I was not at Saturdays Game but my buddy who went said the stadium was barely half full. While we tend to think these are just Rutgers type problems their are quite a few programs that did not "Sell out" this weekend including Penn State. What do you all make of this? is this just the down season blues for these programs or have college football fans gotten fatigued with it all? Honestly I am kind of fatigued with NIL, the expense of the tickets, parking, time commitment, Etc. don't get me wrong I love the game time atmosphere but, I am just fatigued with it all. Something had changed in college football and it is not for the better. I cannot elucidate what it is but something has changed. Here is a thread from X talking about how many stadiums were less than full this past weekend.
College football attendance lacking....Many teams having trouble filling their stadiums
- Thread starter FRA10Thunderbolt
- Start date
Most of those teams he mentions are having horrible seasons, with fans calling for the coach to be fired and not supporting the team in order to make it happen.
Cost of tickets, parking, food, drink is another thing driving casual non season ticket holding fans away. Add seat fees, minimum donations & NIL and the season ticket holders are cash weary
I just don't get why people are not going to watch UCLA play.
Cost of tickets, parking, food, drink is another thing driving casual non season ticket holding fans away. Add seat fees, minimum donations & NIL and the season ticket holders are cash weary
I just don't get why people are not going to watch UCLA play.
It is 100% NIL/Transfer portal/costs to fans related to these.
We are asked to spend more to attend games to watch kids that we didn't even know the year before and will be gone next year.
We are asked to spend more to attend games to watch kids that we didn't even know the year before and will be gone next year.
People will likely blame NIL, but I think CFB has been ignoring product issues for too long. Why go to a 4+ hour overpriced game (that may not be competitive) when I can quad box on YoutubeTV? I can't even celebrate half the touchdowns because I know it is going to be followed by a 5 minute review at 1/100th speed. I understand why soccer is starting to resonate here.
It’s not just at programs that are struggling or having off years. I speak regularly with fans of multiple successful programs and there is a general apathy spreading across many programs. Many people attribute it to the Covid shutdown and people realizing watching games at home or away from the stadium, bars, group gatherings etc… is equally enjoyable.
One buddy who is a life long LSU fan has discussed his tailgate group of 30 has shrunk to less than 20 in the past couple of years. They are prioritizing giving up the season tickets and travelling to a couple away games. Get more enjoyment and less of a weekly time commitment. I have shared that idea with my group and a couple of us are seriously considering. Go to a convenient local day trip and making a weekend trip to another.
One buddy who is a life long LSU fan has discussed his tailgate group of 30 has shrunk to less than 20 in the past couple of years. They are prioritizing giving up the season tickets and travelling to a couple away games. Get more enjoyment and less of a weekly time commitment. I have shared that idea with my group and a couple of us are seriously considering. Go to a convenient local day trip and making a weekend trip to another.
Agree that college football has done a horrible job keeping games to 3 hours. Just horrible and they don’t care because tv dollars matter more than fans in seats, but it’s shortsighted.
The in-game production is a massive headache as well. Don’t need to be bombarded with sensory overload.
lastly, make it easier to attend. Do everything in your power to never have to make a person park at the RAC again. There is a lot of underutilized parking on Busch campus.
The in-game production is a massive headache as well. Don’t need to be bombarded with sensory overload.
lastly, make it easier to attend. Do everything in your power to never have to make a person park at the RAC again. There is a lot of underutilized parking on Busch campus.
Combination of things
Covid changed people's habits
Once you lose a fan, it's very difficult to get them back
HD TV is better than ever
Little kids aren't as into going to live sporting events like they used to be
Same w/college aged kids and young adults
Prices are high for tix/parking/food/merch
Portal/NIL aren't helping things, sans Indiana and a few select others
Economy also isn't the greatest
It costs me over 2k every time I go down to Tallahassee
Between flights, game tickets, hotels, food/drink, merch, etc.
It's something I love so I won't ever stop going, but I can see how people eventually say no dice
Covid changed people's habits
Once you lose a fan, it's very difficult to get them back
HD TV is better than ever
Little kids aren't as into going to live sporting events like they used to be
Same w/college aged kids and young adults
Prices are high for tix/parking/food/merch
Portal/NIL aren't helping things, sans Indiana and a few select others
Economy also isn't the greatest
It costs me over 2k every time I go down to Tallahassee
Between flights, game tickets, hotels, food/drink, merch, etc.
It's something I love so I won't ever stop going, but I can see how people eventually say no dice
Also (sometimes) not knowing the game time until 12 days before is a major pita.
