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Has interest in college football peaked? At least one SEC AD thinks so...
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:19 pm
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:19 pm
...saw this from USA Today a couple days ago, echoes some of the comments in the recent "Best Student Section in the SEC" thread about millenials' apparent lack of interest in attending home games while in school:
Nowadays, seasons tickets for current students set you back a cool $140 for 7 games. And they aren't actually "tickets" anymore, their just swipes on an ID card, so no more non-students sneaking in at the cheaper student rate. The number of students who opt out of going to games may not be significant on a yearly basis, but it will definitely add up over time:
So it seems quite possible that the current system of big time college football is unsustainable. What are the Rant's thoughts?
Read The Whole Thing
quote:Unmentioned in the piece is the fact that, like everything else associated with secondary education in the US, the price of student tickets have skyrocketed. Case in point: when I was at AU in the '80s, a six-game book of student tickets was a whopping $12, and sneaking non-students in on the cheaper tickets was easy most of the time as ticket-takers were pretty lax on checking for student IDs.
All across the country, the people athletic departments count on to be their lifeblood – students, who turn into alumni, who turn into season ticket buyers and donors – are seemingly less and less interested in spending their Saturdays in football stadium.
"Is it different than it was when I got here 30 years ago? Yeah, it's different," Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley said. "Back then, you sold a ticket, opened the gates and they came."
Now it's not that easy. And practically every program in the country has felt the effects.
Nowadays, seasons tickets for current students set you back a cool $140 for 7 games. And they aren't actually "tickets" anymore, their just swipes on an ID card, so no more non-students sneaking in at the cheaper student rate. The number of students who opt out of going to games may not be significant on a yearly basis, but it will definitely add up over time:
quote:With many graduates are looking forward to student loan debt in the six-figure range, setting aside a couple of hundred bucks for a single game (figuring in ticket prices, travel expenses, food and drink, etc) will only seem even more extravagant.
"The likelihood of someone who didn't go to games when they're an undergrad becoming a fan at age 40 is probably one in a million," Pitt athletics director Steve Pederson said. "If you didn't participate at that time, I don't know why you'd begin later on in life."
So it seems quite possible that the current system of big time college football is unsustainable. What are the Rant's thoughts?
Read The Whole Thing
16
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:20 pm to FearlessFreep
I'm glad we are making the shift to being a basketball school
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:20 pm to FearlessFreep
As long as there are people not interested, interest has not "peaked"
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:23 pm to FearlessFreep
quote:
Unmentioned in the piece is the fact that, like everything else associated with secondary education in the US, the price of student tickets have skyrocketed. Case in point: when I was at AU in the '80s, a six-game book of student tickets was a whopping $12
The prices of most things have gone up since the 80s.
To answer your question, no, I do not think interest in cfb has peaked. On the contrary, it's as popular as it's ever been amongst the students and Former Students at my university.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:24 pm to FearlessFreep
Millenials can't keep interest in one thing for three (4 for CBS telecasts) consecutive hours.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:27 pm to FearlessFreep
I don't think Foley said interest had peaked, he said the student bodies of today are different than in years past so you have to approach them differently.
This post was edited on 8/24/14 at 3:29 pm
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:50 pm to FearlessFreep
I predict there will be tons of empty seats at overinflated SEC stadiums in the not too distant future.... With each team maybe getting one or two true sellouts a year.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 4:18 pm to FearlessFreep
College Football used to be affordable to take the whole family. But with tickets at $75+ per seat, it's just not affordable to take the kids anymore. Kids have so many other distractions that football is going to lose out. I think almost every sport will feel the decline in some way.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 5:13 pm to FearlessFreep
quote:
So it seems quite possible that the current system of big time college football is unsustainable. What are the Rant's thoughts?
I agree with this statement. I expect to see a gradual erosion of game attendance (probably has already happened). tons of young kids today opt out of football for soccer (or their parents do) and their TV's are good enough of an experience for them as they don't see acutally participation of a sport as important as watching it and the games are a hassle.
colleges will adapt, however, and the price of admission will reflect the demand. expect to see townfolk replace students at the games. ie, the new college football is indeed semi pro ball.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 8:42 pm to FearlessFreep
Millennials have plenty of interest in college football. What we don't have any interest in is paying thousands of dollars for season tickets that have 2 decent games. We are not like the previous generations who are so in awe of the sight of any college football game that we will sit through 4 quarters of an MTSU game and blindly cheer. The current CFB model would be the equivalent of the NFL playing half its games against other NFL teams and the other half against arena league and CFL teams.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 9:01 pm to FearlessFreep
State does not have this problem.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 9:06 pm to FearlessFreep
quote:
"The likelihood of someone who didn't go to games when they're an undergrad becoming a fan at age 40 is probably one in a million," Pitt athletics director Steve Pederson said. "If you didn't participate at that time, I don't know why you'd begin later on in life."
