College Football Attendance

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20402]

On Texags they are talking about how empty the stadium was against New Mexico.  They had an announced attendance of 84,748.  Kyle Field holds more than 100k. 
 

Ohio State vs. Tulsa had an announced attendance of 76,540 vs. Tulsa.  That's shocking. In 2019 they averaged more than 100k.  One Buckeye fan on Twitter said "Take away tailgating at St.John’s, take away Hiney Gate, take away alumni ticket games, raise ticket prices to ridiculous levels. I have been going to games since the 80’s. Today’s atmosphere doesn’t resemble even 10 years ago. OSU’s greed is ruining the experience."

I saw big swaths of empty seats in nearly every game I watched yesterday and expect that any week now we'll see articles about how, again, CFB attendance is declining.

Do you guys think it's the pandemic or is it something more structural?

I'm glad that UT seems to be embracing the idea of making the whole gameday experience more fun. Bevo Blvd. is getting better and better. I heard Salt and Pepa were great. 

Maybe UT needs to bring back knothole seats. 

 

 

[Thatguy 8744]

  Arkansas seems to be doing fine.

[Deej 76828]

Combination of COVID and shitty early-season opponents. 

[hookem48 4700]

High ticket prices, shitty opponents and overbuilt stadiums, Kyle Field shouldn't be over 90,000.

Penn State seemed pretty damn full to me.

[ClubWhatever 12144]

It’s a beating to go to the games because you are treated like an entertainment dollar.  And almost every single game is on TV somewhere.  If the game is basically meaningless because the opponent is trash, like in the examples you mentioned, then you get this result.  

[StruggleBus 3922]

I haven’t been to a college football game since the 2009 Big 12 championship vs Nebraska. And I don’t think I’ll ever go to another one. Even though I love college football I have zero interest in attending the game. Watching at home is superior in almost every way. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by StruggleBus

[Balcones 313]

12 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

I haven’t been to a college football game since the 2009 Big 12 championship vs Nebraska. And I don’t think I’ll ever go to another one. Even though I love college football I have zero interest in attending the game. Watching at home is superior in almost every way. 

I really feel bad for you that you haven’t been to a live game that provides an experience superior to your couch. That’s tragic.

[Sgt Hulk 13785]

I love going to game and will always choose in person over a tv. But the prices are getting stupid for everything. Tickets food beer etc etc. add in for some teams a shitty product on the field it will happen. This year there’s still a ton of death sentence fear for going out in public so that doesn’t help 

[utee94 15832]

I think the pandemic is definitely affecting it, but college football attendance had been declining for many years before 2020.

In many places, including UT, they're pricing existing fans out of the market, and they're not creating new fans to replace them.  Part of it is the competition with television, streaming, and other entertainment options that the younger generations tend toward.  But some of it is the simple fact that middle-classed parents can't take their family of four to a football game for a reasonable price, and so children aren't learning to love the game at an early age.  Without that passion from childhood, as those kids grow into adults, they're less likely to care about attending a game in person.

This all started a couple of decades ago, and now we're starting to see the results of that fanship erosion taking effect.

[bschoolprof 6263]

It's a variety of things. I think the biggest might be declining interest in college football or perhaps sports in general (note declining ratings across the board).  These stadiums were built for a different era. A lot has changed about sports watching - and watching things in general - over the last 20 years or so.  

Other factors mentioned upthread - great TV coverage and HD, high tickets prices - also play a big role.

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

 

 

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

Fresh off of beating OSU in Columbus:

 

 

 

 

[StruggleBus 3922]

11 minutes ago, Balcones said:

I really feel bad for you that you haven’t been to a live game that provides an experience superior to your couch. That’s tragic.

I have an amazing couch 

[Francisco 2.0 32395]

Last pic of the day.  Yeah, it's Duke, but jeezus, I guess they are using their endowment or ACC money or the basketball program to pay all the football bills.

 

 

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

Surprised our crowd was as plentiful as it was. Also we have to figure out that south end zone seating being empty as fuck. 

[gmr548 16580]

Yeah this was an issue long before COVID and will continue to be an issue. It’s not like Texas was bringing in 100k for Rice or ULL with a mediocre team and 95 degree kickoff temps in the past. A wave of adding more seats coincided it being easier than ever before to watch games at home, and in Texas’s case, the product on the field tanking.

Ticket prices aren’t the problem at Texas. Season tickets are kind of expensive but you could get in the Rice game basically for free. That ends up being true for most Texas home games. I imagine it’s true most lower tier games at most programs.

[Horn Dogg 3907]

With young kids at home that can’t get vaccinated, I’m not about to go to anything with a big crowd.......especially in a covid hot spot state.  I was kind of horrified looking at the Florida crowd on TV yesterday.

