Bowl game attendance declining

[CuseJacket]

"The Associated Press, citing data from the FBA, reported on Tuesday that overall attendance in bowl games declined 4.94 percent this year, going from an average of 43,018 per game to 40,893 this season."

"But it was still the lowest attendance since 1958 and the two lowest-attended TaxSlayer Bowls, last week and the 2000 Georgia Tech vs. Miami game, have involved the Yellow Jackets."

Outback completes attendance decline for most Sunshine State college bowl games

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

"The Associated Press, citing data from the FBA, reported on Tuesday that overall attendance in bowl games declined 4.94 percent this year, going from an average of 43,018 per game to 40,893 this season."

"But it was still the lowest attendance since 1958 and the two lowest-attended TaxSlayer Bowls, last week and the 2000 Georgia Tech vs. Miami game, have involved the Yellow Jackets."

Outback completes attendance decline for most Sunshine State college bowl games

That just points out yet again that there are too many bowls. But one interesting thing I see is that the local citizenry in the cities where these games are played don't support the bowls. The Gator Bowl used to sell out not just because of the fans of the teams playing, but because the people in Jacksonville supported the game and bought tickets to it. The same is true too of the so-called major bowls, except the Rose Bowl. In the past every one of them was always a sellout, but those days are long gone.

 

[Dottie1145]

Guys, I hate to be that guy, but we didn't help the cause. We had 47k at the game, and I'm sure about 2/3 of that number were U.K. fans.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

Guys, I hate to be that guy, but we didn't help the cause. We had 47k at the game, and I'm sure about 2/3 of that number were U.K. fans.

Probably so, but it was really hard to tell, since all the KY fans were in blue, and the Tech fans were in every color of the rainbow, INCLUDING blue

 

[Dottie1145]

Probably so, but it was really hard to tell, since all the KY fans were in blue, and the Tech fans were in every color of the rainbow, INCLUDING blue

lol I swear I was thinking the whole game, "supersize has a good point.". When it comes down to it, it's on our marketing department. Kentucky Blue is a great color that looks good in Uniform, we need to produce the majority of our apparel in one hade of gold, that's it.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

lol I swear I was thinking the whole game, "supersize has a good point.". When it comes down to it, it's on our marketing department. Kentucky Blue is a great color that looks good in Uniform, we need to produce the majority of our apparel in one hade of gold, that's it.

FINALLY, someone admits that the "fashionista" "has a good point." LOL

 

[RyanS12]

I had a friend take me to the Quick Lane Bowl because it was part of his Lions season ticket package at Ford Field. No one was there. I get they're trying to draw tv viewers around the holidays but who in the hell is going to go to Detroit the day after Christmas to watch a couple of 6-6 teams. (I live 45 min away so of course I would) It's hard enough to gets fans of the schools to the game but 2:00 on December 26th? No.
Even our game and the BW's bowl. Why at 11am? Schedule these games on weekends or at least Thursday through Saturday. ESPN has 3 channels it can use to televise them. I don't think I watched any of the early games between Christmas and NYE. I don't get how these games make any money.

 

[Animal02]

I had a friend take me to the Quick Lane Bowl because it was part of his Lions season ticket package at Ford Field. No one was there. I get they're trying to draw tv viewers around the holidays but who in the hell is going to go to Detroit the day after Christmas to watch a couple of 6-6 teams. (I live 45 min away so of course I would) It's hard enough to gets fans of the schools to the game but 2:00 on December 26th? No.
Even our game and the BW's bowl. Why at 11am? Schedule these games on weekends or at least Thursday through Saturday. ESPN has 3 channels it can use to televise them. I don't think I watched any of the early games between Christmas and NYE. I don't get how these games make any money.

Locals probably think that the named sponsors cover costs so there is no need to support the games. ESPN is slowly killing attendance via every game being televised and dictating the start times.