I'm not so sure about that. Recently, an Italian friend of mine living in Germany got talked into following the Titans as well as UT. She, yes, she - mentioned that she thinks she'll like the college game better because it's less stale, more tradition, more history etc. She thinks the college game is closer to one of her favorite club soccer teams.
But I think the trick to marketing college football to young people is not just giving them decent home games to attend but also making them feel welcome - universities have over the last 30 years pushed students away, given out lousy seats, and treated students like crap on all kinds of things including requiring guests to ALSO be a student when plenty of students would love to bring a gf/bf or friend who isn't a student.
More importantly though, I think universities need to market the shared cultural and student experiences and parlay that into marketing the culture and unique experiences to adults as well. That's what make CFB special and where there's a lot of room to expand the base of fans.
And for heaven's sake, stop trying to be the NFL. It's dull as frick to a lot of people who love football at other level.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 9:20 pm to FearlessFreep
I think the better question is: Has interest in attending live college football games peaked ?
HD TV, multiple games on at one time, SECN and travel expenses have made it more enjoyable to stay at home. Schools with 100K Stadiums are going to be fighting these issues for the next few years.
HD TV, multiple games on at one time, SECN and travel expenses have made it more enjoyable to stay at home. Schools with 100K Stadiums are going to be fighting these issues for the next few years.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 9:39 pm to FearlessFreep
The major problems facing college football in the future:
1: HD cable television - Every season it seems another network buys into or is created for college football. Every college game worth seeing can now be seen on any basic cable package, and every FBS game period can be seen on some of the more extensive packages. It can be tough for many to justify hundreds/thousands of dollars to go to a game that they can have a better view for from their couch AND catch all the other action that day as well.
2: Alcohol - Most college stadiums don't sell it anywhere but the club seats and suites, and the ones that do charge ridiculous amounts of money. It is significantly cheaper to drink at tailgates or at home than at the game.
3: Technology - Most stadiums are effectively dead zones for cell usage on gameday and it isn't convenient to keep up with stats for your game or others, which is a big deal to many.
4: Marquee opponents - The majority of major conference teams fill half their home schedule with teams they are favored by 20-30 over. Especially in the SEC where there are several HUGE games every year that spoil you, why go to a game you know you will win by halftime?
The biggest steps they can take to remedy this are selling alcohol to the general public (proven to reduce alcohol incidents in the stadium), increase in-house amenities and stop scheduling Coastal Carolina.
1: HD cable television - Every season it seems another network buys into or is created for college football. Every college game worth seeing can now be seen on any basic cable package, and every FBS game period can be seen on some of the more extensive packages. It can be tough for many to justify hundreds/thousands of dollars to go to a game that they can have a better view for from their couch AND catch all the other action that day as well.
2: Alcohol - Most college stadiums don't sell it anywhere but the club seats and suites, and the ones that do charge ridiculous amounts of money. It is significantly cheaper to drink at tailgates or at home than at the game.
3: Technology - Most stadiums are effectively dead zones for cell usage on gameday and it isn't convenient to keep up with stats for your game or others, which is a big deal to many.
4: Marquee opponents - The majority of major conference teams fill half their home schedule with teams they are favored by 20-30 over. Especially in the SEC where there are several HUGE games every year that spoil you, why go to a game you know you will win by halftime?
The biggest steps they can take to remedy this are selling alcohol to the general public (proven to reduce alcohol incidents in the stadium), increase in-house amenities and stop scheduling Coastal Carolina.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 9:51 pm to FearlessFreep
Nah CFB is just better on TV.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 10:31 pm to FearlessFreep
They can fix these problems, it's not like CFB attendance is doomed to a slow and painful death. If they want to get people to the stadium, they know what has to be done, it's simple economics.
Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:40 am to FearlessFreep
To paraphrase an old quote and apply it to what may be diminishing interest in college football...
The football powers that be have brought any diminishing interest on themselves.
quote:Crazy-high prices for game tickets for both students and non-student fans make going to games dicey for families and for budget minded people. Add to that the parking hassles. Add to that the obscene high prices for concessions. Add to that the fact that you can watch a lot of these games on your large flat-screen HD tv in the comfort of your living room, or go to a sports bar to watch with other crazy fans. Add to that the annoyance factor of all the television time-outs for commercials that add an hour to every televised home (or away) game. Add to that the low-value but still high priced cupcake home games that NOBODY really wants to watch. Plus, at LSU the tradition was always night games in Tiger Stadium (after a day of heavy tailgating) - which tradition has been usurped and overruled by the networks that want to televise LSU day games. Thus endeth tradition. And then there's the fact that a lot of the great younger players are bolting the team early for the pros, leaving perpetual rebuilding years in their wake. It's just not as economically rewarding or enjoyable to invest so much $$$ and time as it used to be. Plus the questionable new 4 team playoff structure that is just waiting to be abused by the selection committee and/or ESPN.
"It's the economics, stupid!"
The football powers that be have brought any diminishing interest on themselves.
This post was edited on 8/25/14 at 10:46 am
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