FBS attendance decreased again in 2019, continuing a now six-year trend. The top division of college football experienced its lowest ticket sales since 1996, according to CBS Sports.
It’s the eighth time in nine years that fan attendance has dropped.
In the past decade, the sports media landscape has evolved at a breakneck pace. High-definition highlights are posted on social media mere seconds after each play’s conclusion. Top tier collegiate athletic conferences now have their own television networks available their regional cable packages.
TV ratings for college football broadcasts are increasing. So are ticket prices.
If you’re a graduate of the University of Georgia who lives in New York City, you can pay for a premium cable package to include the non-regional SEC Network, or, ya know, go to one of the bars aligned with the UGA Alumni Association.
If you’re a Penn State alumnus who lives in San Diego, you can fork over a little extra money every fall toward the Big Ten Network and catch all the games not shown on FOX Sports affiliates.
Are you a Texas Longhorn in Atlanta? Or in Omaha? Possibly Honolulu?Your team has an entire television channel provided by ESPN. Until last month, you could even download it on a PlayStation.
It turns out that a small viewing fee, not matter the medium, may be more alluring to fans as opposed to a multi-hour flight, expensive admission, expensive lodging, and a second voyage back.
Given so many viewing options, fans seem more willing to host their tailgates (no matter how elaborate) from the comfort of home.
How did the SEC change?
Of the Power Five conferences, the Southeastern Conference experienced the largest decline from 2018 to 2019. Cumulative attendance for all fourteen teams dropped 1.7 percentage points. It was the SEC’s lowest average attendance since 2000.
However, the conference still dwarfed the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12 in overall conference attendance, exceeding runner up Big Ten by 7,658 fans per game.
That might have something to do with college football nearly approaching a religious status in the southeast, but it probably has something to do with the fact that half of the continent’s ten largest (non-racing) sports venues belong the SEC schools.
How did the other four conferences change?
Only one P5 conference saw an increase in attendance. The Big 12 increased by .1% and came in at third in total attendance behind the SEC and Big Ten.
The Big 10, second-best in average attendance, regressed 0.5% from 2018 to 2019, its lowest since 1993.
The ACC dropped 1.2% over the span. It was the conference’s most dismal attendance record in 20 years.
The Pac-12 rides the P5 caboose, dipping .8 in fan presence to achieve its lowest mark since 1978.
What else causes lower attendance?
Time is money, and making a pilgrimage to your team’s Mecca costs both.
First of all, I acknowledge this is anecdotal:
I have friends who attended SEC schools in the central time zone. For folks living on eastern standard time, noon kickoffs are already miserable if over an hour’s worth of travel is necessary.
For all of the SEC West, those early kickoffs are at 11:00 a.m. My friends at Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, and Arkansas did not particularly care for them.
I sat in classes with former Georgia players who mentioned their hatred of those early warm ups. I lived with members of the Redcoat Marching Band who lamented arising at 4:30 on a Saturday morning just to be able to find parking at the intramural fields for pre-game rehearsal.
Now, if you will, imagine being an LSU graduate who lives in Houston, Texas. Alabama is visiting Death Valley, but it’s a 2:30 p.m. local kickoff broadcast nationally as CBS’s SEC Game of the Week. Your journey to Baton Rouge will last four hours without traffic (totally impossible as I-10 is miserable at all hours of all days).
Would you rather?
1. Leave work early on Friday to check into an overpriced and ostensibly overbooked hotel?
2. Leave town before 7:00 a.m. to fight traffic and ensure your arrival before kickoff?
3. Stay at home, watch your alma mater host your most hated rival in high definition, and spend a quarter of the money you saved to secure culinary and alcoholic provisions for your favorite people?
What can be improved?
Our planet’s population has more than tripled since the first live televised American football contests (both college and professional) in 1939.
Proportionately, there are more existing graduates and related fans of these “football schools” than existed prior to the broadcasts. Thus there are far more dedicated fanatics for each home team than any one stadium could possibly accommodate.
An alumni base growing steadily will increase demand over limited stadium seats.
Whether through stadium expansion, discounted hot dog prices, or the permission of much-awaited beer sales, your local state college wants you at their stadium on Saturdays.
There’s enough space for you if you have at least $500 to spend.
