Spring Game attendence down this year?

The 90s were the best time to go to the Spring Game. We had good, fun teams to watch and you could walk up to the gate and get really good seats - usually if you brought a can of food you'd get in free.

We had a really big dip in attendance at the turn of the century. 30,000 fewer people watched the game in 1999 than in 1998 (the year after Tom's last title), and we averaged less than 30,000 people from 1999-2003, Frank's final year.

There was a pretty good jump for Callahan's first Spring Game, and I still remember the fans giving a HUGE cheer for the very first play - Joe Dailey brought the team out, lined up in a passing set, maybe four players went in motion and the crowd erupted. It was pretty funny.

It got a lot less funny after that, though. 2004 was a tough year. :(

Attendance at those Callahan-Era games stayed pretty strong, though - we averaged just under 60K each of his four years.

Then Bo came in, the latest program savior, and we had another big jump in 2008. We've averaged 75K in Bo's first four years, although there was a significant drop from 2010 to 2011 (10k).

I would expect about 60K this year, making this the most sparsely-attended Pelini-era Spring Game.

In other news - if you're going to the Spring Game, get to your seats about 20 minutes early. They're going to give Rex the Uplifting Athletes Award about 15 minutes before the game.

 
n.e.husker said:
2000 -- 22,415

WTH?
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the entire Solich era...that's telling. I'm wondering if we saw similar numbers with revenues and other metrics. The firing is hotly debated from a wins/losses perspective - but I'd like to see some of the other numbers behind it. "mediocracy" likely implied far more than his record, though that's all the fans are able to see.

 
Well the attendance has been going up or staying up because it has become another home game now. It is a party, its fun, its something to do.

 
i wonder what the percentage is of people attending the game that live within a 100-200 mile radius. it has to be huge. the vast majority of fans that go to this game are close by. no one travels for a practice. few fork out for a night or two at a hotel to go to the game. this is in any year, not just this one. there is no way some guy w/out a job 3000 miles away would go even if he did have a job. if gas was free you still wouldn't drive your a$$ 50 hours to see Kellogg take 30 snaps and Bonson Marsh throw a TD. this is not about economics. it's about a lack of interest in the local metro area for Husker football. i'm not going, and no one will call me a bandwagon fan because I don't feel like driving 6 hours and getting a hotel room even though i can afford it no problem. I just have better things to do. just like last year, and the year before that. if I lived in Lincoln or close by I'd be there though. the question here is why those close by aren't going this year when they have the last 3-4 in droves.

 
I see the Spring Game a lot like the second half of a blowout win. Fans stick to their seats when we're up by 40 so they can see the next Big Thing in game action - even if it isn't a real game at that point. The same mentality in staying to the end of a blowout is in play for those attending the Spring Game.

 
except I was already there for the first half...so staying for the second half doesn't require a single extra ounce of effort. getting my arse up to the spring game requires an entire weekend of sneaking my dog into and out of a hotel room to sh!t knowing the highest quality of football I will get to see will be the same thing I'd see the last 5 minutes of a blowout win. not worth it to this guy :)

 
kchusker_chris said:
except I was already there for the first half...so staying for the second half doesn't require a single extra ounce of effort. getting my arse up to the spring game requires an entire weekend of sneaking my dog into and out of a hotel room to sh!t knowing the highest quality of football I will get to see will be the same thing I'd see the last 5 minutes of a blowout win. not worth it to this guy :)
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Tacking on to your post above mine, about the 100-200 mile thing, I would totally agree with this. I probably wouldn't drive up for the Spring Game if I were you, or I would do it very rarely.

I'm sure you're right that the vast majority of people attending live within a smallish radius of Lincoln.

 
knapplc said:
kchusker_chris said:
except I was already there for the first half...so staying for the second half doesn't require a single extra ounce of effort. getting my arse up to the spring game requires an entire weekend of sneaking my dog into and out of a hotel room to sh!t knowing the highest quality of football I will get to see will be the same thing I'd see the last 5 minutes of a blowout win. not worth it to this guy :)
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Tacking on to your post above mine, about the 100-200 mile thing, I would totally agree with this. I probably wouldn't drive up for the Spring Game if I were you, or I would do it very rarely.

I'm sure you're right that the vast majority of people attending live within a smallish radius of Lincoln.
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I'll get up there one of these days for it though. Maybe 2014 when we're replacing Taylor and JP (had to throw that in there)

 
kchusker_chris said:
i wonder what the percentage is of people attending the game that live within a 100-200 mile radius. it has to be huge. the vast majority of fans that go to this game are close by. no one travels for a practice. few fork out for a night or two at a hotel to go to the game. this is in any year, not just this one. there is no way some guy w/out a job 3000 miles away would go even if he did have a job. if gas was free you still wouldn't drive your a$$ 50 hours to see Kellogg take 30 snaps and Bonson Marsh throw a TD. this is not about economics. it's about a lack of interest in the local metro area for Husker football. i'm not going, and no one will call me a bandwagon fan because I don't feel like driving 6 hours and getting a hotel room even though i can afford it no problem. I just have better things to do. just like last year, and the year before that. if I lived in Lincoln or close by I'd be there though. the question here is why those close by aren't going this year when they have the last 3-4 in droves.
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This about sums it up! If you are in Omaha or Lincoln you are probably going to go, not so much to watch the game but to go and have fun, its a short drive, its easy parking for the Spring Game and you can go have about 7 hours of fun.

 
Any of you guys know the alcohol pricing in the champions club? I was given tickets to it and wanted to know if the inside is something worth spending time/money with.

 
RedRedJarvisRedwhine said:
Hope the tossing of beanbags doesn't affect my bowling form... Got state bowling in Omaha in 2 weeks!!! Good times!
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"The world can really kick your a$$. I only have a VAGUE recollection of when it wasn't kickin' mine. "

roy-munson.jpg


 
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