College Game Attendance is Dropping...

[MiamiBuffs]

Even in Texas. Even at Alabama.

Dec 14, 2018
"It's shocking how few people come to every game," Texas A&M deputy athletic director Stephanie Rempe said.

Even a state like Texas, where football permeates the culture from border to border, isn't immune to the attendance trend across the country. While large attendance figures are announced across the state, the number of scanned tickets tells a different story.

In 2017, the scan count at seven of the [Texas] eight public schools that play in college football's top division represented less than 70 percent of each stadium's capacity, according to figures provided through open record requests.

Texas A&M led the state in 2017 with an average of 71,069 scanned tickets for games at Kyle Field. However, that represents only 69.2 percent of the stadium's capacity. Texas, which pulled in a nation-leading $214.8 million in operating revenue in 2016-17, was at 61.7 percent capacity last season.

Texas A&M vs. Alabama

scanned tickets 82,575

%ful l 80.4

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

But winning doesn't always drive actual attendance.

According to figures from a national survey by The Wall Street Journal, Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium was 76.7 percent full in 2017.

All three public "power five" schools in the state -- A&M, Tech, Texas -- have spent lots of resources trying to get fans to support their teams with their attendance as well as dollars. Giovannetti, the Tech administrator, said school officials recently met about plans for 2019 and how to increase fan experience and keep people in the stands. Leon, the Oregon professor, said that conundrum is one being examined by everyone in an era when watching games on TV has never been easier.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/co...s-waging-college-footballs-attendance-problem

Soon ticket prices, beer prices, parking fees and hopefully police and security harassment, are going to drop.

Its not gone unnoticed how much theyve tried to change the game day experience. I never thought Beer would come back. And how much theyve been courting me to come back to season ticket holder status.

 

[MiamiBuffs]

What's really got these guys scared though is that student attendance is dramatically worse. Millenials are not coming to games. That likely means that these future alums will be less engaged with the university after graduating. And much less likely to donate let alone be future season ticket holders.

Fed 15, 2018
But the overall drop that should concern everyone last year -- and this one isn't calculated in the NCAA figures -- is the falling student attendance. It happened at Texas, and I assume that will change when Tom Herman's team plays closer to its recruiting rank, but the Longhorns are not alone here. Stories about difficulty in getting students to attend games at previous levels can be found at many large schools, state and private, across the land.

And that's the one that scares everyone because, frankly, millennials and their behavior scare the hell out of the rest of us. There are essentially four reasons for this, depending upon one's viewpoint.

• They don't respect the things we honor.
• They want to change everything we view as traditional or necessary.
• They want to take our jobs.
• They're cutting the darned cords on their cable.

It's that fourth one that gets the most attention.

Somehow there were 2.7 million fewer fans at NCAA football games last fall than there were in 2013. That number alone won't rock the college football world. That number repeated over the next four years and the next four years and the next four years could be devastating.

Attendance for bowl games dropped for the seventh straight year, losing another 1,200 fans per game in the process.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/co...-college-football-games-real-concern-tv-blame

 

[SuperiorBuff]

Better home schedules would be a big factor.

 

[leftybuff]

Soon ticket prices, beer prices, parking fees and hopefully police and security harassment, are going to drop.

Its not gone unnoticed how much theyve tried to change the game day experience. I never thought Beer would come back.

The bolded items are why my attendance has dropped off. With tickets, parking and incidentals taking my family of four to a game is a 400-500 dollar proposition. It is entertaining, but not that entertaining. Add in I get treated like a potential criminal on my way in, I can sit at home and watch with a lot less aggravation and nearly as much enjoyment.

 

[GoldenSkier]

What's really got these guys scared though is that student attendance is dramatically worse. Millenials are not coming to games. That likely means that these future alums will be less engaged with the university after graduating. And much less likely to donate let alone be future season ticket holders.

Fed 15, 2018
But the overall drop that should concern everyone last year -- and this one isn't calculated in the NCAA figures -- is the falling student attendance. It happened at Texas, and I assume that will change when Tom Herman's team plays closer to its recruiting rank, but the Longhorns are not alone here. Stories about difficulty in getting students to attend games at previous levels can be found at many large schools, state and private, across the land.

And that's the one that scares everyone because, frankly, millennials and their behavior scare the hell out of the rest of us. There are essentially four reasons for this, depending upon one's viewpoint.

