Fan attendance (USC Trojans yesterday)

I4CtheFuture · Sunday at 12:03 PM

This will continue now that teams are no longer "teams" , but rather paid mercenaries.
College football is in serious trouble.

USC football ripped for pathetic crowd at home opener: 'Absolutely embarrassing'

USC opened its 2026 season against San Jose State at the Coliseum with a dominant blowout, but photos reveal an embarrassingly empty stadium.

www.foxnews.com

DannyTree1 · Sunday at 1:24 PM

I watched WLTX last night and Reggie Anderson had video from SC State's home game. I was shocked at the empty spots in the stadium.

SC state had a great year last year and they have a popular head coach.

They announced 12,000 fans. The stadium seats 22,000

If I was an SC State fan, alum, or even someone in their athletic department, I would be disappointed.

Lurker123 · Sunday at 1:48 PM

I4CtheFuture said:
This will continue now that teams are no longer "teams" , but rather paid mercenaries.
College football is in serious trouble.

USC football ripped for pathetic crowd at home opener: 'Absolutely embarrassing'

USC opened its 2026 season against San Jose State at the Coliseum with a dominant blowout, but photos reveal an embarrassingly empty stadium.

www.foxnews.com

View attachment 1412927

That is terrible. That is beyond terrible. We get 6, maybe 7 home games a year.

Then again, im one of those that has moved on the TV and cooking out during games.

SouthernBelly · Sunday at 2:14 PM

In So Cal's case they have long not come close to filling up the stadium. Maybe this is worse than usual but it's not exactly new.

In general the in person experience has been on the decline in many respects for a while. Ron Morris had an article in response to something Spurrier said once about wishing the fans would not disappear so quickly. It was a noon kickoff in September and they played UAB or someone small like that and actually took care of business. The place was practically empty by the end. Morris' point was TV times dictate the kickoffs and who really wants to watch a game where the outcome is decided in 90 plus degree heat by the time you're in the second half. I didn't think he was wrong.

TV times still and probably always will dictate when games are played since all of it is always on TV now, that can bring an inconvenience. Ticket prices are insane. Crowds are generally troublesome anymore. Concession prices are stupid high for what you get. Metal bleachers with no leg room absolutely suck.

I still prefer the thought of watching a game in person verses the TV but the exercise of it, not so much. Clearly some of this is because I am becoming a geezer but some of it is because it's financially not worth the time and energy.

muscleknight · Sunday at 2:23 PM

If we are up big on Kent our stadium will be empty by half time.

Uscg1984 · Sunday at 8:36 PM

This will be a continuing trend, I think. The powers that be in college football are focused on turning it into a product that appeals more to television audiences around the country and less to die-hard fans who would drive to, and fill up, a stadium 6 or 7 times a year. And when die-hard fans experiment with not going to a game once in a while, they usually find that it gets easier and easier to think of reasons to save their time and money. Meanwhile, the athletic departments aren't giving them a lot of reasons to come back.

PrestonyteParrot · Sunday at 9:12 PM

Uscg1984 said:
This will be a continuing trend, I think. The powers that be in college football are focused on turning it into a product that appeals more to television audiences around the country and less to die-hard fans who would drive to, and fill up, a stadium 6 or 7 times a year. And when die-hard fans experiment with not going to a game once in a while, they usually find that it gets easier and easier to think of reasons to save their time and money. Meanwhile, the athletic departments aren't giving them a lot of reasons to come back.

Gathering with old friends and college buddies you rarely saw otherwise is/was the primary reason for these fall get togethers but as the "team aspect'' disappears from college athletics so does the comradery of following the team live at the stadium. College athletics is dying a slow death!

Gamecock Jacque · Sunday at 11:20 PM

51,000 would be small for Kentucky. Trojans are blue bloods right?

Psycock · Monday at 8:43 AM

That should remove any doubt about who the real USC is.

Uscg1984 · Monday at 9:52 AM

Gamecock Jacque said:
51,000 would be small for Kentucky. Trojans are blue bloods right?

It would, but there wasn't anywhere close to 51,000 in the stands. It would be closer to 5100 than 51,000. It looked like a HS game.

At kickoff:

Gamecock Jacque · Monday at 9:55 AM

Uscg1984 said:
It would, but there wasn't anywhere close to 51,000 in the stands. It would be closer to 5100 than 51,000. It looked like a HS game.

Official attendance was 51,000. I believe that stadium used to hold over 100,000.

Piscis · Monday at 9:58 AM

Uscg1984 said:
This will be a continuing trend, I think. The powers that be in college football are focused on turning it into a product that appeals more to television audiences around the country and less to die-hard fans who would drive to, and fill up, a stadium 6 or 7 times a year. And when die-hard fans experiment with not going to a game once in a while, they usually find that it gets easier and easier to think of reasons to save their time and money. Meanwhile, the athletic departments aren't giving them a lot of reasons to come back.

College football is following in NASCAR's footsteps. First, they made the cost to attend much higher than it historically had been (the cost for everything associated with going to a game has skyrocketed in the past 20 years). Then, they changed the fundamental basics of the sport from what made the fans passionate into something the fans didn't want and never asked for (paid players with no loyalty to the school, only to the paycheck). When fans lose interest in actually attending an event in person, their overall interest fades as well.

Uscg1984 · Monday at 9:59 AM

Gamecock Jacque said:
Official attendance was 51,000. I believe that stadium used to hold over 100,000.

I think for USC games, they tarp off the far end of the coliseum, giving them a full attendance of around 77,000. I'd love to know where they got the 51,000 figure. Perhaps they sold/gave away that many total tickets, but there's no way half that many actually showed up for the game.