[Balcones 313]

I think the new SEC schedule will help here in Austin. Del Conte is diversified in his game day experience. Concerts, carnival, open seating for students, corporate stadium clubs, etc..  Catering to everyone in some fashion. 
 

When Sark improves the product on the field (compared to last 10 years), Texas will see a demand for in person attendance. 

[utee94 15832]

10 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

Yeah this was an issue long before COVID and will continue to be an issue. It’s not like Texas was bringing in 100k for Rice or ULL with a mediocre team and 95 degree kickoff temps in the past. A wave of adding more seats coincided it being easier than ever before to watch games at home, and in Texas’s case, the product on the field tanking.

Ticket prices aren’t the problem at Texas. Season tickets are kind of expensive but you could get in the Rice game basically for free. That ends up being true for most Texas home games. I imagine it’s true most lower tier games at most programs.

 

This isn't entirely true.  A lot of people don't know, or don't trust, the secondary market.  Also, in order to make plans, some people want tickets-in-hand well before the game.  To do that, they're usually paying face value or close, which ends up costing too much for them to make that decision.

For sure, early season 100-degree games against crappy opponents are often only partially full, but that doesn't mean that Texas' ticket prices aren't also a problem.

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by utee94

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

I think this is the stuff we think about when the team is not as good as we would like

[smoky 840]

I've been surprised at our turn outs for the first two games. I thought for sure a 100 degree game 1 at 3pm would keep people away. I was wrong.

And again, I thought the arkie loss would keep people at home. Wrong again.

There were definitely empty patches around the stadium, but I was expecting much fewer fans in seats.

[LOHorn 277]

18 minutes ago, utee94 said:

 

This isn't entirely true.  A lot of people don't know, or don't trust, the secondary market.  Also, in order to make plans, some people want tickets-in-hand well before the game.  To do that, they're usually paying face value or close, which ends up costing too much for them to make that decision.

For sure, early season 100-degree games against crappy opponents are often only partially full, but that doesn't mean that Texas' ticket prices aren't also a problem.

 

There is something to this. I have gotten into lots of cool stadiums for decent games by getting second hand tickets night before or day of for cheap. But if you want to get them earlier in the week, they are going to be much more expensive. I’m sure some computer program somewhere is maximizing profit doing it this way, but it’s hard to plan to take your family when the game and travel is a 5+ hour investment. 

[Duval Street 420]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Fresh off of beating OSU in Columbus:

 

 

 

 

Oregon doesn’t start classes until the 27th and on-campus housing opens the 23rd, not many students in Eugene right now.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Duval Street
Dates

[Underdog 28709]

1 hour ago, Balcones said:

I really feel bad for you that you haven’t been to a live game that provides an experience superior to your couch. That’s tragic.

What if he has a casting couch?  

[Underdog 28709]

1 hour ago, StruggleBus said:

I have an amazing couch 

 

[Underdog 28709]

At UW yesterday... 

 

[troph 24840]

I haven’t had season tickets since 2015 and prior to that had them going back to my sophomore year as a student. It was the first thing I spent extra money on after I graduated. But now, the idea of giving an entire Saturday to 1 game in that heat is really unappealing to me.  Texas OU or a big game that’s possibly different.  right now we can wake up enjoy our coffee, handle whatever business needs doing early, grab some lunch, hit the lake and make it back for grill by the pool and watch a full slate of evening games with Texas as the center piece. The beer is cheaper the food is better and if you boys knew what you were doing the half time sexy time would be better.  

[gmr548 16580]

At UW yesterday... 

 

For context, they are ass, playing Arkansas State, and a storm was blowing through Seattle yesterday.

Side note, Washington is probably #1 on my OOC wishlist for Texas. Would love to see a game at Husky Stadium.

[Underdog 28709]

Yeah, twitter feed didn't delve into too many details for lack of attendance. 

And completely agree on the HS bucket list.  Hell, I'd just like to visit Seattle once. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Underdog

[Vic Mackey 47080]

I haven’t been to a college football game since the 2009 Big 12 championship vs Nebraska. And I don’t think I’ll ever go to another one. Even though I love college football I have zero interest in attending the game. Watching at home is superior in almost every way. 

This is how I feel about football in general. It's superior on tv in every way. You miss so much at the game compared to the tv. I haven't attended a game since 2012 and really never plan on going back. Well in terms of college and pro. I still go to high school games here and there.

[South Austin 52519]

Why not both?

Record the game, go see it live, then watch it in TV after.

