The thing about this problem ($$)…
… is that it’s not the problem you think it is.
“What the business model was for years was to get as many people in the stadium as possible,” said Kenny Mossman, senior associate athletic director of external operations at Oklahoma. “I think the philosophy has now shifted to making sure that this seat can deliver the revenue that we need to sustain our department.”
Suck it, alumni.
“Over the past 10 or 12 years the trend in college football facilities, specifically, was quantity,” said Stephanie Pope, vice president, director of interior design at Davis. “We want more people in the stadium, we want the biggest stadium out there. Over the past three to four years, it’s shifting from quantity to quality. That is what the University of Alabama is proposing to do.”
Okay, but whose “quality” are we talking about there?
“Coach Saban doesn’t ask a lot from the students, but he wants his students to be there the whole game and cheer the whole game, and that’s not that much to ask for if you see what he’s done for this community and what he’s done for this university.”
Never mind. We’re screwed.
Get The Picture 
Since the students are amateur athletes, maybe Saban and the athletic department can hire the students to attend and stay in the seats for NM State and W. Carolina… sort of a COA.
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LOL. Saban’s capacity to micromanage knows no bounds.
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That article is missing a quote from McGarity where he condescendingly says that this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to address the bathrooms and concessions.
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Truth! McStingy is reaching the level of hate I have for the vowels and that’s wayyyy up there. I wish he was gone already.
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Clemson went 15-0, won the NC and didn’t sell out a single home game last season. If that isn’t a canary in the coal mine I’m not sure what would be.
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thats really amazing really
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I wonder how much of that has to do with the bland competition of the ACC and anticipating big $$ needed to be spent end of year for playoff tickets and related expenses.
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Who in the ACC has a big traveling base of fans? FSU, and they are down is my only answer. Va Tech, maybe.
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Visiting teams only get about 7000 tickets now and return the ones they don’t sell. They didn’t sell out the game with SCu and that is supposed to be some fierce rivalry. Clemson has a passionate (and very obnoxious) fan base. If they aren’t selling out ANY home games, that is a sign of trouble in college football in my opinion.
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I wonder what level of attendance drop is entirely due to the pits of despair that Vol and Gator fans have lived in over the past 5 years? Given the size of those stadiums and the quality of their performance, and how many empty seats we’ve seen the last few years, it may be as simple as that.
Vandy and Kentucky certainly aren’t down, fan wise, but they aren’t going to make up for UT and FU.
If Pruitt and Mullen can actually deliver on the swagger, then I’d imagine conference attendance increases over the next 2 years due to nothing more than improved quality of product on the field.
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That’s an interesting thought, and probably does contribute to the reduction. However, if they are truly talking “butts in the seats” attendance, and not tickets sold, then I’d say that’s down all around. It seems like every game I see of Georgia on TV, there are empty spaces in the upper corners (until the crowd spreads out). I just think between prices, moving kickoff times, larger crowds/traffic, we’re reaching saturation for many of these college towns. But as long as the sweet TV money keeps rolling in, no one will really care.
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I have posted this before but it is many factors. Families don’t have the discretionary income to support going to game at increased prices. Further the time required for their kid’s travel sports now vs 20 years ago is absurd. Add on increased traffic to get to the games and paying for a spot to park vs blocking in students in their dorm parking lots. It is just more work to attend a game with the less time and resources to do so.
UGA is an outlier compared to UF and some other schools where fans will keep tickets when a team is down. Tennessee has had their single game ticket sales structure different from UGA for years. They give a larger section in the lower deck to single ticket sales and from what I understand it is mixed with student tickets.
Clemson isn’t surprising. Grads often have to leave SC to get a good job.
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This message is loud and clear. The blue-collar, redneck who loves football and just wants to be in the stadium regardless of the “game day experience” need not apply. Schools want to make their $100 per seat investments turn into $1000 dividends, so squeeze out those who can’t afford the comforts of home in favor of big donors who can so sheer volume matters less. I blame it on the facilities and salaries arms race. No amount of profit will ever be enough.
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I took my son to his first game that just the two of us went to by ourselves and saw some friends of mine in the box section above us. They waived down, and I stood there thinking that that was no way to go to a college football game and how I was glad that we were in the regular seats enjoying the experience the way it should be.
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I have relatives that are vowel fans and they always bragged about how big it is and the noise they can generate in it when filled. Having to put up with that shit, I can’t wait for the day it’s half filled at kick off. It’s usually half filled at half time when losing, but the sweetest exodus was when we played them in ’17. So, so, sweet!
