“Rivalries Have Been Diminished”: Jason Whitlock Sounds Alarm Over College Football’s Attendance Concerns

College Sports Network ^ | November 1, 2026

[MinorityRepublican]

Several college football teams have drawn attention for sparsely attended games this season. A photo of the Oklahoma Sooners stadium during their Saturday game against the South Carolina Gamecocks is going viral as similar photos of other college football venues are also popping up. Fans began noticing the trend this year, when USC opened its 2026 campaign to a small crowd, and now more sparsely attended games are being witnessed.

Games at other schools are also reportedly seeing attendance problems as many now begin to wonder why some teams are struggling to get fans to watch in person. Former ESPN analyst Jason Whitlock believes he has an idea why this is happening.

“The growing attendance problem in college football isn’t difficult to understand. The games don’t matter nearly as much. No one cares about conference championships. Rivalries have been diminished. Reg season diminished. Playoffs & mega conf, transfer portal ruined CFB,” he noted.

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TOPICS: Sports
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[Fury]

Mega conferences and the expanded transfer portal have really hurt college football. It will get worse before it gets better.

[GSWarrior]

Who wants to buy tickets to watch California and Syracuse? Why are Cal and Stanford in the ACC anyway?

[stateofit]

1. Game times are set by networks to max tv eyes. Couldn’t care less about game experience for fans or players in 100 F weather.

2. School demographics have changed dramatically, with females filling >60% of slots at many schools. Foreign students take growing percentages, and could not tell you where the stadium was.

3. Ticket prices, parking, hotels aren’t cheap

[Paladin2]

$$$$$s

Ain’t nobody got $$$ for dat ticket prices....

[stateofit]

Mainly because SMU needed a conference to stay relevant and the Big12 wouldn’t take them. So they paid Andrew Luck’s dad to get them into ACC and Cal and Stanford got packaged in. These schools forego several years of TV money to get in.

[HIDEK6]

Gamblers do not attend games. They watch them on TV at the sports book.

[citizen]

I have lost interest in football, college and NFL. Stopped watching NBA 35+ years ago. MLB 30+ years ago.

I follow the NHL and amateur hockey. And a few golf majors.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Anybody with a lick of sense could have told them this.

I went to Mizzou as a frosh in Sept 1969. We went to the Orange Bowl that year. It was a compact midwestern conference with lots of regional rivalries. No lights. All games were delightful fall afternoon games in sunlight. The famous "Golden Girls" had started only their field dancing three years earlier. All destroyed for the almighty dollar. Sigh. They ruined college football and other nefarious forces are destroying the entire USA.

[DesScorp]

That’s because it isn’t college football anymore. It’s a half-ass NFL, complete with multi-million dollar player packages and a mercenary attitude by players. Some of them transfer every year now.

[Zack Attack]

Agreed, Mega conferences, gambling contribute. And how TF do schools like Stanford, Cal, SMU etc fit in the ACC? I haven’t cared or watched for years.

[alexander_busek]

I have lost interest in football, college and NFL. Stopped watching NBA 35+ years ago. MLB 30+ years ago.

Well, then thank you for weighing in!

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

No mention of the continued boycotting of football games by conservatives disgusted by "kneeling," etc.

Question to my fellow FReepers: Is anyone still boycotting on account of the outrageous, anti-American, on-field behavior of many players?

Regards,

[Jonty30]

I miss the days when they were kid friendly.

[clee1]

College football has become NFL lite. I gave up on pro football decades ago, and have decided College fb is just as bad now.

[vivenne]

I think NFL games are the games where this happens thus the boycotting. I don’t think its an issue with college football.

[Yossarian]

Question to my fellow FReepers: Is anyone still boycotting on account of the outrageous, anti-American, on-field behavior of many players?

Haven't seen that in the NFL in a number of years.

What they put on TV is player interviews with about 50% of them praising God.

The punk LeBron, with his national anthem disrespect? NBA. Leaving the court during the national anthem? WNBA. I don't watch either of those clown leagues.

[DannyTN]

That’s it!!! More cheerleader time.

[trfree98]

Exactly...
USC or UCLA vs Rutgers?
Total BS.

But add the integration of gambling as part of a partnership for even existing... spit/

The kicker is the 100% DEI in sideline reporting and interviews by the gender that dresses like they are trying to get picked up at a night club (not too big of a stretch in reality...) *AND*...
Gets "how do you feel" and "how did you continue" fed through an ear piece and have never once in their lives been *Slobber Knocked* (at least not on a football field in front of a stadium full of football fans...) and played the rest of a series they will never ever remember (that's a lot of "and's").

So for me it is streamed 15-20min YT summaries and Red Zone, both without commercials mostly while watching or doing something else.
I'm too old ito sit and waste time on totally money infected and social engineered slight of hand corruption of the notable "normal" fall classic I was at on November 22, 1969 or which was so captivating on January 15, 1967.

This current stuff is just plain garbage.

"That's all I have to say about that..."

[MachIV]

Demographics is destiny.