• They don't respect the things we honor.
• They want to change everything we view as traditional or necessary.
• They want to take our jobs.
• They're cutting the darned cords on their cable.

It's that fourth one that gets the most attention.

Somehow there were 2.7 million fewer fans at NCAA football games last fall than there were in 2013. That number alone won't rock the college football world. That number repeated over the next four years and the next four years and the next four years could be devastating.

Attendance for bowl games dropped for the seventh straight year, losing another 1,200 fans per game in the process.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/co...-college-football-games-real-concern-tv-blame

Classic, Millennials are destroying the world.

More likely, the reason is you can watch every game from your couch and not have to overpay for beer etc. With TVs being as HD as they are now, many people don't see the point of spending money on a ticket, parking, food, drink etc. when they can just relax at their house and do the same thing minus being limited to one game. As for paying for cable, people can stream pretty much anything through reddit.

College football is extremely lucrative with sponsorships and TV deals.

 

[FlaBuff]

I went to a full season of games at UCF for the first time in 5 years (had season tickets for 3 of those years including this one). the Bag check lines, the over extended breaks for comercials and noon games in the Florida heat are just a couple of things working against them.

This year was the most full and engaged I've seen crowds there, and it made a difference vs Cincy and Memphis, when both schools got delay of game penalties due to crowd noise.

But without an undefeated streak or at least a very strong win record I could see it falling back to 2015 where the stadium was so empty I could yell to people in the opposite field stands and they could have a conversation.

I think CU was smart to invest in higher dollar/higher experience seats rather than expansion. I see this trend hapening with movie theaters too. Texas A&M's heavily mortgaged stadium expansion/peen extension could turn int quite the albatross for them. Time will tell.

 

[AeroBuff99]

Perfect time for CU to jack up minimum donation levels and raise season ticket prices!!

Attendance issues are going to continue until it becomes more compelling to go to the game rather than watch from home. Lack of consistent game times, interference with kids activities, interference with high school sports, restrictive gate policies in the name of "security", high concession prices, and lack of wifi/cell service all play into the declines we are seeing. I also think prices are starting to creep up to the point where the value proposition is lowered.

 

[ChillyBuff]

Classic, Millennials are destroying the world.

....

College football is extremely lucrative with sponsorships and TV deals.

LOL, you can't blame a Millennial for anything other than being a Millennial (but I'll argue you can blame their parents!). TV is competing with the game day experience, it's not just that CFB is falling off. When I can watch in very good HD detail on my TV, with analysis and stats and a 12-pack for 2 stadium beers... the disparity between the two has started to close. I went to 2 CU games in '16, one in '17 and didn't go to any in '18. And I'm not a Millennial, and I'm cutting cable this week. It's an economics and enjoyment thing, not a Millennial thing.

 

[FlaBuff]

The bolded items are why my attendance has dropped off. With tickets, parking and incidentals taking my family of four to a game is a 400-500 dollar proposition. It is entertaining, but not that entertaining. Add in I get treated like a potential criminal on my way in, I can sit at home and watch with a lot less aggravation and nearly as much enjoyment.

Yes, this right here. So much truth here about the cost. My dad and I used to have a share of Magic tix back in the Shaq and Penny era. Shaq left, Penny was traded, the Magic declined but the price kept going up. too much buck for not enough bang. We got out. If UCF gets to that point I'll do the same with those tix. I think I might have a different opinion for Buffs season tickets, but not living there it is hard to say.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Meh. Put a better product on the field and stop making it so damn expensive to see a game live. This includes the NFL. I went to the meaningless Green Bay/Detroit game at Lambeau last weekend (Lambeau is awesome and I highly recommend for those of you who care) and it was $1200 for 6 tickets in the nose bleeds where three of them had a semi-obstructed view. $200/ticket for that, plus $7/beer, parking, food, etc. That's the NFL, but I imagine that's pretty standard for most big time college games in the Midwest and South. Even at CU it's $80+/ticket for mediocre seats to watch a sub par product.

 

[WarBuff]

Unfortunately the game has deteriorated from the stadium experience point of view. Love waiting for the 20 minutes of commercials to get over every chance they can get to run them. Not having great WiFi doesn't help make these delays any better (and no talking to Mrs. WB isn't going to help, that's why she talks to the lady sitting next to us and I wear headphones). Also, I know I'm a fat tub of lard, but the seats are too close together.

