Why College Football Is Studying Major League Soccer

[Scooch]

The one thing that piece touched on that EVERY athletic department, marketing group and ticket office should read over and over was about the use of data.

Clearly Sporting KC and Sporting Innovations are using sophisticated data gathering and targeting techniques.

Any entity that does not employ a similar approach does so at their own risk.

 

[kirbivore]

NY Yankees average attendance:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/yankatte.shtml

1951: 25,326
1961: 21,444
1971: 13,219
1981: 30,175
1991: 23,009
2001: 40,807
2011: 45,107

Irrefutable evidence that the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers suck, while Gen X and Millenials are amazing.

Fenway was a ghost town the day Williams hit his final home run

 

[Alsacs]

Fenway was a ghost town the day Williams hit his final home run

Fenway was a ghost till 1967 and then it became a ghosttown from 1979 till 1986.
Red Sox fans didn't pack Fenway permanently until Harrington sold the Yaukey Trust in 2002 and Henry and co. cleaned up Fenway, added monster seats, rooftop picnic area.

 

[Scooch]

Fenway was a ghost town the day Williams hit his final home run

Correct. My father attended tons of games pre-1967 and says the crowd was him, his buddies and a couple thousand nuns.

Nuns loved day baseball in the 60s, apparently.

 

[Scooch]

I was just reading a great piece about the decline of playground basketball, and this bit about Rucker Park caught my eye:

In an age when virtually every NBA and college game is on television, when players are brands as much as people, folks don't come out unless they think it's worth their while.

"When James Harden played here last year, in five minutes, it's around the city and you couldn't move," said Dee Lancaster, who coached Harden in that game last year.

But what if it's just Brandon Whitaker, a local kid about to enter his senior year at Division II Concordia taking on the man known as The General, the two-time tourney MVP for Sean Bell?

Why isn't that enough?

Why isn't a good game on a warm but comfortable Wednesday night in July, on the fabled Rucker Park court, enough?

"It didn't used to matter how hot it was or who was playing; the place was packed," Marius said. "Now it's, 'Oh, it's hot,' or 'Who's coming?' or whatever. They only come out if it's a big name. I don't know. I don't know where basketball is going. In 20 years, Rucker will still be here. My kids can take over. But I'm not sure what it will be."

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11216972/playground-basketball-dying

It's interesting to see that "attendance" issues do not just plague the SU student section, or SU football in general, or college football, or pro sports... it's something that is an issue for all sporting events of all kinds. The prevalence of sports on TV and online has put a lot of pressure on game attendance, and the expectation people have for what makes a game worthy of attending.

 

[Millhouse]

I was just reading a great piece about the decline of playground basketball, and this bit about Rucker Park caught my eye:

In an age when virtually every NBA and college game is on television, when players are brands as much as people, folks don't come out unless they think it's worth their while.

"When James Harden played here last year, in five minutes, it's around the city and you couldn't move," said Dee Lancaster, who coached Harden in that game last year.

But what if it's just Brandon Whitaker, a local kid about to enter his senior year at Division II Concordia taking on the man known as The General, the two-time tourney MVP for Sean Bell?

Why isn't that enough?

Why isn't a good game on a warm but comfortable Wednesday night in July, on the fabled Rucker Park court, enough?

"It didn't used to matter how hot it was or who was playing; the place was packed," Marius said. "Now it's, 'Oh, it's hot,' or 'Who's coming?' or whatever. They only come out if it's a big name. I don't know. I don't know where basketball is going. In 20 years, Rucker will still be here. My kids can take over. But I'm not sure what it will be."

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11216972/playground-basketball-dying

It's interesting to see that "attendance" issues do not just plague the SU student section, or SU football in general, or college football, or pro sports... it's something that is an issue for all sporting events of all kinds. The prevalence of sports on TV and online has put a lot of pressure on game attendance, and the expectation people have for what makes a game worthy of attending.

being home is way better than it used to be. every song in the world available to listen on great speakers, giant tv with a million shows and movies, etc. people went out more when it was so boring to be home.

and people think the key to getting to the game is to give people the same wifi they get at home? i wouldn't spend a lot of money upgrading wifi when the people who really care about that aren't going to go to the game - why go to a game to tweet when you already have wifi at home

 

[Scooch]

being home is way better than it used to be. every song in the world available to listen on great speakers, giant tv with a million shows and movies, etc. people went out more when it was so boring to be home.

and people think the key to getting to the game is to give people the same wifi they get at home? i wouldn't spend a lot of money upgrading wifi when the people who really care about that aren't going to go to the game - why go to a game to tweet when you already have wifi at home

Yep. I mean, it doesn't hurt to have good WiFi, but that's not the solution.

I posted this before, but 15 years ago the majority of sports fans said they prefer to attend a game in person. Today a majority says they prefer to watch on TV. Price is a factor, as is the vast improvement in the in home experience.