Pita to get to game. Pita to get out of the parking lot.
I still love it , but less so , lol
Pita to get to game. Pita to get out of the parking lot.
I still love it , but less so , lol
All the above being said, winning matters. UCLA was unexpected. As was Indiana. There are probably 5x the # of season tickets sold at Indiana compared to 2 years ago. UCLA will get a bump too.
If Rutgers ever gets out from under the grifter and becomes a winning program, nobody is going to stay home because the in-game sound effects are too loud.
If Rutgers ever gets out from under the grifter and becomes a winning program, nobody is going to stay home because the in-game sound effects are too loud.
NIL and lack of regional rivalries are killing college football. No real ability to do a quick road game now without a large expense. I miss playing the Big East schedule, having their fans attend our games and being able to travel within 4 hours as well.
The thrill is gone for us. We have skipped multiple home games and cancelled our Northwestern trip. It's a combination of the on field performance, length of the games and the concert/circus like atmosphere in the stadium. I love loud music and concerts when I pay to go to a concert, but not at a sporting event.
We may opt out of season tickets next year and pick up single game tickets on the cheap.
We may opt out of season tickets next year and pick up single game tickets on the cheap.
The second Rutgers is decent the stadium is packed
Washington blackout was electric
Iowa was packed but cooper dejean killed us
the problem is Rutgers is losing the… I go no matter what the record crowd and losing them fast
boring dull unimaginative offense only works if you win 17-13 like Iowa has done for the last 20 years
Washington blackout was electric
Iowa was packed but cooper dejean killed us
the problem is Rutgers is losing the… I go no matter what the record crowd and losing them fast
boring dull unimaginative offense only works if you win 17-13 like Iowa has done for the last 20 years
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Keli needs to fix the Stadium operations. The Decibel blasting music has to go.
CFB is minor league NFL now. I've never been to a minor league baseball game, even when offered free tickets.
Furthermore, every new generation of college students have grown up with Internet, smartphones, online gaming, etc... sporting events are just not a big draw anymore. See a Top 10 UCLA unable to sell out their stadium.
Conference re-alignment doesn't help. And unpopular opinion, but I'm not a fan of the CFB playoff system.
Furthermore, every new generation of college students have grown up with Internet, smartphones, online gaming, etc... sporting events are just not a big draw anymore. See a Top 10 UCLA unable to sell out their stadium.
Conference re-alignment doesn't help. And unpopular opinion, but I'm not a fan of the CFB playoff system.
Things are tough all over with Ohio State and Oregon fans crying. The bigger B1G is killing the product for live viewers. Matchups with no history. Noon games.
It’s the incessant TV timeouts that take 3 minutes each and the obnoxiously loud piped in music ( and it’s usually really bad music). A lot of people just don’t have all day to go to a football game. For example, I left my house at 0930 for a bit of tailgating and the game. We left immediately when the clock read 0:00. I didn’t get home until around 5:00pm. I live maybe a 45 minute drive from the stadium. That’s all day to see a game that has 60 minutes of action. Then there’s the ear splitting hip hop garbage - the kids might like it, but anyone over 40 certainly doesn’t, and we’re the ones with the $$.
The above isn’t unique to RU, either - it’s everywhere now, unfortunately.
The above isn’t unique to RU, either - it’s everywhere now, unfortunately.
A lot of it simply comes down to winning and economics, along with simply enjoying actually being there
Case in point, I'd usually try to schedule trips down to Tallahassee in between Rutgers home games
But the lackluster performance over the past 20 years, combined with getting older and having more responsibilities (job travel, wife, child, etc.) and not enjoying myself in the stadium (bad football combined with an awful game day experience in a mostly empty stadium, as well as incessant music after every play and the scoreboard blasted at obscene levels) has made it where I simply very little desire to attend, other than to tailgate with Spank and Beta
Case in point, I'd usually try to schedule trips down to Tallahassee in between Rutgers home games
But the lackluster performance over the past 20 years, combined with getting older and having more responsibilities (job travel, wife, child, etc.) and not enjoying myself in the stadium (bad football combined with an awful game day experience in a mostly empty stadium, as well as incessant music after every play and the scoreboard blasted at obscene levels) has made it where I simply very little desire to attend, other than to tailgate with Spank and Beta
Yes. That was my point in my first post above. I like to listen to the Rutgers broadcast while live at the game, and the ear-splitting noise is so loud I can barely hear the broadcast with earphones. I would not say everywhere. I know it's at Penn State. And the former Penn State guy brought the same playbook to RU. Hope they lose it. Nebraska was not bad, Washington was good, and USC was fantastic with the marching bad prominently playing between each down--one of the best stadium experiences we had. And Virginia Tech was good too.