I used to enjoy the stadium, and meeting up with former classmates is still great. Seems like we enjoy meeting in Balch and drinking beer more than tripping to our seats and waiting for that guy that signals play can (finally) start again to do his thing.

ChillyBuff is correct. The at-home experience is surpassing whatever former advantages being in the stadium offers.

 

[GoldenSkier]

LOL, you can't blame a Millennial for anything other than being a Millennial (but I'll argue you can blame their parents!). TV is competing with the game day experience, it's not just that CFB is falling off. When I can watch in very good HD detail on my TV, with analysis and stats and a 12-pack for 2 stadium beers... the disparity between the two has started to close. I went to 2 CU games in '16, one in '17 and didn't go to any in '18. And I'm not a Millennial, and I'm cutting cable this week. It's an economics and enjoyment thing, not a Millennial thing.

Haha you know that first part was sarcasm right? I am a millennial lol.

I like the bolded part. People like the convenience of amazon, streaming movies/videos, video games, etc.

 

[ChillyBuff]

Haha you know that first part was sarcasm right? I am a millennial lol.

I like the bolded part. People like the convenience of amazon, streaming movies/videos, video games, etc.

Yep, I got the sarcasm, I was more going with the Millennials are going to stop the world from turning! statements in the previous post which I assumed were from the quoted article, but I like your response to it hence your post being quoted.

 

[leftybuff]

Meh. Put a better product on the field and stop making it so damn expensive to see a game live. This includes the NFL. I went to the meaningless Green Bay/Detroit game at Lambeau last weekend (Lambeau is awesome and I highly recommend for those of you who care) and it was $1200 for 6 tickets in the nose bleeds where three of them had a semi-obstructed view. $200/ticket for that, plus $7/beer, parking, food, etc. That's the NFL, but I imagine that's pretty standard for most big time college games in the Midwest and South. Even at CU it's $80+/ticket for mediocre seats to watch a sub par product.

The NFL is just that much worse than college. I have not been to an NFL game since 2012...and I was required to attend that one.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

The NFL is just that much worse than college. I have not been to an NFL game since 2012...and I was required to attend that one.

To each his own. I actually like attending Broncos games that matter, when they are a good team. The Manning era was amazing. Nobody likes going to meaningless games watching bad teams, though, whether at the NFL or collegiate level.

 

[jizzrag85]

I was born in 85’ and I’ve seen the change first hand over the years. I wouldn’t consider myself a millennial, at all but, by definition I guess I am. But I came from a time and home where we were taught to work for what we have and want and don’t expect people to just hand me **** like these ****s born in the last 20 years.

Rant over. More on topic! It’s not a millennial problem, life is just too expensive anymore. I have never once in my life paid for or subscribed for cable, ever. I pay for internet and I watch Netflix and my Vudu movies. When sports come on I can’t miss I used to either just miss out, go to a bar or now i use sling or a streaming service for a month. My wife is hassling me already about the price of Buffs tickets, I have to break it down to her that for a few hundred bucks it keeps my entertained on Saturdays and we get out of the house. Our family Broncos tickets, (now mine) were like $50 when I first went to a game, they’re right around $100 now. I went to 4 games this year and sold the rest. It’s too expensive and too much of a hassle anymore but I’ll never sell my rights.

Sitting home is nice though to be honest. Buy a 6 pack and some chips, dip and what not and you can have a relaxing day with tasty food for $30. I don’t blame people for
not wanting to attend. The networks saw the ratings and ass raped the marketing companies for commercial time. The cable companies saw the ratings and ass raped the networks and the little guy has gotten royally ****ed in the process so some **** face CEO can cash in his 30 million dollar bonus and free yacht. I’ll never blame anyone but the leagues and their networks for creating their own problems.

I’ll always be a big spender and go to the games I want because I enjoy being there but I can see why others don’t.

 

[hawg1]

Even in Texas. Even at Alabama.

Dec 14, 2018
"It's shocking how few people come to every game," Texas A&M deputy athletic director Stephanie Rempe said.

Even a state like Texas, where football permeates the culture from border to border, isn't immune to the attendance trend across the country. While large attendance figures are announced across the state, the number of scanned tickets tells a different story.

In 2017, the scan count at seven of the [Texas] eight public schools that play in college football's top division represented less than 70 percent of each stadium's capacity, according to figures provided through open record requests.

