Football (All Levels) Attendance

[crazzymark]

well, well , well the truth comes out, BB fans do not want the FB to shine, we could play Memphis or Cincinnati and or any FBS team every week or play EIU (losing scholarships) , DII teams and and other power houses like Murray St. lol wont draw flies. Saturday shopping, raking leafs, looking at the sky will be the norm, not attending FB games. NDSU, SDU,UNI will leave and move up and just like the mico valley coop bb has shrunk to, FB will be irrelevant again. That will make all you shhh and sit down at bb games happy. btw said mentioned teams about are growing and or sold out every game..just sayin

How many games have you been to in the last decade?

Every chance I get back home, I go to a game whatever the sport is or if an ISU team is near Orlando, I attend, been mostly softball and chat with Melinda every time and catch up...we go back to when I was at ISU. I am technically a grey hair but I will not sit down or be shhhed by someone that thinks it is an opera, not a sporting event.

 

[crazzymark]

well, well , well the truth comes out, BB fans do not want the FB to shine, we could play Memphis or Cincinnati and or any FBS team every week or play EIU (losing scholarships) , DII teams and and other power houses like Murray St. lol wont draw flies. Saturday shopping, raking leafs, looking at the sky will be the norm, not attending FB games. NDSU, SDU,UNI will leave and move up and just like the mico valley coop bb has shrunk to, FB will be irrelevant again. That will make all you shhh and sit down at bb games happy. btw said mentioned teams about are growing and or sold out every game..just sayin

How many games have you been to in the last decade?

Every chance I get back home, I go to a game whatever the sport is or if an ISU team is near Orlando, I attend, been mostly softball and chat with Melinda every time and catch up...we go back to when I was at ISU. I am technically a grey hair but I will not sit down or be shhhed by someone that thinks it is an opera, not a sporting event.

But I will have to work a camp and get back for a week...just hard to do with training and commitments in Orlando/Kissimmee. But hoping to see the FB team in the near future here in the sunshine state.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

Excellent post Redbirdsox fan.

Ya know, for all of you that want to use this and any other situation just to dump on our admins as terrible, I will ask again. What do YOU see that others are doing to improve attendance at sporting events? What are you seeing that we are not doing to get Millienials to games Or do something that is not staring at their phone all day. This is most certainly an issue that all of sports marketing is trying to figure out. Yeah, the base remains baby boomers. And that will last only so long. Show us who is getting attendance from younger demos.

Ad Redbirdsox fan says, the best and pretty much only way to improve attendance is to WIN. Even at that, I am not sure you will ever see the numbers from 15 - 20 years ago (outside of final four apprearances). Man I saw a ton of empty seats watching the Illini play Sunday -- including gaping holes in the student section right behind the bench. And I am seeing all over, even common among the P5's. I think if there was anybody that had the resources, $$$ and smarts to figure it out, They could do it. C'mon, peanut gallery. Let's hear some best practices and some ideas. It just gets old to write everything off as our admins stink.

I'm noticing declining student attendance at Wisconsin as they struggle through their first losing season in quite a while. Second semester, student section has been maybe half filled, main floor level not quite filled and the two balconies mostly empty. Declining attendance is a growing problem at a lot of places, the cost to attend games is going up, younger generation not as tuned into attending, etc. etc., many points have been raised so far in this discussion.

Winning helps, but it's deeper than that.

the students at wisconsin may not be showing up but the wisconsin student tickets sold out in 12 minutes...this year's wisconsin team is pretty hard to watch.

https://www.landof10.com/wisconsin/wisconsin-basketball-student-section-tickets-sell-out

 

[StLRedbird]

Despite the trend to downsize football stadiums (which I think is generally a good idea), I would still like to see us build out to 20k seats, regardless of whether we stay in FCS or forge on to FBS. If we stay in FCS for the long-haul (likely), then I would like to see us at least try to emulate the bigger time programs in FCS and match their output in facilities and gameday atmosphere.

Agreed. Horseshoe gets us to 24K, but indoor facility is bigger priority. This is when not having a MacLeod or a Hammons really hurts. Both would most probably be done by now if we had a benefactor of that magnitude.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

20,000 I can get on board with. Essentially that would just be the completion of the horseshoe at the south end of the stadium. That said, they wont do that till they figure out if Horton and the West side stands are in the long term plans. But, yes. The 20K number is nice and round and opens ISU up to things like IHSA state championships and other revenue drawing events.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

I found all the posts and different points of view interesting. I have seen quite a few posts that criticised the administration for not doing more to get fans in the stands and to improve the game day atmosphere. I have also read some articles that today's college student does not consider going to school sporting events as part of the college experience. I myself love to see sporting events in person. No doubt you often get a better view at home but to me the experience at the game whatever sport just can't be beat. Today with huge, Hi Def, flat screen televisions with the ability to pause and rewind, etc. The comfort of your own home as opposed to sitting in the elements and I would also toss in that in some venues the stands are littered with drunken hooligans not fans (not a factor at ISU from my very small window of experience). I think we well may be entering an era where the next generation just does not want to go see a game in person regardless of the game day atmosphere. The cost of tickets at FBS and Pro stadiums is also a factor. I went to an ISU game in 2016 and I thought it was an amazing deal for the price, considering tickets, parking, food and if you want souvenier. I went to a Notre Dame game a few years ago and I paid $80 for the ticket, parking was $25, drinks and food were so way over priced, and an ND T shirt was at least $28. Having a winner on the field always is a big plus but maybe things are just changing. Technology and preferences...ever changing.

 

[Virginia Redbird]

Also if I was in a position to pick, I would say the indoor facility is a higher priority than finishing the horseshoe. The indoor facility would help in recruiting I think and also the product on the field. It is supposed to be a multi-purpose facility if I understand correctly so other sports would benefit as well. The horseshoe I fear would just provide a view of more empty seats than we see today.

 

[BallwinBird2012]

Since the thread has moved in a somewhat "seat downsizing" direction, thought this might be worth sharing. Kinda long, but a good read.

https://www.athleticbusiness.com/stadium-arena/spectator-venues-are-realizing-the-benefits-of-downsizing-seating-capacity.html

I've mentioned it on the bball thread a time or two, but I would love to see RBA go in a similar direction at some point.

As far as Hancock/football facilities go, I would love to emulate JMU!....someday....

http://jmusports.com/Facilities/?path=facilities