College football attendence way down last year

[Michchamp]

Link:

The drop in football attendance is less of a story these days; the question is whether anything can be done about it. According to preliminary NCAA numbers produced last week, FBS college football attendance was down again -- for the seventh time in the last eight seasons -- to its lowest average mark in 22 years.

The average of 41,856 fans per game for the 129 FBS teams in 2018 was the lowest figure since 1996. That's a year after the average per-school decline was the largest in 34 years.
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Wonder why?

 

[tinselwolverine]

In the article it says that TV ratings remain strong.

So it’s obviously a fear of a terrorist attack at the events themselves that is keeping people and students at home watching from the comfort and safety of their living and family rooms or dorm rooms as opposed to attending the events live at the stadiums.

 

[tomdalton22]

Cost of attendance and 70" TV's.

I prefer watching football at home.

 

[SpartyNash]

Either start selling beer at games, or stop pricing out the average fan.

 

[Michchamp]

Either start selling beer at games, or stop pricing out the average fan.

I think that's definitely a factor.

It would be interesting to see fans surveyed on this to get their attitudes.

I'd normally try to go to one game a year, but when I have to shell out another $400 (or more) for 2 decent seats, I reconsider. almost didn't go to the game in Dallas in '17, but got tickets through a friend at a steep discount.

Beyond that, if I still felt I was part of something great, I would be willing to shell out money for the experience. but as it is, I think about how openly many schools cheat the regulations & rules and pay players, and how the NCAA does nothing about it. And given the corruption and money flowing around in that aspect of the game, with literally NO PENALTIES any more for getting caught, one could safely assume other aspects are getting corrupted (refs taking $$$ for calls, coaches and players selling out their schools, etc.). I don't want to pay my hard-earned dollars to be part of that.

And then knowing what we now know about the risks of CTE... yikes.

I wonder if I'm alone in considering that stuff.

 

[Michchamp]

In the article it says that TV ratings remain strong.

So it?s obviously a fear of a terrorist attack at the events themselves that is keeping people and students at home watching from the comfort and safety of their living and family rooms or dorm rooms as opposed to attending the events live at the stadiums.

This is from 2014, but the longer trend is there: as more of the audience & revenue moves to TV, the games get longer as they cram more commercials and other bullshit into the broadcast (link).

At some point, people will get sick of spending almost half their waking hours on Saturday watching a game on TV.

 

[Michchamp]

200+ minutes of airtime for 60 minutes of game time, of which like only 15 minutes is actual game play between whistles.

 

[Spartanmack]

that 210-240 minutes is brutal from the comfort of your living room where you don't have to worry about the weather and the bathroom/refrigerator/pantry is just down the hall (and clean), attending games in the north after mid-October can be borderline unbearable.

 

[UMRules06]

Too many other options available that weren't around 5-10 years ago. Not only is the comfort of your home nice, but you can stream most any other game you want even if you're on the go. It's fun to go to a game in-person once or twice a year for the experience, but to do it every single home game takes a commitment that people are finding is not worth it anymore.

 

[biggunsbob]

Game are to expensive.

 

[hungry]

Agree with everything

Takes all day to watch 1 game
crowded stadium
long wait to use rest room
miss game when using rest room
crazy high prices, pricing out the working Joe
beer at home
couch
remote control
switch to other games
free parking at home
commercial break guy standing in the middle of the field for 3 hours

the reasons go on and on. I'm surprised going the games is a thing at all with the prices they want to charge

 

[hungry]

I can have watch parties at my house

 

[tomdalton22]

Agree with everything

Takes all day to watch 1 game
crowded stadium
long wait to use rest room
miss game when using rest room
crazy high prices, pricing out the working Joe
beer at home
couch
remote control
switch to other games
free parking at home
commercial break guy standing in the middle of the field for 3 hours

the reasons go on and on. I'm surprised going the games is a thing at all with the prices they want to charge

It can get pretty expensive. The last college game I went to was the Big10 championship over a year ago. Some friends were all taking families so I thought it sounded fun. Four tickets were $600. Room was almost $500 (2 night minimum). Add in 4 meals, beers, etc and I was well over $1700 for the weekend. They went again this year. I decided to get a new 70" TV instead!

 

[Spartanmack]

I wonder what affect the proliferation of gaming has had on other entertainment in local markets that have gotten casinos in the last 20 or so years. It's probably difficult to measure and there are all the factors others have listed affecting CFB attendance, but I never bought the story that casinos would bring net economic benefit - especially in places like Gary, Indiana. I've always thought it would draw entertainment dollars away from sports, theater, etc - and in places like Gary, it would suck rent, mortgage, grocery money out of the local economy.

