Charlotte's Mayo bowl game suffered the smallest turnout in its 23-year history on Jan. 3.

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Geography probably played the biggest role. The only other Midwest team to appear in the game has been Wisconsin and that was during the covid season. Otherwise its all been east coast and southeast teams.

Specifically and unsurprisingly, the Carolina schools have played there a bunch. North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Clemson and Duke have played in it a combined 17 times.

North Carolina has the most appearances with 6, followed by NC State with 4. Virginia, Wake Forest, West Virginia and Virginia Tech all have 3. Boston College, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, South Florida, South Carolina and Louisville all have 2.

Though I also wonder if the scheduling was a factor, with it being post-holidays Vs. pre. Not sure if that makes a huge difference or not.
 



I don't think it is usually AFTER January 1 as well, correct? I have no data, just my personal feeling but it seems like it is a tall order to plan travel and take days off AFTER the holidays as opposed to the week between the holidays.

The opt outs are finally becoming problematic as well. Almost from the minute the game was announced, the reports of Virginia Tech only being able to field a skeleton squad. By the time the game arrived, the writing was on the wall that most of the Gopher stars would be out too. Virginia Tech was in close proximity but their fan base was completely in doom and gloom territory. Not a great place from which to generate bowl attendance

Regardless... I'm sure it will be seen as some sort of proof that "Minnesota doesn't travel"
 



Yeah, it feels like we Gopher fans will get the blame for this. Another reason in some future year to send us to Detroit instead of Tampa.
 





looks like the TV ratings come out to 3.4-million viewers - slightly down from last year.

by comparison, Nebraska and BC at the Pinstripe had 4.2-million viewers. Vanderbilt-GA Tech at the Birmingham Bowl had 4-million viewers.

context - the overall TV ratings for bowl games - all bowls, not just the playoff games - have been significantly higher than last year.

so with the Mayo Bowl, hard to say what the factors are - Friday night - after New Year's Day - the matchup of teams?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
looks like the TV ratings come out to 3.4-million viewers - slightly down from last year.

by comparison, Nebraska and BC at the Pinstripe had 4.2-million viewers. Vanderbilt-GA Tech at the Birmingham Bowl had 4-million viewers.

context - the overall TV ratings for bowl games - all bowls, not just the playoff games - have been significantly higher than last year.

so with the Mayo Bowl, hard to say what the factors are - Friday night - after New Year's Day - the matchup of teams?
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The Bowl ratings thing has me just floored, that even with the CFP the Consolation Bowls Ratings were up.

I was dead wrong thinking that would happen. Completely counter intuitive, though the only non-Gopher Bowl I watched was 2 series in whatever Bowl Nebraska was in.

There was an interesting Athletic article about the ratings being up. A few had more eyeballs than the Penn St-SMU game, others outrated the NFL in the same window.

Disney/ESPNs contacts are up after 2025 along with the singular Bowls that CBS & Fox have. The current contract was negotiated as a collective with Disney.

On the other hand attendance was way down, and the Bowls themselves need that in combination with TV & sponsors to make a nickel.

It also mentioned that Conference affiliation with Bowls maybe greatly altered or even done away with entirely.
 
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Ope3 said:
The Bowl ratings thing has me just floored, that even with the CFP the Consolation Bowls Ratings were up.

I was dead wrong thinking that would happen. Completely counter intuitive, though the only non-Gopher Bowl I watched was 2 series in whatever Bowl Nebraska was in.

There was an interesting Athletic article about the ratings being up. A few had more eyeballs than the Penn St-SMU game, others outrated the NFL in the same window.

Disney/ESPNs contacts are up after 2025 along with the singular Bowls that CBS & Fox have. The current contract was negotiated as a collective with Disney.

On the other hand attendance was way down, and the Bowls themselves need that in combination with TV to make a nickel.

It also mentioned that Conference affiliation with Bowls maybe greatly altered or even done away with entirely.
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Bowl attendance is down but ... I think we've seen the focus is really on TV anyway so.

The real question attendance for me is will those middle games in the playoffs attract fans long term. How many trips can we ask of people?

Even pro sports do not do neutral site playoffs, and certainly not all the games ...
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Bowl attendance is down but ... I think we've seen the focus is really on TV anyway so.

The real question attendance for me is will those middle games in the playoffs attract fans long term. How many trips can we ask of people?

Even pro sports do not do neutral site playoffs, and certainly not all the games ...
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The article was completely independent of the CFP Playoffs. Consolation Bowls only.

Yes the focus is on TV, but that current revenue is not enough for some of the (Consolation) Bowl organizers to offset the costs of shipping teams to whatever site, renting the stadium etc.
 
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Some reasons I see for the low attendance is:
1. First time the game has been outside the week of Christmas to New Years. For most people, the Holidays were over on January 2. I know a few school districts that were going back already.

2. Game was prime-time kick instead of the usual afternoon kick that this bowl usually does. The temp was very cold for local averages (2nd coldest in the history of this bowl). That is going to keep away the casual walk-ups from locals.

3. As others have mentioned, the opt-outs took a lot of startch out from the V-Tech crowd, which would be counted on to increase attendance.
 


A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
So the turnout was 31k.

What are the other historical attendance numbers?

23 year lowest could still be not a huge variation in attendance...
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It was 42k with NC vs VT last year.

37k in 2022 for Maryland vs NC st.