Texas A&M led the state in 2017 with an average of 71,069 scanned tickets for games at Kyle Field. However, that represents only 69.2 percent of the stadium's capacity. Texas, which pulled in a nation-leading $214.8 million in operating revenue in 2016-17, was at 61.7 percent capacity last season.

Texas A&M vs. Alabama

scanned tickets 82,575

%ful l 80.4

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

But winning doesn't always drive actual attendance.

According to figures from a national survey by The Wall Street Journal, Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium was 76.7 percent full in 2017.

All three public "power five" schools in the state -- A&M, Tech, Texas -- have spent lots of resources trying to get fans to support their teams with their attendance as well as dollars. Giovannetti, the Tech administrator, said school officials recently met about plans for 2019 and how to increase fan experience and keep people in the stands. Leon, the Oregon professor, said that conundrum is one being examined by everyone in an era when watching games on TV has never been easier.

https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/co...s-waging-college-footballs-attendance-problem

Soon ticket prices, beer prices, parking fees and hopefully police and security harassment, are going to drop.

Its not gone unnoticed how much theyve tried to change the game day experience. I never thought Beer would come back. And how much theyve been courting me to come back to season ticket holder status.

Start with dropping crappy OOC games.

 

[FlaBuff]

Start with dropping crappy OOC games.

yes, it slays me when Saban or other coaches (UF this year) complain about attendance when they are playing North Dakota State's homecoming opponent.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

This is incredible and something I hadn't actually realized. Alabama only played 4 away games this season (Ole Miss, Arky, Tenn, and LSU). They had 1 neutral site (Louisville) and 7 true home games. Of those 7 true home games, 3 were against G5/FCS (Arky St, Louisiana, Citadel). As a Bama fan, wouldn't you be pissed if you paid for season tickets and almost half the allotment were glorified scrimmages?

Also, that's essentially their schedule set up every year. Next year is the exact same setup with different teams.

 

[Daaah]

Meh. Put a better product on the field and stop making it so damn expensive to see a game live. This includes the NFL. I went to the meaningless Green Bay/Detroit game at Lambeau last weekend (Lambeau is awesome and I highly recommend for those of you who care) and it was $1200 for 6 tickets in the nose bleeds where three of them had a semi-obstructed view. $200/ticket for that, plus $7/beer, parking, food, etc. That's the NFL, but I imagine that's pretty standard for most big time college games in the Midwest and South. Even at CU it's $80+/ticket for mediocre seats to watch a sub par product.

I went to the OSU vs. Cal game for $6.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

I went to the OSU vs. Cal game for $6.

Pac 12 ftmfw??

 

[Mick Ronson]

This is incredible and something I hadn't actually realized. Alabama only played 4 away games this season (Ole Miss, Arky, Tenn, and LSU). They had 1 neutral site (Louisville) and 7 true home games. Of those 7 true home games, 3 were against G5/FCS (Arky St, Louisiana, Citadel). As a Bama fan, wouldn't you be pissed if you paid for season tickets and almost half the allotment were glorified scrimmages?

Also, that's essentially their schedule set up every year. Next year is the exact same setup with different teams.

i saw on another site that Bama will go like 11 years without a true OOC road game. 2011 was the last and in 2022 they travel to Austin to play Texas. i don't have the documentation but i bet it checks out.

15 years ago every college hoops fan site on planet Earth had the same our attendance sucks threads going.....some sites blame blue hairs/donors for not showing up....others, millennials.

all the games being on TV seems like a reasonable choice to me. also, a lot of weekday early starts for TV.....which would make getting from local Metro area X to college town Y on a workd day tough.

For CU football, though, one of the unintended poopstorms of being really bad for a decade and the Pac conference schedule having an extra game.....is the classic CU OOC home slate went the way of some cupcakes (and the never ending until now CSU series) with an eye to 6 wins. can't really fault the logic, but here we are.

 

[Darth Snow]

I blame commercials. Games are just too long. It's a whole day thing, and that should only be the case if you are tailgating.

 

[Not Sure]

The introduction of the full body scanners made entry to the games much easier this year. What used to take 15 minutes from line entry to stadium entry now is less than five minutes. CU is doing some things to make it better. Improving the WiFi and in-Stadium audio along with seat upgrades (get rid of the aluminum benches) needs to be the next step.
Maybe I’m just crazy, but I still love going to CU football games. The tailgating, the band, chip, Ralphie, all of it. Well, except for the ****ty football. Hopefully we are moving past that now, too.

