Outback Bowl Attendance - 45,652

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must have been at least 60% gopher fans from the sounds on the radio and tv
 

gopherbadgerman said:
must have been at least 60% gopher fans from the sounds on the radio and tv
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I was there and that seems about right, but our view from lower bowl corner is a little distorted with limited upper deck view.

A local told me he is disappointed that the area doesn't really support it as an event, and will only fill the place if one of the Florida teams is in it. Understandable. The local team participant sellouts likely distort the average.
 

Holy Man said:
I was there and that seems about right, but our view from lower bowl corner is a little distorted with limited upper deck view.

A local told me he is disappointed that the area doesn't really support it as an event, and will only fill the place if one of the Florida teams is in it. Understandable. The local team participant sellouts likely distort the average.
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Man if we had a bowl game up here ... even a garbage bowl game ... I'd go every year.
 

The bowl seems to be declining as part of the overall national trend.
In the 14 year span from 1995-2008 but bowl drew over 60k fans 11 times. Of the 3 times it fell short of 60k, it was never below 53k.

In the 12 year span from 2009-2002 the bowl drew over 60k fans once (Florida vs PSU), between 50k-60k 5 times and under 50k 6 times.
 


Anyone happen know the attendance for the Citrus Bowl?
 

GoForGold said:
Anyone happen know the attendance for the Citrus Bowl?
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59,746

For the record, I don't know how likely these bowl groups are to be accurate... they certainly have their reasons for being generous with the numbers.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
must have been at least 60% gopher fans from the sounds on the radio and tv
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Auburn fans were certainly quiet much of the game. They woke up a few times but that time of possession kept them down.

Despite the score, I think they could see it was more of a beat down than the score indicated.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
59,746

For the record, I don't know how likely these bowl groups are to be accurate... they certainly have their reasons for being generous with the numbers.
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I guess that doesn't surprise me. Alabama always brings a lot of fans. I remember way back when we played them in the Music City bowl they game was practically as sellout.
 



Curious if anyone at game knows if there were tickets being sold by scalpers at stadium? Were they selling for cheap like $20?
 

GoForGold said:
I guess that doesn't surprise me. Alabama always brings a lot of fans. I remember way back when we played them in the Music City bowl they game was practically as sellout.
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Yeah I don't doubt the gist is right.

And really if you've got a big fanbase you can draw in local expats too.

I met lots of former Minnesotans who moved to FL at and around the game.
 

The Outback Bowl had very good attendance from the mid to late 1990s up to the 2007 game. Since then attendance has fallen off noticeably. It's gone from a lengthy streak of 60,000 plus crowds to one crowd above 60,000 since 2008 and most crowds since then under 50,000. In theory a Big Ten vs. SEC match up ought to be a decent draw and the game has done well to not have teams coming consecutively or too frequently in general. I'm not sure if it is a case of the BCS and now the CFP making the non playoff bowls seem too poor by comparison, overly high ticket prices, the Citrus Bowl also having a Big Ten vs. SEC match up nearby but with higher ranked teams, HDTV making it too inviting to stay home or something else driving down the live crowd numbers.

The Gophers were a good story this season and lots of fans of the team attended the game. However, we have little in the way of armchair fans across the country and the casual football fan in Tampa that might have been intrigued by a legacy program likely wasn't as familiar with the Gophers and therefore less inclined to buy tickets. Auburn came in #9 with a 9-3 (5-3) record, but I got the impression its fans saw the Outback Bowl as a poor consolation prize rather than as a reward. The proximity of Auburn to Florida and the Tigers having played at Florida earlier this season in a big CBS late afternoon game with Gameday on hand possibly made the trip to Tampa for a bowl game seem like less of a big deal compared to Minnesotans that wanted to escape the snow and cold.
 

Sports_Realist said:
The Outback Bowl had very good attendance from the mid to late 1990s up to the 2007 game. Since then attendance has fallen off noticeably. It's gone from a lengthy streak of 60,000 plus crowds to one crowd above 60,000 since 2008 and most crowds since then under 50,000. In theory a Big Ten vs. SEC match up ought to be a decent draw and the game has done well to not have teams coming consecutively or too frequently in general. I'm not sure if it is a case of the BCS and now the CFP making the non playoff bowls seem too poor by comparison, overly high ticket prices, the Citrus Bowl also having a Big Ten vs. SEC match up nearby but with higher ranked teams, HDTV making it too inviting to stay home or something else driving down the live crowd numbers.

