to nearly every game, ability to easily monitor the scores and highlights of other games going on, all in the comfort of your own home.

That and there is essentially infinite entertainment available to those TVs.... phones... everything.

Even in podunk nowhere, there's more than just the game on.
 


Maybe we should hold off on that TCF expansion.


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So ticket sales are down pretty much anywhere. You'd have to be an imbecile to note sluggish ticket sales as a valid reason for firing a head coach. Good thing nobody's tried to pull that.
 

So ticket sales are down pretty much anywhere. You'd have to be an imbecile to note sluggish ticket sales as a valid reason for firing a head coach. Good thing nobody's tried to pull that.

It wasn't just ticket sales. It was also recruiting ranking in December. Mark Coyle is someone's Dad. Don't you dare doubt what a Dad says.


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So ticket sales are down pretty much anywhere. You'd have to be an imbecile to note sluggish ticket sales as a valid reason for firing a head coach. Good thing nobody's tried to pull that.

Along those lines... I was thinking the other day....you got Sawvel, defensive coordinator at Wake Forest with a run of drafted Gopher DB's. You got Limegrover coaching o-line at 2X playoff runnerup Penn State. You got Tracy the Defensive Coordinator at Washington State. Pretty much anybody would agree like him or not Jerry Kill is thought of pretty highly in the football community and as a person. He is without a job for 10 minutes and multiple schools make overtures to come work for us...we create a position for you. That's four pretty well respected coaches.

Now we have PJ who has a following. And maybe Callahan? Maybe OC Kirk? And maybe DC Robb? Is that progress?
 


In addition to all the realignments, P5 Conferences are bending over backwards for big TV & other electronic media money at the expense of of live fans.

They jerk around with starting times for the convenience of TV slots. The lesser teams like the Gophers get stuck with 11:00 AM or so start times to the chagrin of tailgaters. Some students don't even bother waking up in time for the games after a night out on the town even with free tickets.

They are giving fans multiple reasons not to attend games or be loyal.
 

Buried beneath the headline are the power 5 stats. The Big Ten is up year over year (barely) while the rest are in the low single digit negatives.

The most obvious reason for the drop is buried way down the column: the addition of so many G5 programs. By my count there have been 10 added since 2010 and 2 more are coming soon. The small fan bases and stadiums dilute the numbers.

Kudos to the writer for even including that in his column. Lesser outlets, eg ESPN wouldn’t have bothered. The headline istrue but slightly misleading. Playoff ratings were way up even with the boring all-SEC final.
 

I bet expanding the playoffs would solve this. :rolleyes:

I actually think giving G5 teams a shot would stoke passion and attendance. It’s strange to think that no matter how good a team is they will never have a shot at the big boys or a championship. Those fans have to be a different sort of breed.
 

Ticket prices are high and he ability to see games in high quality on TV has expanded making it more justifiable to stay home, especially if you have a family.
 

The Big Ten and PAC 12 percentage changes are off by a power of 10. Should be +0.11% and -0.951% respectively.

Lord only knows how many other math errors.
 

Ticket prices play a part. Teams switching conferences and adding teams that destroy long time geographic rivals. Start times all over the board and on different days for the benefit of TV. The TV money is a deal with the devil for the fans that actually go to the games.

Good points. Plus there are too many games on TV. For a lot of casual fans, the best seat in the house is at home.
 

That and there is essentially infinite entertainment available to those TVs.... phones... everything.

Even in podunk nowhere, there's more than just the game on.

Even more of a reason to keep tickets cheap.
 

Maybe it is high time that D1 programs should consider some sort of parity. Maybe allow a D1 team to sign a maximum of 2 5-Star players per team. On any good year, you have 27 to 30 or so 5-Stars.

In the 2018 Recruiting Class, there are 28 5-Star Players.

Georgia has 7, tOSU has 3, USC 4, PSU 3, Clemson 5, Texas 2, Alabama 2, Miami 1, and Oklahoma 1.

There are only a handful of teams most notably Alabama that win national championships - https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/college-football-national-championship-history

I know that there is zero chance if the SEC has anything to say about it.
 

Ticket prices play a part. Teams switching conferences and adding teams that destroy long time geographic rivals. Start times all over the board and on different days for the benefit of TV. The TV money is a deal with the devil for the fans that actually go to the games.

All great points and all games are on TV. TV productions continue to get better and by watching at home you cut at least 2 hours off the commitment to the game.
 

College football could be threatened more by the XFL than the NFL. I heard a person on the radio last week actually endorse a support for the XFL to challenge the current NCAA. Maybe the P5 make an arrangement down the road with the XFL for a new division.
 




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