Declining college football attendance
- Thread starter Smashcat
- Start date
We are moving towards 2 super conferences point black period. Riley had better hope USC can get into one or else he made the wrong move.
It will be down for UK as well. Real college football fans want to watch all of the games from week-to-week. People want to wager on multiple games. You can’t really enjoy your wagers if you’re in Commonwealth Stadium’s parking lot tailgating or in the stands watching the Toledos and South Carolinas. Only game worth going to is Georgia next year. And if you go, you’re missing out on watching other games at the same time.
Younger generation not nearly the fans as older. Not exactly inexpensive entertainment any more. Can keep up with and watch multiple games from home. I would guess important conference games' attendance was probably on par. The OOC patsies 3x a year plus every other years' weaker SEC home schedule leads to 40k in the stands vs 55k. Maybe mixing in an IU or Purdue or WVa or IL or Northwestern instead of FCS or directional school would bring fans back.
Maybe it's just overexposure. On any given week in the fall, you can watch 20+ CFB games, not to mention NFL. Maybe there's too much football on TV and people are just oversaturated.
Maybe it's just overexposure. On any given week in the fall, you can watch 20+ CFB games, not to mention NFL. Maybe there's too much football on TV and people are just oversaturated.
It’s just too convenient to not go to the games if it’s not a marquee matchup.
It's an all day investment. Many just can't, kids in soccer or vball or scouts on Saturdays. Ir it is cheaper and more enjoyable in front of flat-screen all day.
I've been heartened by the intense and passionate UK student section last few seasons. Future season tickets holders.
I've been heartened by the intense and passionate UK student section last few seasons. Future season tickets holders.
What do you expect with the cost of living increasing so much. Most people need to save money just to live.
The increase in overall cost of living has been historically low the past several years, this past year excluded.
The current and past year is what I am talking about. Highest cost of living increase in decades.
The problem is that the younger fans who grow up never going to the games won’t be watching them either a generation from now. Declining television viewership will lag but it will happen eventually.
Yep. My older son (almost 22) likes to watch sports a little bit but sadly I couldn’t spark any real interest in UK. My younger son (almost 19) doesn’t give a hoot in hell about sports at all.
Not just them but I get the clear impression that the younger generation is more into Tik-Tok videos and the like than they are about sports.
Salaries had been stagnate for decades, while ticket prices kept increasing. Cost of living may of been low, but ticket prices are not calculated into that. It also takes too long for a college football game to get over. Nascar faced the same fate with their four hours of driving in a circle. Team's like Tennessee play four hour games. By the time you fight the traffic in and out and tailgate it's an all day investment to watch a game.. Kentucky actually plays shorter games than most others though..
Live attendance down everywhere, MLB had its worst attendance in decades last year, and before you blame Covid, has been trending down for years now, as has college football.
Locally, we had three home sellouts last season, and a 4th (Missouri) with almost capacity, maybe 2000 empty seats.
But, almost no one beyond diehards like me is interested in going to the really bad OOC matchups we get two or three times a year. And even I skipped the UTC game last year. Moving to more decent intersectional games would help, but cannot overcome the obvious downward trajectory.
Locally, we had three home sellouts last season, and a 4th (Missouri) with almost capacity, maybe 2000 empty seats.
But, almost no one beyond diehards like me is interested in going to the really bad OOC matchups we get two or three times a year. And even I skipped the UTC game last year. Moving to more decent intersectional games would help, but cannot overcome the obvious downward trajectory.
Going to 9 conf games a yr where every other season a team will have 5 home conference games will help SEC
You can get a great view of the game from home. YOu can also play video games and have dozens of different options for watching streaming TV. There's more and more entertainment options every year one can do straight from home that cost significantly less than going to a sporting event. I'm sure you could subscribe to Disney+ for multiple years for what it costs to get a ticket for a decent seat at a Kentucky game against one of the scrubs on the schedule.
Bingo...
1. UK attendance and home atmosphere is best it's ever been IMO. UK is fine and SEC is fine.
2. The larger problem is BIg 10 and SEC are into football....ACC is so so...Pac 12 has never cared and everywhere else it's going to be down for a while IMO. So football is sort of shrinking into Mid west and the south...and then it's hard to draw for West coast and East coast.
3. I would argue going to 9 game SEC slate and moving off one of those non conference scrubs is a step in right direction for our conference....and will dilute paydays for non conference scrubs...and we'll start seeing some programs go away (which is good move).