The Gophers were a good story this season and lots of fans of the team attended the game. However, we have little in the way of armchair fans across the country and the casual football fan in Tampa that might have been intrigued by a legacy program likely wasn't as familiar with the Gophers and therefore less inclined to buy tickets. Auburn came in #9 with a 9-3 (5-3) record, but I got the impression its fans saw the Outback Bowl as a poor consolation prize rather than as a reward. The proximity of Auburn to Florida and the Tigers having played at Florida earlier this season in a big CBS late afternoon game with Gameday on hand possibly made the trip to Tampa for a bowl game seem like less of a big deal compared to Minnesotans that wanted to escape the snow and cold.
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With the B1G and SEC in the playoffs ... it just doesn't play out like the Rose Bowl...

It's also damn expensive, I flew into Fort Meyer's just to get a direct flight... not sure if the economics have changed or not.
 



I would merge the Citrus and Outback bowl and alternate between venues each year. Paint the filed with 4 teams and have the games back to back, one the 31st and 1 on the first. They have the hotels and hospitality to handle it. I believe a lot of people would go to both games. Obviously sell tickets to the participants of each game first.
 

gopherjay said:
I would merge the Citrus and Outback bowl and alternate between venues each year. Paint the filed with 4 teams and have the games back to back, one the 31st and 1 on the first. They have the hotels and hospitality to handle it. I believe a lot of people would go to both games. Obviously sell tickets to the participants of each game first.
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Better than both games taking place at the EXACT SAME TIME...

Thanks for that one ESPN/Disney
 

gopherjay said:
I would merge the Citrus and Outback bowl and alternate between venues each year. Paint the filed with 4 teams and have the games back to back, one the 31st and 1 on the first. They have the hotels and hospitality to handle it. I believe a lot of people would go to both games. Obviously sell tickets to the participants of each game first.
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I love this idea! That would be pretty sweet, and I bet a lot of people would want to experience that
 

mjfelton15 said:
I love this idea! That would be pretty sweet, and I bet a lot of people would want to experience that
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Wasn't it just a just a year or two ago that these two games were at different times on the same day? 1:00 and 6:00 or something like that. I think many people would do a double header that day....
 

Maverick said:
Wasn't it just a just a year or two ago that these two games were at different times on the same day? 1:00 and 6:00 or something like that. I think many people would do a double header that day....
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I don’t quite remember how they used to schedule it. I do remember feeling a bit empty, and wishing I’d have gotten to experience more, after the Citrus bowl loss in 2015. Might have been nice if I could have seen another game during our trip down there that year because for 52 hours of driving round trip, that game sucked.
 


Must be sold and not actual turnstiles. The top deck looked mostly empty.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Must be sold and not actual turnstiles. The top deck looked mostly empty.
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It holds 65,000. It didn’t look empty...it was. The one end zone was sparse also. 45,000 seems about 10,000 generous.
 

So why charge so much for a ticket? Cut it in half and get more locals or families to go.
 

ottertail said:
So why charge so much for a ticket? Cut it in half and get more locals or families to go.
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Outside of someone like me, how many people would go to a game to watch teams they don't cheer for?
 

Maverick said:
Wasn't it just a just a year or two ago that these two games were at different times on the same day? 1:00 and 6:00 or something like that. I think many people would do a double header that day....
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I believe a few years back they used to be at 11:00 and 12:00. So they were still on at the same time....but a one hour difference at least allowed people to catch the end of both games.
 

The people sitting near us were going to the Gator Bowl on Jan 2, a nice double header for them.
 

I like the double header in the sense that I'd like to go.

I don't like it as I fear it would just drive up prices for both games on the secondary market.
 

I'd only go to a double header, if the Gophers were in the 2nd game, and if there was some sort of discount for buying tickets to both games. And if it was a double header, I'd prefer they not be on the same day, that's a long time to be sitting in a stadium. I LOVE the Dec 31st and Jan 1st idea, but not too early of a game on the 1st as people would need/want time to recover from the celebrating the night before.
 

KillmeNow said:
I'd only go to a double header, if the Gophers were in the 2nd game, and if there was some sort of discount for buying tickets to both games. And if it was a double header, I'd prefer they not be on the same day, that's a long time to be sitting in a stadium. I LOVE the Dec 31st and Jan 1st idea, but not too early of a game on the 1st as people would need/want time to recover from the celebrating the night before.
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I would worry a bit that it would be a bit of a sleepy crowd for the second game ... even the next day.

Can only do so much new years + football X 2.

I met a Nebraska fan outside the Outback Bowl still a bit out of it from his new years celebration ... dude was not going to last much longer.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I would worry a bit that it would be a bit of a sleepy crowd for the second game ... even the next day.

Can only do so much new years + football X 2.

I met a Nebraska fan outside the Outback Bowl still a bit out of it from his new years celebration ... dude was not going to last much longer.
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Well, a Dec 31st and early Jan 2nd game might work better for the drinkers, but that's an extra night in a hotel room for those who aren't within a reasonable back and forth driving distance.
 

45k is excellent, especially compared to lesser bowl games that barely attract 1000.
 

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