Great Depression-like Crowds at Sugar Bowl

[MaxwellCuse]

Picked this up on the Georgia Scout fan forum:

"Sugar Bowl announced crowd of 54,178 is the game's worst since 1939 and smallest ever for a BCS bowl."

Another fan opined that that figure must be for tickets sold because the actual crowd was much smaller.

Fact is, attendance at most of the bowl games that I've watched for at least 3 minutes has looked pretty pathetic. Some may talk about match-ups and the saturation point in bowls being long since reached -- and those are certainly factors -- but I think the still sluggish economy has forced Americans to reconsider their priorities. As a result, attendance at sporting events for which a fee is charged, not just bowl games, is declining. Question is, when the economy finally turns around will fans come back? Outside of the Deep South -- which has held onto their fan bases better than most -- I'm doubtful.

 

[Scooch]

Attendance is a challenge for every sport right now. Two driving factors, (1) the economy, (2) the in-home experience.

A growing number of people simply prefer to watch games in their living rooms vs. a stadium or arena.

 

[PhatOrange]

Picked this up on the Georgia Scout fan forum:

"Sugar Bowl announced crowd of 54,178 is the game's worst since 1939 and smallest ever for a BCS bowl."

Another fan opined that that figure must be for tickets sold because the actual crowd was much smaller.

Fact is, attendance at most of the bowl games that I've watched for at least 3 minutes has looked pretty pathetic. Some may talk about match-ups and the saturation point in bowls being long since reached -- and those are certainly factors -- but I think the still sluggish economy has forced Americans to reconsider their priorities. As a result, attendance at sporting events for which a fee is charged, not just bowl games, is declining. Question is, when the economy finally turns around will fans come back? Outside of the Deep South -- which has held onto their fan bases better than most -- I'm doubtful.

Agreed. The only Bowl game I've seen with solid attendance was the Rose Bowl. The bowls are dying, nobody is attending them. It's embarrassing for the bowl system seeing these empty stadiums. People aren't going to spend that extra cash to attend when they're worried about their mortgage payments.

The whole thing needs to be blown up. Go to a 16 team team playoff format with higher seeded teams at home and let the stadiums bid on the championship game.

FCS has 20 teams and uses 5 weekends starting Nov 24. FBS could use 4 weekends with Champ game on neutral field 1st weekend of Jan.

 

[Marsh01]

The bowls suck plain and simple. College footballs post season is just stupid.

When someone tries to defend the regular season/post season of college football vs college basketball I always refer to my movie analogy:

College Football: A great movie with high expectations that really keeps your for the most part really interested and you are enjoying it and then it has an awful ending and you walk out of the theater disappointed and could care less if you ever see it again.

College Basketball: A good movie that also has high expectations that has ups and downs and you are at times losing interest but the ending is so incredible that you walk out of the theater and immediately want to go buy the DVD.

I would love to see a 16 team playoff (or at least an 8 team playoff) is the only thing that will work. This 4 team crap is better but not at all a solution.

How anyone can be anti-playoff blows me away.

 

[rosconey]

was it the rutgirls bowl game that had about 6 people?

pinstripe might be one of the top crowds-

when all this realignment crap started i was baffled that football was the force- to me the hoops tournament was always far superior to the bowl setup-so why wasnt it the factor-

football always appeared slanted towards a select few schools while hoops was wide open for even the smallest school- so to me they had the far bigger drawing power-

 

[Bayside44]

Agreed. The only Bowl game I've seen with solid attendance was the Rose Bowl. The bowls are dying, nobody is attending them. It's embarrassing for the bowl system seeing these empty stadiums. People aren't going to spend that extra cash to attend when they're worried about their mortgage payments.

The whole thing needs to be blown up. Go to a 16 team team playoff format with higher seeded teams at home and let the stadiums bid on the championship game.

FCS has 20 teams and uses 5 weekends starting Nov 24. FBS could use 4 weekends with Champ game on neutral field 1st weekend of Jan.

Michigan-South Carolina, Nebraska-Georgia packed em in. The Sun Bowl seems to do well all the time.

But like Scooch says, far easier to drop a one time payment on a big TV and couch verses the expense of going to a game, esp these days.

 

[TexanMark]

Michigan-South Carolina, Nebraska-Georgia packed em in. The Sun Bowl seems to do well all the time.