 

[bpc5180]

football, college and nfl killing the golden goose. They forgot how they got fans so addicted to their sport. It was a family thing, in my dad's case a broncos fan growing up in Grand Junction and living in Denver in 60's/70's. You rooted for your team even when they sucked, it was cheap to go to games and have a good time. Men got married, started a family, had kids brought them to game, all for dirt cheap. Same with Baseball. You used to be able to attend a baseball game for cheap parking, dollar bleacher tickets, dollar hotdogs, etc and it was affordable.

Now you go to the stadium, it's $50 to park if not more or you're hiking a mile or two to the stadium. Tickets are outrageous. Bronco tickets leading up to last year were $300 per seat in the nose bleeds at home if you aren't a season ticket holder. Impossible to take kids. Beverages, food, gear, another $40-50 easily.

I love football but rarely would be interested in spending $1k on it for a family affair. I'd rather spend that on disneyland tickets or something unique. Kid's who grew up with football in the 80's / 90's are doing these trips less, not bringing their kids disconnecting them to the game and millennial have other more satisfying things they can do with their time. Greedy football owners, organizers only have themselves to blame. If anything this is a good occurrence should force the prices down, etc. In the occurrence of the NFL, they aren't trying hard to make money off the cheap fans and are experimenting with going to smaller stadium like Levi Stadium and just milking the high rollers, business people and corporate sponsors for higher dollar figures to host customers, etc.

Call the attendance issues a market correction. The bigger issue is lowered interest by youth, participation rates dropping and head injury concerns could really impact the sport in the next 10-40 years.

 

[SuperiorBuff]

I blame commercials. Games are just too long. It's a whole day thing, and that should only be the case if you are tailgating.

A compound issue with commercials is that when TV is at commercial, the stadium is playing them on the big screens. It destroys part of the game day atmosphere.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

i saw on another site that Bama will go like 11 years without a true OOC road game. 2011 was the last and in 2022 they travel to Austin to play Texas. i don't have the documentation but i bet it checks out.

15 years ago every college hoops fan site on planet Earth had the same our attendance sucks threads going.....some sites blame blue hairs/donors for not showing up....others, millennials.

all the games being on TV seems like a reasonable choice to me. also, a lot of weekday early starts for TV.....which would make getting from local Metro area X to college town Y on a workd day tough.

For CU football, though, one of the unintended poopstorms of being really bad for a decade and the Pac conference schedule having an extra game.....is the classic CU OOC home slate went the way of some cupcakes (and the never ending until now CSU series) with an eye to 6 wins. can't really fault the logic, but here we are.

CU's future schedule... This creates such a great home slate of games to go to with really only 1 or 2 body bag type games/year. Attendance at these bigger programs wouldn't be lacking if they scheduled like this.
2019 - 10 P5 games, 5 in Boulder
2020 - 10 P5 games, 5 in Boulder (@aTm for OOC)
2021 - 11 P5 games, 6 in Boulder
2022 - 11 P5 games, 6 in Boulder (@ Minnesota for OOC)
2023 - 11 P5 games, 5 in Boulder (@ TCU for OOC)
2024 - 10 P5 games, 5 in Boulder (@ Nebraska for OOC)
2025 - 10 (so far) P5 games, 5 in Boulder
2026 - 11 P5 games, 5 in Boulder (2 true P5 OOC games @ Northwestern and @ Georgia Tech)
2027 - 11 P5 games, 6 in Boulder

 

[Buffskier]

A combination of high cost and longer game times keeps me away from more games than I attend.

Spending a significant amount of money and 6 hours in Boulder multiple Saturdays per fall is a hard pill to swallow with a toddler. Much easier to watch the games at home at the moment. I hope to be able to take my son to games when he gets a bit older though.

 

[jizzrag85]

A combination of high cost and longer game times keeps me away from more games than I attend.

Spending a significant amount of money and 6 hours in Boulder multiple Saturdays per fall is a hard pill to swallow with a toddler. Much easier to watch the games at home at the moment. I hope to be able to take my son to games when he gets a bit older though.

This and every time I have to be around family or friends who have kids and have to witness their stress and their complaining is why I never want kids. Being selfish is much better. Lol

 

[Darth Snow]

This and every time I have to be around family or friends who have kids and have to witness their stress and their complaining is why I never want kids. Being selfish is much better. Lol

You are such a ****ing millennial.