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 17th, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^
I don't understand that last bit about Penn State. It's not that potential game time weather being bad is some new development the weather in late fall has ALWAYS been like that in upper-midwest states. Sounds like a denial excuse to me.
February 18th, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
that for HIS school (Penn State ALONE) ----- weather was generally more favorable in 2013 versus previous years. And that had a positive impact on student attendance.
For instance, in 2013 Penn State was helped by having an unseasonably warm 60 degree sunny day for a mid-November game against a non-stellar opponent (Purdue).
Compare that game to a mid-November game in 2012 (Wisconsin) --- a much more notable opponent but it was sleeting and 30 degrees that day.
For many students, it's simply a lot more fun to attend a game where it's 60 and sunny (vs. a crappy opponent) vs. where it's 30 and sleeting (vs. a good opponent).
February 17th, 2014 at 8:50 PM ^
App State
Miami OH
Utah
Minnesota
Penn State
Indiana
Maryland
That is the crappiest home schedule I've likely ever seen.
February 17th, 2014 at 8:56 PM ^
One or two more home schedules like that, combined with the price structure, and the 100K streak could very well go bye-bye.
February 17th, 2014 at 9:13 PM ^
No schools are doing home and home series like they used to. Everybody wants to play their big time games on neutral field or not at all, and it's not like the B1G schedule is must see every week either. And the 100K streak will fall if the performance on the field stays like this.
February 18th, 2014 at 7:50 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 12:42 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 8:52 AM ^
Maryland and Rutgers will never be Big Ten games.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:07 AM ^
for the school to admit the attendance was under 100k. There have been some lousy weather games where the stadium seemed about 3/4 full (Purdue 1995 and Illinois 2012 to name but two) and plenty of low-intrigue games where large swathes of bleachers were visible. There's a certain Baghdad Bob-ish quality to our attendance figures.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:12 AM ^
I was at that Purdue game and there's no f'ing way that attendence cracked 100,000 that day.
It's hard to be proud of that streak when it is clearly a lie.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^
95 purdue game also, and if you remember the weather wasn't as horrible at the start of the game... was the stadium completely filled at kickoff, i would say no but i would say that it was at least between 85% to 90% full... the place didn't start emptying out until after the first quarter when the weather got even worse... so with the stadium 85% to 90% full at kickoff, plus counting all of the workers and all of the other "misc people" (players, band, press) that were there its safe to assume that they did crack 100,000 that day...
February 18th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
about northwestern in 2006, cold wet rainy day and they even evacuated the stadium because of lighting...
February 17th, 2014 at 9:59 PM ^
That's a bad schedule, but it doesn't explain why attendance was down in 2013, when the schedule was excellent.
February 17th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 8:43 AM ^
Attendance was slipping before the team started struggling though. The attendance at the Akron game was pretty bad. I realize it was just Akron, but the outlook on the season was pretty high at the time, coming off the ND win.
February 18th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
Alabama's student section often no-shows for smaller games. Being good doesn't solve the issue
February 18th, 2014 at 7:13 AM ^
App State Miami OH Utah Minnesota Penn State Indiana Maryland
The fact that students only care about the big names, is disturbing. The lack of support from our students, no matter who we are playing, is totally disrespectful to our team.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:20 AM ^
Attendance among non-students is just as bad - those empty seats are just uniformly spread out among 80,000 seats instead of lumped together at the top of the 20,000 student section.
February 18th, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
We don't wring our hands when only 50 people show up to a field hockey game, so why is it our moral duty to go to football games? Maybe people have a lot of work to do (we are a top 30ish university in the world after all). Maybe they don't feel like it. Maybe they chose to pocket their $200+ because they're already paying an insane amount for school. Who knows, but it's not some moral obligation to go to a football game
February 18th, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
Didn't realize when I agreed to pay tuition that I would have to attend and support no matter what. At the end of the day, I'm consuming a product for my enjoyment and pleasure. My self-worth or the worth of the University isn't tied to the football team, or athletics, in any tangible way. Michigan is a world-class insitution and would remain so without athletics. There's always going to be the contingent that goes no matter what. If I'm going I wanna see a good game. I don't care if we're 7-5 -- I went to Michigan from 07-11 and I missed 3 home games (all for good reasons) -- I just wanna see good football.
If you're charging me 5 star steakhouse prices but giving me buffet quality food, I'm not going to go. If you're charging some of the highest ticket prices for students and non-students alike and giving me APPY FUCKING STATE GODFUCKING DAMNIT WHY DID WE SCHEDULE THEM AGAIN I'LL HAVE A FUCKING STROKE IF WE LOSE AGAIN, then I'm not going to go. I'll go to one game a year and that's it.
60 inch HDTV, food and drinks for the cheaps, dozens of other games to do, big leather couch, my own bathroom, no traffic or headaches.
February 17th, 2014 at 8:55 PM ^
the 100k streak will end.
February 17th, 2014 at 9:05 PM ^
More like wonder when the AD will admit the streak has ended.
February 17th, 2014 at 9:14 PM ^
Just like the Palace streak that the Pistons kept alive for about 40 games too long when there was clearly empty seats all over the pleace.
February 17th, 2014 at 10:01 PM ^
You know that attendance figures reflect tickets sold, right? They haven't been about the number of people actually present in a long time.
