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FCS Attendance -- A Mixed Bag

IdaGriz01

IdaGriz01

Well-known member
Short item from STATS.com
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20180208144008497281404

Key quotes:
Haley said:
The average attendance at FCS games dropped by less than 2 percent this past season, although the number of overall fans rose slightly to over 5.5 million because there were more games than in 2016.
... The 23-game playoffs, included in the statistics, drew 222,424 fans, an increase of over 10 percent from 2016.

Montana remains the heavyweight in FCS attendance even as it's missed the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 1991-92. The Grizzlies led the subdivision for the third straight season and the sixth time in the last decade while averaging 23,535 over six home games at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

... Attendance has been declining across college football. The FBS suffered a drop in average attendance for the fourth straight season to 42.203, while Division II and III also suffered slight losses.
Click to expand...
For me, the decline in "live" attendance is no big mystery. UM is not the only school where ticket prices have been going up. Prices at many Power-Five schools are just mind-boggling.

On the flip side, the number of games on TV has gone through the roof. During the regular season, there were sometimes a half-dozen games on at the same time on Saturday, just on the "conventional" channels (a local station, ESPN, ESPNU, BTN, SEC, ACC, etc.) As many of you know, we have the Sports Pack on DirecTV ... so we can usually add in "bonus" channels where we can find one or two FCS games. (And you can also add in a bunch of games that are streamed.) The real problem is to decide what the Hell you're going to watch.

Sure, the game-day "ambience" (tail-gating) of a live game can be great, but with the high ticket prices compared to all those free (or pretty cheap) TV choices ... well, some people are going to decide to stay home.
 
Ticket prices. UM has got to be the conference leader by far. From games I have attended, UM charges at least double that of WSU or ISU. Haven't been to Cat game in about 15 years, so...
 
tourist said:
Ticket prices. UM has got to be the conference leader by far. From games I have attended, UM charges at least double that of WSU or ISU. Haven't been to Cat game in about 15 years, so...
Click to expand...
At the 2016 Griz game in Greeley, I bought tickets at the window on the main side 50 an hour before the game for $15 each. Attendance was maybe 4000 even with beer in the concession and a UNC win. 1000 or so were wearing Griz gear.

For the higher prices at Wash/Griz, you get a good view of the game almost anywhere you sit. Would be nice to have beer in the concession. Not so in Greeley; seats a mile from the field and no elevation to see over the players/coaches at the sideline.
 
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