[Vic Mackey 47080]

[/url]  
 

Fresh off of beating OSU in Columbus:
 
 
 
 

Tennessee was playing Tennessee Tech. Oregon was playing Stoney Brook. I don't blame the low attendance at all. Who the hell wants to go see your team play some FCS nobody.

[Aqua Buddha 14598]

1 hour ago, Balcones said:

I think the new SEC schedule will help here in Austin. Del Conte is diversified in his game day experience. Concerts, carnival, open seating for students, corporate stadium clubs, etc..  Catering to everyone in some fashion. 
 

When Sark improves the product on the field (compared to last 10 years), Texas will see a demand for in person attendance. 

There's more to this angle than people think.  Supposedly, at OU, season tickets didn't come back nearly as well as they hoped after covid.  They're even offering partial season packages, which they've never done before.  There are numerous reasons all mentioned in this thread but OU believed one reason was the lackluster home schedule in most years and they (fairly) blamed the conference for that.  They know they'll get season ticket sales in years where Bama, LSU, Aggy, etc. are on the slate.  

This is definitely a drag in the Big 10 due to conference expansion.  These home schedules are terrible and the TV product is great.

[Underdog 28709]

Live events in it self can be a beating sometimes, always having to deal with the bathroom/beer/food runs of others.  People yacking while trying to watch a game or concert, take it to the concourse, assholes.  I may go to an event once or twice a year, and agree with TV being far more superior especially the NFL.  Their TV coverage is top notch. 

[bluto 4932]

This is how I feel about football in general. It's superior on tv in every way. You miss so much at the game compared to the tv. I haven't attended a game since 2012 and really never plan on going back. Well in terms of college and pro. I still go to high school games here and there.

Besides big games I generally agree but you’re way the hell off on attending in person with actually being able to see the whole field. Tv still has the ball only focus so you’re relying on some shitty pbp guy like Gus Johnson to describe the deep ball and whether it’s going into triple or busted coverage before the camera refocuses. Or if the back breaking the first level actually has daylight or both safeties are about to destroy him for a 5 yd gain… in both situations, Gus will act as if it’s going to the house uncontested.

[956 Worldwide 34715]

Attending a game at a big school in person is absolutely not in the same universe as sitting on your couch. If you can’t get into the energy of a stadium when it’s rocking, I don’t know what to say. We just like the game for completely different reasons.

That said, turning the whole thing into a “game day experience” is a beating. Sitting through TV timeouts in a stadium sucks. DJs suck. Endless advertisements on the Jumbotron suck especially when the band has to shut up so the sponsor gets their time. And yeah, it’s expensive.  As someone up thread said, bilking every dollar you can now means that ordinary people won’t turn their kids into lifetime fans because going to games is just what you “do.”

The thing that used to be great about college football is that it combined the local earnestness and lack of polish of a high school game with massive crowds. As the sport gets more “professionalized” that includes turning game day into a pro-type spectacle where your job is to watch and consume, not participate. 

[hpslugga 4062]

I’ve been to only one UT game that wasn’t against OU since 2013 and that was the 2018 game against ISU. Combination of diminished fan experience plus new family life. But honestly I’m not terribly motivated to get back in it. I’ll go to the OU game til I die because I’ve already built up a rich history with it (this year is my 30th straight) and just love everything about that day win or lose. 

[Cairn Horn88 8272]

4 hours ago, Thatguy said:

  Arkansas seems to be doing fine.

All teams seem to be “fine” when The Texas Longhorns come into pay a visit.  That was Arky’s first sellout in 5 years.

[Thatguy 8744]

1 minute ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

All teams seem to be “fine” when The Texas Longhorns come into pay a visit.  That was Arky’s first sellout in 5 years.

I am kidding bro.

[USCATX 1078]

The crowd at Washington State was pretty thin for a game against USC. But I grabbed ridiculously good 50 yard line tix for $84 so at least the value was there. No beer in the stadium kinda sucks though. 

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

Our concession prices are reasonable for stadium pricing 

[DanTheHorn 4932]

2 hours ago, gmr548 said:

Yeah this was an issue long before COVID and will continue to be an issue. It’s not like Texas was bringing in 100k for Rice or ULL with a mediocre team and 95 degree kickoff temps in the past. A wave of adding more seats coincided it being easier than ever before to watch games at home, and in Texas’s case, the product on the field tanking.

Ticket prices aren’t the problem at Texas. Season tickets are kind of expensive but you could get in the Rice game basically for free. That ends up being true for most Texas home games. I imagine it’s true most lower tier games at most programs.

Electronic tickets make it impossible to scalp a ticket without the fees being more than the cheap tickets themselves.

