Why is college football attendance down?

Shoot the guy in the red shirt. Run the game live. Like Soccer.
Sell beer.
1/2 price for students on everything.
 
I know that I am small percentage but I live 450 miles from BDS. Without knowing the kick off time I have to spend at least two nights in Atlanta on any game since I cannot get a cheap air flight. I used to try to get to about 4-5 games a year. Now I get to one early game at home since I know the kickoff time. I can fly up early in the morning and fly back that night to save money.

Instead of trying to get to 3-4 home games I pick one away game that I can save on airfare. I just plan to spend 2-3 nights and enjoy a different part of the country. Had great trips to ND(Cubs), UVA, Temple(Phillies), Pitt and the Research Triangle.

Looking forward to Syracuse this year , another trip to ND, Ole Miss and Colorado in the following years.
 
TV ratings have also fallen (they’ve risen a bit over the last couple of year, but they have fallen over a 5-6 year span). This seems to indicate it’s something other than people watching TV instead. Further, NFL has seen growing increases in popularity, which would indicate its not just a general reduction in the popularity of the sport.
 
rghoae said:
TV ratings have also fallen (they’ve risen a bit over the last couple of year, but they have fallen over a 5-6 year span). This seems to indicate it’s something other than people watching TV instead. Further, NFL has seen growing increases in popularity, which would indicate its not just a general reduction in the popularity of the sport.
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It's parity.
 
That article had way too much writer fluff/bloat for the content. It has always been very strong correlation between TV and dwindling attendance. Nearly every game became available on TV once TV $$$ were much greater than gate dollars. It was simple economics between teams/conferences and broadcasters. The fallout of course was it became simple economics for the fan as well. I can spend 8-12 hours of my day at hundreds, even thousands of dollars per game or buy a 12 pack, watch from my comfortable living room with a few buddies, and still have a few hours left over for the day for other tasks.

Any other factors like "millennials and their phones, blah blah" is just small potatoes compared to TV.
 
rghoae said:
TV ratings have also fallen (they’ve risen a bit over the last couple of year, but they have fallen over a 5-6 year span). This seems to indicate it’s something other than people watching TV instead. Further, NFL has seen growing increases in popularity, which would indicate its not just a general reduction in the popularity of the sport.
Click to expand...
It's not the ratings you have to count but total number of eyeballs watching the sport in general, which I believe has actually increased. The ratings were hit hard by cord cutters but these fans didnt stop watching football, they are just watching it on a new medium and actually watching more of it now that they can watch it anywhere, anytime. Nielsen (my employer) as tried to catch up to technology and count these new streaming methods of viewing content and we are still catching up, but the football numbers grow as these streaming platforms get added to the estimate. My opinion, in the end, is TV numbers will be terrific once all platforms are summed up into a single number instead of TV sets tuned to broadcasts.
 
So what this really means is that it’s up to the colleges to create/foster a social experience before, during, and after the game that cannot be experienced from home. Unfortunately, Tech historically does everything but that. It has eliminated favorite tailgate areas, pushed parking away from where you can tailgate, noon games, and other stupid rules and policies that people don’t want to deal with. We really just want a place to party without having to Sherpa all of our stuff a half mile.
 
Noon kickoff and overpriced everything. I've been going to games with my dad for 20+ years so there is a tradition that goes beyond the cost.
 
wishbone said:
Shoot the guy in the red shirt. Run the game live. Like Soccer.
Sell beer.
1/2 price for students on everything.
Click to expand...
In general I believe it is obviously TV that is strangling live attendance. And it is much more than the obvious aspect ("I could go to the game live but I think I'll watch it from home instead."), but many of the reasons have already been argued here so I won't waste my time restating them.

But I responded to your post because "Run the game live" is a fascinating idea. What would it look like if we just told TV audiences that part of the price you pay for staying at home is occasionally missing a little of the action? We will take timeouts when the coaches want them, not when TV does. Otherwise, TV can either take breaks and cause viewers to miss a little live action – or TV could implement more of a soccer model where advertisements are run in a corner of the screen or at the bottom or something?

