Article about lack of attendance

[nuwildfan2]

http://www.thesportsbank.net/northw...much-better-fan-support-than-it-receives/amp/

Thoughts? I was disappointed the 25th ranked team in the country couldn't get more support especially from students. They even handed out winter hats to the students.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

We get part of Ohio State 's gate! No worries

 

[pawildcat_rivals209725]

It's amusing in a morbid sort of way to read posts in a similar vein year after year. Small student enrollment with a good percentage of brainiacs who really don't care that much about sports. Little support from non-alums because it's not a state school and there are several pro options in the Chicago area. Unless the Cats somehow become the Ohio State of Evanston and are going 11-1 every year with trips to the playoffs, it ain't happening folks. Purdue was also a lousy choice for a cold night game in November. There was no reason, other than TV, not to play that game in the afternoon.

 

[villox]

Shame!

 

[Windy City Cat Fan]

It's amusing in a morbid sort of way to read posts in a similar vein year after year. Small student enrollment with a good percentage of brainiacs who really don't care that much about sports. Little support from non-alums because it's not a state school and there are several pro options in the Chicago area. Unless the Cats somehow become the Ohio State of Evanston and are going 11-1 every year with trips to the playoffs, it ain't happening folks. Purdue was also a lousy choice for a cold night game in November. There was no reason, other than TV, not to play that game in the afternoon.

Even if they do become Ohio State not sure how much will change - look at Stanford. NU outdraws most peer schools, BC, Wake, Duke, Vandy, etc etc.

 

[scru]

Shame!

Super ashamed of the students. But, my list of issues with millenials is longer than the student bus line to leave the stadium at halftime.

 

[phatcat_rivals223240]

Even if they do become Ohio State not sure how much will change - look at Stanford. NU outdraws most peer schools, BC, Wake, Duke, Vandy, etc etc.

Precisely, the pool of POTENTIAL customers is just not that large

 

[Fitz51]

Can we please just put this topic to rest?

To the OP, please see the discussion in several other threads about this over the past month.

 

[bringbacktherantboard]

Well, I wouldn't expect November night games to be a big draw...

 

[Frabjous_rivals]

Re student support, an international student was behind me at the Penn State game. He was enthusiastic and interested and wanted to know about the finer points of the game, e.g. targeting penalties (which are puzzling to even a dedicated fan.) The fans around me enjoyed talking with him. So, my point is, quality of student fans, and not necessarily quantity.

 

[NUCatVet]

Super ashamed of the students. But, my list of issues with millenials is longer than the student bus line to leave the stadium at halftime.

If we showed a picture of a football to our students, I’m not sure more than half of them could identify it!

 

[pawildcat_rivals209725]

Even if they do become Ohio State not sure how much will change - look at Stanford. NU outdraws most peer schools, BC, Wake, Duke, Vandy, etc etc.

Good point, and something we don't emphasize often enough. If they ever get around to revising Ryan, I'd like to see them go to 35,000 — 40,000 seats and make it a more comfortable place to see a game. If NU could consistently sell 20,000 or so season tickets, that could help guarantee we aren't always overwhelmed by opposing fans when the big powers come to visit. And it looks a lot more appetizing to potential recruits when you're selling out the smaller stadium and not looking at 10,000 empty seats for most games.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

You should have seen the crowd at Minny or at the Fighting Lovies.

I wonder how many folks that continue to belly ache about the students show up to EVERY game or find some other excuse that justifies them not attending while students are held to a different standard!

 

[Hungry Jack]

This is a tired old horse.

 

[pschatz25]

And here I thought the crowd last night was pretty decent all things considered. The cheerleaders even led an East side/West side 'Go U' chant. Has that ever happened before? A lot of people did bail at the half though.

 

[mickbula]

Was Yo Yo Ma or Winston Marsalis in town for a concert at Pick-Steiger Hall at 7pm Saturday nite- that is probably where all the students were!??

 

[Cat In The Cradle]

http://www.thesportsbank.net/northw...much-better-fan-support-than-it-receives/amp/

Thoughts? I was disappointed the 25th ranked team in the country couldn't get more support especially from students. They even handed out winter hats to the students.

2017 attendance figures are slightly north of the historical average and actually significantly better than the Walker and later Barnett years. See attached link.
http://hailtopurple.com/cde/attendance_annual.html

 

[FrancesSearleCat]

Not unique to Northwestern.

