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College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - Printable Version

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College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - 82lsju - 08-30-2018

College football has an attendance problem. Average announced attendance in football’s top division dropped for the fourth consecutive year last year, declining 7.6% in four years. But schools’ internal records show that the sport’s attendance woes go far beyond that.

The average count of tickets scanned at home games—the number of fans who actually show up—is about 71% of the attendance you see in a box score, according to data from the 2017 season collected by The Wall Street Journal.

from the searchable data in the article

School Announced Attendance Scanned Tickets
--------- ------------------------------ ---------------------
California..........219,290.......................136,954.....(62%)
Oregon.............388,381.......................304,450.....(78%)
OSU.................208,524.......................139,223.....(67%)
WSU................223,875.......................168,974.....(75%)
UW..................481,755........................381,357.....(79%)
UCLA..............336,262.........................270,933....(80%)

School Announced Attendance Scanned Tickets
--------- ------------------------------ ---------------------
Alabama..........712,053.......................546,488....(77%)
Michigan .........669,534.......................529,559....(79%)
Clemson..........565,412.......................464,021....(82%)
Oklahoma.......519,119.......................381,022.....(73%)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-growing-problem-empty-seats-1535634001

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - BostonCard - 08-30-2018

Somewhat related, this NY Times article by a University of Oklahoma student asking 'Is it O.K. to be a football fan in 2018?’

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/smarter-living/the-edit-college-football.html

BC

College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - Duck Tears - 08-30-2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-growing-problem-empty-seats-1535634001

Begs the question: How good a job does Stanford do to reach out and draw fans? 

What will the actual, not the (always exaggerated) announced attendance be for tomorrow night's game?

Why has the winningest decade in program history not resulted in a brobdingnagian spike in attendance? And I mean for opponents like Utah, Arizona and Colorado, not the games that draw brobdingnagian droves of opposing fans.

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - BobK - 08-30-2018

First of all if that's the same story I just read, attendance excpet at Navy is based on Tix sold.   Stanford sells FB tix.   Hard to reach out to sell 60K when the stadium holds $ 50K but that's the answer :)

Let's see what is announced as you will then know tix sold.

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - Snorlax94 - 08-30-2018

I think this is a duplicate of 82lsju's thread a couple hours earlier.

I just wanted to pipe in that I don't think tomorrow's attendance should be considered representative of the season. I have a feeling it's going to be significantly worse than usual. There's a triple whammy -- before the school year, non-Power-5/non-traditional opponent, and most of all... Labor Day Weekend.

Based on the interest level of friends, a scan of the GoStanford website, and a perusal of StubHub, tomorrow's game is looking unusually empty. There are way more tickets up for sale -- I think a lot of normally-rock-solid season ticket holders just had out-of-town plans for the weekend.

But for me, the game is a fantastic way to kickoff the 3-day weekend -- it should be a gorgeous summer evening with a great opponent. For people who are in the area without tickets, this game looks like a particularly good opportunity to grab seats at a bargain on StubHub. Probably the best deal I can recall given the anticipated weather, the quality of the opponent, and the excitement about the team. 


If the team can be as good as I hope it will be, and consistent, let's see what happens with attendance late in the season. (although I agree there is an overall negative macro trend)

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - 81alum - 08-30-2018

No mystery at all.  College football attendance is in decline because of television coverage.  TV covers almost every game which makes attendance optional for fans, and TV forces the schedule into odd and inconvenient time slots that are less desirable to attend. 

There are other factors, such as the growth of professional sports, the rise of ticket prices, etc., but I suspect that all of them put together make very little difference compared with the corrupting influence of TV.

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - 82lsju - 08-31-2018

(08-30-2018, 03:12 PM)Duck Tears Wrote:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-footballs-growing-problem-empty-seats-1535634001

Begs the question: How good a job does Stanford do to reach out and draw fans? 

What will the actual, not the (always exaggerated) announced attendance be for tomorrow night's game?

Why has the winningest decade in program history not resulted in a of immense proportions spike in attendance? And I mean for opponents like Utah, Arizona and Colorado, not the games that draw of immense proportions droves of opposing fans.

for the ducks in 2017

School Announced Attendance Scanned Tickets
--------- ------------------------------ ---------------------
Oregon.............388,381.......................304,450.....(78%)

let us know how the crowds look for the Ducks 

- 01 Sept 5pm vs Bowling Green

and

- 08 Sept 11am vs Portland State

and 

- 15 Sept 2pm vs SJSU (who lost to UCDavis last night 44-38, and yes we play UCDavis on 15 Sept at 11am which I expect to have weak attendance)

I'd expect a big crowd when Stanford rolls into town on 22 Sept.....

