College Football Attendance Drops in 2014

[Dooley]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jon-solomon/24891415/

UCONN weighs in at 27,461 (11% decrease). By comparison:

ECU was the highest AAC school at 44,786. UCF was #2 in the AAC at 37,812. Cincinnati, who UCONN is often compared to in head to head for "next in line" for P5 conferences, only drew 28,840 (down 9%).

Also of interest:
Louisville: 52,972 (+1%)
Rutgers: 50,632 (+9%)
Maryland: 46,981 (+14%)
Pitt: 41,315 (-17%)
Syracuse: 40,447 (+6%)
BC: 34,270 (+4%)
Memphis: 33,851 (+19%)
USF: 30,694 (-12%)

And we outdrew the usual P5 dregs:
Duke: 27,291 (+5%)
Wake: 27,210 (-4%)

 

[BoatShow]

Memphis had a miracle season and their average attendance was a little more than half their capacity.

Also, no one inflates attendance more than USF, wow.

 

[Slasher]

You can take college attendance figures with a grain of salt. Cincinnati, for example, lists actual attendance (no idea why.) They had over 30k sold for ECU but less than 20k showed up on a miserable weather Thursday night. A lot of schools embellish their numbers.

 

[Dooley]

You can take college attendance figures with a grain of salt. Cincinnati, for example, lists actual attendance (no idea why.) They had over 30k sold for ECU but less than 20k showed up on a miserable weather Thursday night. A lot of schools embellish their numbers.

I hear ya. A few years ago, UCONN switched from tickets sold to tickets scanned at the gates...hence our steeper than normal drop over the past few years. Perfect timing with the 3 and 2 win seasons!

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Loss of decades old rivalries, moving games to Thursday (work/school night), Friday (competes with local high school football), AD's raising ticket prices, especially student tickets (see Michigan), declining interest in football nationally, and certain key programs having down years, is anyone surprised?

 

[BC1978]

Loss of decades old rivalries, moving games to Thursday (work/school night), Friday (competes with local high school football), AD's raising ticket prices, especially student tickets (see Michigan), declining interest in football nationally, and certain key programs having down years, is anyone surprised?

Also, the proliferation of games on televsion. With the introduction of new channels and Internet streaming (which has become far simpler and more common than just a few years ago), it is more likely that games that normally would not have been televised previously will now be available on some channel. Add to this the whole HDTV experience. IMO, all of this makes it less likely that the more casual fans will go to a game, say, against a lesser opponent in less than ideal weather.