 

[MWBATL]

[QUOTE=" ESPN is slowly killing attendance via every game being televised and dictating the start times.[/QUOTE]

It's all about the TV revenues and the money. It could be played in front of a studio audience and ESPN wouldn't care as long as the advertisers ponied up. Why do you think the number of bowls have been increasing every year? Attendance in meaningless to the new bowl financial model.

 

[Papa Doc]

Rarely do I say this, you're all correct. Too many games, less local support, mid-week night games on work days in advance of seasonal holidays, all lower bowl game attendance, and many fan bases are dwindling in this era, too.

IF a third of all GT season ticket holders had gone to the game this year, we would have had about 8000 at the game. Sound about right for our crowd? Using the same logic, if a third of UK season ticket holders bought tickets 20,000 would be there. I don't believe either school exceeded that threshold.

Game attendance numbers, home - road - bowls, have the strongest correlations to the number of season ticket sales and breadth of overall all fanbases. We struggle mightily with both and have little casual fan interest. Ever try to give away a pair of your season tickets to a home game that you can't attend? Or, try to get someone from work to go with you to a home game? Nearly impossible for the same reasons discussed here; most folks would rather stay home or go the a bar and casually watch multiple teams that aren't their favorites than give up a long day to attend in person.

Ironically, the bar example is even exemplified by our club seat season ticket holders who hang out in the bar below the east stands rather than provide visual and vocal support to the guys on the field who are standing on the opposite sideline looking directly at the huge number of empty yellow seats in front them during each home game, but I digress.

 

[buzz_wiser©]

lol I swear I was thinking the whole game, "supersize has a good point.". When it comes down to it, it's on our marketing department. Kentucky Blue is a great color that looks good in Uniform, we need to produce the majority of our apparel in one hade of gold, that's it.

Haha... don't stroke his ego too much!

He may start a petition on change.org. to have every possible color eliminated BUT gold. for the GT color spectrum.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

If the crowd was much more over 55/45 Kentucky, I would be shocked. Furthermore, we got our tickets only two days before the game, and I can tell you having looked at stub hub and Ticketmaster that there were very few tickets left available. StubHub showed less than 50 in the entire Georgia Tech club section. Even in the upper deck the cheapest ticket was $49. Entire sections in the upper corners were held off the market. 47,000 for Georgia Tech versus Kentucky? I would say that is a really damn good outcome for an 11 AM game between two teams like that on New Year's Eve. We conflicted with several other big games to watch on TV that day,.. and really, we even conflicted with the Orange Bowl down the road.

While we could always have more fans, I was actually quite satisfied with our attendance. Especially given the range of colors the fans wore, a blue painted stadium, and blue seats. It looked much worse than it actually was in terms of who the fans were.

 

[Gtyellowjackets]

The reason there were so few tickets remaining on Stubhub was they didn't release tickets in the upper deck except at the 50 yard line. It was 65% KY fans.

There were almost no locals there. At least not ones in GT or KY colors.

 

[Animal02]

Rarely do I say this, you're all correct. Too many games, less local support, mid-week night games on work days in advance of seasonal holidays, all lower bowl game attendance, and many fan bases are dwindling in this era, too.

IF a third of all GT season ticket holders had gone to the game this year, we would have had about 8000 at the game. Sound about right for our crowd? Using the same logic, if a third of UK season ticket holders bought tickets 20,000 would be there. I don't believe either school exceeded that threshold.

Game attendance numbers, home - road - bowls, have the strongest correlations to the number of season ticket sales and breadth of overall all fanbases. We struggle mightily with both and have little casual fan interest. Ever try to give away a pair of your season tickets to a home game that you can't attend? Or, try to get someone from work to go with you to a home game? Nearly impossible for the same reasons discussed here; most folks would rather stay home or go the a bar and casually watch multiple teams that aren't their favorites than give up a long day to attend in person.