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’17 was sweet but so was ’13 when they were deflated in OT. However, I enjoy going to Knoxville for a game.
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’03 (“Jabari fumbled!” before halftime) 2nd half exodus was sweet, too. From my vantage point in the top row of the visitor section, the orange hemorrhage inside and out was beautiful…
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I see several good points in these posts. Even if the “Stadium””Experience” were tailored to my specific desires – – the cost (outside of my F/S tix so it ain’t that bad in one respect) and hassle of getting to the game sucks and doesn’t engender goodwill. Especially with games at Noon. I live in Athens, rise pre 6AM and Noon Kickoffs present friction ALL morning long. I KNOW it’s on me to control how I react to it but Noon kickoffs suck and my reaction is to not invest in those games. ’16 Nichols St. ripped the band-aid off. I blew off that game and stayed at my Condo and didn’t really suffer for it. Also (please save your back in my day glory), Noon Kickoffs run students literally out of town. Multiple students I know rather drive home Friday (they all manage to have no classes on Fri) than attend Noon Games; or, even swipe their ID at the gate and then slog back to their dorm room and go back to sleep. Although, y’all awesome tailgaters usually hook them up with drinks and food while walking by and they LOVE it (especially some of the International Students that don’t get Football but get hospitality)!
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Honestly there are days when I am at the game that I wish I was at home watching the game and several other interesting games at the same time. If it is not a hated rival I just dont enjoy the experience as much anymore. I used to have a big group of friends that tail gated together but that group has gotten smaller and smaller as we all had children and their games etc seemed to take over. 50 folks twindled to 15 in a space of about 7 or 8 years. maybe now that most of us are getting close to empty nesters we can get the band back together but I doubt it.
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Your post tags along with my post about families having more commitments and less discretionary. Who has the $$$ for more premium seating? Empty nesters
…and who wants food in the stadium? People who don’t put a big effort into tailgating. I rarely bought anything more than a coke in the stadium as we had plenty of food before the game.
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Similar situation here Argon, we had a large, fun group from college who would go to every home game in the early years after graduation. Then there are families, spouses, competing obligations/expenses and people move out of state. Our kids didn’t get into and/or want to attend UGA games with us, so our interest has waned the past 5-10 years. Now we try hard to get together for 1 weekend a year to enjoy a game in Athens. However, more and more of us have become complacent to enjoying the games in the comfort of our own homes and large HDTVs. I used to give the UGAA a lot of money each year, but dumped my season tickets a few years ago and donate the minimum to keep active status for road/bowl game tickets. I suspect there are many others like us who won’t be back in the fold ever.
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Would a TV/streaming future with direct conference-to-consumer delivery help some of these woes ? I’m not even going to guess at the happy medium of price points, but I would love nothing more than if the TV revenue went to more of a direct subscription model (yes, more expensive for the SEC TV consumer) with no (or little) TV time-outs than an ad-based model with all the TV timeouts. I think younger generations are willing to actually pay for their quality time not being wasted and generally resent being a captive paying prisoner to marketing.
My gut tells me that a model with subscribers and few to zero TV timeouts would not only be purchased by the fans but also increase butts in the seats with a shortened game time and more uninterrupted flow. Priced and implemented right, it could also better align the price of viewing and price of attending….. not saying I’m just happy to pay tons more for the game on TV, just that if the ADs want to solve the problem we may have to enter a world where an upper deck ticket is comparable, or at least not exponentially more than whatever you might pay at home for a single game that I think everyone can agree provides an increasingly pleasurable and immersive viewing experience.
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I think that would be a great model, especially for the less compelling games. Kickoff time could be set for fans’ convenience, 2:00 later in the season, 5 or 6:00 earlier and games would be over in 2 1/2 hours. Have a few big games network televised and the rest for subscribers only.
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Wasn’t it basically like that in the mid-2000s right before TV blew up ? I remember paying for LA-Monroe and watching it on my laptop. I don’t remember the commercial situation. I’m not sure what I would pay to have a commercial free experience, but it would be substantially more than what I do now.
If I’m the marketing Czar, I couple the PPV (just to call it that), commercial free model with enhanced camera and sound options. Give all games (not just nattys) multiple cam options and add sound options. Personally, I’d want some sort of a still-cam / All-22 hybrid with the option to only turn on just the field level Mics (like cutting off the announcer center channel on 5.1 surround sound). That combo with no commercial breaks would be like being in the stadium. Another guy might like to watch from the sky cam exclusively with the radio broadcast automatically overlayed.
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I’d pay for multiple views with the radio broadcast synched in.
The coaches’ room was the best broadcast for the SECCG and playoff games.
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