Shouldn't the focus be on making the game experience unique and differentiated from the home experience, so that people will want to attend live?

 

[xc84]

Yep. I mean, it doesn't hurt to have good WiFi, but that's not the solution.

I posted this before, but 15 years ago the majority of sports fans said they prefer to attend a game in person. Today a majority says they prefer to watch on TV. Price is a factor, as is the vast improvement in the in home experience.

Shouldn't the focus be on making the game experience unique and differentiated from the home experience, so that people will want to attend live?

When you go to the game, you are, in a way, part of the game. I was there when SU beat WV to remain undefeated. I was there whey they beat #2 Nebraska in the dome. How impressive is it if I were to say, "I watched those games on TV!"

 

[Quazzum69]

1. The game to non-game ratio is way out of whack in football, basketball and baseball.

Younger people will not suffer through three hours of watching people stand around just because it is a particular sport - they will go to what is actually enjoyable with no bias. I would watch professional Quidditch if it was entertaining and reasonably-priced - I'm not too proud to watch people run around with sticks between the legs recreating a game from a children's book!

2. Sports are suppose to be for the populace. It should be affordable to the poorest of society (and there are plenty of poors). If tickets were affordable, attendance would be fine. Universities and pro teams are shutting out some of the most passionate and loyal fans with high prices.

 

[Full_Rebar]

While everyone talks about the ACC Network and digital revenue, this article makes a good case for putting importance on ticket sales.

http://migalareport.com/revenuepaysthebills

 

[sufandu]

This whole debate about soccer attendance is funny. I remember when NASCAR was "The fastest growing sport in the country." It eventually plateaued and now Bristol Motor Speedway, which sold out every race for what seemed like forever, is advertising tickets for races. Some of that may have been the economy, but during the same time period football is as popular as ever. Let's give soccer a little time, and we'll see where it plateaus.

 

[xc84]

This whole debate about soccer attendance is funny. I remember when NASCAR was "The fastest growing sport in the country." It eventually plateaued and now Bristol Motor Speedway, which sold out every race for what seemed like forever, is advertising tickets for races. Some of that may have been the economy, but during the same time period football is as popular as ever. Let's give soccer a little time, and we'll see where it plateaus.

The most popular soccer team ever in the U.S. NY Cosmos... circa late 70s avg. 48K per game and a staple in the national news.

 

[sufandu]

The most popular soccer team ever in the U.S. NY Cosmos... circa late 70s avg. 48K per game and a staple in the national news.

That's interesting. I wonder why they're not around anymore. My guess is that soccer will be like NASCAR, in that it will have it's time as "America's fastest growing sport" in regards to viewership, but will ultimately plateau below the big 3.

 

[Scooch]

FWIW, that momentum NASCAR had a decade ago was more due to incredibly savvy marketing than anything real. NASCAR was never becoming as popular as the media made it out to be.

 

[sufandu]

FWIW, that momentum NASCAR had a decade ago was more due to incredibly savvy marketing than anything real. NASCAR was never becoming as popular as the media made it out to be.

I don't know any of the numbers, but they were expanding to parts of the country they hadn't been in before, racing at tracks they previously hadn't, and were on TV a lot more.

 

[Scooch]

I don't know any of the numbers, but they were expanding to parts of the country they hadn't been in before, racing at tracks they previously hadn't, and were on TV a lot more.

Right, but it wasn't as big of a deal as was portrayed, by the numbers. NASCAR used to claim that they had higher ratings than the NBA, and the media ate it up. Problem with that is NASCAR Sprint Cup race is on once a week, as opposed to the 8-10 national NBA games on each week, along with the dozens of regional NBA games on each week. So yes, that one Sunday race often had a higher rating that the Sunday nationally broadcast NBA game, but if you added up all the rest of the NBA audience it made NASCAR audiences look tiny.

Just making the point that things like "fastest growing" can be...highly manipulated.

 

[sufandu]

Right, but it wasn't as big of a deal as was portrayed, by the numbers. NASCAR used to claim that they had higher ratings than the NBA, and the media ate it up. Problem with that is NASCAR Sprint Cup race is on once a week, as opposed to the 8-10 national NBA games on each week, along with the dozens of regional NBA games on each week. So yes, that one Sunday race often had a higher rating that the Sunday nationally broadcast NBA game, but if you added up all the rest of the NBA audience it made NASCAR audiences look tiny.

Just making the point that things like "fastest growing" can be...highly manipulated.

I agree with all of that. I told my NASCAR loving friend the same things. I do think they saw significant growth, however. They just never came close to the major sports regardless of how they spun it. I was just drawing a comparison to soccer. Soccer's growth is probably more real, but it's far easier to be "the fastest growing" when you're so small. That was my main point.

 

[kirbivore]

FWIW, that momentum NASCAR had a decade ago was more due to incredibly savvy marketing than anything real. NASCAR was never becoming as popular as the media made it out to be.

Kind of like Rutgers football's mirage in the Schiano era.