10-23-2017, 08:19 AM
One of our posters concludes that Stanfords attendance issues are the result of its boring offense. I beg to differ. The reasons are varied. But to me these are the main ones:
1. The Bay Area is a lousy college football area. You want proof - look at the newspapers. I get one of the Bay Area Newspaper Group (East Bay Times). There are seldom stories about either Stanford or Cal. Even on game day there is no story. They generally only have a little keys to the game bit. Cal played at 5 Sat. Terrific game. It made page 3. Why the lack of coverage. Because there is generally a lack of interest
2. Start times. All over the place. Emphasis on late night games. That impacts me. I simply dont want to get home at 1 in the morning.
3. Diminishing interest with kids - both in the area and on campuses. Cal has about 30,000 students. They have an interesting team this year. Coming off their biggest win in forever. I went Sat - the crowd was maybe 30,000. The student section was less than half full. That never happened when I was in school. It was always close to if not full (student section not the stadium). I just dont think kids are as interested in football today. More and more THE GAME is basketball.
4. Schedule. The Bay Area college crowd has always been somewhat dependent on opponent. Ariz schools, Utah, Colorado simply arent going to draw here. The even year schedules in particular are weak. This year they have 4 draw games - UCLA, UW, Cal and ND. The last three should bring good crowds. But of course UW is on a Friday night. Which will probably reduce attendance.
Now perhaps Im wrong. Perhaps watching a team that wins with essentially an old fashioned Big 10 style turns people off. But then again, these last three years Stanford has had each year perhaps the most exciting player in College Football. That alone SHOULD bring out fans. But see 1-4.
College football attendance is dropping nationwide. NFL TV viewership is down. The sport itself is under the microscope.
It should not be surprising that they dont draw.
1. The Bay Area is a lousy college football area. You want proof - look at the newspapers. I get one of the Bay Area Newspaper Group (East Bay Times). There are seldom stories about either Stanford or Cal. Even on game day there is no story. They generally only have a little keys to the game bit. Cal played at 5 Sat. Terrific game. It made page 3. Why the lack of coverage. Because there is generally a lack of interest
2. Start times. All over the place. Emphasis on late night games. That impacts me. I simply dont want to get home at 1 in the morning.
3. Diminishing interest with kids - both in the area and on campuses. Cal has about 30,000 students. They have an interesting team this year. Coming off their biggest win in forever. I went Sat - the crowd was maybe 30,000. The student section was less than half full. That never happened when I was in school. It was always close to if not full (student section not the stadium). I just dont think kids are as interested in football today. More and more THE GAME is basketball.
4. Schedule. The Bay Area college crowd has always been somewhat dependent on opponent. Ariz schools, Utah, Colorado simply arent going to draw here. The even year schedules in particular are weak. This year they have 4 draw games - UCLA, UW, Cal and ND. The last three should bring good crowds. But of course UW is on a Friday night. Which will probably reduce attendance.
Now perhaps Im wrong. Perhaps watching a team that wins with essentially an old fashioned Big 10 style turns people off. But then again, these last three years Stanford has had each year perhaps the most exciting player in College Football. That alone SHOULD bring out fans. But see 1-4.
College football attendance is dropping nationwide. NFL TV viewership is down. The sport itself is under the microscope.
It should not be surprising that they dont draw.