45k for NC vs South Carolina

44K for VT vs Kentucky

48k for Virginia vs South Carolina

32K for Wake Forest vs Texas A&M

back in the early days this bowl used to draw 50-70k but in recent years average is like 40k-45k.

But always seems to have NC or Virginia team and another eastern team in the game. So given recent attendance decreasing and MN being a Midwest team it doesn't surprise me the attendance was that low.
 

None of the bowls including the playoff games were attended as expected. The games coming up will not be well attended either. Its too much for fans to go. Locals will not spend the money either.
 

The mentions about Virginia Tech fans being apathetic regarding the bowl is probably accurate, too. I checked out some of the VT communities online and there was basically no excitement.
 

We went and enjoyed ourselves: great museums; delicious southern comfort food; friendly people and a respectable turnout of Minnesota fans. There way almost no imprint of the game on Charlotte: no signage at the airport: no banners hanging from streetlights; the Uber drivers had no knowledge of the game…it was a bit spooky & weird.
 

Married@SiebertField said:
We went and enjoyed ourselves: great museums; delicious southern comfort food; friendly people and a respectable turnout of Minnesota fans. There way almost no imprint of the game on Charlotte: no signage at the airport: no banners hanging from streetlights; the Uber drivers had no knowledge of the game…it was a bit spooky & weird.
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That seems like a failure of the marketing team for the game and local chamber of commerce. Even a low level bowl game has enough of a draw to bring in a good amount of business locally if you make it look like an event people should care about.
 

Married@SiebertField said:
We went and enjoyed ourselves: great museums; delicious southern comfort food; friendly people and a respectable turnout of Minnesota fans. There way almost no imprint of the game on Charlotte: no signage at the airport: no banners hanging from streetlights; the Uber drivers had no knowledge of the game…it was a bit spooky & weird.
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There were signs on the streetlights outside the JW
 

IceBoxGopher said:
The mentions about Virginia Tech fans being apathetic regarding the bowl is probably accurate, too. I checked out some of the VT communities online and there was basically no excitement.
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I was impressed how well VT showed up considering that was the prevailing thought. Their side was full at KO.
 

Married@SiebertField said:
We went and enjoyed ourselves: great museums; delicious southern comfort food; friendly people and a respectable turnout of Minnesota fans. There way almost no imprint of the game on Charlotte: no signage at the airport: no banners hanging from streetlights; the Uber drivers had no knowledge of the game…it was a bit spooky & weird.
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Most of the locals didn't know about it for sure.

However, there were streetlight banners.

lamp2.jpg
 

Schnauzer said:
I don't think it is usually AFTER January 1 as well, correct? I have no data, just my personal feeling but it seems like it is a tall order to plan travel and take days off AFTER the holidays as opposed to the week between the holidays.

The opt outs are finally becoming problematic as well. Almost from the minute the game was announced, the reports of Virginia Tech only being able to field a skeleton squad. By the time the game arrived, the writing was on the wall that most of the Gopher stars would be out too. Virginia Tech was in close proximity but their fan base was completely in doom and gloom territory. Not a great place from which to generate bowl attendance

Regardless... I'm sure it will be seen as some sort of proof that "Minnesota doesn't travel"
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After Jan 1 on a work day.
Absolutely asking for a bad turnout.

Since being being created as the continental tire bowl and in its various names here are the days it has been played:
Dec 27
Dec 28
Dec 29
Dec 30
Dec 31

Jan 3
 

Some guy said:
After Jan 1 on a work day.
Absolutely asking for a bad turnout.

Since being being created as the continental tire bowl and in its various names here are the days it has been played:
Dec 27
Dec 28
Dec 29
Dec 30
Dec 31

Jan 3
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yeah, most of those other dates besides new year's eve take place between the holidays when a lot of people have either already taken time off, or are more willing to take time off as opposed to Jan 3 when a lot of people are in up to their eyeballs with work thanks to all the procrastinating they have done for the previous month saying to themselves "I'll pick that up when I am back after vacation, after the first of the year"*

*This last part may or may not just be me.
 

Schnauzer said:
yeah, most of those other dates besides new year's eve take place between the holidays when a lot of people have either already taken time off, or are more willing to take time off as opposed to Jan 3 when a lot of people are in up to their eyeballs with work thanks to all the procrastinating they have done for the previous month saying to themselves "I'll pick that up when I am back after vacation, after the first of the year"*

*This last part may or may not just be me.
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I would’ve been in Charlotte any day between Dec 26 and Jan 1

Could not make it 2-3

Would’ve probably been there if it was Jan 4!
 


1983 said:
None of the bowls including the playoff games were attended as expected. The games coming up will not be well attended either. Its too much for fans to go. Locals will not spend the money either.
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The games this week are both Sell Outs. With Texas playing essentially a home game in Dallas, it looks like a sellers market.
 

Probably because it was really cold that night. Not too cold for us 'Sotans, but a little chilly for those panty-waists on the East Coast. I dunno.
 

Schnauzer said:
yeah, most of those other dates besides new year's eve take place between the holidays when a lot of people have either already taken time off, or are more willing to take time off as opposed to Jan 3 when a lot of people are in up to their eyeballs with work thanks to all the procrastinating they have done for the previous month saying to themselves "I'll pick that up when I am back after vacation, after the first of the year"*

*This last part may or may not just be me.
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On Jan 2 it's a brand new fiscal year which presents a lot of work for several businesses/industries that have to complete year end results, tax reporting etc.
 

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