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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 3:25 pm to Henry Jones Jr
$140 for season tickets isn't the problem ... student growth from out-of-state kids who didn't grow up X fans is one factor ... a better, more individualized experience at home with 3 tvs, better food, cheaper drinks, etc. is another ... athletic depts nickle and diming people for everything is another ... games that last 3 1/2 hrs so cbs can get their commercials in is another ...
all adds up to declining attendance ...
all adds up to declining attendance ...
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 3:49 pm to bgator85
Florida has definitely changed up some things this year. As of last week we had 2,000 unsold student season tickets.
This year students can purchase up to 2 season tickets for guests for $280 each. That's probably the biggest change.
This year students can purchase up to 2 season tickets for guests for $280 each. That's probably the biggest change.
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 3:55 pm to lowspark12
They won't do it, but at Alabama all they would have to do is put those tickets in the window at the stadium that the students won't use and they would get snapped up.
Nice to see you Freep..how's ITAT?
Nice to see you Freep..how's ITAT?
This post was edited on 8/24/14 at 3:56 pm
Posted on 8/24/14 at 3:58 pm to bgator85
I have season tickets at A&M (not student pass) and sold my tickets for two of the lower tier (nonconference) games within a few days for face value.
Strong demand for tickets and looks like the expansion was really needed.
Strong demand for tickets and looks like the expansion was really needed.
This post was edited on 8/24/14 at 4:00 pm
Posted on 8/24/14 at 4:00 pm to antibarner
quote:I should ask you the same question. I haven't posted there since August 2007, and stopped lurking there soon after, having discovered Jay Tate's HABOTN blog by then. If you've visited the site once in the past 7 years you've spent more time there than I have.
Nice to see you Freep..how's ITAT?
So how much did you have to pay for student tickets while you were enrolled at the University?
Posted on 8/24/14 at 4:01 pm to East Coast Band
I don't think interest has peaked. I do think every game being on TV, most OOC good games moving to neutral sites, and every teams playing 2,3, or even 4 cupcake OOC games will hurt attendance over time. Stadiums are expanding and parking is become a nightmare.
Just nice to save the money and the hassle and stay at home or go to a friends or even a bar.
Just nice to save the money and the hassle and stay at home or go to a friends or even a bar.
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 4:59 pm to Landmass
I don't know if interest has peaked, but I think attendance is a real area of concern. A few thoughts:
1. As others have said, the improvement in the home experience hurts the market for going to games. When most games are on TV, and watching from home is so much easier and in some ways a better experience, it hurts attendance.
2. Football is expensive to attend, and to draw crowds that feel justified in spending that much, each game must be an "event". Cupcakes OOC games (and sometimes even non-rivalry in-conference games) are not really events, but you still have a lot of hassle and expense to attend. I don't think SEC schools are going to have trouble with "big" games, but yeah, playing crappy teams, more and more people may elect to stay home.
1. As others have said, the improvement in the home experience hurts the market for going to games. When most games are on TV, and watching from home is so much easier and in some ways a better experience, it hurts attendance.
2. Football is expensive to attend, and to draw crowds that feel justified in spending that much, each game must be an "event". Cupcakes OOC games (and sometimes even non-rivalry in-conference games) are not really events, but you still have a lot of hassle and expense to attend. I don't think SEC schools are going to have trouble with "big" games, but yeah, playing crappy teams, more and more people may elect to stay home.
Posted on 8/24/14 at 5:01 pm to Landmass
Florida would not have any problems if the football team started winning.
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 8:59 pm to Monticello
Interest in college football is at an all time high nationwide.
The problem is specific to students these days. In this day and age of high def tvs and cell phones, kids have no attention span and are used to experiencing the world through some gadget, not live and in person.
The non-game experience has vastly improved and the gameday experience has largely stayed the same (or gotten worse due to ridiculous prices).
It's a nationwide problem.
They need to vastly improve the in stadium conditions. TV revenue is where they make their money these days, stop trying to bleed every single person at the games with $80 tickets to beat cream puff U or $8 soft drinks, etc.
The problem is specific to students these days. In this day and age of high def tvs and cell phones, kids have no attention span and are used to experiencing the world through some gadget, not live and in person.
The non-game experience has vastly improved and the gameday experience has largely stayed the same (or gotten worse due to ridiculous prices).
It's a nationwide problem.
They need to vastly improve the in stadium conditions. TV revenue is where they make their money these days, stop trying to bleed every single person at the games with $80 tickets to beat cream puff U or $8 soft drinks, etc.
This post was edited on 8/24/14 at 9:01 pm
Posted on 8/24/14 at 9:01 pm to FearlessFreep
State does not have this problem.
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