Why is college football attendance tanking?

[Rotorooter]

https://www.si.com/college/2020/01/10/c ... cline-ncaa

Discuss.

[PeteRasche]

Lots of reasons mentioned in the article and lots of reasons we've discussed here (don't have the time to list the dozen or so at the top of my mind right now). Personally I think it's a combination of ALL of them.

But the overarching theme is it's just a change in American society... Less Boomers dragged their Gen X kids to games, so even less Gen Xers dragged their Millennial kids to games, and so on and so on... as time passes, less and less people value the event, the pomp and circumstance, the gameday vibe, all the intangible stuff that comes with attending. Add in the overall "busy-ness" of today's society (mentioned early in the article) and the obvious access to dozens of games in hi-def surround sound from the comfort of your living room, and people just don't bother. And really, that's the biggest change I've seen, is that younger generations (Gen X and younger) are much less likely to "BOTHER" when something is inconvenient. If you bought a ticket to a game in 1965 and the weather was miserable, BY-F***ING-GOD you were still going. Today, meh, I might break a sweat, and the concession lines are long, and the bathrooms are dirty, and parking sucks and everything is expensive, and, and, and, and everyone makes excuses until they just decide it's not worth it. Even if they paid for the ticket, they eat it and watch from home (hence the story's mentioning of how ticket sales are way higher than actual attendance.)

[TUPF]

Read it in its entirety. That writer had tough duty.

Curious about the conclusion wrt our students. Do our students have to buy tickets now? I was a student a long time ago but I remember tickets being covered by our activities fee. We just had to go to the ticket office and show ID and pick them up. Maybe there was a nominal fee, like $5, for the LSU home game but that’s about it.

[TUPF]

Another thing about attendance. I think the entire football franchise might be starting to rot from the bottom up. Here in Maryland which they claim is below the Mason-Dixon Line, attendance at high school varsity football games is paltry. Maybe 500 for “good” teams and for the bad ones there might be 100 in the stands. I don’t see how that translates into fandom in college and beyond.

[ml wave]

Read it in its entirety. That writer had tough duty.

Curious about the conclusion wrt our students. Do our students have to buy tickets now? I was a student a long time ago but I remember tickets being covered by our activities fee. We just had to go to the ticket office and show ID and pick them up. Maybe there was a nominal fee, like $5, for the LSU home game but that’s about it.

The athletics/activity fee pays for the tickets...it's one of the biggest scams going in colleges these days (which in itself is saying something)...btw, this is why our "announced" (tickets sold) attendance is so much more than actual...every student is counted as a ticket sold due to the activity fee.

[gerryb323]

Read it in its entirety. That writer had tough duty.

Curious about the conclusion wrt our students. Do our students have to buy tickets now? I was a student a long time ago but I remember tickets being covered by our activities fee. We just had to go to the ticket office and show ID and pick them up. Maybe there was a nominal fee, like $5, for the LSU home game but that’s about it.

The athletics/activity fee pays for the tickets...it's one of the biggest scams going in colleges these days (which in itself is saying something)...btw, this is why our "announced" (tickets sold) attendance is so much more than actual...every student is counted as a ticket sold due to the activity fee.

Interesting. At least only count the ones who bothered to pick up the ticket sheet. Or do they not even do that any more. I think I remember that by the time I was in law school they could just swipe our ID for baseball games.

[PeteRasche]

Read it in its entirety. That writer had tough duty.

Curious about the conclusion wrt our students. Do our students have to buy tickets now? I was a student a long time ago but I remember tickets being covered by our activities fee. We just had to go to the ticket office and show ID and pick them up. Maybe there was a nominal fee, like $5, for the LSU home game but that’s about it.

The athletics/activity fee pays for the tickets...it's one of the biggest scams going in colleges these days (which in itself is saying something)...btw, this is why our "announced" (tickets sold) attendance is so much more than actual...every student is counted as a ticket sold due to the activity fee.

Interesting. At least only count the ones who bothered to pick up the ticket sheet. Or do they not even do that any more. I think I remember that by the time I was in law school they could just swipe our ID for baseball games.

When I was in law school they had a ticket office in the UC and in the first week or two of school I'd be in there eating lunch with my law classmates who I knew were never setting foot in the Dome, and I'd have them walk over with their ID, pick up their ticket sheet, and give it to me. I had a dozen or so sheets of tickets. We took them to every tailgate in case someone forgot theirs or brought a friend. You had to show your ID at the Dome gate but an apologetic "oh my gosh, I forgot my ID!" and the couldn't-care-less Dome workers would roll their eyes and let you in.

[Fan Since '54]

I too read this in it's entirety. And there were several thoughts that caught my attention: 1) Tickets to the LSU game. What LSU game? 2) Cost of tickets. This is the 21st century. Inflation has set in. $20 is the $5 of the 19th century. 3) Too many games with lesser opponents who you never heard of. Fairfield University of Central Kentucky. 4) The "me" generation. FB...where you have so many "friends you've NEVER ACTUALLY MET". 5) Game is too long. Thanks TV, too many commercials. 6) Weather. Too hot, cold, rainy, snowy (well not here at least).

There are others, but I'll let the rest of you add your own.

Fan since '54

[ml wave]

Read it in its entirety. That writer had tough duty.

Curious about the conclusion wrt our students. Do our students have to buy tickets now? I was a student a long time ago but I remember tickets being covered by our activities fee. We just had to go to the ticket office and show ID and pick them up. Maybe there was a nominal fee, like $5, for the LSU home game but that’s about it.

The athletics/activity fee pays for the tickets...it's one of the biggest scams going in colleges these days (which in itself is saying something)...btw, this is why our "announced" (tickets sold) attendance is so much more than actual...every student is counted as a ticket sold due to the activity fee.

Interesting. At least only count the ones who bothered to pick up the ticket sheet. Or do they not even do that any more. I think I remember that by the time I was in law school they could just swipe our ID for baseball games.

The higher the number the better, as far as the athletic department is concerned.