But like Scooch says, far easier to drop a one time payment on a big TV and couch verses the expense of going to a game, esp these days.

The Sun Bowl is a civic pride thing...The Alamo Bowl has also done very well. I wish the ACC could get involved with the Alamo Bowl.

 

[Jaka]

The bowls suck plain and simple. College footballs post season is just stupid.

When someone tries to defend the regular season/post season of college football vs college basketball I always refer to my movie analogy:

College Football: A great movie with high expectations that really keeps your for the most part really interested and you are enjoying it and then it has an awful ending and you walk out of the theater disappointed and could care less if you ever see it again.

College Basketball: A good movie that also has high expectations that has ups and downs and you are at times losing interest but the ending is so incredible that you walk out of the theater and immediately want to go buy the DVD.

I would love to see a 16 team playoff (or at least an 8 team playoff) is the only thing that will work. This 4 team crap is better but not at all a solution.

How anyone can be anti-playoff blows me away.

agreed...I started following college football in 2004 so I wasn't exactly brought up in it like some folks, and it came as a shock that there wasn't a playoff. The whole system reeks of corruption and it is sad that other people don't see it. People who argue against it are simply dumb...to the point that its awkward.

 

[Marsh01]

agreed...I started following college football in 2004 so I wasn't exactly brought up in it like some folks, and it came as a shock that there wasn't a playoff. The whole system reeks of corruption and it is sad that other people don't see it. People who argue against it are simply dumb...to the point that its awkward.

New Years Day which easily was a top 5 sports day of the year for me growing up (back in the 80's) isnt even a top 50 day in my world anymore. I dont think I watched 1 hour of football on New Years Day this Year.

 

[PhatOrange]

Michigan-South Carolina, Nebraska-Georgia packed em in. The Sun Bowl seems to do well all the time.

But like Scooch says, far easier to drop a one time payment on a big TV and couch verses the expense of going to a game, esp these days.

I didn't watch 5 minutes of either game so I didn't know that. Spent the day skiing with my kids.

On the payment thing - I've always wondered what all these people who travel do for a living. Not only would I have to spend upwards of $2000 or more to travel at XMas/New Years (when I'm also buying gifts) but then I'd have to get days off from work. Is it that easy for everybody to take 2 or 3 or 4 days off from work during this time?

 

[upperdeck]

whyt do you think neb travels so well to bowls.. 90% of the state is waiting for farming season to start back up.

 

[Marsh01]

I didn't watch 5 minutes of either game so I didn't know that. Spent the day skiing with my kids.

On the payment thing - I've always wondered what all these people who travel do for a living. Not only would I have to spend upwards of $2000 or more to travel at XMas/New Years (when I'm also buying gifts) but then I'd have to get days off from work. Is it that easy for everybody to take 2 or 3 or 4 days off from work during this time?

I agree. Taking time off this time of the year is next to impossible for me (and I own my own business). Throw in what it would cost and its crazy.

Much easier, less expensive and more enjoyable to hop in the car and head to an NCAA hoop game for me.

 

[nzm136]

Picked this up on the Georgia Scout fan forum:

"Sugar Bowl announced crowd of 54,178 is the game's worst since 1939 and smallest ever for a BCS bowl."

Another fan opined that that figure must be for tickets sold because the actual crowd was much smaller.

Fact is, attendance at most of the bowl games that I've watched for at least 3 minutes has looked pretty pathetic. Some may talk about match-ups and the saturation point in bowls being long since reached -- and those are certainly factors -- but I think the still sluggish economy has forced Americans to reconsider their priorities. As a result, attendance at sporting events for which a fee is charged, not just bowl games, is declining. Question is, when the economy finally turns around will fans come back? Outside of the Deep South -- which has held onto their fan bases better than most -- I'm doubtful.

The irony is that UF was playing last night, and they were playing in New Orleans. Gainsville is far enough north in Florida to still be "southern," and New Orleans is as much of an embodiment of the deep south as you can get. The kicker is that UL sold 2x as many tickets to that game as UF. I get that UF was less excited about playing Ul than UL was about UF, but that is still a bad omen for the SEC. Given that the ratings for many of these bowl games are falling and attendance is crashing, I think that the age of the super TV deals could be coming to an end. I am sure that the SEC's contract will be very big, but I don't think that it will be as big as people are predicting.

