CFB Attendance Waning Yet Nobody Knows Why

Meek

because they don't fucking know... they aren't sociologists, you know!! It's baffling how the attendance is declining!

Here is a very long and thorough article by @JohnCanzanoHasHotAsianWifeDawg

https://oregonlive.com/sports/2019/12/canzano-college-footballs-troubles-will-be-punctuated-with-more-empty-seats-in-pac-12-title-game.html


me, on the other hand... well, I am not a sociologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night... and while there, this is what I learned.

The media has allowed blowhards like Paul Finebaum and ESPN's College Football Live TV show to incessantly promote the same 5-6 teams every fucking year such that all the fans of other teams just don't think the upper echelon of CFB is either relevant to them nor is it even attainable... Look at what Finebaum said yesterday when discussing, on ESPN, whether Oklahoma or Utah should be in.. "nobody wants to see Utah play, therefore pick Oklahoma (because they're of interest to Finebaum and David Pollock and Boogie or whatever his name is). The media polling has intentionally made 112 of 119 teams irrelevant and they wonder why nobody watches anymore.

RaceBannon

Stop watching ESPN instead

Meek

RaceBannon said:

Stop watching ESPN instead

i don't watch it anymore, but the influence the media poll has for the first 9 weeks of the season and the off-season is undeniable. The media members rank teams they "want to see" and really don't know anything about most teams and then the playoff committee falls into that sphere of influence... I happen to think it does affect general interest in the sport since the playoffs were introduced.

but you're right...whatever.gif

whuggy

Didn't read the article but college football is still popular where it matters, i.e. college towns and the South. In big cities like Seattle there's too much else to do if the team is mediocre. Get an elite team here with decent start times and good opponents and the stadium is full. Same as it ever was.

RaceBannon

Meek said:

RaceBannon said:

Stop watching ESPN instead

i don't watch it anymore, but the influence the media poll has for the first 9 weeks of the season and the off-season is undeniable. The media members rank teams they "want to see" and really don't know anything about most teams and then the playoff committee falls into that sphere of influence... I happen to think it does affect general interest in the sport since the playoffs were introduced.

but you're right...whatever.gif

I hear you

ESPN is the source for college football and lots of people still watch

Doog_de_Jour

I’m actually with @Meek here...as much as I now loathe ESPN, they do still have influence (as to how much is debatable). I stopped watching because of their paint-by-the-numbers approach to reporting.

Here was the typical recipe for *any* of their shows:

NFL: Patriots (either Brady or GRONK!); Kaepernick

College Football: How will Alabama/Ohio State make the playoff?; is Jim Harbaugh on the hot seat at Michigan?

Golf: Tiger Woods

NBA: LeBron

College Basketball: Final Four Predictions (even in July)

Baseball: ???? (OK, I usually turned the TV off for that)


Obviously ESPN is not the only reason behind plummeting attendance at college football games (we’ve talked about other contributors here in other threads), but they are part of the problem.

rodmansrage

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

backthepack

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Tickets were like $60 for decent seats. This is a dumb narrative

UWhuskytskeet

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Being at the game is way more fun.

FireCohen

UWhuskytskeet said:

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Being at the game is way more fun.

Yes, cal game was root canal level fun

GreenRiverGatorz

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

And this attitude is why west coast attendance continues to plummet. For better or worse, those in the Midwest and southeast regions still value the experience of going to the game and being there in person. It's a running gag here, but it does mean more.

CFetters_Nacho_Lover

FireCohen said:

UWhuskytskeet said:

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Being at the game is way more fun.

Yes, cal game was root canal level fun

Yup. The one game I went to. Flew to Seattle, rented a VRBO and a car and then sat in Husky Stadium for nearly 6 fucking hours only to see our dWags lose. I'm not over that game.

Meek

if you read the article you'll see that attendance is down in every conference and my point was that when 99% of the teams at the starting line become eliminated from contention by virtue of the media poll (ie score checkers who dont' watch them all) by guys on tv more often than leave it to beaver reruns who are all basically saying that a hot team like Utah isn't as good as a mediocre team like Oklahoma for some manufactured rationale when really it's just because they'd rather watch Oklahoma then it eventually works its way down to the pleebs like us who are expected to buy tickets but when we say "meh...my team isn't involved in anything big...just the cheez-it bowel" so fuck it i'm going to buy a new video game and get drunk tonight instead of going to the game (plus the Nike jerseys suuuuuuckkkk bawls so won't buy that either) then yeah, CFB gets less interesting to the masses.

UWhuskytskeet

FireCohen said:

UWhuskytskeet said:

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Being at the game is way more fun.

Yes, cal game was root canal level fun

Only because of the weather delay. I hate seeing them lose, but I still love getting drunk with my buddies and watching the game live.

RoadDawg55

Big screen TV’s, every game televised, bad non conference opponents. There are tons of reasons.

I do think if the NCAA barred P5 teams from playing more than one game against FCS or non P5 schools, attendance would get better.

It’s frustrating because college football could be so much better with a few easy fixes.

rodmansrage

backthepack said:

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Tickets were like $60 for decent seats. This is a dumb narrative

its cause im dumb and spent $800 for tickets, dummy.

1to392831weretaken

rodmansrage said:

backthepack said:

rodmansrage said:

i can watch any game i want to on tv. why spend $800 on oregon tickets when i can sit on my ass and watch our? dwags lose from my couch?

Tickets were like $60 for decent seats. This is a dumb narrative

its cause im dumb and spent $800 for tickets, dummy.

The seats I like to sit in average about $220 per on the secondary market. I feel your pain. Still, I'd rather pay $800 for a x2 to two games than pay for season tickets and sit there for Weak Sisters Of The Poor University in week one.

I'll be there for Michigan, and I'm already getting started on making the plasma I'll need to donate to afford it.

HuskyJW

Seats are expensive...It may not be factually true but that’s the narrative so that makes it true.

MikeDamone

The "playoff" killed it

UW_Doog_Bot

Variable kick off times also make this shit a lot harder to plan around. I'm glad I can record this shit on a dvr and skip through commercials.

YellowSnow

UW_Doog_Bot said:

Variable kick off times also make this shit a lot harder to plan around. I'm glad I can record this shit on a dvr and skip through commercials.

Can confirm. I sat in Bot's living room once watching Big Dick Eason on DVR shred EWU.