Rovell: NCAA Football's student attendence problem
Surprised this went unposted, but Darren Rovell wrote a piece on ESPN.com today highlighting the trend of poor student turnout in college football. Elements of the article have certainly been touched on in the past around these parts, but attendence (students in particular) is a looming problem, especially with next years yawn-inducing home slate.
The Michigan-specific part:
This year, the University of Michigan drew the most fans of any school for the 16th year in a row. But 26 percent of students who paid for their tickets didn't show up at an average home game this season. That's an increase from 25 percent last year and 21 percent in 2011.
Not only did Michigan have more no-shows, they also only sold 19,850 student season tickets, about a 10 percent drop from the year before. Michigan added a $7.50 fee to each ticket this season to support student programs and also took away senior reserved seating in favor of a general admission policy which contributed to fewer people buying tickets.
Hoping to slow the slide, Michigan sent out a questionnaire to students at season's end, asking them why they might not have been happy with the stadium experience.
Adam Stillman, a senior at Michigan who attended all but one of the team's home games this year, shared his answers with ESPN.com. How he prioritized his answers might scare administrators, many of whom have looked to Wi-Fi connectivity as the answer to attracting younger fans. Stillman ranked sitting with friends, sitting close to the field, the outcome of the game, tailgating, the student section atmosphere, food specials and entertainment before the importance of Wi-Fi.
"I've kind of accepted that I'm not getting reception in and around Michigan Stadium," Stillman said. "The problem is in all the other areas. There's nothing to do while I'm waiting on line for an hour to get into the stadium, and there's little added value from being in the stands watching the game.
As the business of college football grew, many schools began moving student sections into some of the worst seats in order to make boosters happy in prime seats. But as student crowds at some schools started to fade, athletic department officials at those schools began to understand that if they didn't get the students in the building while they were at school, they might not get their money in the future."
B1G tidbits:
Success, or lack thereof, on the field obviously plays an important role. For years, Iowa's student section capacity was steady at 10,400 students per game. But this year after going 19-19 in games from 2010-2012, the school only sold 7,500 tickets and an average of 30 percent of those students didn't show up for the games. In the middle of the season, Iowa closed off two sections of the stadium previously occupied by students and began selling those tickets to the general public. Only half the student tickets purchased for the game against Michigan, which happened during the school's Thanksgiving break, were used.
Missing one out of every fifth student who bought a ticket has become pretty common these days. Michigan State has sold out its 13,500 student tickets since 2007, but the school says its no-show rate for home games this year still was about 20 percent. That's for a season in which the Spartans went 13-1, won the Big Ten title and ended the season with a victory over Stanford in the Rose Bowl.
Penn State's overall attendance has been on a five-year decline that represents a total drop of almost 10 percent. The students are actually seen as a bright spot, as the school sold almost 1,000 more full season tickets this year (21,368). An 18.1 percent student no-show rate is actually among the best in the Big Ten.
"While game time, opponent, promotion and record all had some effect, weather had the most direct effect on our student crowd," said Jeff Garner, Penn State's assistant athletic director for ticketing sales and service.
For Penn State, that means cold, wind, rain and snow.
Link:
February 18th, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 2:51 PM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 9:38 AM ^
shown by the following pictures
THIS
and THIS
VS
THIS
And general laziness. When I was a student I went regardless of the weather, but I think people are more lazy now. Or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself to make myself feel better
February 18th, 2014 at 9:39 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 9:42 AM ^
Actually, there's typically a large block of empty student seats in the upper deck most games, including Sunday's.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:47 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 10:16 AM ^
Let's be clear here: In a 12,700-seat arena, there are no bad seats. Yes, it's more fun to be courtside, but don't turn up your nose at a seat just because it's in the upper deck. I sat there a ton of times when I was a student, and it was still fun.
You may be correct about student turnout improving if given more lower-bowl seats (which I'd be okay with - it'd be good for homecourt advantage) but to speak of the student section currently being "full" is not true. It's almost never full, even when the rest of the arena is. Seating policies of the student section (first-come, first-served) ensure that the courtside student seats will be full, but that doesn't mean that all student ticketholders are holding up their end.
As for the alumni showing up late, yeah, it's true. But you may find after graduation that getting off work and driving in to A2 in rush-hour traffic for a 6:30 or 7:00 tipoff on a Wednesday is not that easy to pull off every time.
That's the thing about the students - you have an incredible opportunity, living within walking distance of our stadiums, so you really should make the most of it. Don't regret after the fact that you didn't go to enough games.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
But you may find after graduation that getting off work and driving in to A2 in rush-hour traffic for a 6:30 or 7:00 tipoff on a Wednesday is not that easy to pull off every time.
And getting from a North Campus class that ends at 5pm or a lab that ends at 6:30 without a vehicle is not easy to pull off every time either.
Both for students and alums - if you can't use the tickets, don't buy them or find someone to use them.
