[Goose]

I’m lost here Goose.  Granted before school starts the attending students are athletes of fall sports not on the road. 
But since they moved the student section long ago,  now it sure looks full to me

Last year Stanford did a lot to encourage students to attend the games. This effort resulted in a lot of underclassmen attending that perhaps normally would not have. This was apparently in response to some (justified IMHO) complaints about lack of such attendance. It worked for the first two games. After that, it slid downhill. One could argue the game times and poor performance were involved but as I recall even the Washington game was not well attended. The student section seemed pretty empty, partly in contrast to the previous game. I vaguely recall looking across the field into the student section before the (Utah I think) game started and there was nobody there. It did fill in a bit but I am not sure the people sitting in it were students :-). 

FWIW I think the more serious issue is that the games don't occupy the social position they once did. Saturdays were centered around the game and there were parties of various kinds afterwards. Even people who didn't go to the games and/or didn't like football knew they were being played and talked about them at least. Each dorm generally had several groups of people that sat together. It was just "something you did". With the start times widely variable and the PAC-12 after dark effect, students and student social groups do not build their day around the game. It just isn't the "big event" that it used to be.

The band also functioned as an adjunct to the popularity of the football game. The band was significantly larger than it is now. The band also had a "social group" that was larger still. Of necessity, the band was at the game. There were also events like the bonfire that brought people together. Many people worked on the bonfire that weren't football fans. For sure people followed the band through the City that weren't about football.

While one might  say that Stanford has "moved on" from all this, that is the point. It just isn't as important any more. Yes, its nostalgia, but it also made the athletes who played the game well  known and figures of some interest and appreciation. Today, not so much. I think that matters.

I recently attended the Cal-Arizona game. While memorial stadium was far from full, the student section was. They were somewhat late arriving but it did fill up. They were also mostly sober, which was a deviation from my last attendance there in 1972. They actually had card stunts. While the Cal students were much more robotic than Stanford students (i.e. they did precisely what the cheerleaders said to do), they stayed the whole game and remained after for the (apparently de regueur) Bear Territory cheer. Not my cup of tea, but it was kind of a throwback.

[Goose]

I’m lost here Goose.  Granted before school starts the attending students are athletes of fall sports not on the road. 
But since they moved the student section long ago,  now it sure looks full to me

Last year Stanford did a lot to encourage students to attend the games. This effort resulted in a lot of underclassmen attending that perhaps normally would not have. This was apparently in response to some (justified IMHO) complaints about lack of such attendance. It worked for the first two games. After that, it slid downhill. One could argue the game times and poor performance were involved but as I recall even the Washington game was not well attended. The student section seemed pretty empty, partly in contrast to the previous game. I vaguely recall looking across the field into the student section before the (Utah I think) game started and there was nobody there. It did fill in a bit but I am not sure the people sitting in it were students :-). 

FWIW I think the more serious issue is that the games don't occupy the social position they once did. Saturdays were centered around the game and there were parties of various kinds afterwards. Even people who didn't go to the games and/or didn't like football knew they were being played and talked about them at least. Each dorm generally had several groups of people that sat together. It was just "something you did". With the start times widely variable and the PAC-12 after dark effect, students and student social groups do not build their day around the game. It just isn't the "big event" that it used to be.

The band also functioned as an adjunct to the popularity of the football game. The band was significantly larger than it is now. The band also had a "social group" that was larger still. Of necessity, the band was at the game. There were also events like the bonfire that brought people together. Many people worked on the bonfire that weren't football fans. For sure people followed the band through the City that weren't about football.

While one might  say that Stanford has "moved on" from all this, that is the point. It just isn't as important any more. Yes, its nostalgia, but it also made the athletes who played the game well  known and figures of some interest and appreciation. Today, not so much. I think that matters.

I recently attended the Cal-Arizona game. While memorial stadium was far from full, the student section was. They were somewhat late arriving but it did fill up. They were also mostly sober, which was a deviation from my last attendance there in 1972. They actually had card stunts. While the Cal students were much more robotic than Stanford students (i.e. they did precisely what the cheerleaders said to do), they stayed the whole game and remained after for the (apparently de regueur) Bear Territory cheer. Not my cup of tea, but it was kind of a throwback.