FBS Attendance lowest since 1996

[Deep Creek]

What the hell. It is the off season. Seems like TV revenue is going up while butts in seats are going down. Question is...What can be done to get their butts back in the seats?

College football must innovate as FBS attendance dips for sixth straight year to lowest since 1996

Here are a few tidbits from the article.

1. In 2019, college football attendance hit a 24-year low according to the NCAA's official numbers. The FBS average of 41,477 per game is the game's lowest since 1996.
   
2. The dichotomy is maddening. TV ratings continue to soar because it is increasingly easier to stay home. College football is the nation's second-most popular sport. But its attractiveness as a live event is slipping.
   
3. Rutgers attendance is down 40 percent since joining the Big Ten in 2014. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers, though, added more media rights revenue.
   
4. Then there one is one great attendance mysteries of the universe: Kansas led the country last season in attendance increase. The downtrodden Jayhawks averaged an increase of 14,451 per game -- from 19,424 in 2018 to 33,875.
   
5. The moving target that are those key demographics increasingly aren't putting up with mediocre opponents. Del Conte noticed it last season when more than 110,000 fans crammed their way into Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to watch the showdown with LSU. Del Conte said there was $2.5 million in concession revenue alone that day.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

 

[michaeljordan_fan]

Dump the FCS games. Increase P5vP5 matchups

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

This is the one thing that hasn't dipped recently for Nebraska lol.

 

[Deep Creek]

Dump the FCS games. Increase P5vP5 matchups

I agree. But from what Del Conte said, it seems that "who" that P5 is matters. And seems some of 'em don't want to venture into those waters. I hope those wallow around in their misery.

"You create value on your season ticket," Del Conte said. "It's the brand of who you're playing."

Maybe that's a solution for those Power Five elites. But not everyone can -- or wants to -- play a full Power Five nonconference schedule. Scheduling philosophies alone could cause an ongoing and widening gap between the haves and have nots of the sport.

 

[Deep Creek]

This is the one thing that hasn't dipped recently for Nebraska lol.

You guys are probably the most loyal fans in all of CFB.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Sell beer. Make tickets easier to purchase and cheaper. Make concessions cheaper but offer more options. Make core things like water super cheap. Put WiFi in stadiums. Broadcast other games before the game. Change tv timeouts. Put small ads over the broadcast like soccer rather than stop the game.

If stadiums are only filling 20k worth of people and missing out on 50k seats, selling $8 water bottles isn’t bringing more people in.

 

[Goldbug]

Do you REALLY want more great games between the Big Boys? Then expand the playoff to 8 teams and you'll get them. Right now if Oklahoma rolls into Columbus to play a loaded Buckeyes team and Ohio State wins the game we have to listen to morons harp for months about how "You lost a game, man. You have a loss, man. You don't have a perfect season, man." It's all bullshit. OK a team took a gamble and came up short playing someone really good. But the selection committee stains its underwear over the loss and that's because there are only 4 spots in the playoff. Expand to 8 and that loss doesn't mean a hell of a lot if a team takes care of business the rest of the season.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Do you REALLY want more great games between the Big Boys? Then expand the playoff to 8 teams and you'll get them. Right now if Oklahoma rolls into Columbus to play a loaded Buckeyes team and Ohio State wins the game we have to listen to morons harp for months about how "You lost a game, man. You have a loss, man. You don't have a perfect season, man." It's all bullshit. OK a team took a gamble and came up short playing someone really good. But the selection committee stains its underwear over the loss and that's because there are only 4 spots in the playoff. Expand to 8 and that loss doesn't mean a hell of a lot if a team takes care of business the rest of the season.

Scheduling ‘great games’ isn’t going to change the attendance at all. The really good programs sell out whether they are playing Alabama or Prairie View.

It is the programs with little to no hope of ever winning anything that fans aren’t wasting their money going to games. As the cost of tickets, parking, concession stands, etc go up — people would rather spend their money on something enjoyable, instead of say, a Rutgers fan paying $200 to watch them lose by 50 to Ohio State or playing a meaningless game against a bottom feeder.

Same goes with professional sports — I live 10 minutes from Comerica Park, Ford Field and Little Cesaer’s arena. I used to have season tickets for the Lions and Tigers — I won’t spend a dime on them right now. I took my kid to his first Pistons game — it was $40 to park and we spent $150 inside, not including $190 for the tickets. So almost $400 and the stands were 75% Toronto Raptor fans

That was wasting money to me, but my son wanted to go, so we did.

 

[outofyourmind]

How about CFB is pricing the average fan out of the market.
OR
How about schedule better so the fans get more excited.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

You guys are probably the most loyal fans in all of CFB.

 

[Blackshirts BLVD]

How about CFB is pricing the average fan out of the market.
OR
How about schedule better so the fans get more excited.

Personally, I feel like it is the former. These prices are getting ridiculous.

