Even Michigan has Attendance Problems

[BigAppleBucky]

Let's see, pay $150 for a ticket, Lord know what for parking. $8.00 for a hot dog, $3.00 for a soft drink (no beer), deal with security getting in to the stadium and traffic getting out or stay home, watch in high def, eat better and cheaper than stadium hot dogs, drink whatever adult beverage I want and not risk getting rained on.

 

Oh, and that $150 by itself covers my basic cable, and the sports and movie packages - for a month.

 

hmmmmm .  .   .

[WoolyBully]

It was either here, or on Facebook, but the gist of the article was that students - through no real fault of their own - are distancing themselves from the Saturday college football experience for the simple reason that they see other things to do as more valuable. It cited the "I have better things to do than" stand in line for ticket, sit for three hours, etc. sort of reasoning. And we see, perhaps to a lesser degree, the same thing here. Whenever we trot out the attendance thread, there's the obligatory listing of everything that you could do instead of sit at a football game. 

 

And make no mistake. The competition is digital in nature. With heads down and thumbs poised relentlessly over digital devices, anything that doesn't have constant feedback is going to be relegated to second-tier status. That's part of why every split second of every sporting event has to be filled with "something" (anything...have some guy run around waving a flag, throw footballs at an inflated costume or have two guys run some concocted relay race). And that sixty-inch smart tv in the comfort of the media room is competition for attendance. If I'm disgusted with the product, I don't have to leave the stadium and drive elsewhere, I just reach for the remote.

 

It was a great article, if I find it again I'll post the link here, but everyone across the board is having to address attendance because, indeed, there are other viable entertainment options available.

[Bulls1181]

stadium was empty towards the end of the game when a loss was coming 

 

https://twitter.com/byazuniga/status/513492462909018112

 

Wow, shocking to see attendance that low in the big house 

[MaltLiquorBull]

It was either here, or on Facebook, but the gist of the article was that students - through no real fault of their own - are distancing themselves from the Saturday college football experience for the simple reason that they see other things to do as more valuable. It cited the "I have better things to do than" stand in line for ticket, sit for three hours, etc. sort of reasoning. And we see, perhaps to a lesser degree, the same thing here. Whenever we trot out the attendance thread, there's the obligatory listing of everything that you could do instead of sit at a football game. 

 

And make no mistake. The competition is digital in nature. With heads down and thumbs poised relentlessly over digital devices, anything that doesn't have constant feedback is going to be relegated to second-tier status. That's part of why every split second of every sporting event has to be filled with "something" (anything...have some guy run around waving a flag, throw footballs at an inflated costume or have two guys run some concocted relay race). And that sixty-inch smart tv in the comfort of the media room is competition for attendance. If I'm disgusted with the product, I don't have to leave the stadium and drive elsewhere, I just reach for the remote.

 

It was a great article, if I find it again I'll post the link here, but everyone across the board is having to address attendance because, indeed, there are other viable entertainment options available.

 

I think this is it right here.  It's the same reason little kids rarely ride bikes or play hide and seek anymore.  Everybody has their face buried in a phone.  Why leave home when you can live your whole life on a phone, tablet, or big-screen.  Really sad if you ask me.  Sometimes it makes me glad I was born early enough to grow up without all the technology.  But hey, that's the way the world is now.  It makes it easier for me to park at the live events! 

[Triple B]

It was either here, or on Facebook, but the gist of the article was that students - through no real fault of their own - are distancing themselves from the Saturday college football experience for the simple reason that they see other things to do as more valuable. It cited the "I have better things to do than" stand in line for ticket, sit for three hours, etc. sort of reasoning. And we see, perhaps to a lesser degree, the same thing here. Whenever we trot out the attendance thread, there's the obligatory listing of everything that you could do instead of sit at a football game. 

 

And make no mistake. The competition is digital in nature. With heads down and thumbs poised relentlessly over digital devices, anything that doesn't have constant feedback is going to be relegated to second-tier status. That's part of why every split second of every sporting event has to be filled with "something" (anything...have some guy run around waving a flag, throw footballs at an inflated costume or have two guys run some concocted relay race). And that sixty-inch smart tv in the comfort of the media room is competition for attendance. If I'm disgusted with the product, I don't have to leave the stadium and drive elsewhere, I just reach for the remote.

 

It was a great article, if I find it again I'll post the link here, but everyone across the board is having to address attendance because, indeed, there are other viable entertainment options available.

 

One thing to point out about the student attendance is that in a lot of these places, students have to buy tickets to the football games. In Michigans case, it's $295 a season .... Plus last year, they went to a straight general admission where in the past, I guess they had some sort of reserved sections based on some sort of priorities. They are in the process of changing that and even with those "obstacles" they projected 13-14,000 student attendance this year. Couple of articles about it:

 

 http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/05/michigan_football_projecting_s.html

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/03/michigan_scraps_general_admiss.html

 

 

Plus, here's an article about nationwide student attendance:  http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10458047/next-generation-ticket-holder-concern-students-show-college-football-games

[smazza]

i dont feel sorry for michigan

[Bear]

If only Michigan had an OCS... oh wait..

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

It was either here, or on Facebook, but the gist of the article was that students - through no real fault of their own - are distancing themselves from the Saturday college football experience for the simple reason that they see other things to do as more valuable. It cited the "I have better things to do than" stand in line for ticket, sit for three hours, etc. sort of reasoning. And we see, perhaps to a lesser degree, the same thing here. Whenever we trot out the attendance thread, there's the obligatory listing of everything that you could do instead of sit at a football game. 

 

And make no mistake. The competition is digital in nature. With heads down and thumbs poised relentlessly over digital devices, anything that doesn't have constant feedback is going to be relegated to second-tier status. That's part of why every split second of every sporting event has to be filled with "something" (anything...have some guy run around waving a flag, throw footballs at an inflated costume or have two guys run some concocted relay race). And that sixty-inch smart tv in the comfort of the media room is competition for attendance. If I'm disgusted with the product, I don't have to leave the stadium and drive elsewhere, I just reach for the remote.

 

It was a great article, if I find it again I'll post the link here, but everyone across the board is having to address attendance because, indeed, there are other viable entertainment options available.

 

My step-daughter works for Disney and was in a meeting with Roger Goodell, he came down to talk to Disney to get ideas about how to get people back in stadiums.

[Rizman]

There are so few real fans these days.  If the team is not winning, then the support drops off.  No loyalty.  No pride in your school.  Fandom in college football has become like the NFL.  Before the Seahawks won the Superbowl, how often would you run into a Seahawks fan in FL?  NEVER.  Now they have all crawled out of the wood works and proclaimed that they have been fans of the Seahawks since Jim Zorn played QB for them.

 

The same is going on in NCAA football.  I have people telling me that they have been Florida State fans forever.  Really?  They did not go to that school, even though they had a chance.  I have never seen any of them wear Florida State gear, even a stupid baseball cap.  But now that they won the BCS championship and are still ranked #1, the latent Florida State pride comes through.

 

I get grief about USF's record, and these so-called Florida State fans do not even know that the USF vs. Florida State series is tied at 1-1.  If they were such long time fans, should they not know that information?

Bingo, if you suck, they will not come.  

[USFbulls24]

4-8 in their last 12 and they're seeing the attendance drop significantly and there are people complaining/not understanding/have issues with our attendance when we're 5-25 over our last 30 or something along those lines?