Ironically, the bar example is even exemplified by our club seat season ticket holders who hang out in the bar below the east stands rather than provide visual and vocal support to the guys on the field who are standing on the opposite sideline looking directly at the huge number of empty yellow seats in front them during each home game, but I digress.

Don't get me started about those club seats........

 

[dressedcheeseside]

There's little reason for unaffiliated locals to attend Bowl games. Parking is a hassle. The drive in and out is a hassle. The enormous price of tickets. The enormous price of food. (A 12 oz beer is $10. You can buy a good 6 pack for that in the grocery store.) The number and length of timeouts really stretches out the time of the game. This waiting is worse live because you can't do all the things you do when watching at home. Moving around inside a stadium is a hassle, just getting from your seat to the aisle means you have to either step over a row or make a bunch of people stand up while you shimmy past.

All of this is worth it if you're a true fan. Not so much if you're not.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

The reason there were so few tickets remaining on Stubhub was they didn't release tickets in the upper deck except at the 50 yard line. It was 65% KY fans.

There were almost no locals there. At least not ones in GT or KY colors.

I would dispute that there were 2x as many Kentucky fans there as Georgia Tech fans. Looking at the game replay on YouTube of the GT side, there was only a rare scattering of any Kentucky fans.

 

[Animal02]

There's little reason for unaffiliated locals to attend Bowl games. Parking is a hassle. The drive in and out is a hassle. The enormous price of tickets. The enormous price of food. (A 12 oz beer is $10. You can buy a good 6 pack for that in the grocery store.) The number and length of timeouts really stretches out the time of the game. This waiting is worse live because you can't do all the things you do when watching at home. Moving around inside a stadium is a hassle, just getting from your seat to the aisle means you have to either step over a row or make a bunch of people stand up while you shimmy past.

All of this is worth it if you're a true fan. Not so much if you're not.

My brother was a long standing member of the Citrus Bowl. Always bought a dozen seats every year. Was on the thirty yard line for two decades. As corporate sponsors took over his seats got moved further and further until he was in the corner of the endzone.....Which is when he quit about ten years ago....If he goes now, it is with tickets bought online.

 

[GTonTop88]

I'm hoping these bowl games don't turn into the way the pro bowl has.

 

[FredJacket]

Ok... so attendance is down at bowl games across the board. The article does a good job explaining that. I offer a serious response that may sound flippant.... so what?

I think we are well past saying attendance is the key metric as to the overall 'health' of college football, or more specifically, the college football post-season. I really do wish all bowls were sold out; but I understand why they are not. There are 41 bowls... that is a lot of bowls.

I happened to be with friends watching the semi-final games on Saturday; and we began to discuss the bowl situation in college football. Among the 3 of us there was plenty of disagreement on the "right" number of bowl games. I tend to believe as long as there is financial backing for a game, then it is overall "good" for a teams (even 6-win teams) to get the chance to play the extra game. They get at a minimum 2-3 weeks more time with coaches participating in productive practice/prep time. My assumption is the schools profit financially (if I'm wrong.. that changes my opinion some). I believe it is a great for the young kids to travel and go through the bowl experience.

No question the game experience is better when the stands are full... for the fans as well as the teams/players. However, I'm not sure the correct response is to just eliminate a bunch of bowls. What is the right number of bowls and how do you measure success as it relates to the college bowl season?

 

[Rock]

That just points out yet again that there are too many bowls. But one interesting thing I see is that the local citizenry in the cities where these games are played don't support the bowls. The Gator Bowl used to sell out not just because of the fans of the teams playing, but because the people in Jacksonville supported the game and bought tickets to it. The same is true too of the so-called major bowls, except the Rose Bowl. In the past every one of them was always a sellout, but those days are long gone.

People don't support them and I agree there are too many.

I will add that I would rather watch it on my HD TV, use my restroom, waters aren't $4 and don't have to drive. I think more people are becoming like that as well.
I did go to the SEC game this year and had a blast. I enjoy going to games but passed on tickets to the NC tickets b/c I didn't wanna drive.