re: Mega stadiums

The knock on the NFL, and the likely reason for their lower attendance numbers, is that they've taken a once moderately-priced event and turned it into an extravagantly-priced event.

I sat in the upper deck for the Falcons at Saints game last season and paid $140 for my ticket. I then purchased two $9.00 beers and a $8.00 hot dog. Luckily, we took the streetcar and walked to the Dome.

Basically, $166 per person, per event is too god damn much.

I hope college football doesn't go the way of the ever-greedy NFL.

I am convinced CFB is going the way of the NFL. All decisions will be based on maximizing TV and corporate dollars. Consideration of the benefits for the everyday fan or alumni will be non-existant. Corporate crowds are the worst as no ones gives a crap about the actual game...too busy enjoying the amenities of the stadium.

Once Saban leaves and Alabama stinks again there will be a lot of empty seats.

Always surprised me why the Aggies decided to go so big on their renovations. Some down seasons and the newness of the SEC wears off there will be a lot of empty seats.

quote:

---

Always surprised me why the Aggies decided to go so big on their renovations.

---

It's surprising to everyone else, but not to us. The enrollment of the school is at over 53K and projected to grow. The average enrollment of the school for the classes that are now dying off was in the neighborhood of 8K students. The expansion should provide a window of a few years for the school to grow into the stadium. It's what happened when we opened our north end zone expansion in 1999. The last several years that we were in the big 12 and then of course our first several years in the SEC we consistently filled the stadium at or close to capacity.

quote:

---

It's surprising to everyone else, but not to us. The enrollment of the school is at over 53K and projected to grow. The average enrollment of the school for the classes that are now dying off was in the neighborhood of 8K students. The expansion should provide a window of a few years for the school to grow into the stadium. It's what happened when we opened our north end zone expansion in 1999. The last several years that we were in the big 12 and then of course our first several years in the SEC we consistently filled the stadium at or close to capacity.

---

Attendance all over CFB is declining yet you think you are immune? The announcement of your expansion was a perfect storm coming off the win @ Bama and Manziel's Heisman. Once the newness of the SEC and stadium wears off there will be empty seats. Kyle Field was never packed week in and week out before. Pepople get tired of the traffic, cost and devoting an entire day/weekend to the game.

As early as 2010 you had an attendance problem it seems.

LINK

What happens when that 45 minute drive takes 2 hrs + on gameday.

quote:

---

Dude, he JUST fricking explained it to you. It's as if your brain didn't process a damn thing he wrote. A&M was filling an 87,000 seat stadium with people who graduated when our school had 8,000 students. We have 53,000 today, and growing. The rate of increase in alumni will outpace any national average decline in attendance. Kyle Field is 45 minutes from the 4th largest city in America which is in the middle of a jaw dropping economic boom. We are subject to a different set of circumstances than other schools. They aren't growing, we are. They're not super close to a gigantic city overflowing with cash, we are.

---

Looks really full to me. Texas A&M struggled big time to fill their 81,000 stadium from 2000-2011. And Yes, they had a large student body, lots of money, Houston was right next door, and blah blah blah blah. Every advantage they brag about currently existed the last 20 years.

quote:

---

A&M was filling an 87,000 seat stadium with people who graduated

---

So now it's this

quote:

---

A&M week in week out had at least 70,000 people in the stadium even at the worst of the Fran/Sherman eras

---

So that is 70,000 in a 87,000 stadium. So actual butts in the seats were probably around 55,000. Yep, I would say yall struggled to fill your stadium for the better part of the last 15 years.

I went to the Auburn Ole Miss game two years ago in Oxford. That stadium seemed like the perfect size.
I had to sit in the upper deck one time in Auburn and I told my wife if I had to sit up here every time I would probably just stay at the tailgate.
If you are selling out your stadium and have a waiting list for tickets like Bryant Denny then people are obviously willing to pay big money to sit up there. Just not me.

No use arguing. If someone has a preconceived idea about something, you typically are not going to change their mind, even with empirical evidence.

One thing to note is that A&M did not consistently average 70K a game until the mid 90's, yet the stadium expanded by 13K seats in 1999 anyway. There was a goose in average attendance right after the expansion, but then it pulled back during the Fran years. However, even with Franchione it never fell below the prior capacity, and then it began turning around towards the end of the decade. That was in spite of still mediocre football under Sherman. By the end of his tenure average attendance was hitting the capacity number.

There will probably be a similar trajectory with this expansion. Early on, big games will hit capacity, and others will fall short. Over time however, the school will grow into the stadium.

So the Texans model is what you are going after? An atmosphere well noted for people staying in the lot to tailgate versus going into the stadium for kickoff?