A quick Google search of "NCAA Football Poor Attendance" gives you the following headlines from the 2017 Season. Most of these are from the last two months.

Texas: "Tom Herman "disappointed" in Texas student attendance"

Arizona State: "Your take on ASU football attendance: Plenty of blame to go around"

West Virginia: "Should student allotment be reduced for poor attendance?"

Arizons: "Arizona Wildcats are winning, but where are the fans?" and "Arizona Wildcats AD Dave Heeke ‘disappointed’ with game attendance"

SMU: "How SMU is trying to fix its attendance problem"

Pitt: "Heather Lyke, Pat Narduzzi tackle Pitt football attendance topic"

National: "Now The Dang Millennials Are Killing College Football Attendance; Here's Why"

National: "The Unravelling of College Football Starts With All These Empty Stadiums"

 

[Fitz51]

Not unique to Northwestern.

A quick Google search of "NCAA Football Poor Attendance" gives you the following headlines from the 2017 Season. Most of these are from the last two months.

Texas: "Tom Herman "disappointed" in Texas student attendance"

Arizona State: "Your take on ASU football attendance: Plenty of blame to go around"

West Virginia: "Should student allotment be reduced for poor attendance?"

Arizons: "Arizona Wildcats are winning, but where are the fans?" and "Arizona Wildcats AD Dave Heeke ‘disappointed’ with game attendance"

SMU: "How SMU is trying to fix its attendance problem"

Pitt: "Heather Lyke, Pat Narduzzi tackle Pitt football attendance topic"

National: "Now The Dang Millennials Are Killing College Football Attendance; Here's Why"

National: "The Unravelling of College Football Starts With All These Empty Stadiums"

/discussion

Thank you for this post.

 

[scru]

/discussion

Thank you for this post.

Football appears to be struggling as a sport these days, and it has nothing to do with kneeling.

4 hour games and length of total commercial time relative to playing time are probably bigger issues.

And, of course, those shameful millenials who should get off my lawn, off their Xboxes, YouTubes, SnapChats, and Pokemons and support their damn team!

 

[Fitz51]

Football appears to be struggling as a sport these days, and it has nothing to do with kneeling.

4 hour games and length of total commercial time relative to playing time are probably bigger issues.

And, of course, those shameful millenials who should get off my lawn, off their Xboxes, YouTubes, SnapChats, and Pokemons and support their damn team!

Amen to all that. Even I, a 40 year-old who has watched football as long as he can remember and has Sunday Ticket annually, prefer to record/pause football and use the 30-second fast forward button on the DVR to watch every play. Game is too damn slow otherwise.

 

[hdhntr1]

Even if they do become Ohio State not sure how much will change - look at Stanford. NU outdraws most peer schools, BC, Wake, Duke, Vandy, etc etc.

Miami only had about their third sellout in a number of years and all it took was a\n undefeated MIA and 3rd ranked ND to do it. Stanford, even with their continued top 10 and top 25 performances year after year have trouble. It is the nature of the small private school not named ND

 

[hdhntr1]

http://www.thesportsbank.net/northw...much-better-fan-support-than-it-receives/amp/

Thoughts? I was disappointed the 25th ranked team in the country couldn't get more support especially from students. They even handed out winter hats to the students.

I actually thought the student attendance was pretty good. Overall was not bad either considering an cold potentially rainy night against a Purdue team without that much of a traveling fan base

 

[TheC]

Was Yo Yo Ma or Winston Marsalis in town for a concert at Pick-Steiger Hall at 7pm Saturday nite- that is probably where all the students were!??

I don't think Wynton Marsalis was. I'm reading your post while sitting in his home venue at Lincoln Center in NYC. My kid is a jazz musician and he trains with members of Wynton's band who are here today.

 

[techtim72]

If you want to see poor attendance, watch virtually any college game not played on a Saturday. Good high school football schools have better attendance. Of course, all those games are played for the benefit of TV.

 

[Catreporter]

We're averaging around 35,000 per game this year. That's very respectable for a school our size. I thought the crowd was pretty good for a cold night where an odd starting time was announced one week prior, and there was a good enthusiasm level. Students turned out pretty well too. TV has cut into live attendance at many schools.