[Helobious 9461]

Pretty shocked to see patches of empty seats at UF/Bama yesterday. Could’ve been a late arriving crowd I guess

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

D. All of the above

This trend will continue unless the conferences limit how many times teams can be on TV. I know this resulted in lawsuits when the NCAA set limits, but if it is done on the conference level, it might work. Of course, the TV money is good, so they could make that up by increasing tick…uh, never mind. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by ImissWallyPryor

[pantone159 719]

1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Sitting through TV timeouts in a stadium sucks.

This. The Rice game seemed to have endless 3-4 minute TV timeouts, for a game only on LHN.

[gaspar 102]

Heading there this coming weekend for the Arizona-Oregon game with the family. Night game. Hoping the weather holds.

3 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Fresh off of beating OSU in Columbus:

 

 

 

 

 

[utee94 15832]

1 hour ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

D. All of the above

This trend will continue unless the conferences limit how many times teams can be on TV. I know this resulted in lawsuits when the NCAA set limits, but if it is done on the conference level, it might work. Of course, the TV money is good, so they could make that up by increasing tick…uh, never mind. 

Exactly.  This will never happen.  The conference gets its revenue from the TV package, not home attendance.  They would never limit the number of times a team can appear on TV, especially not the marquee brands.  The conference doesn't give a rat's ass how many butts are in seats, they just care about TV ratings.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by utee94

[Hornius Emeritus 12470]

2 hours ago, Helobious said:

Pretty shocked to see patches of empty seats at UF/Bama yesterday. Could’ve been a late arriving crowd I guess

I was, too, but the official announced attendance exceeded that of the stadium's capacity by a couple of thousand so ... who knows?

Interesting thread. Lots of angles that I hadn't considered before. 

Consider also this:  when Mack Brown came to town the population of Austin was 791,000.  It's now right at one million.  All things being equal, that should mean increased pressure on ticket availability.  But, of course, all things are NOT equal. The things that have been mentioned in this thread (big screen TVs, ticket prices etc...)  = decreased pressure on ticket availability.    So in Austin there are the competing forces of increasing population vs. decreasing demand.  But consider a rust-belt college town in which the population is either decreasing or stagnant.  They have the same decreasing pressure on ticket availability caused by big screen TVs and increasing ticket prices but without the mitigating "upward" pressure caused by a large increase in the population surrounding their universities.

 

[Vic Mackey 47080]

Attending a game at a big school in person is absolutely not in the same universe as sitting on your couch. If you can’t get into the energy of a stadium when it’s rocking, I don’t know what to say. We just like the game for completely different reasons.
That said, turning the whole thing into a “game day experience” is a beating. Sitting through TV timeouts in a stadium sucks. DJs suck. Endless advertisements on the Jumbotron suck especially when the band has to shut up so the sponsor gets their time. And yeah, it’s expensive.  As someone up thread said, bilking every dollar you can now means that ordinary people won’t turn their kids into lifetime fans because going to games is just what you “do.”
The thing that used to be great about college football is that it combined the local earnestness and lack of polish of a high school game with massive crowds. As the sport gets more “professionalized” that includes turning game day into a pro-type spectacle where your job is to watch and consume, not participate. 

This is my point. Sitting through a football game is a beating in person. For all you named. That outweighs the great atmosphere for me and if I never attend another football game in person, I won't care one bit. There's so many nuances you miss in person vs tv. I'm over being there in person. I like my own home, drinks, food and can get up and move around in peace if i want. Especially during commercials and halftime. And being around a bunch of yelling drunks is less appealing as time goes on.

[BurntOrange&White 39934]

3 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

3 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Attending a game at a big school in person is absolutely not in the same universe as sitting on your couch. If you can’t get into the energy of a stadium when it’s rocking, I don’t know what to say. We just like the game for completely different reasons.
That said, turning the whole thing into a “game day experience” is a beating. Sitting through TV timeouts in a stadium sucks. DJs suck. Endless advertisements on the Jumbotron suck especially when the band has to shut up so the sponsor gets their time. And yeah, it’s expensive.  As someone up thread said, bilking every dollar you can now means that ordinary people won’t turn their kids into lifetime fans because going to games is just what you “do.”
The thing that used to be great about college football is that it combined the local earnestness and lack of polish of a high school game with massive crowds. As the sport gets more “professionalized” that includes turning game day into a pro-type spectacle where your job is to watch and consume, not participate. 

This is my point. Sitting through a football game is a beating in person. For all you named. That outweighs the great atmosphere for me and if I never attend another football game in person, I won't care one bit. There's so many nuances you miss in person vs tv. I'm over being there in person. I like my own home, drinks, food and can get up and move around in peace if i want. Especially during commercials and halftime. And being around a bunch of yelling drunks is less appealing as time goes on.

It’s because you’re fat