Which is why moving to 9 SEC also helps against this weak OOC schedules nonsense.
Declining college football attendance
- Thread starter Smashcat
- Start date
Good point. Replacing a team like Akron with an Auburn or A&M will help.
One of the best things about attending games to me that no number of cameras and angles is ever going to catch is all the sidelines events going on between coaches, TO discussions, observing who is coming in, taking care of injuries, coaches interacting with officials, Stoops mismanaging the clock, & more. Can't beat it. Now if they'd just turn off the speakers during TO's.
MLB plays too many games. There is no need to play 162 games.
You certainly nailed 2 reasons. Huge flat-screen HD TVs means you can watch at home with a few friends and not have to deal with traffic. And kids playing travel ball, it's year round now and kids always come first.
Some great comments about a real problem for college sports. Some of the problems are here to stay and I do not see things changing anytime soon.
College football has an aging fan base which is proven by low student attendance at games. Fans are facing rising ticket, parking and concession prices. I have to give to the K Fund to buy a simple parking pass. Younger fans have shorter attention spans, so the challenge is keeping their attention. A lot of them have their smart phones out and pay more attention to that than and 80 yard TD pass. Others have mentioned the 75 inch TV , cold beer in your refrigerator and no lines at home to use the bathroom.
Many SEC teams are in smaller towns and draw attendance from all over the state. Inflation will skyrocket over the next 3 years, if not longer, so the attendance will continue to decline especially with those who drive hundreds of miles to attend the game. There is nothing the sport can do to change that.
And finally as people like me age and die it is left up to the younger generations to step in and fill our shoes. I doubt this generation has the same interest in sports as our generation had. When I developed my love for college sports it was one of only a few things to follow. Today's youth has too much clutter to deal with and don't develop that degree of love for the team. I do not see things changing and the decline in attendance will continue. I do look for a bump at UK because our program is on the up swing. I am referring to college football as a whole. Some schools will improve.
College football has an aging fan base which is proven by low student attendance at games. Fans are facing rising ticket, parking and concession prices. I have to give to the K Fund to buy a simple parking pass. Younger fans have shorter attention spans, so the challenge is keeping their attention. A lot of them have their smart phones out and pay more attention to that than and 80 yard TD pass. Others have mentioned the 75 inch TV , cold beer in your refrigerator and no lines at home to use the bathroom.
Many SEC teams are in smaller towns and draw attendance from all over the state. Inflation will skyrocket over the next 3 years, if not longer, so the attendance will continue to decline especially with those who drive hundreds of miles to attend the game. There is nothing the sport can do to change that.
And finally as people like me age and die it is left up to the younger generations to step in and fill our shoes. I doubt this generation has the same interest in sports as our generation had. When I developed my love for college sports it was one of only a few things to follow. Today's youth has too much clutter to deal with and don't develop that degree of love for the team. I do not see things changing and the decline in attendance will continue. I do look for a bump at UK because our program is on the up swing. I am referring to college football as a whole. Some schools will improve.
There will be less and less attendance from fans who have to drive from distance. Bidenomics and the high gas prices would make it hard for people in Western Kentucky to attend. It's gonna get much worse in the next 3 years and will take decades to repair. God Bless these United States of America.
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Don't know where you sit, but in my section of Commonwealth Stadium which has plenty from all perspectives, politics is just about the last topic of conversation. Thank God!!
I used to make an 8-10 hour round trip drive when I lived in NE Tennessee. After the SEC Network arrived and all the games started being televised, I quit going. I miss the atmosphere sometimes, but investing 14+ hours in a day to go was just too much hassle, especially as you get older. Living in south Florida now, I get up on Saturday and maybe go to the beach for a couple of hours or do some fishing, then come in around noon and watch football. The 65 inch screen has a great picture, the sound is great, my recliner is comfortable, it's not too hot/cold, what I want to eat/drink is steps away, as is my bathroom and there is no gameday traffic to navigate or overbearing assholes to deal with. I just sit down in comfort and watch the Cats, as well a metric shit ton of other games. If I lived within an hour of Lexington, I'd probably have season tickets, but otherwise, it's not worth the hassle to me.
In retrospect the UK stadium upgrade that slimmed down seats was smart. Knocked out thousands of less desirable end zone seating..
The obscene expansions at outlaw programs like Louisville and Tennessee to just add seats so they can pretend to be bigger deal than they really are & don't fill look monumentally stupid by comparison.
The obscene expansions at outlaw programs like Louisville and Tennessee to just add seats so they can pretend to be bigger deal than they really are & don't fill look monumentally stupid by comparison.
