Posted on 02/15/2018 10:40:52 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
Major-college football experienced its largest per-game attendance drop in 34 years and second-largest ever, according to recently released NCAA figures.
Attendance among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in 2017 was down an average of 1,409 fans per game from 2016. That marked the largest drop since 1983 when average attendance declined 1,527 fans per game from 1982.
The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997.
That average attendance drop marked the second-sharpest decline since the NCAA began keeping track of college football attendance in 1948. For the first time in history, average attendance declined nationally for four consecutive seasons.
Even the most rabid league in the country saw a dip. In 2017, the SEC experienced its sharpest per-game decline -- down an average 2,433 fans -- since 1992. That figure led the Power Five in fans lost per game in 2017.
While the SEC led all FBS conferences in average attendance for the 20th consecutive year, its average attendance (75,074) was the lowest since 2005. The SEC has slipped an average of 2,926 fans per game (3.7 percent) since a record 78,630 average in 2015.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbssports.com ...
I used to really enjoy going to afternoon games on an Indian summer Saturday. Not long ago all games were held on Saturdays. Then they slowly spread to other days of the week. Then the daylight afternoon games disappeared in favor of bigger TV audiences at night. Who wants to shiver in the Fall when the sun goes down?
The very few, rare and special college bowl games morphed into 40 nearly useless bowl games.
Then came the crowning blow - the playoffs in lieu of the honest bowl games.
All of this completely ruined college football.
The decline of football will be in direct proportion to how diverse this nation is.
Unfortunately there is nothing honest about the bowl games. The schools are required to purchase thousands of tickets at premium prices and the schools (taxpayers) have to suffer the shortfall on the unsold ones, of which at the smaller schools is many.
And that’s the way it is. Roll, Tide, Roll.
Fake news if you’re a Dawg fan.
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