Football Home Attendance At "Basketball Schools"

[Brad Palmer]

When I hear the names of these 9 colleges. I think of the term "basketball schools". None were higher than 38th nationally in average per game home football attendance in 2012.

38 North Carolina (50,286)
41 Kentucky (49,991)
52 Indiana (44,802)
54 Kansas (41,329)
61 Syracuse (37,953)
64 Maryland (36,023)
67 UConn (34,672)
80 Duke (28,170)
88 Memphis (24,371)

While most have had a few good seasons here and there in the last 25 years (I know we're newbies to FBS), these 9 are always thought of as basketball schools. Not complaining or saying we don't do our best as fans to help move the needle, but a long-time tradition is tough to build. People complain about our fan base in football, but I do the same thing when I watch an Alabama, Penn State, Nebraska or Clemson basketball game on TV.

 

[Ts5034]

We saw the all time record crowd at The Rent just a few short weeks ago with the Michigan game. Obviously UNC, UK, IU, KU, and even Syracuse's stadiums have a higher capacity then The Rent. Thats why I think average attendance doesnt tell the whole story and these rankings shouldnt be taken too seriously. A better way to gauge this would be average attendance compared to the stadium capacity. Our fanbase has shown they really care about football. Bottom line If we were in a better conference like the B1G or ACC with teams like Michigan, FSU, or Ohio St coming into The Rent on a regular basis, there is no doubt in my mind UConn football would be a hot ticket.

 

[Adios]

CT is ready for big time football again. Basketball attendance will be irrelevant.

 

[Jerry27]

Our fanbase has shown they really care about football. Bottom line If we were in a better conference like the B1G or ACC with teams like Michigan, FSU, or Ohio St coming into The Rent on a regular basis, there is no doubt in my mind UConn football would be a hot ticket.

I have to disagree, if you have to have a top team to show up as a fanbase than we as a fanbase are pathetic. Big time fanbases show regardless of the opponent. It appears you want to get into another conference first then show them we care, we have to prove it now. And with the state of the program as it sits today we will see just how far we have come.

 

[Minotaur]

CT is ready for big time football again. Basketball attendance will be irrelevant.

When has Connecticut ever had big time football in the past ?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Interesting, I did take a look at 5 ‘football’ programs that have had historically strong basketball programs just as a counter point and noted their attendance and capacity below (ranked based on football attendance in 2012).

1) Michigan - Football 112,300/109,900 (102%); #28 Basketball 12,100/12,700 (95%)

10) Florida - Football 87,600/88,600 (99%); #35 Basketball 10,700/12,000 (89%)

16) ND - Football 80,800/80,800 (100%); #54 Basketball 8,200/9,100 (90%)

20) Michigan St - Football 75,400/75,000 (101%); #18 Basketball 14,300/14,800 (97%)

22) UCLA - Football 68,500/92,500 (75%); #45 Basketball 9,500/14,000 (68%)

I did not look at UConn because the challenge that UConn has it that it uses 2 basketball arenas for home games. None of the above have that arrangement.

 

[Adios]

When has Connecticut ever had big time football in the past ?

Ever hear of Yale University? I am one who doesn't care to point out post totals but that was all you cared to say?

 

[HuskyDogArt]

When has Connecticut ever had big time football in the past ?

Lets see when Yale was #1 nationally...

 

[Brochacho]

We saw the all time record crowd at The Rent just a few short weeks ago with the Michigan game. Obviously UNC, UK, IU, KU, and even Syracuse's stadiums have a higher capacity then The Rent. Thats why I think average attendance doesnt tell the whole story and these rankings shouldnt be taken too seriously. A better way to gauge this would be average attendance compared to the stadium capacity. Our fanbase has shown they really care about football. Bottom line If we were in a better conference like the B1G or ACC with teams like Michigan, FSU, or Ohio St coming into The Rent on a regular basis, there is no doubt in my mind UConn football would be a hot ticket.

If we had a fan base where 50k people wanted to see UConn play every weekend then we wouldn't be playing in a 42k stadium.

 

[BoatShow]

UNC-79%
UK-84%
IU-92%
KU-82%
Cuse-75%
Maryland-70%
UConn-88%
Duke-82%
Memphis-40%

These are the more telling numbers- percentage of seats bought. We're comfortably second on that list behind Indiana who support their teams obscenely.

 

[Afroabe224]

I have to disagree, if you have to have a top team to show up as a fanbase than we as a fanbase are pathetic. Big time fanbases show regardless of the opponent. It appears you want to get into another conference first then show them we care, we have to prove it now. And with the state of the program as it sits today we will see just how far we have come.

Agree 100%!! I hate how people believe UConn football is an "if you build it, they will come" kind of deal. We need to have a good showing NOW not a halfway fan base that only shows up for big names (Michigan). If we had a better fan base we would already be in a P-5 conference.

 

[Brad Palmer]

My point was originally that these 8 other schools are just like us. None ranked higher than 38th nationally in attendance.