The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating story about announced attendance versus the number of tickets scanned at college football games (sorry, there is a paywall if you don't subscribe). They did public records requests to public universities to get the actual number of scanned tickets versus announced attendance. For CU, announced total attendance in 2017 was 282,335, but 199,357 tickets were scanned. For Little Brother, it was 192,369 and 155,145.
From my review of the list--one school, exactly one, had identical numbers, Navy. 173,780 and 173,780. Of the list, the worst Power 5 school was Florida State, with a staggering difference, 425,658 and 241,516.
The article mentions a couple of big schools:
"Public attendance numbers are part of some schools’ identity. Michigan Stadium, the “Big House,” whose 107,601 capacity is the nation’s largest, still claims a streak of 100,000-plus attendance games dating back to 1975, even though two games last year showed fewer than 80,000 scanned tickets.
A Michigan spokesman said surges of fans at gates just before kickoff sometimes prompt workers to tear tickets rather than scanning them. Michigan counts the media, stadium workers and marching bands in its announced attendance.
Nebraska boasts a sellout streak that dates to the 1962 season. But during last year’s 4-8 record, there was an average gap of more than 18,000 per game between scanned and announced attendance—mostly no-shows, a spokesman said."
And they mention one Pac-12 School in particular.
Free tickets often are counted among attendance figures even if they’re never used. California, on the hook to repay the cost of a $321 million renovation for Memorial Stadiumunveiled in 2012, gave away 57,108 tickets last season. That’s nearly an entire free game at the 62,467-seat stadium. About 35% of the free tickets were used, school officials say.
“Our sales and marketing team continues to look for more creative and unique ways to bring fans to Memorial Stadium,” said Joe Mulford, senior associate athletic director and chief revenue officer.
I'm sure they are.
Anyway, an interesting read.
From my review of the list--one school, exactly one, had identical numbers, Navy. 173,780 and 173,780. Of the list, the worst Power 5 school was Florida State, with a staggering difference, 425,658 and 241,516.
The article mentions a couple of big schools:
"Public attendance numbers are part of some schools’ identity. Michigan Stadium, the “Big House,” whose 107,601 capacity is the nation’s largest, still claims a streak of 100,000-plus attendance games dating back to 1975, even though two games last year showed fewer than 80,000 scanned tickets.
A Michigan spokesman said surges of fans at gates just before kickoff sometimes prompt workers to tear tickets rather than scanning them. Michigan counts the media, stadium workers and marching bands in its announced attendance.
Nebraska boasts a sellout streak that dates to the 1962 season. But during last year’s 4-8 record, there was an average gap of more than 18,000 per game between scanned and announced attendance—mostly no-shows, a spokesman said."
And they mention one Pac-12 School in particular.
Free tickets often are counted among attendance figures even if they’re never used. California, on the hook to repay the cost of a $321 million renovation for Memorial Stadiumunveiled in 2012, gave away 57,108 tickets last season. That’s nearly an entire free game at the 62,467-seat stadium. About 35% of the free tickets were used, school officials say.
“Our sales and marketing team continues to look for more creative and unique ways to bring fans to Memorial Stadium,” said Joe Mulford, senior associate athletic director and chief revenue officer.
I'm sure they are.
Anyway, an interesting read.
