2017 CFB Attendance Has Biggest Decrease in 34 Years

[Mavric]

Except at Nebraska

 

Quote

Major-college football experienced its largest per-game attendance drop in 34 years and second-largest ever, according to recently released NCAA figures.

 

Attendance among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in 2017 was down an average of 1,409 fans per game from 2016. That marked the largest drop since 1983 when average attendance declined 1,527 fans per game from 1982.

 

The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997.  

 

That average attendance drop marked the second-sharpest decline since the NCAA began keeping track of college football attendance in 1948. For the first time in history, average attendance declined nationally for four consecutive seasons.

 

CBS

[huskerfan333157]

I bet the attendance would go up if every campus was a wet campus.

[TGHusker]

Wt Scott Frost coming back home, I suspect we can rest assured that our attendance won't fall and that the sell out streak will continue for some time.

[OldGuy]

Not surprising with the proliferation of Non traditional game times like Tuesday, Wed, Thursday and Friday games for TV revenue.  Look at the stands for most of those games and they are usually very empty stadiums.  Also, almost all games are televised in some fashion and makes going to game less important.

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

13 minutes ago, OldGuy said:

Not surprising with the proliferation of Non traditional game times like Tuesday, Wed, Thursday and Friday games for TV revenue.  Look at the stands for most of those games and they are usually very empty stadiums.  Also, almost all games are televised in some fashion and makes going to game less important.

 

 

Definitely.  There are other potential factors, too, like the lower participation in youth football, concussion concerns, anthem outrage, a less-compelling post-season (bowl attendance down, a very small playoff with a big layover), maybe soccer and MMA is starting to take a market share, maybe there was just a "bubble" for football popularity... who knows.  So many factors that it would be hard to parse it all out without academic research.

 

I think greed in general is hurting College Football, but that would be hard to prove.

[Redux]

People would rather sit in their own easy chair drinking a beer watching an HDTV instead of cramming between 3 people in the wrong row on a bleacher drinking a watered down Pepsi watching from the nosebleeds.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Redux

[Hedley Lamarr]

2 hours ago, Redux said:

People would rather sit in their own easy chair drinking a beer watching an HDTV instead of cramming between 3 people in the wrong row on a bleacher drinking a watered down Pepsi watching from the nosebleeds.

Nothing beats a game in Lincoln, would take it over my tv every weekend if I could convince the MRS to let me buy season tickets 

[Redux]

1 minute ago, Hedley Lamarr said:

Nothing beats a game in Lincoln, would take it over my tv every weekend if I could convince the MRS to let me buy season tickets 

 

I would be at every game if I could.  An increasing amount would not however.

[runningblind]

22 minutes ago, Redux said:

 

I would be at every game if I could.  An increasing amount would not however.

The perfect ratio for me is attending 1-2 per year, and then the rest on tv. I still have the rest of the day when I watch on tv to do whatever else. Going to the game takes most of the day typically.

 

If they put in actual seats, instead of those awful bleachers, I would be inclined to go to more.

Edited February 14, 2018 by runningblind

[dvdcrr]

I think the cumulative effect of replay stoppages, taking hard hits out of the game, longer games, too many commercials, bad concussion press, etc.  is to drive away fans.  

The game is less equitable, poorly officiated, too drawn out, and doesn't pass the eye test as being "great football" any more.  

 

The only thing I can say is truly better now is receiver play.

 

It is a sad state of affairs when networks have paid referees on staff to explain the rulings to people who have watched the game for 40 years.

[huskerfan333157]

2 hours ago, Hedley Lamarr said:

Nothing beats a game in Lincoln, would take it over my tv every weekend if I could convince the MRS to let me buy season tickets 

There are only a handful of venues I'd want to attend every game at: Nebraska, FSU, Clemson, OSU, LSU.  

 

Would you really wanna waste money going to s Missouri game (if you're a missouri fan)?  Most venues aren't worth it.

[Crazyhole]

14 hours ago, runningblind said:

The perfect ratio for me is attending 1-2 per year, and then the rest on tv. I still have the rest of the day when I watch on tv to do whatever else. Going to the game takes most of the day typically.

 

If they put in actual seats, instead of those awful bleachers, I would be inclined to go to more.

My thoughts exactly.  

[junior4949]

17 hours ago, Redux said:

People would rather sit in their own easy chair drinking a beer watching an HDTV instead of cramming between 3 people in the wrong row on a bleacher drinking a watered down Pepsi watching from the nosebleeds.

 

Guilty as charged!  I haven't been to a games since 03' when we kicked the tar out of A&M.  While I have at times had great seats, more times than not I found myself in the nosebleed section where the players looked like dots.  It's just so much easier for me to see the game on TV rather than going to the game.  Plus, it's great watching it at home with a DVR where a play can be watched over and over such as a big hit or pancake block. 

[Moiraine]

This is a dumb metric to use.

 

Losing 1,500 people out of 80,000 person stadiums is less of a drop than losing 1,400 out of 40,000 person stadiums. If you're using %, which is what they should be using.

 

On the otherhand there are a lot more humans now, so it should be easier to fill them. But there are also way more forms of entertainment.

 

 

The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997.

is pretty telling though.

Edited February 14, 2018 by Moiraine

[jaws]

I am at the point that I rather go to basketball games. Football ticket prices are too high for the average fan and the games are too long. Reviews and the amount of TV timeouts kill the flow of the game. MAC games are fun to go to but they play at such odd times that I can't make it to Toledo or Bowling Green for a kickoff on a Tuesday night with work the next day. The conferences sold themselves to the networks years ago and they have killed a little bit of college football.