Now going on its 4 straight year per Washington Post.

I assume it has to do with the 'watered down' product brought about by expanding the basketball-friendly conference for football purposes. But could be other reasons:

Suggested reasons: The economic downturn (I think that might be overrated) and HD television which makes sitting home watching the game a nice alternative.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/acc...story.html

"As a whole, the ACC is averaging 9,406 fans through Wednesday. It would be the lowest average for the league since the 1984-1985 season and the first time it has been lower than 10,000 since the 1988-1989 season. If those figures don’t drastically improve, it would be the fourth consecutive year the ACC’s attendance numbers declined. "

(02-10-2012 10:00 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Now going on its 4 straight year per Washington Post.

I assume it has to do with the 'watered down' product brought about by expanding the basketball-friendly conference for football purposes. But could be other reasons:

Suggested reasons: The economic downturn (I think that might be overrated) and HD television which makes sitting home watching the game a nice alternative.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/acc...story.html

"As a whole, the ACC is averaging 9,406 fans through Wednesday. It would be the lowest average for the league since the 1984-1985 season and the first time it has been lower than 10,000 since the 1988-1989 season. If those figures don’t drastically improve, it would be the fourth consecutive year the ACC’s attendance numbers declined. "

I agree w/ your original statement. A big, spread out conference does little to inspire fan support.

But, you present plausible alternatives too. Also, isn't the ACC ranked like #5 this year? They're having a bit of a down year, and traditional powerhouses, like Maryland are off. So fans aren't uber-enthusiastic about games like Duke v Maryland.

(02-10-2012 10:05 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-10-2012 10:00 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Now going on its 4 straight year per Washington Post.

I assume it has to do with the 'watered down' product brought about by expanding the basketball-friendly conference for football purposes. But could be other reasons:

Suggested reasons: The economic downturn (I think that might be overrated) and HD television which makes sitting home watching the game a nice alternative.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/acc...story.html

"As a whole, the ACC is averaging 9,406 fans through Wednesday. It would be the lowest average for the league since the 1984-1985 season and the first time it has been lower than 10,000 since the 1988-1989 season. If those figures don’t drastically improve, it would be the fourth consecutive year the ACC’s attendance numbers declined. "

I agree w/ your original statement. A big, spread out conference does little to inspire fan support.

But, you present plausible alternatives too. Also, isn't the ACC ranked like #5 this year? They're having a bit of a down year, and traditional powerhouses, like Maryland are off. So fans aren't uber-enthusiastic about games like Duke v Maryland.

It is always tough to figure cause and effect but the ACC is working on a 4 year slide and a weakened conference hurt by expansion (?) seems to be part of it.

To extrapolate from the 'case study'...

What's going to happen to other conferences which are expanding beyond the saturation point?

BTW, conferences are doing all of this craziness to try and get a 2nd BCS bowl bid????

(02-10-2012 10:46 AM)emu steve Wrote:  To extrapolate from the 'case study'...

What's going to happen to other conferences which are expanding beyond the saturation point?

BTW, conferences are doing all of this craziness to try and get a 2nd BCS bowl bid????

I don't think so. I think it's a longer game to shore up teams for an "elite" division that will ultimately sponsor a football playoff. And make a lot of money. That they keep for themselves.

Geography has made this tough to include teams like Boise St and BYU...who have enough credibility that denial hurts the elite coalition.

With the Big East going west, that may offer a way in for both. But it's unclear. I thought the Big 12 expanding made more sense.

The reason is really quite simple. The ACC used to be the strongest conference because all teams were good top to bottom. Maybe it had two weak teams with all others having a chance on any given night. The ACC now looks like all the other conferences with all the power placed in the top 3-4 teams. Ga. Tech, Wake Forest, and Clemson are dragging bottom. No one wants to see them play. BTW, add that Miami does not draw no matter what.

The ACC's been borked in both major sports recently. Boston College has been to as many ACC title games in football as Florida State and Wake Forest has been to more than Miami. In basketball, you've had FSU finish 4th, 3rd, 3rd and currently is tied for first. I'm reasonably certain that Roy Williams makes more by himself then FSU spends on their entire basketball program.

Eventually, those things have to go back to normal. I think.