 

[Cuseregular]

The bowls suck plain and simple. College footballs post season is just stupid.

When someone tries to defend the regular season/post season of college football vs college basketball I always refer to my movie analogy:

College Football: A great movie with high expectations that really keeps your for the most part really interested and you are enjoying it and then it has an awful ending and you walk out of the theater disappointed and could care less if you ever see it again.

College Basketball: A good movie that also has high expectations that has ups and downs and you are at times losing interest but the ending is so incredible that you walk out of the theater and immediately want to go buy the DVD.

I would love to see a 16 team playoff (or at least an 8 team playoff) is the only thing that will work. This 4 team crap is better but not at all a solution.

How anyone can be anti-playoff blows me away.

exactly as you and Phat say. Going to 8 or 16 solves the problem. Other than hard core fans of the teams that are playing who in their right minds wants to shell out big $ for an essential meaningless game. If some of the bowls are part of the run up to a football version of final four and then the actual final four, well then the games mean something and just like the sub regionals and regionals in hoops people will show up again.

With all this poor attendance and the resultant lack of $ flowing that means there's a chance it will happen and we'll all be the happier and better for it. Lets hope sooner rather than later.

 

[Jeepers]

I think it's HD TVs and all this corporate garbage. I don't even know which bowl some of these used to be. If they have to tack on a corporate name, at least do it like the Rose Bowl. "Rose Bowl presented by Vizio."

 

[orangeinjersey]

On the payment thing - I've always wondered what all these people who travel do for a living. Not only would I have to spend upwards of $2000 or more to travel at XMas/New Years (when I'm also buying gifts) but then I'd have to get days off from work. Is it that easy for everybody to take 2 or 3 or 4 days off from work during this time?

I was thinking about this last night as well. but from the opposite spectrum. I was thinking to myself, had SU gotten to the Sugar bowl, I would have went. Being a dual income with no kids yet, it would have been expensive, but we could have splurged, being neither myself or wife have been to New Orleans yet.

I have to think most of these folks drive to this, and stay at crappy hotels far from the site. But then the opposite side, maybe there are folks that live within their means and have the disposable income. I bought a house last year, and spent way under what the bank advised. I know people automatically assume thats all we could afford, but then are shocked that we take last minute elaborate vacations and such.

 

[CuseIsInTheHouse]

pinstripe might be one of the top crowds-

Not even close. Pinstripe Bowl is 21st out of the 30 bowl games played so far.

http://helmetstickers.blogspot.com/2012/12/2012-2013-bowl-attendance-figures.html

If you want to split hairs about tickets sold vs actual attendance, go ahead.

 

[PhatOrange]

I was thinking about this last night as well. but from the opposite spectrum. I was thinking to myself, had SU gotten to the Sugar bowl, I would have went. Being a dual income with no kids yet, it would have been expensive, but we could have splurged, being neither myself or wife have been to New Orleans yet.

I have to think most of these folks drive to this, and stay at crappy hotels far from the site. But then the opposite side, maybe there are folks that live within their means and have the disposable income. I bought a house last year, and spent way under what the bank advised. I know people automatically assume thats all we could afford, but then are shocked that we take last minute elaborate vacations and such.

Aahhh to be a DINK again. Now my 3 year old costs us 10K a year just on daycare.

 

[PhatOrange]

I was thinking about this last night as well. but from the opposite spectrum. I was thinking to myself, had SU gotten to the Sugar bowl, I would have went. Being a dual income with no kids yet, it would have been expensive, but we could have splurged, being neither myself or wife have been to New Orleans yet.

I have to think most of these folks drive to this, and stay at crappy hotels far from the site. But then the opposite side, maybe there are folks that live within their means and have the disposable income. I bought a house last year, and spent way under what the bank advised. I know people automatically assume thats all we could afford, but then are shocked that we take last minute elaborate vacations and such.

Aahhh to be a DINK again. Now my 3 year old costs us 10K a year just on daycare. No lie.

 

[JD]

I have you beat one three year old (3 days a week) and a kindergardener (after school three days a week) $12,500.

 

[orangeinjersey]

Aahhh to be a DINK again. Now my 3 year old costs us 10K a year just on daycare. No lie.

lol already been pricing them out. Our local places here in NJ want $1200+ a month 5 days a week ($14.4K yr)