FBS Attendance declining

[Loyal Coug]

Pretty interesting. SEC down over 2,000 fans/game this year. 4th straight year of overall FBS decline.

All the things we talk about in the never-ending debate over Martin Stadium's size. Let's just get that Bowl done, get us up to 40,000 and call it good FOREVER!

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ion-with-largest-attendance-drop-in-34-years/

 

[CougEd]

Pretty interesting. SEC down over 2,000 fans/game this year. 4th straight year of overall FBS decline.

All the things we talk about in the never-ending debate over Martin Stadium's size. Let's just get that Bowl done, get us up to 40,000 and call it good FOREVER!

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ion-with-largest-attendance-drop-in-34-years/

The arms race just it a snag.

 

[SaveFerris]

Has anyone been to a game at ASU and can comment on the experience they create with smart technology?

Instead of investing in more seats we should invest in ways to make the current seats provide an experience that can compete with not going to the game.

Attendance down 10% over the last whatever years is one thing. I look at my kids and see it totally falling off a cliff in the not so distant future. The way they consume entertainment is fundamentally different than what I saw even with my nieces who are only 10 years older.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Has anyone been to a game at ASU and can comment on the experience they create with smart technology?

Instead of investing in more seats we should invest in ways to make the current seats provide an experience that can compete with not going to the game.

Attendance down 10% over the last whatever years is one thing. I look at my kids and see it totally falling off a cliff in the not so distant future. The way they consume entertainment is fundamentally different than what I saw even with my nieces who are only 10 years older.

I went to the ASU game in 2016 while they were still working on the improvements in the North(?) endzone. Unless that endzone turned out incredible, I wouldn't say that there was anything from a technology standpoint in the rest of the stadium that was meaningful.

 

[SaveFerris]

I went to the ASU game in 2016 while they were still working on the improvements in the North(?) endzone. Unless that endzone turned out incredible, I wouldn't say that there was anything from a technology standpoint in the rest of the stadium that was meaningful.

Interesting. In the article LC linked the video mentioned it. The won some award in 2017 for "best game day technology experience". Wasn't really sure from the article what exactly made it such a unique experience.

http://thesundevils.com/news/2017/7/24/general-asu-announced-as-2017-best-game-day-technology-experience-award-winner.aspx?

 

[95coug]

Pretty interesting. SEC down over 2,000 fans/game this year. 4th straight year of overall FBS decline.

All the things we talk about in the never-ending debate over Martin Stadium's size. Let's just get that Bowl done, get us up to 40,000 and call it good FOREVER!

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ion-with-largest-attendance-drop-in-34-years/

Not a surprise. Viewing options have increased. More teams are playing big boy football than ever, so in some areas there are multiple options - and I'd guess it's a lot cheaper/easier to get tickets for FAU, USF, and UCF than it is for FSU and Miami (for example).

Add to that the fact that with the increased viewing options, most games now have several TV timeouts, challenges, reviews, etc., so games are longer than they used to be, with a lot more downtime. For the people in the stands, that time isn't filled by much.

Then consider that with the proliferation of bowls, teams don't have to be good to get one anymore. There are 129 FBS teams, and 40 bowls, so more than 60% of teams get a berth. Bowls are no longer a reward for a good season, they're a participation trophy for being not too much worse than average.

And, even more critically, in today's digital, one-click, fast delivery world (which has always existed to today's students) they can stream games to wherever they are for less than the cost of a sports pass, skip commercials, and/or just watch the highlights (for any game) and not have to sit out in the weather for 4 hours. And the universities will let them choose that, because the schools decided that butts in the seats are irrelevant because butts on the couches pay better.

 

[Loyal Coug]

Not a surprise. Viewing options have increased. More teams are playing big boy football than ever, so in some areas there are multiple options - and I'd guess it's a lot cheaper/easier to get tickets for FAU, USF, and UCF than it is for FSU and Miami (for example).

Add to that the fact that with the increased viewing options, most games now have several TV timeouts, challenges, reviews, etc., so games are longer than they used to be, with a lot more downtime. For the people in the stands, that time isn't filled by much.

Then consider that with the proliferation of bowls, teams don't have to be good to get one anymore. There are 129 FBS teams, and 40 bowls, so more than 60% of teams get a berth. Bowls are no longer a reward for a good season, they're a participation trophy for being not too much worse than average.

And, even more critically, in today's digital, one-click, fast delivery world (which has always existed to today's students) they can stream games to wherever they are for less than the cost of a sports pass, skip commercials, and/or just watch the highlights (for any game) and not have to sit out in the weather for 4 hours. And the universities will let them choose that, because the schools decided that butts in the seats are irrelevant because butts on the couches pay better.

The proliferation of new D-1 teams (with less attendance/team) is mentioned in the article as contributing to the long term (20 year) decline in average attendance. Your bowl comments go right along with that. But the recent decline in Power 5 attendance, particularly SEC, is striking. Pac-12 is only down a few hundred per game this year. From poor to a little bit poorer.

 

[Cougzz]

That article notes the P12 attendance as having the largest drop by conference. I don’t know why our late night games and late decisions on game times are not cited as fan negatives.

 

[Loyal Coug]

That article notes the P12 attendance as having the largest drop by conference. I don’t know why our late night games and late decisions on game times are not cited as fan negatives.

Uh, no it doesn't (see below). We have the lowest attendance, not the largest drop. Are you Bong the Tennis stringer?