Yep the constant timeouts seem like the take 10 minutes live at the game and come so often they kill any excitment built up in between. And you cant carry on a conversation due to the noise coming out of those speakers. All that seems to all take away from the one big advantage of going to a game live vs staying at home and that is to get he live excitement atmosphere. Without that there are just too many other advantages to stay home including being able to go to family to watch it together.
That said I now there were a couple of games last year that most of us wish we could have been there for as they were two of the best home environemnts we've had in years. Just dont come that often though.
^
games are too long, way too many 2 and 3 minute TV timeouts
games are too long, way too many 2 and 3 minute TV timeouts
And too many conferences by stripes while they're styling and profiling for the camera...and they still get the call wrong.
As I get older, the day long logistics of attending a game just becomes tiresome. The drive, parking hassles and dealing with the mass of people can wear you out. I understand being there is a buzz, but high def TV and stereo sound can capture the in game experience enough to get me excited.
lol big games are the only sellouts. The CFB attendance problem ain't with big name opponents, ranked opponents, rivalry games.
The attendance prob is for P5 vs G5 "payout" gsmes, or 1-AA opponents, or dreadful traditionally awful teams. For every P5 school like UK we are talking 3 or 4 undesireables out of total 7 or 8 homegames a season.
The attendance prob is for P5 vs G5 "payout" gsmes, or 1-AA opponents, or dreadful traditionally awful teams. For every P5 school like UK we are talking 3 or 4 undesireables out of total 7 or 8 homegames a season.
Understand. Makes sense. I am an extrovert so I enjoy being around people. One of my best friends is an introvert and he prefers staying home.
I never watch MLB until the playoffs. In fact I care very little about all pro sports.
Haven't looked, but I Have to think last years attendance numbers were better than they've been in several years, thanks in large part to the hard sellouts for Florida, LSU and UT. This years home schedule isn't quite as good, but if we are doing well I could see USC, MSU being hard sellouts and wouldn't it be something if that game against UGA on Nov. 19th was to see who goes to the SEC championship game? Really hope that game sets up to be the biggest in program history.
You need to break your own fingers for typing that ... lol
I know, I was there, but I think at that time we weren’t as confident in the chances of actually winning that one. I think this year sets up to be quite a bit more competitive.
Barny caught a lot of crap for that, but it was super smart. Dare I say he was ahead of the curve and out front of the trend!
Well, we know that’s not happening. They aren’t going to sink $5 million into it and then implode it. I think it will be just fine when they are done with the upgrades.
I assume they'll build the new indoor track facility over where the old baseball stadium was (or still is) next to the outdoor track?
Yes... I remember it being constructed when I attended UK. It wiped out a lot of student parking around the Kirwan-Blanding complex (which is now also gone). UK's FB facilities before the Nutter Center were truly abysmal, and were the first real update since the early 1960s if I'm not mistaken.
Listened to a national CFB podcast this week talk on this attendance issue. Guy on there named Steven Godfrey said last season he went to the LSU-UK game with a ticket, not press pass. And that it was miserable; stadium food options stank, just generic refried reheated frozen food,, no alcohol, wifi & 5G didn't work so couldn't keep up with Braves Baseball playoff game or other CFB action.
Then he said this wasn't just UK, same problems everywhere. College students were saying 6, 7 yrs ago stadiums needed to fix the wifi access. Now that everyone is addicted to their smart phones the adults are recognizing the problem.
Then he said this wasn't just UK, same problems everywhere. College students were saying 6, 7 yrs ago stadiums needed to fix the wifi access. Now that everyone is addicted to their smart phones the adults are recognizing the problem.
As much as I hate to dis my own university, I think he has a point. Almost none of the food is worth a damn, I hit the cajun window if I want something, everything else sucks. Wifi is non existent, and no beer. Can't argue with him.
But the LSU game itself was wonderful!!
I think you are confusing the Nutter Center, which is weight lifting facility, with the Nutter Field House, which is the indoor practice facility. The Field House was built in 1993 and is just a building that houses a football field. It does not have a weight facility associated with it. The field house is still one of the best in the country because many only have half of a football field and also have very little sideline and end zone room outside of the field. Our field house had a full size field with a good amount of sideline and end zone space. The track is the only issue with it.
Rarely if ever eat the food in the stadium and don't drink (don't sneak it in). I fill up on grub at the tailgate and if I drink, I use the game to sober up. Like watching with a clear head as it is.
I was at UK when it was being built. At the time it was the largest of it's kind in the country and we were one of the first schools to build one. It is long overdue for some updates and renovations though.
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