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - Hurlburt88 - 09-01-2018

As I re-watch yesterday's game, I noticed that nearly 2 hours elapsed between opening kick-off and 3rd quarter kick-off was almost 2 hours.  this ratio of action to total time elapsed remains a factor in low attendance as well, IMHO

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - Mick - 09-01-2018

I think it's happening for a lot of reasons:

1)  It's recognized more and more as a dangerous sport with life-altering complications.
2)  There are many, many other entertainments around, sports, games, videos, etc.
3)  The football players are not as integrated with the student body (or society) as they once were.
4)  Steroids, PEDs, etc.
5)  Many more Americans are growing up thinking futbol is played with a round ball rather than a prolate spheroid.

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - Mick - 09-01-2018

I think it's happening for a lot of reasons:

1)  It's recognized more and more as a dangerous sport with life-altering complications.
2)  There are many, many other entertainments around, sports, games, videos, etc.
3)  The football players are not as integrated with the student body (or society) as they once were.
4)  Steroids, PEDs, etc.
5)  Many more Americans are growing up thinking futbol is played with a round ball rather than a prolate spheroid.

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - stupac2 - 09-01-2018

(09-01-2018, 06:25 PM)Mick Wrote:  5)  Many more Americans are growing up thinking futbol is played with a round ball rather than a prolate spheroid.

People have been saying this since I was a kid. I'll believe it when I see it.

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - d4cohn - 09-01-2018

(09-01-2018, 06:25 PM)Mick Wrote:  4)  Steroids, PEDs, etc.


I don't think potential PED usage in college football is affecting attendance.

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - Leftcoast - 09-01-2018

Prices continue to climb (and not just for tickets!) and attendance continues to drop yet schools claim they don’t see a connection.  

Yes, TV is a viable alternative but if price was not a consideration it’s tough to beat a game day on campus.

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - qwerty49 - 09-01-2018

(09-01-2018, 08:26 PM)Leftcoast Wrote:  Prices continue to climb (and not just for tickets!) and attendance continues to drop yet schools claim they don’t see a connection.  

Yes, TV is a viable alternative but if price was not a consideration it’s tough to beat a game day on campus.

It’s like golf. You need to devote the whole day to it. Few people have that luxury these days.

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - winflop - 09-02-2018

When the TV contracts got brobdingnagian, gate & concession revenues became less important. Conference have stopped caring much about butts in seats.

RE: College Football’s Growing Problem: Empty Seats - 82 Card - 09-02-2018

Prohibition outside of the sky boxes probably doesn't help. Back in my day, the party in the stands was worth going to even when the game was not exciting. Instead of a booming PA system, we had the commentary of the people on the bench behind us and the band. If you didn't go to the game, there was often only radio. So we went to all the games in the Bay Area. 


Now a days, all the games are on the computer when it's convenient, even if that's at midnight or the next day.  That makes it hard to justify blowing off cleaning the gutters. Raising a glass to the team in your own den doesn't provide the kind of bonding that you get doing it in the stadium. In the long run, this will cause interest to dwindle and the TV audience to fade as well.
Prohibition outside of the sky boxes probably doesn't help. Back in my day, the party in the stands was worth going to even when the game was not exciting. Instead of a booming PA system, we had the commentary of the people on the bench behind us and the band. If you didn't go to the game, there was often only radio. So we went to all the games in the Bay Area. 


Now a days, all the games are on the computer when it's convenient, even if that's at midnight or the next day.  That makes it hard to justify blowing off cleaning the gutters. Raising a glass to the team in your own den doesn't provide the kind of bonding that you get doing it in the stadium. In the long run, this will cause interest to dwindle and the TV audience to fade as well.

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - BostonCard - 09-02-2018

Ultimately, I think there is a conflict between television and live attendance.  The goal of TV is to make as much content available and cover as large a portion of the calendar as possible, so games start as early as 11 am Eastern and end as late as 1 AM Pacific the next day, plus games are scheduled on Thursdays and Fridays, and Sundays and Mondays before the NFL starts.  That's great if you are like my brother, who likes nothing more than to plop down on the couch in the morning and watch 10+ hours of football.  But if you are a fan of a specific team, it means that the game is more frequently scheduled at 6 pm on a Friday instead of 3 pm on a Saturday, and while many of us will go, for the marginal fan it can make the difference between attendance and watching from home (especially now that it is available).

Now here is the thing.  I know of very few people who became fans watching a team on TV.  Most become fans being part of the spectacle and then watch TV when they cannot attend.  If you are making it more inconvenient for the marginal fan, the effect is you are sacrificing tomorrow's fans for the benefit of getting more of today's fans to watch more.  With ever more entertainment competition, that is not a sustainable business model for ever, and my guess is that we are at peak football.

BC
Note, I merged the two college football attendance threads together.

BC

RE: College Football's (and Stanford's) attendance woes - CompSci87 - 09-02-2018

TV timeouts are a factor too. Games take forever and fans there in person are reduced to using our cell phones for entertainment during the long waits. During Friday's first half my seatmate remarked that it was more like being at a baseball game than a football game. So much waiting for the next thing to happen.