We do a hybrid thing where we start with the number of tickets sold and then count all the people who get press/field passes - but we don't actually count the number of ticketholders who show up.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^
...an industry standard but it's still stupid and delusional. They publicly lie about whether or not we actually attend a game and then they have the audacity to wonder why we are losing interest in them?
February 17th, 2014 at 9:31 PM ^
....so never
February 17th, 2014 at 10:02 PM ^
if needed to keep the streak going. . .
February 17th, 2014 at 9:16 PM ^
Probably never, because they would just lie about it anyway. It's just like Nebraska, no way have they sold out every game for decades in a row.
February 17th, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
Why is that impossible to believe? Nebraska football is pretty much the only game in town, and their stadium isn't all that big (around 70K). Again, it's about tickets sold, not actual people in the seats.
February 17th, 2014 at 11:58 PM ^
holds 87,091. The point still stands, just wanted to correct the number since 70k is pretty far off. Amusingly, if it were a separate city, it would be the state's third largest on game day.
February 18th, 2014 at 9:37 AM ^
Huh, it's bigger than I thought. I didn't know they had recently expanded.
February 17th, 2014 at 9:21 PM ^
February 17th, 2014 at 9:38 PM ^
February 17th, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 7:54 AM ^
Doubtful. Bunch of old dudes/gals sitting around trying to figure out whats hip and adding that Wi-Fi.
Even with the student survey I can see the AD trending towards more gimmick promotions rather than cutting time spent in line down or anything that makes the actual game experience better.
February 17th, 2014 at 8:58 PM ^
Some of the Big Ten strategy is discussed here - LINK
According to this, some of the areas of focus in the Big Ten are the cellular and Wi-Fi experience, in-game entertainment and ticketing policies as well as timing of games.
The Wi-Fi thing was interesting - it quotes Gene Smith talking about how they did a study at Ohio State that found that only about 25% of people at the stadium attempt to partake of the Wi-Fi experience, but much of that group was indeed the students. To that end, they are considering ways to enhance this experience.
The in-game entertainment angle talks about how Purdue has gone a route similar to ESPN Red Zone and rather than simply reporting the scores from other games in progress, showing highlights from them.
February 17th, 2014 at 9:02 PM ^
If games are not expensive and have good competition, nobody will care about the Wi-Fi. To me that's the most ill-advised path to look at ever.
You want to cater to the students? Quit raising ticket prices insane percentages each year. Go back to block, priority seating, but perhaps base priority on attendance/being on time.
Quit scheduling App State.
February 17th, 2014 at 10:19 PM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 12:11 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 7:10 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 7:12 AM ^
This is a bit get off my lawn-ish, but can people really not go to a game and ignore their phone for 3 and a half hours? It was annoying to not be able to text friends and relatives about the game but the last thing Michigan Stadium and humanity needs is everyone staring at Facebook in the stands.With this generation? Good luck with that.
February 18th, 2014 at 7:34 AM ^
February 18th, 2014 at 9:27 AM ^
FWIW, I work with high school students and I have, in fact, noticed a HUGE difference in the past two-three years.
I think (no data, just conjecture) we've gone from some minority percentage that have smartphones to a large majority.
February 18th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
Considering this trend is across the board and not just limited to Michigan, I can't agree more with this statement. I'm a 2010/2011 grad who sat thru the entire 2008 Northwestern game, but I know I'm in the minority.
For many if not most students, the tailgate is the event. And the game, if you make it, is often simply coming down either in blazing heat or wind and rain on metal bleachers, often while sitting in the 80th row. And while not showing up makes no sense to me, I respect that 40,000 other students may not share my opinion, and have a hard time believing that 20,000 are as passionate as I am.
What is the solution if you really want to increase overall attendance? We have enough demand for tickets (as long as the opponent is not Akron). A basketball-style system of claim periods in a capped student section might make things better. The students who really want to go will claim, while those who don't may not for fear of losing their ability to claim for the rest of the season. Will the students hate it? Yes. But I have a hard time believing that whatever system is created they will be happy.
February 18th, 2014 at 8:14 AM ^
Hell Yes! It bugs me to no end that everywhere you go, people are staring into thier phone. At what piont do we as a society never communicate face to face anymore? Football games are expensive, why not watch the actual game you are at? Sorry for the rant.....
February 18th, 2014 at 8:26 AM ^
but can people really not go to a game and ignore their phone for 3 and a half hours?
Upvote so hard. Unplug from the fucking Matrix, enjoy what's going on in front of you, talk to your neighbors, spend time with the people you actually came to the game with. "I don't wanna disconnect" ..... what the hell is that. You know what, there's no sense in you ever leaving your house.
February 18th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^
I like to phone-surf as much as anyone, but is it really so bad having to talk to people in the stands, enjoy the band and cheerleaders and you know, actually watch the game?
February 18th, 2014 at 11:01 AM ^
I couldn't care less about wifi, but it really would be nice to have phones that actually work. Even more so now that there is general admission. Trying to coordinate who is where with your friends is damn near impossible at this point, which could actually be hurting how many people show up.
February 18th, 2014 at 5:10 PM ^
My one issue is 3.5 hours. With GA for big games you have to add a couple hours to that. Still people should be able to unplug for an entire day and be fine.