Assuming all you want to do is sit at home and play video games and watch TV. That doesn't hold much interest for me
If it's deciding between spending $15 for an entire month of Netflix or spending hundreds attending one football game, yeah, a lot of people are going to choose the Netflix option.
Even if tickets were reasonably affordable, it's still a tough sell these days.
We're already paying for the ability to watch games with whatever live tv service we are using, and we can get a great view of the game with it. You used to ahve to go to games to get a good viewing experience because the broadcasts were low quality and/or in standard definition. Now you get a million different camera angles, every game is in HD and even 4K is starting to become a thing for live sports, you get replays, etc.
Every major on demand streaming platform (Netflix, etc.) can be had for an entire month for $15 or less. Literally just one of the major options has more than enough content to keep you entertained for the entire month all at one low price. I coudl subscribe to nothing but Netflix and have enough content to last me the whole year! Even if the cost of a ticket for a decent seat rivaled that of Netflix and etc., you're still getting much more value on the dollar for a month of HBO Max than you are from a game.
I don't play video games much anymore, but my understanding from my brother is that XBox has a similar type of streaming service for games and it's similarly priced? Boy, is that a game changer for the gaming industry. I would have ate that up if I had that option when I was growing up!
The vast majority of Americans don't have the money to live in what we consider luxury these days and have numerous entertainment options at their disposable that are extremely affordable, so they are generally going to pick what provides more value for their dollar.
I don't think it's a mere coincidence that the downward trend of sports attendance started when HD broadcasts became widespread and even much more so once streaming TV started taking off.
And of course not everyone wants to be home all the time, I get it. I don't want to either, and I'm a homebody. But other than the cost of gas to get there (yeah I know, gas is expensive these days, still pales in comparison to a sports ticket!), it doesn't cost me anything else to go be out in nature. Historical, state, and national parks are cheap and/or free. A hunting and fishing license is pretty cheap, at least they are here in VA. Cost of a membership to a YMCA to go play some hoops for fun is pretty inexpensive.
Younger generations aren't as much into sports either. Just much more options to occupy their time with video games and the massive amount of video programming available.
I guess if you are someone that likes to stay home it might be ok. I enjoy going to the games early and tailgating with friends and drinking a few. We play cornhole and other games while eating and drinking and enjoying each others company.
Exactly...I think the evidence is that college football is becoming much more regional in attendance. Let's be real, people in midwest and south have no problem filling up stadiums and as far as the economy.....not exactly the wealthiest states.
75" Sony Bravia in my recliner 15 feet from the screen. Record the game; fast forward through commercials; catch up to live at end of game; pause for breaks whenever I want; back to the game. Rewind to watch anything of interest. I grew up going to games with my Dad; great seats. I inherited those seats. When the K-fund extortion fee came; I chose the TV route. Plus; us older folks can't fight the traffic any more. Gray hairs have always been a large part of the crowd.
You make some good points. Many of us become fans before cable and certainly before the internet. My son is 12 and even though his wardrobe is 40-50% UK gear and he plays/excels in sports, I can't get his to watch a game of any sport on TV. He loves watching live, so we attend a couple football games each year and a March Madness weekend, but he'd much rather play video games than watch anything on TV. I am the only person in my house that watches ANY tv. My wife hasn't touched the remote in a decade. Cable TV is an expensive habit for me, although I now have found I only watch sports on cable and Netflix is my primary for entertainment.
Imagine that, I wonder what changed?
I’ve been biden my time wondering the same thing.
Stats for the record. The average Social Security COLA, which is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, during each President's administration is below. Only counting President's who had a Social Security COLA adjustment for all of their term (so Gerald Ford excluded) and who have completed their term.
Trump - 1.925
Obama - 1.1
Bush #2 - 3.04
Clinton - 2.54
Bush #1 - 4.2
Reagan - 4.775
Jimmy Carter - 9.15
Notables
- We had three years of a 0.0 COLA adjustment and another of 0.3 from 2009 to 2016. The next lowest increase was 1.3, which happened in 1986, 1998 and 2020, followed by 1.4 in 2002 and 1.5 in 2013.
- From 1975-1982, COLA adjustment was 6.0+ for all but one year (and that one year was 5.0), peaking at 14.3 in 1980.
- Since then, we've only had three years where it exceeded 5.0 - 5.4 in 1990, 5.8 in 2008, and 5.9 in 2021
The adjustment is based on data from the previous year
Not with hundreds of Cat fans around you all in the same mindset for one day. Nothing like the game day experience and sorry you are missing out on that experience.
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Being surrounded by hundreds of people is an experience I have had before and do my best to avoid.
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