February 18th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
This one was for the dude above you - I'll repost it to him
February 18th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
You're sugarcoating this one pretty hard.
It isn't late attendance - it's non-attendance. Even for weekend games, the non-student areas are never even close to filled. I don't really care about the reasons. If its ok to bust on students for not showing up when they have exams or whatever, alums don't get a pass for traffic.
Teams like Kansas, MSU, Duke, etc. pack their arenas, "rush hour" or not. If they aren't showing up, and they aren't, they need to cede their seats to people who will.
I go to every game, upper deck or not. I'm not giving a pass to students who don't show up, I'm just trying to note that the bitching goes both ways. I kinda hate the "kids are just lazier these days, back in '78 we blahblahblahblahblah" alums who then leave our basketball stadium 3/4ths filled for premium games.
February 18th, 2014 at 2:56 PM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^
there's little added value from being in the stands watching the game.That's just depressing to read. Being at the game is really no better than watching on TV?
February 18th, 2014 at 10:02 AM ^
...but also true. I've never understood the logic of TV timeouts. It's like "ok folks who made the effort to be here, we're going to waste your time because the TV executive need to make more advertising dollars."
Sports has been catering to TV for years at the expence of their best customers (i.e., those in attendance). If they really want to improve attendance then they need to put a premium on being at the game and treating their customers that way. For too long, game attendees have been treated like cattle, herd'em in, herd'em out.
Crazy at it sounds, probably the best long term strategy would be to offer much fewer games via live television. Limit the brand a bit & create a more robust premium market for it. College football has bit of an identity crisis right now, it's trying to be mass market while still commanding luxury prices and that will inevitably collapse.
Granted, it's not a perfect analogy, but college football used to be a luxury experience. Not in actual price so much but in the sense that you could only access the games by being there and even if you could be there, unless you were a student or alumnus, you might not care. Today college football is everywhere, it's the equivalent of being sold in Walmart and 7-11 with it's ubiquity.
February 18th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
Good luck with that one.
The money to be made via TV is exponentially greater than the ticket money. That won't change, so you're asking these schools to toss away millions to cater to the attending fans. It'd be great, and will never, ever, ever happen.
February 18th, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
I agree. TV timeouts stink. If people want to watch the game on TV, let them have a delayed broadcast, with commercial breaks spliced in. The fans at the stadium see live action football without all the unnecessary BS of the extended timeouts.
That is what would distinguish the gameday experience more than anything else, and encourage fans to get off their couches and into the stadium.
As would a return to a classy Marching Band music environment without the piped-in music crap. I can't imagine anyone being deterred from attending a game because music wasn't piped in, nor can I imagine anyone actually attending a game to hear the piped in music. People want to see the game, and hear the band, or they might as well watch TV.
As to whether the students want to attend, that isn't a truly meaningful problem. Sell them the tickets, and if they don't want to show up, fine. They've wasted their money, but the coffers of the Athletic Department are still full.
The idea that somehow showing up late or not at all is a problem that should concern anyone but the students is just plain silly.
As are fake attendance figures, and the 100k people in the stands record. Who cares?
If Michigan football gets back to what it was in the past, people will come. If not, they won't. So that's another key.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
There are good things about watching the game in person (being with friends chief among those) but it is more and more of an event that seems so passé in a connected world. I think eventually stadiums will catch up and offer a more immersive environment with wifi.
February 18th, 2014 at 11:06 PM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
I like the Texas A&M football (see also Duke basketball) model for student tickets.
Your students are your most passionate fans. Give them the best seats in the house. It makes for a louder stadium, increases student desire to pack the stadium regardless of the opponent, and makes them so into the experiences that they will eagerly buy tickets later on when they are alumni.
February 18th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
Given how grumpy our alums are and how much less money the students bring in, this will never happen. I like the idea, but it won't happen.
Too many people who dump money on the university will get pissy and that's enough to wake Dave Brandon at night in a cold sweat
February 18th, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^
Balance the fact that the academic tuition spirals ever higher. Students (and their parents) only have so much to give.
I don't think the 100k streak will ever likely go down. Consider the tool that the Ath Dept has to use....dump tickets on StubHub...Suppose you can suddenly goto a UM Game for $3.50 and there are hundreds of tickets at that price. My guess is they will get snapped up. Now granted this has the wave effect of pissing off those who gave thousands more for their seats so its a short-term fix for sure. But its out there for those yawner games.
Probably the biggest issue would be a general tanking of the economy. I think we are on a mild upswing from the last trough. But when people lose their jobs, etc, luxuries like football season tickets go out the window pretty fast when there are very hard choices to be made regarding spending.
If the Ath Dept would use some of the endowed money to actually reduce the price of *anything* then it would probably go a very long way to placate the public. For example, now that Hoke's position is endowed as well as Brandon's those are some big salaries which don't have to be paid from the general ath budget. Instead of launching another gold plated construction project, reduce the cost of *anything*.