A Call to Stop Hand-Wringing about Student Attendance

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stevedave23

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It's been well documented over the past several years that student attendance at FBS College footballs games has become a problem. While there are a few exceptions, it seems to be a national problem affecting schools of all sizes and even track records of success. I understand the importance of attracting a young audience in hopes of securing a future audience and it appears most schools understand this too. All kinds of experimental techniques are being used to attract and appease them including lowering prices, offering transportation, improving wifi, offering tailgating, giving away things at the game, and on and on.

I, for one, think it's time to reel things in. Frankly, I'm getting tired of hearing about how many students showed up, when they got there, when they left, how involved they were, etc. And furthermore, I think all of these perks will eventually just create lazy, entitled fans. Price student tickets accordingly, create a great fan experience for students and whatever we get, we get. If a student needs to be "compensated" in one way or another for attending the game we probably don't want that fan anyway.

Oh and FWIW, I think the student interaction at gopher games this year has been great. Would I like more students to attend? Sure, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
 

Student season tickets were $21 just 18 years ago. 11 years ago the were $35.
 


Good luck with your "call" to end this discussion. Basically, you just brought the subject up again and I'm sure it will re-spawn plenty more comments.

It is an issue everywhere in D1 and I think much of it has to do with pricing and the way the games cater to the TV audience. Everyone gets sick of the guy in the red hat.

With the Gophers off this past weekend, I went to an MIAC game. Very nice crowd and a very high percentage of students having a great time at the game. Game is played by the same rules but is over in 2.5 hours, and everyone knows the start time YEARS in advance. Fun, no hassle. Easy to plan around and everyone knows they won't miss the parties.
 



Schnauzer said:
Good luck with your "call" to end this discussion. Basically, you just brought the subject up again and I'm sure it will re-spawn plenty more comments.

It is an issue everywhere in D1 and I think much of it has to do with pricing and the way the games cater to the TV audience. Everyone gets sick of the guy in the red hat.

With the Gophers off this past weekend, I went to an MIAC game. Very nice crowd and a very high percentage of students having a great time at the game. Game is played by the same rules but is over in 2.5 hours, and everyone knows the start time YEARS in advance. Fun, no hassle. Easy to plan around and everyone knows they won't miss the parties.
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Agree. I'm a big "baseball guy" and am currently struggling with my interest in the MLB playoffs. Long games. Late nights. Half innings that seem to take forever. I've just about had enough. Last month I went down and watched several games at the state amateur tournament in Jordan. Exciting 9-inning games played with passion and hustle that were done in under two hours. Not to mention cheap tickets, beer and food and you could sit right close to the action.
 

Glen Mason never criticized people (which I'm assuming includes students) for not attending games given everyone has limits to what they can spend on entertainment. Despite being a long time season ticket holder who would love nothing more than sell outs at every game, I can't disagree with Glen on this one. Putting aside the winning solves all argument for a moment, the problem as I see it, college football is not doing a good job of marketing and selling a product that appeals widely to students. I'm not a big fan of circus antics but perhaps they should talk to the Red Bull people to figure out what would make for a more interesting fan experience. Hell, I'd risk Goldy's life having him jump through rings of fire on his Segway at the end of the third quarter if that is what it takes to get students in the seats. Other ideas?
 

I have a friend in Marketing at Con-Agra, they look at data on the "millenials" and the generations coming after for future trends. According to their data football is dying and or dead to those generations, they want nothing to do with anything their parents were into. X games replaces organized sports, Ultimate Frisbee replaces bowling, Instagram/Snapchat replace Facebook.

So short of the half time show being guys jumping out of a plane and landing on skateboard ramps while other guys do backflips off ATV's this may not be solvable long term by any reasonable means. It can be managed, but not solved.
 

LakerFan said:
I have a friend in Marketing at Con-Agra, they look at data on the "millenials" and the generations coming after for future trends. According to their data football is dying and or dead to those generations, they want nothing to do with anything their parents were into. X games replaces organized sports, Ultimate Frisbee replaces bowling, Instagram/Snapchat replace Facebook.

So short of the half time show being guys jumping out of a plane and landing on skateboard ramps while other guys do backflips off ATV's this may not be solvable long term by any reasonable means. It can be managed, but not solved.
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I'm not even that old, but I am having such an old man, "get off my lawn" moment right now. F those millenials..
 



Football is still popular among younger generations. Although not Millennials specifically, here's the chart from ESPN that plots the percent of 12-17 year olds that consider themselves avid fans of each sport in the US. College football is actually steady over the past 18 years, and NFL is still the big kid on the block when it comes to engaged fans, even among this younger set.

i


Harris agrees - while the "echo boomer" (another way to say Millennial) generation shows the lowest propensity to say NFL is their #1 sport, it's still really high in comparison to other sports. 31% of the generation says it's their #1 sport, compared to 10% for baseball, and somewhere between 8% and 16% for college football (those data are not in the press release, unfortunately).

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/Ne... Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1365/Default.aspx

It's true there are sports that are growing and receding in popularity (the chart above highlights MLS and MLB specifically) but football is still incredibly popular. What isn't as popular is attending games in person - you get better replays and better views on your 50" HDTV, and cheaper food and beer at home.

IMO there's an interesting confluence of trends on the horizon - we haven't hit it yet, but it's probably coming in the next decade or two.

The two trends: 1) games are more affordable and better to watch on TV at home, 2) leagues and conferences make gobs of money from TV rights so ticket sales dropping isn't as big an issue (particularly if/when the NFL doesn't have the FCC blackout rule anymore).

At what point does the decrease in atmosphere because of declining attendance lead to a drop in TV ratings? Does a half-empty stadium lead to a decreased product so much that people will stop watching? I'd argue yes, as most people would, but it looks like that's where we may be headed (ultimately a tipping point for a big decline in football's popularity, ignoring the injury and off-the-field stuff for a second). The leagues and conferences will have to figure it out, though I fear it's not a leading priority because of the aforementioned gobs of money they get from TV deals.
 

LakerFan said:
I have a friend in Marketing at Con-Agra, they look at data on the "millenials" and the generations coming after for future trends. According to their data football is dying and or dead to those generations, they want nothing to do with anything their parents were into. X games replaces organized sports, Ultimate Frisbee replaces bowling, Instagram/Snapchat replace Facebook.

So short of the half time show being guys jumping out of a plane and landing on skateboard ramps while other guys do backflips off ATV's this may not be solvable long term by any reasonable means. It can be managed, but not solved.
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I don't think they are the first generation to feel that way.

:cool: Far Out!
 

Excuse me folks!! SteveDave said stop the hand-wringing.
 

Fans will come, and fans will go.
And fans will peter out, you know.
But Fans are Fans through thick or thin.
Peter out or peter in.
 





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