quote:
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.

Winner, Winner, chicken dinner... I purchased tickets for the first time since I graduated from undergrad this year, e.g. 4 years ago. I went to every game in my...um... well cough 4 1/2 years of college. However, I couldn't afford to go until this year.

With that being said, I am somewhat regretting it already. The tickets themselves aren't really to detriment or overly expensive. It's every other cost associated with a somewhat diminished product at LSU. Tail gating isn't what it used to be since, PARKING. Once they removed virtually all of the free parking, that experience has diminished. Now that may be for good reason to keep riff raff out, but it's killed the only thing they had going for them. The game day experience.

The game day experience just is not what it used to be. It was nice to go out and sit around having a good time with food, drinks and watching games waiting on THE GAME. However, the rising costs associated with maintaining that experience are too high and quite frankly not worth it; when I can do the same thing at home and still have time to complete any other things i need to do.

It's the game day experience that is dying and that interest in participating in game day will eventually kill more of the ticket sales, at LSU at least. You couple that with ever increasing prices across the board from tickets, parking, and tailgating, it's just easier at home.

When it's so easy to watch at home, why go?

This post was edited on 8/25/14 at 12:14 am

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by Keltic Tiger

Baton Rouge

Member since Dec 2006

19265 posts

Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:25 am to MiledV-TEC

I know here at LSU the students do get the short end of the stick & are ripped every season for poor attendance, i.e. leaving early. Yet, those seats on the 50 yrd line are just as empty come the 3rd quarter, too. So those future fans are already tired of the BS thrown their way. Too, whenever a season ticket holder gives up his tickets, TAF, the booster club, gets first crack at them. And they sell them to the highest bidder. So, now corporate America now has access to season tickets. And those are not real fans but to a large degree, clients of corporations. And they bail out at the first hint of bad weather or poor opponents. Ticket demand is high, as there is a waiting list for season tickets. Keeping butts in the stands is the main problem. Throw in a 4 win season like what happened at Fla last yr & those butts in the stands won't show up period. And 4 win seasons can & will happen to anyone, just look at AU & the gators in recent history.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by RedPants

Member since Jan 2013

5413 posts

Posted on 8/25/14 at 10:38 am to Keltic Tiger

This is a problem in all sports, not just CFB. The television experience and cost of attending and traveling to a game has ruined it for a lot of people. The Braves are moving completely out of the city to address their problem. Sunday ticket and fantasy leagues have even gotten into the NFL's attendance.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by JawjaTigah

Bizarro World

Member since Sep 2003

22495 posts

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...

quote:
"It's the economics, stupid!"

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.

The football powers that be have brought any diminishing interest on themselves.

This post was edited on 8/25/14 at 10:46 am

Page 1 2 3