Unexcused Absence: Why Is College Football Attendance Tanking?
As college football prepares to crown its latest champion, the game is facing a much bigger question than Clemson or LSU: namely, why are crowds at stadiums across the country shrinking? University administrators have tried fix after fix—but without ever diagnosing a root cause beyond 'kids these days.' To get to the heart of the problem, we set out on a journey across the college football landscape.
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Link: Unexcused Absence: Why Is College Football Attendance Tanking?
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Given the number of students and alumni from ND versus some of these other places, ticket costs, and the shit schedules anymore, ND also doesn’t do that badly for its home games.
;I think the main reason is the cost of a ticket, and also the overall cost when you factor in parking and concessions. All sports have gotten ridiculous. I paid $12 for good box seats at Wrigley Field in 1988. Today those same tickets are several hundred dollars.
The South remains obsessed but the rest of the country has grown blasé. This is especially true of responsible parents who fear for their sons' limbs and brains. From this perspective, ND is a leader toward the future of college football as a kind of nostalgia trip.
funny thing is just about anyone who played says it is all worth it. The commeraderie(how the hell do you spell that) in football is unlike any other sport.
Your showcase should be a mass consumer event that draws in the potential fan who doesn't follow the game but might if you get them interested. Instead it is relegated to a sports ghetto. That's the pattern of sports that have declined, like boxing and baseball
Leftist professors hate college sports because they symbolize winning being better than losing, which feeds into the capitalist system of trying to improve your life. Anybody successful is hated that is why the participation sport of soccer is more favorable among the left than the great sport of college football.
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20 years ago, you are not being very observant.
A four hour sporting event which only has 12 minutes of real action cannot hold their attention.
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Since 2011, college enrollment has fallen every year. At its peak, about 23 million people were enrolled in degree granting institutions. Now, it's less than 18 million. Unis have priced themselves out of the market. It would be interesting to see how many of these public unis offer tuition discounts and scholarships to get people through the door. Nevertheless, unis are facing the real possibility that they will not survive as presently configured.
If so, then why would anybody be surprised that game attendance would be adversely affected? Nearly every PAC12 uni borrowed hundreds of millions over the past decade for stadium buidouts and upgrades. Of course ticket prices will reflect that reality. And for what? None of that had done a fucking thing to increase academic achievement, does nothing for grads to find a job. Every single P5 uni has taken on the same business model. Make the football team competitive so as to draw students to our campus. Problem is, it's a money losing proposition. The king of hype and overpromtion of athletics, Oregon, has a deficit this year, and is projected to have more in the subsequent years. It's coming to an end....
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the playoffs it would be even higher than the $5-10k if you went to two playoff games.
It's just too expensive and with all the TV timeouts the games are more boring live than they are if you record and fast forward through commercials. Lower ticket prices, cut out 70% of commercials and get to a two-hour game and interest would get back up.
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Notre Dame is not as bad off attendance wise as most. Of the 130 FBS schools, ND is in the bottom 11 for enrollment. So the impact of whether or not students attend is relatively small compared to the Ohio States of the world. Plus the smaller enrollment means fewer alumni. I think the major factor for ND not selling out may just be it’s too damned expensive for a lot of people when costs for tickets, Parking, jacked up motel rates, etc. are factored in. It’s also easier to get tickets on the secondary market or cheaply on game day for unattractive match ups, so why buy early as used to be almost a requirement during the lottery days.
I watched part of an ND vs. Michigan game from the 80's on TV a while back, and the graphics...well, let's just say that going to the game that year was a better experience than watching on TV. Now, the situation is reversed. The TV product has come a long way.
Cost to attend is just too high now. I'd rather sit in a bar and watch. The only reason I buy a ticket now is if a group of friends is going. I went to a game last year without a ticket, and I had no intention of buying one. Someone who was going to eat a ticket shoved one in my hand right before the game, knowing I had no intention of paying them $130.
Last fall, I was in the student section for half a game, and that was much more fun than sitting elsewhere because the students make it a party. But, I was surprised at how many empty "seats" there where...lots of room. Not the student section I remember, when everyone had to stand chest-to-back, because there wasn't enough room for shoulder-to-shoulder. So, definitely the students are not showing up as much, and maybe not bringing as many friends in.
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