NCAA College Football Attendance (All Divisions)

[huskymedic]

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/Attendance/2017.pdf

 

[EJHarrington]

Sad

 

[uconnphil2016]

Wow. 20k. Not good...

 

[Uconnalliance]

Just about right !! RE will put that number at about where it was in 09’ wait

 

[MilliniumPrince]

No real surprises there.

 

[manbyrd]

Down 1.4 million ~4% for FBS as a whole. Lowest total since 2006 (and there were 11 less FBS schools then).

 

[Husky25]

If only Rentschler Field was on campus.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Didn’t break 25k all year. That 14k for the ECU game barely hurt

 

[huskymedic]

 

[History Geek]

The demise of regional rivalries make each game more of a commodity and lead to overall decline in attendance? That's my hypothesis.

 

[Husky25]

What happened? The P-5 and $Billion TV contracts happened. Schools arbitrarily getting 10s of $MM/yr they didn't "earn," but by simply being in the "right" conference happened. Inferior programs have a better shot at the CFP than...say...a UCF due solely to Conf. perception.

 

[freescooter]

All of those things. The end of regional rivalries is huge. That was what made college football. But the flip side also has an effect that doesn’t get attention. Call it the familiarity breeds contempt theory. Used to be that name programs would play truevroad games. Texas, Michigan, Alabama, USC. They all came to Alumni Stadium to play BC. Some games were moved to Foxborough but that was to sell more seats not because the visitors demanded it. Those teams rarely leave home anymore. And that hurts attendance for others. But also schools like Michigan which would be a huge draw losebtheir luster as league games at say Rutgers. You might make a concerted effort to see Clemson at BC if it was a one time thing. As an every other year beating it is less must see.

 

[Afroabe224]

If you told me back in 2007 that one day UConn would draw fewer fans than the Montana Grizzlies I would have laughed in your face.

What a difference a decade makes.

 

[Adios]

No one mentions Yale at #4 in FCS or Coast Guard at #27 in D3. That's not too shabby.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Sky ball]

45 Min bus rides maybe?

 

[huskymedic]

45 Min bus rides maybe?

Sure... but is that a national issue as the article discusses?

 

[Husky25]

45 Min bus rides maybe?

I won't be offended if you take back your "like," because I think you missed that the post was meant to be facetious.

UConn's attendance issues don't have a h311 of a lot to do with Rentschler Field being in East Hartford.

 

[Exit 4]

I have been ignored on this comment before - but after spending last week at Disney world it was a reminder that the world is changing demographically and while many of the new immigrant groups may like american football, they aren't compelled to attend games. Last week in Florida they must have had 50% of the theme parks filled by affluent families from south and central America. As we all known the American college campus is very diverse, typically running 15 to 30% international and has been this way for 20 years now....but what I haven't seen is the international crowd buying in for the live experience. Maybe its the marketing effort or maybe the product just doesn't appeal. Either way, its a factor and in the long run all college sports need more buy in from the new groups to keep the mojo.

 

[SubbaBub]

CFB in 1994: Saturday at noon or 3:30 pm against a team (minus a couple warm ups) you play every year or an intersectional name you rarely play and want to know how you measure up. There are maybe two or three other games on TV. You do this every Saturday, you plan for it, your friends plan for it. If you are a student, it is the primary social activity during a fall weekend. Sometimes you load up and travel to an away game because you can.

CFB in 2018: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Wednesday at all hours of the day, only you don't know which hour until 6 days prior. You play teams you play every other year for the last 10 years or less, you play familiar teams less often or not at all. There are at least a dozen games on TV and nearly every game is online. The gameday experience is disjointed is a less universal for fans of all schools. There is more happening on your social media account than on the field and you are more connected to other fans though apps than in the stands. Spending the time prepping and attending a full day/weekend event is less appealing with other options. Away games? You'll need a plane.