Granted, since football has so many stops-and-starts that hardly seems necessary! But it would do just a little to move the needle back in favor of reality and away from the artificiality of TV sports.
 
rghoae said:
TV ratings have also fallen (they’ve risen a bit over the last couple of year, but they have fallen over a 5-6 year span). This seems to indicate it’s something other than people watching TV instead. Further, NFL has seen growing increases in popularity, which would indicate its not just a general reduction in the popularity of the sport.
Click to expand...

People get tired of watching games that don't really matter. Lose 1 or 2 games in P5 and you're out of the championship race. Having the same teams playing for the title every year doesn't help either.
 
Olgoldandwhie said:
Simple: $$$$$$
Over saturation
Poor seats
Other things to do
Haves vs have nots
Commercial time outs
On, and on, and on.
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In my day, we showed up to games when school was not in session, studied the program which was the only source of information available on GT sports, pretended the cheerleaders were pretty, and we LIKED IT!
 
savbandjacket said:
So what this really means is that it’s up to the colleges to create/foster a social experience before, during, and after the game that cannot be experienced from home. Unfortunately, Tech historically does everything but that. It has eliminated favorite tailgate areas, pushed parking away from where you can tailgate, noon games, and other stupid rules and policies that people don’t want to deal with. We really just want a place to party without having to Sherpa all of our stuff a half mile.
Click to expand...

Spot on
 
savbandjacket said:
So what this really means is that it’s up to the colleges to create/foster a social experience before, during, and after the game that cannot be experienced from home. Unfortunately, Tech historically does everything but that. It has eliminated favorite tailgate areas, pushed parking away from where you can tailgate, noon games, and other stupid rules and policies that people don’t want to deal with. We really just want a place to party without having to Sherpa all of our stuff a half mile.
Click to expand...
All of that is solved by coming to the StinGTalk tailgate! You can park right beside the tailgate in the Centergy parking deck and it's right beside the tailgate spot. Plus, you get the added bonus of hanging with a bunch of nerds...and me!
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daBuzz said:
All of that is solved by coming to the StinGTalk tailgate! You can park right beside the tailgate in the Centergy parking deck and it's right beside the tailgate spot. Plus, you get the added bonus of hanging with a bunch of nerds...and me!
giphy.gif
Click to expand...
The ST Tailgate is actually an example of what I was talking about. It’s been moved around from place to place and it’s now on a packed bridge over the interstate with nearby deck parking. My tailgating spots have been chased from place to place and it sucks to the point where we don’t even bother now and just get there, bookstore, Varsity, game. That’s Tech’s fault.
 
Another issue generally (not GT specifically) is that concentrating the power teams to a very few persistent programs is a disincentive for casual fans to show up to their program's games. Making a big deal of the playoffs diminishes the importance of all other programs, rivalries, conferences etc.
 
savbandjacket said:
The ST Tailgate is actually an example of what I was talking about. It’s been moved around from place to place and it’s now on a packed bridge over the interstate with nearby deck parking.
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Perhaps in the past. But once we began planting the Turkish battle flag and periodically yelling "Allahu akbar", they wouldn't dare move us again! :)
 
All the reasons stated are valid, but the big picture is that interests of people are changing. My kids don’t live for football like I did at their age as they have way more and often better options than going to a game or spending a day in front of the television. I really don’t see a solution since the problem is societal. I also see college football is quickly becoming a regional sport. In another 20 years I think you’ll see large areas of this country where college football is irrelevant. It’s basically that way now, but you still have enough old guys around to prop up many programs. Once another generation dies away a lot of schools will be in trouble. I’ve lived in the college football desert of the metro NYC area and it sucked. Those of us who live in the south east are lucky to still have this sport to love.
 
OptionJacket said:
All the reasons stated are valid, but the big picture is that interests of people are changing. My kids don’t live for football like I did at their age as they have way more and often better options than going to a game or spending a day in front of the television. I really don’t see a solution since the problem is societal. I also see college football is quickly becoming a regional sport. In another 20 years I think you’ll see large areas of this country where college football is irrelevant. It’s basically that way now, but you still have enough old guys around to prop up many programs. Once another generation dies away a lot of schools will be in trouble. I’ve lived in the college football desert of the metro NYC area and it sucked. Those of us who live in the south east are lucky to still have this sport to love.
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I know several northerners who care only for NFL football. Better competition. Was asked why anyone would be interested in seeing Alabama play Western Carolina
 
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