 

[tomdalton22]

I wonder what affect the proliferation of gaming has had on other entertainment in local markets that have gotten casinos in the last 20 or so years. It's probably difficult to measure and there are all the factors others have listed affecting CFB attendance, but I never bought the story that casinos would bring net economic benefit - especially in places like Gary, Indiana. I've always thought it would draw entertainment dollars away from sports, theater, etc - and in places like Gary, it would suck rent, mortgage, grocery money out of the local economy.

We recently got a Hollywood Casino nearby (15 minutes from my house). It's been here about 5 or 6 years. I love to gamble but I'm not really lucky. Before it was done I thought I would go about once every other month. I found it's not as much fun when it's your back yard. I think I have been there about 5 times.

As far as Gary...that place is a dump. I had to take a weekend of CE in Chicago and thought it would be fun to gamble on the way. Stopped in Gary. I only stayed about an hour. The people there on a Friday evening...pretty bad. I'll bet 1/2 of them cashed their paychecks there that same day.

 

[Spartanmack]

We recently got a Hollywood Casino nearby (15 minutes from my house). It's been here about 5 or 6 years. I love to gamble but I'm not really lucky. Before it was done I thought I would go about once every other month. I found it's not as much fun when it's your back yard. I think I have been there about 5 times.

As far as Gary...that place is a dump. I had to take a weekend of CE in Chicago and thought it would be fun to gamble on the way. Stopped in Gary. I only stayed about an hour. The people there on a Friday evening...pretty bad. I'll bet 1/2 of them cashed their paychecks there that same day.

yeah, that's my point - I lived in Chicago for most of the 90s when those casinos started opening up. We would go about once a month. At first it was a pain in the ass - back then the boats had to push off the dock so you could only get on and off for about 10 minutes every hour. It seemed like a lot of the patrons weren't the kind of people with a lot of disposable income.

I'm not opposed to gambling or the industry - it's not government's job to protect stupid people from making bad decisions but at the same time, they know full well where their share of that pie is coming from but they're more than happy to promote and approve them. They have to know these deals never get the result they're sold on - just like publicly funded stadiums. Nobody is booking a convention in Chicago because there's a casino in Aurora or Elgin and if they're going to Gary to gamble, that money is being spent in Indiana.

 

[Michchamp]

That whole stretch of Indiana is pretty much right out of Back to the Future II in Biff Tannen's timeline... giant steel mills and refineries belching black soot into the air, and dumping sludge into Lake Michigan, a decimated, once proud inner city (Gary) that looks like a bombed out warzone, and then glitzy neon lights for the casinos and strip clubs.

And the best part are all the billboards touting Indiana's "business friendly environment" and urging companies to move out of Illinois. yeah come live in that post industrial Hellscape. Fun for the whole family.

 

[tinselwolverine]

That whole stretch of Indiana is pretty much right out of Back to the Future II in Biff Tannen's timeline... giant steel mills and refineries belching black soot into the air, and dumping sludge into Lake Michigan, a decimated, once proud inner city (Gary) that looks like a bombed out warzone, and then glitzy neon lights for the casinos and strip clubs.

And the best part are all the billboards touting Indiana's "business friendly environment" and urging companies to move out of Illinois. yeah come live in that post industrial Hellscape. Fun for the whole family.

Maybe that?s why the Jacksons moved to Encino.

 

[Michchamp]

Maybe that’s why the Jacksons moved to Encino.

Maybe. I don't really blame them though... that's gotta be one of the most depressing areas in the entire Midwest.

Adding to it, coming from Chicago and heading into Indiana on the Skyway (I-90), there's a huge steel bridge over the Calumet River, and according to my friend, his ex-girlfriend's brother committed suicide by jumping off it.

Like 3 times in a row on the way to the casino he told us that, forgetting each time he had mentioned it before.

Then the 4th Time we went to the casinos, he didn't say anything, so I said "hey aren't you going to tell us about how your ex-girlfriend's brother committed suicide on this bridge?"

so then after that, every time we crossed that bridge, he reminded us.

 

[thewolverines24]

That whole stretch of Indiana is pretty much right out of Back to the Future II in Biff Tannen's timeline... giant steel mills and refineries belching black soot into the air, and dumping sludge into Lake Michigan, a decimated, once proud inner city (Gary) that looks like a bombed out warzone, and then glitzy neon lights for the casinos and strip clubs.

And the best part are all the billboards touting Indiana's "business friendly environment" and urging companies to move out of Illinois. yeah come live in that post industrial Hellscape. Fun for the whole family.

Indiana is business friendly. Just don't put your business in Gary. It's been a shithole for longer than I've been alive and I'm 36.