FBS attendance continues to drop

slugboy

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Good topic, Red!

It’s not just us, and it’s not just college football (or basketball too). Aside from MLS, everything is down-> https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-attendance-woes-fixes/

Since 2013
MLB is down 5.8%
NFL is down 2%
NBA is up 2.6% (but looking at the arena shots, I don’t believe it)
MLS is up 17.6% (ATL might have moved that needle by itself)

So, all these other sports, plus movie theaters, are trying to figure out the same problem we are. I know TStan has a lot on his plate, but the AA has to innovate or we will wither slowly. And once we do, we’ll get copied


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jayparr

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A fan of any sport or team can now relax at home or a sports bar and watch the tv. The traffic to a stadium is now awful and stressful. The tkts are not cheap nor the food,drinks, and gasoline. Also at home you get replays, record it while you might take a nap or have sex with who ever. Oh; and the weather can be terrible thanks to pelosi and shoumer!
 

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jayparr said:
A fan of any sport or team can now relax at home or a sports bar and watch the tv. The traffic to a stadium is now awful and stressful. The tkts are not cheap nor the food,drinks, and gasoline. Also at home you get replays, record it while you might take a nap or have sex with who ever. Oh; and the weather can be terrible thanks to pelosi and shoumer!
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SteamWhistle

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It will settle down when there aren’t so many Neutral Site games. ESPN is obsessed with stacking week 1 with Neutral games and that hurts a bunch of teams schedules. When you take away a big home game from big programs every year it hurts attendance. Also the playoffs expanding to 8 teams would help, makes it easier to argue your team is still relevant and has a fighting chance making more people want to keep coming back and opposing teams wanting to watch your team when you come to their stadium. In the past any team could fill the stadium against a top 10 team but now it just doesn’t feel the same when only the top 5 maybe 6 teams are really the only ones drawing a big buzz for the matchups.
 
majorQ9

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So far tech athletics have taken two of my suggestions front the post season survey on improvements:

Beer sales (pilot program at least)
Moving September home games to night kickoffs (UCF)
 

billga99

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It is also how long games take to play. When ESPN is at a game, they generally are 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Obviously PJ shortened games some with a run oriented attacked. But last season when we played a more traditional offense, the games were extremely long. When you see the sideline guy with the sign posting 2 1/2 to 3 minute commercial breaks and see how many tv timeouts there are in a game, it really makes for a very long game. I realize TV revenue drives a lot of the revenue for athletic departments but again that pushes people to stay home. When you are in front of your TV, you can skip the commercial and go to another game. When you are sitting in the stands, you wait and wait and wait.
 
Milwaukee

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billga99 said:
It is also how long games take to play. When ESPN is at a game, they generally are 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Obviously PJ shortened games some with a run oriented attacked. But last season when we played a more traditional offense, the games were extremely long. When you see the sideline guy with the sign posting 2 1/2 to 3 minute commercial breaks and see how many tv timeouts there are in a game, it really makes for a very long game. I realize TV revenue drives a lot of the revenue for athletic departments but again that pushes people to stay home. When you are in front of your TV, you can skip the commercial and go to another game. When you are sitting in the stands, you wait and wait and wait.
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Home is just so much better. I’m to the point where I like to just hit 1 game per year in person. I don’t think it’s because I’m out of state, I believe it’s just because the experience is so much better at home. Maybe if I were a half hour down the road I’d hit 3 games but no more.
 
forensicbuzz

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Beyond the obvious convenience with TV, I think the No. 1 reason attendance is down is the game times are not set until sometimes 5 days before the game. If everyone knew what time the game was going to be 6-8 months before the game started, people could plan their lives around fall football. Now, they have to plan football around their lives because they can't plan. Just my thought.
 
stech81

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forensicbuzz said:
Beyond the obvious convenience with TV, I think the No. 1 reason attendance is down is the game times are not set until sometimes 5 days before the game. If everyone knew what time the game was going to be 6-8 months before the game started, people could plan their lives around fall football. Now, they have to plan football around their lives because they can't plan. Just my thought.
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Agree would be nice to know game times before you buy season tickets.
 

ChicagobasedJacket

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SteamWhistle said:
It will settle down when there aren’t so many Neutral Site games. ESPN is obsessed with stacking week 1 with Neutral games and that hurts a bunch of teams schedules. When you take away a big home game from big programs every year it hurts attendance. Also the playoffs expanding to 8 teams would help, makes it easier to argue your team is still relevant and has a fighting chance making more people want to keep coming back and opposing teams wanting to watch your team when you come to their stadium. In the past any team could fill the stadium against a top 10 team but now it just doesn’t feel the same when only the top 5 maybe 6 teams are really the only ones drawing a big buzz for the matchups.
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I used think playoff expansion would help this attendance issue by giving more teams “hope” of a natty; however, I now think paying fans will be even less interested in the regular season once their team loses a game or two. I think the best thing the schools can do is enhance the experience (i.e., beer program) and better matchups (i.e., playing Notre Dame and ucf).
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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Milwaukee said:
Home is just so much better. I’m to the point where I like to just hit 1 game per year in person. I don’t think it’s because I’m out of state, I believe it’s just because the experience is so much better at home. Maybe if I were a half hour down the road I’d hit 3 games but no more.
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I live a little over 2 hours from the stadium, and I sure don't think the experience at home is better than being there. I don't think it even comes close. If it were, I wouldn't continue to buy season tickets. I look forward to every home game .... the pre-game tailgating with friends, the meeting up with other long-time friends in the stadium, and the excitement (most games anyway) of actually being at the game, heat, sun, rain, or even freezing rain (1974 in Athens).
 

takethepoints

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Supersizethatorder-mutt said:
I live a little over 2 hours from the stadium, and I sure don't think the experience at home is better than being there. I don't think it even comes close. If it were, I wouldn't continue to buy season tickets. I look forward to every home game .... the pre-game tailgating with friends, the meeting up with other long-time friends in the stadium, and the excitement (most games anyway) of actually being at the game, heat, sun, rain, or even freezing rain (1974 in Athens).
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Sooooooooo right. It's like going to a big rock concert for me, a real experience. And I don't tail-gate. I just like watching the games.
 
Augusta_Jacket

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I remember in 2015, in the midst of our losing streak, getting to a point where I was tempted to just watch the games on TV. I took my wife to the FSU game and we made a weekend out of it. Walking up to the stadium that night, I had an FSU fan offer me almost three times face value for my two tickets. My wife, not a huge football fan to begin with, told me I should consider selling the tickets, and we could go do something else like sit at a bar and watch the game. I, of course, was not about to sell my tickets to opposing fans. As the game went on, my wife was drawn more and more into the electric atmosphere of that night. On Fourth and Stewart, she erupted louder than anyone near us. When the Miracle on Techwood Drive occurred, she was jumping up and down and yelling as loud as anyone there. Normally, she's ready to leave as soon as the game was over, but that night, she wanted to stay and soak up the atmosphere. She looked at me and said she was grateful I didn't sell the tickets.

You see, that's the atmosphere you don't get from watching on TV. Sure, you can yell and scream at home, but there is an electricity in the air at games that's contagious. I love my TV, but I wouldn't trade it for a live game unless I become physically unable to make it to the games.
 
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