Piscis · Monday at 10:00 AM

Gamecock Jacque said:
Official attendance was 51,000. I believe that stadium used to hold over 100,000.

Usually, "official attendance" counts tickets sold, not how many people came through the turnstiles. I've seen a lot of games at WB where there were many, many thousands of empty seats and the official attendance number showed a near sellout.

PrestonyteParrot · Monday at 11:03 AM

Heat??? Try a Noon game at WB

USC Has Publicly Responded To Its Horrible Week 0 Crowd Turnout

The USC Trojans opened the 2026 college football regular season with a victory in Week 0, blowing out San Jose State, 42-26. But as the Trojans got out to a 1-0 start, there was an embarrassingly low crowd turnout inside of the L.A.

www.yardbarker.com

JohnnySolo · Monday at 12:19 PM

They should take all tickets sold and subtract unsold tickets on ticketmaster to get a better number. But why would they do that? We live in a world of lies and misrepresentation. Not to mention misinformation.

KingWard · Tuesday at 12:37 PM

Lurker123 said:
That is terrible. That is beyond terrible. We get 6, maybe 7 home games a year.

Then again, im one of those that has moved on the TV and cooking out during games.

They gave up Notre Dame to play these guys. Maybe it's a backlash. If so, it's an impressive backlash. "Pathetic" doesn't begin to cover a crowd that small for the home opener of a legacy program seen as a contender for the CFP. Tickles me, though.

Bubba Fett · Tuesday at 12:42 PM

Who wants to go anymore? Prices are outrageous. Most schools could not care less about how many people attend.

Bubba Fett · Tuesday at 12:43 PM

Piscis said:
College football is following in NASCAR's footsteps. First, they made the cost to attend much higher than it historically had been (the cost for everything associated with going to a game has skyrocketed in the past 20 years). Then, they changed the fundamental basics of the sport from what made the fans passionate into something the fans didn't want and never asked for (paid players with no loyalty to the school, only to the paycheck). When fans lose interest in actually attending an event in person, their overall interest fades as well.

^^^This.

Piscis · Tuesday at 3:08 PM

Bubba Fett said:
Who wants to go anymore? Prices are outrageous. Most schools could not care less about how many people attend.

Don't kid yourself. They care deeply about how many people attend. People who do not attend, do not buy tickets or donate to the program or an NIL collective. There are only so many super wealthy alumni and fans who are willing to shell out tens of thousands for luxury boxes. The real money comes from the tens of thousands of regular fans who buy tickets and make donations for the privilege of buying those tickets.

I'll say it again. When the attendance in stadiums drops, the interest in the games on tv drops along with it. When the tv viewership drops, the tv money to the conferences drops.

KingWard · Tuesday at 5:48 PM

Piscis said:
College football is following in NASCAR's footsteps. First, they made the cost to attend much higher than it historically had been (the cost for everything associated with going to a game has skyrocketed in the past 20 years). Then, they changed the fundamental basics of the sport from what made the fans passionate into something the fans didn't want and never asked for (paid players with no loyalty to the school, only to the paycheck). When fans lose interest in actually attending an event in person, their overall interest fades as well.

I think that, in time, we will see a lot of validity in those observations.

Bubba Fett · Tuesday at 8:13 PM

Piscis said:
Don't kid yourself. They care deeply about how many people attend. People who do not attend, do not buy tickets or donate to the program or an NIL collective. There are only so many super wealthy alumni and fans who are willing to shell out tens of thousands for luxury boxes. The real money comes from the tens of thousands of regular fans who buy tickets and make donations for the privilege of buying those tickets.

I'll say it again. When the attendance in stadiums drops, the interest in the games on tv drops along with it. When the tv viewership drops, the tv money to the conferences drops.

I'm merely agreeing with your previous post. If they really cared, they wouldn't be following the NASCAR path.

Forkcock · 2026-09-02T05:36:04-0500

Piscis said:
Don't kid yourself. They care deeply about how many people attend. People who do not attend, do not buy tickets or donate to the program or an NIL collective. There are only so many super wealthy alumni and fans who are willing to shell out tens of thousands for luxury boxes. The real money comes from the tens of thousands of regular fans who buy tickets and make donations for the privilege of buying those tickets.

I'll say it again. When the attendance in stadiums drops, the interest in the games on tv drops along with it. When the tv viewership drops, the tv money to the conferences drops.

I've said it many times, these entitled athletes are destroying the thing they need the most. What we're seeing is unsustainable.

treyno2722 · 2026-09-02T06:59:16-0500

muscleknight said:
If we are up big on Kent our stadium will be empty by half time.

One can only hope.

Piscis · 2026-09-02T08:06:10-0500

Forkcock said:
I've said it many times, these entitled athletes are destroying the thing they need the most. What we're seeing is unsustainable.

The vast majority of college football players are not smart people to start with. Add to that fact they have families and "advisors" who are not smart people either giving them advice on what they should do, and you have the perfect recipe for a group destroying the thing they need the most.

DannyTree1 · 2026-09-02T09:21:32-0500

it's going to be extremely hot Saturday. With the "feels like" temp, it could be one of the hottest games in recent memory.

Going to be lots of people passing out and being transported to the hospital via ambulance. I saw a handful last year at one of the early season games myself.

My son was in the band the last few years and those early season, hot games, are very, very tough.

Going to be lots of sick drunks too.

I hope to watch at least some of the game from home, but more likely to catch some of it on the radio.

Fan attendance (USC Trojans yesterday)

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