Power Five average attendance changes
Conference 2017 2016 Difference Change
SEC

75,704

77,507

-2,433

-3.14%
ACC

48,442

49,734

-1,292

-2.59%
Big 12

56,852

57,531

-679

-1.12%
Pac-12

49,601

50,073

-472

-0.09%
Big Ten

66,227

66,151

76

0.01%

 

[Cougzz]

Quote from the article: “The Pac-12 has experienced the biggest overall drop of any Power Five league: 4,078 fans per game since 2012. Its 2017 average of 49,601 is the conference's lowest average attendance since 2001.”

 

[Loyal Coug]

Quote from the article: “The Pac-12 has experienced the biggest overall drop of any Power Five league: 4,078 fans per game since 2012. Its 2017 average of 49,601 is the conference's lowest average attendance since 2001.”

Ahhh - I was talking about this last year, not over time. My bad. But I wasn't wrong. I never am......

 

[bamacoug2]

I know we have the lowest attendance, but our attendance has seemed to increase every year since CML started.

 

[Coug90]

Pretty interesting. SEC down over 2,000 fans/game this year. 4th straight year of overall FBS decline.

All the things we talk about in the never-ending debate over Martin Stadium's size. Let's just get that Bowl done, get us up to 40,000 and call it good FOREVER!

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ion-with-largest-attendance-drop-in-34-years/

Pretty simple economics if you ask me. Price of tix/concessions/parking + travel for most of us going up and up. Price of big screen 4K ultra HD TVs and never ending streaming options now going down.

If the ADs want to sell their stadiums out, need to drop prices. Or if it's about maximizing revenue, they are going to have to enjoy half empty stadiums of die hard fans paying outrageous prices for that experience. Guess what. It's about maximizing revenue so this trend will continue.

 

[earldacoug]

Pretty simple economics if you ask me. Price of tix/concessions/parking + travel for most of us going up and up. Price of big screen 4K ultra HD TVs and never ending streaming options now going down.

If the ADs want to sell their stadiums out, need to drop prices. Or if it's about maximizing revenue, they are going to have to enjoy half empty stadiums of die hard fans paying outrageous prices for that experience. Guess what. It's about maximizing revenue so this trend will continue.

Scheduling is also awful, too many PAC 12 night games imo. The night games are great for TV audience, but not so much for attending in person.

 

[Coug95man2]

This phenomenon is very similar to the movie industry. Tickets are sky high, concessions are sky high. People would rather wait until it's on Netflix or Hulu or even old school "renting" than pay such high prices. Very similar and I agree with 90, it isn't changing any time soon.

People are holing up in their homes more than going out. "Going out" is becoming too expensive and the other option (home) is cheaper.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Pretty simple economics if you ask me. Price of tix/concessions/parking + travel for most of us going up and up. Price of big screen 4K ultra HD TVs and never ending streaming options now going down.

If the ADs want to sell their stadiums out, need to drop prices. Or if it's about maximizing revenue, they are going to have to enjoy half empty stadiums of die hard fans paying outrageous prices for that experience. Guess what. It's about maximizing revenue so this trend will continue.

It's not just an afternoon at the game for a lot of WSU fans. It's an overnight trip and probably $500 once it's all said and done. Way too much.

I've been writing it for years, Western Washington fans are not the key to success for butts in seats on game day. It's Spokane, Yakima, Tri Cities and getting as close to 100% of your student body already on campus ~ into the stadium.

Then you have to win. WSU has tried losing for 100 years. Now that the team is having success, keep the momentum rolling. We've all seen what 100 years of losing looks like. Let's try 100 years of winning. What do ya think?

 

[BiggsCoug]

Scheduling is also awful, too many PAC 12 night games imo. The night games are great for TV audience, but not so much for attending in person.

Consider the players too. Game is over at 11. No way they're getting out of the locker room in an hour. So it's probably 2am by the time they get on the plane home. Now it's roughly 5am by the time they land. Ridiculous.

 

[Loyal Coug]

It's not just an afternoon at the game for a lot of WSU fans. It's an overnight trip and probably $500 once it's all said and done. Way too much.

I've been writing it for years, Western Washington fans are not the key to success for butts in seats on game day. It's Spokane, Yakima, Tri Cities and getting as close to 100% of your student body already on campus ~ into the stadium.

Then you have to win. WSU has tried losing for 100 years. Now that the team is having success, keep the momentum rolling. We've all seen what 100 years of losing looks like. Let's try 100 years of winning. What do ya think?

Yep. Yet the stadium expansion threads run 20 to 1 (I'm the 1) on the side of more high priced seats and luxury boxes versus finishing the relatively inexpensive bowl which would create thousands of affordable seats for folks within a few hours drive. Folks that don't require hotels, are close enough to adjust their schedules for a time change, etc etc.

 

[BiggsCoug]

Yep. Yet the stadium expansion threads run 20 to 1 (I'm the 1) on the side of more high priced seats and luxury boxes versus finishing the relatively inexpensive bowl which would create thousands of affordable seats for folks within a few hours drive. Folks that don't require hotels, are close enough to adjust their schedules for a time change, etc etc.

To be honest, adding more seats when you can’t sell what you’ve got or even adding luxury boxes for fans that don’t donate is ludacrous. If you add either of those things you’re doing it to send a message to recruits that you’re all in on football.

If you wanna see something interesting, look at the schools where the 4 and 5 star talent on the West Coast went to. Then look at how many seats their stadium has. Lemme know what you find.