 

[broncosmitty]

Scheduling ‘great games’ isn’t going to change the attendance at all. The really good programs sell out whether they are playing Alabama or Prairie View.

It is the programs with little to no hope of ever winning anything that fans aren’t wasting their money going to games. As the cost of tickets, parking, concession stands, etc go up — people would rather spend their money on something enjoyable, instead of say, a Rutgers fan paying $200 to watch them lose by 50 to Ohio State or playing a meaningless game against a bottom feeder.

Same goes with professional sports — I live 10 minutes from Comerica Park, Ford Field and Little Cesaer’s arena. I used to have season tickets for the Lions and Tigers — I won’t spend a dime on them right now. I took my kid to his first Pistons game — it was $40 to park and we spent $150 inside, not including $190 for the tickets. So almost $400 and the stands were 75% Toronto Raptor fans

That was wasting money to me, but my son wanted to go, so we did.

We took my parents to LCA last month for a Pistons game.

Parked a block north for $20. The four tickets cost me $28, total. We sat row 11 on the baseline.


You better have got a handjob from a usher or a parking attendant for what you paid.


I haven't spent a dime on the Lions or Tigers in 3 years. Fuck em. Went to like 4 MIAA football games last year. Can't watch those on TV.

 

[NolePride]

What the hell. It is the off season. Seems like TV revenue is going up while butts in seats are going down. Question is...What can be done to get their butts back in the seats?

College football must innovate as FBS attendance dips for sixth straight year to lowest since 1996

Here are a few tidbits from the article.

1. In 2019, college football attendance hit a 24-year low according to the NCAA's official numbers. The FBS average of 41,477 per game is the game's lowest since 1996.
   
2. The dichotomy is maddening. TV ratings continue to soar because it is increasingly easier to stay home. College football is the nation's second-most popular sport. But its attractiveness as a live event is slipping.
   
3. Rutgers attendance is down 40 percent since joining the Big Ten in 2014. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers, though, added more media rights revenue.
   
4. Then there one is one great attendance mysteries of the universe: Kansas led the country last season in attendance increase. The downtrodden Jayhawks averaged an increase of 14,451 per game -- from 19,424 in 2018 to 33,875.
   
5. The moving target that are those key demographics increasingly aren't putting up with mediocre opponents. Del Conte noticed it last season when more than 110,000 fans crammed their way into Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to watch the showdown with LSU. Del Conte said there was $2.5 million in concession revenue alone that day.

There have been a lot of good answers in this thread but one thing not mentioned is there are around 25 more
teams playing at the FBS level than in 1996. The vast majority of those new teams do not draw 20,000 per
game.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Darn Corona virus, amirite??

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

How about CFB is pricing the average fan out of the market.
OR
How about schedule better so the fans get more excited.

This is also a big part of it. Our season tickets at UM cost roughly $700-$800 a year. a single ticket to see a garbage team play MIchigan is still like $90 face value. A coke + a hot dog costs like $12. And then you get there and your phone doesn't work for 4 hours. If I didn't love the atmosphere, tailgating ect, I could absolutely see why the casual fan would stay away.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

We took my parents to LCA last month for a Pistons game.

Parked a block north for $20. The four tickets cost me $28, total. We sat row 11 on the baseline.


You better have got a handjob from a usher or a parking attendant for what you paid.


I haven't spent a dime on the Lions or Tigers in 3 years. Fuck em. Went to like 4 MIAA football games last year. Can't watch those on TV.

The tickets were purchased early in the year thru the team site, which I NEVER DO, but didn’t want to chance the secondary market.

My boy is only 6, so I wasn’t parking a half mile away to walk downtown with him. Every lot around the Arena was $40. I did see $20 lots too, but too far to walk with him.

Now the Tigers — I’ve went to games and sat in the Tigers Den for $5 the last few years. I will park at the casino and walk.

 

[Thiefery]

Most fan bases will forgive you for scheduling a weak opponent out the gate, it's something else when you schedule two more very weak opponents and complain how the fans aren't turning out. Why would fans want to go see a glorified scrimmage vs UTSA at 7pm when it still is 100 degrees outside in Texas? You better have some good fan atmosphere festivities outside the stadium to make them stick around for the game.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

Want to leave the game when Bama's beating Cupcake U @ home by 40 early in the 3rd .. think again. Big Brother is watching you.

Alabama is tracking students' locations to penalize them for leaving football games early

 

[lilchi721]

Most fan bases will forgive you for scheduling a weak opponent out the gate, it's something else when you schedule two more very weak opponents and complain how the fans aren't turning out. Why would fans want to go see a glorified scrimmage vs UTSA at 7pm when it still is 100 degrees outside in Texas? You better have some good fan atmosphere festivities outside the stadium to make them stick around for the game.

Ya'll need a cool zone throughout your stadium