I think it is still primarily a winning/losing thing. The sport is more competitive than ever with all the player movement and I think with some of the more established programs, the fan bases are not used to seeing their team lose 2 or 3 games before Nov. In most places, if the team is winning big, people show up. It could be argued that some of the “romance” of amateurism (which was always a bit more nostalgic and not reflective of reality) has been stripped away and that has diminished passion. College football crowds are probably going to become more like NFL crowds, a little more cynical and negative.
I don’t think we’d have great attendance if we were a perennial 7-5 type team and I’m confident the endless tv timeouts and miserable constant scoreboard noise would dissuade me from going to more than 1-2 games. The insane noise only works if it’s a prime time big time match up with an amped up crowd. They need to know how to read the room and adjust game day production accordingly.
The economy is hot garbage. The prices of everything have increased way beyond the rate of wages. And stadium prices and things like parking and gas even more so.
I often pick up donuts for my tailgate. Both this season and last, the prices increased within the season.
I often pick up donuts for my tailgate. Both this season and last, the prices increased within the season.
I think a lot of the old school college football fans are disillusioned by the fact that they are now professional athletes The " win one for the alma mater" aspect is gone
ESPN said this out loud more than once during the UNC Miami game the other night.
It was interesting to hear the comments from the play-by-play AND the color guy, more than once btw, about how many open seats there were in Chapel Hill for a game against the number one team in the country.
It was interesting to hear the comments from the play-by-play AND the color guy, more than once btw, about how many open seats there were in Chapel Hill for a game against the number one team in the country.
This is a big factor. It used to be part of the process seeing the new class and watching them grow and contribute more each year.
If we had Indiana type success, nobody would care one bit if they knew the kids or not
While the NIL/Portal isn't helping matters for most teams, it's not nearly as big a deal as most people think it is
But almost everyone doesn’t.
So yeah, it matters.
This was a topic and commentary that came up on tMB when this first happened. And not just blue bloods and crazy diehards, but also rans too. It was consistent across the board that most people weren’t fans, if not everybody.
The Supreme Court turned college football into minor-league professional football with no salary cap. And people in the United States do not care about minor league professional sports. There are other problems on top of it (in-stadium experience is miserable for people older than 30, many of the traditional rivalries are disrupted, the regular season is meaningless, etc), but this is the primary one.
The next step, as was predicted by myself and others, is that schools will start dropping programs (citing lack of interest) and eventually (15 years?), you'll wind up with the 40 to 50 team SuperLeague of College Football (with a salary cap, players union, and fully regulated) and the rest of college football (and other scholarship sports) will basically be gone.
The next step, as was predicted by myself and others, is that schools will start dropping programs (citing lack of interest) and eventually (15 years?), you'll wind up with the 40 to 50 team SuperLeague of College Football (with a salary cap, players union, and fully regulated) and the rest of college football (and other scholarship sports) will basically be gone.
Never said it didn't matter
The original statement said declining attendance is 100 % attributed to this, which is patently false, as we've already seen teams with dramatically increased attendance due to NIL, while other reasons (multiple, at that) have been noted for the decline
Bottom line is most of it comes down to one main thing
Winning
One poster said that.
The OP and the tweets they linked mention it (the actual original statements) but like almost everyone else said, including me, it is a factor. But not 100%
As for coming down to winning, I’ve covered that with the numerous levels of that too. 7-5, a number listed in the thread really isn’t it…doesn’t move the needle. We’ve seen those results already. Eh.
8-4 and above does that. At least for us it will, initially. That level, lowercase w, is at least over .500 in the B1G.
Winning with a capital W, which is what you mentioned, is a 9-3 or better year. Probably means you beat someone higher ranked or someone you weren’t expected to.
With the CFP expanding, a 9-3 might do it for us some years. And even if it doesn’t, it would be received around here like it did happen.
10-2, 11-1 or God willing someday 12-0 is the bolded WINning.
We get to 8-4 in the B1G, needle moves. Just because of where we are. Sustain it, that would be great. And then maybe there is less pushback or complaining about NIL and roster turnover.
Again, it comes down to winning.
Win, and nobody cares about NIL / portal
Win big, like Indiana, and people will be singing its praises
Yeah, even when I have an entire Saturday free for football, I'd rather spend it watching multiple games than just one.
Agree.
The cool part is we just have to win as opposed to Win to get the benefits of the latter.
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