#s were released early this month. Every year seems like a broken record as the #s have been going down year after year. Even Clempson didn’t sell out a single home game. Recent article that mentions JMU a couple of times..
“
The Solution To Declining College Football Attendance Numbers Is Oversharing
This week, the NCAA reported their annual college football attendance figures for 2018, including FBS, FCS, Division II, and Division III.
Once again, the base numbers showed many issues of concern for Football Championship Subdivision.
Certainly FCS isn’t an outlier when it comes to attendance troubles – all of Division I college football has had issues over the last few years. Last year, the FBS had their biggest drop in average attendance per game in 34 years. This year, seven of ten FBS conferences experienced their lowest-average attendance in a decade or more.
But as expected, FCS saw a similar decline across the board in their average per game numbers as well.
For the first time, the average FCS crowd size was below 8,000 per game, averaging 7,853 fans. Last year, the average 8,223 fans per contest, marking a 4.5% drop from year to year.
What’s wrong, and can anything be done to reverse the decline?...”
http://www.college-sports-journal.com/th...ersharing/
I think it's like the direction golf went and is going. A huge investment of time and also money that people are preferring to put to use in other ways. Travel to and from a football game plus 3 hours of the actual game takes up an entire day if you have to drive any sort of distance.
Our attendance is still robust though. The numbers last year are askew due to a couple of flukes.
1) We were forced to play the home opener on short notice on a Thursday night because of Hurricane Florence. That game is usually a sellout and there is no reason to believe it wouldn't have sold out too had it been played on Saturday w/ normal weather.
2) We had to play in the Thanksgiving weekend round of the playoffs- something we haven't had to do recently. Playoffs in general are an attendance killer (and should NEVER be counted for season attendance). But the short turnaround, no planning time and the kids out of school on a Holiday weekend...that's a death blow.
Our 4 other home games were:
W&M: 25,130
Elon: 25,484
SB : 25,244
RI : 24,199
(07-03-2019 11:05 AM)olddawg Wrote: [ -> ]Our attendance is still robust though. The numbers last year are askew due to a couple of flukes.
1) We were forced to play the home opener on short notice on a Thursday night because of Hurricane Florence. That game is usually a sellout and there is no reason to believe it wouldn't have sold out too had it been played on Saturday w/ normal weather.
2) We had to play in the Thanksgiving weekend round of the playoffs- something we haven't had to do recently. Playoffs in general are an attendance killer (and should NEVER be counted for season attendance). But the short turnaround, no planning time and the kids out of school on a Holiday weekend...that's a death blow.
Our 4 other home games were:
W&M: 25,130
Elon: 25,484
SB : 25,244
RI : 24,199
So why is playoff attendance so poor? Not only us but I believe it's everywhere. I just don't get it, teams are usually playing at their best.
(07-03-2019 12:30 PM)RamDawg Wrote: [ -> ] (07-03-2019 11:05 AM)olddawg Wrote: [ -> ]Our attendance is still robust though. The numbers last year are askew due to a couple of flukes.
1) We were forced to play the home opener on short notice on a Thursday night because of Hurricane Florence. That game is usually a sellout and there is no reason to believe it wouldn't have sold out too had it been played on Saturday w/ normal weather.
2) We had to play in the Thanksgiving weekend round of the playoffs- something we haven't had to do recently. Playoffs in general are an attendance killer (and should NEVER be counted for season attendance). But the short turnaround, no planning time and the kids out of school on a Holiday weekend...that's a death blow.
Our 4 other home games were:
W&M: 25,130
Elon: 25,484
SB : 25,244
RI : 24,199
So why is playoff attendance so poor? Not only us but I believe it's everywhere. I just don't get it, teams are usually playing at their best.
My 1st thought would be not enough time to commit to the game. Even season ticket holders can't make every game. With only 5-6 days notice, you lose a lot of the non die-hards. Combine that with holiday travel or hosting holiday guests and it can be tough to draw the usual crowd.
I agree with you, olddawg.
My hope is that Dukes fans will expect us hosting playoff games and plan accordingly. I know I do. And even if we underachieve like last year and wind up without a first round bye and going on the road in the 2nd round, I think the expectations should still be plans to host at least 2 home games in December.
(07-03-2019 12:49 PM)Wear Purple Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with you, olddawg.
My hope is that Dukes fans will expect us hosting playoff games and plan accordingly. I know I do. And even if we underachieve like last year and wind up without a first round bye and going on the road in the 2nd round, I think the expectations should still be plans to host at least 2 home games in December.
I do think a lot of people do expect & plan (though not as many as we'd like), but not many thinking we'll have to play in the
1st round though. That week is the difference between subpar attendance and atrocious attendance.
JMU is different from most universities outside of the P5 in that the overwhelming majority of our fans that physically attend games don’t live within a 1 hour drive. This requires a commitment of a full day and more advanced planning. For many it’s a social element too, so involving many people in a group as a requirement for attendance furthers the challenge.
Meanwhile schools like NDSU benefit from having an indoor stadium (comfort and warmth) and the vast majority of their fans living right there in Fargo. If JMU had 245k in the Harrisonburg metro with most of that consisting of its regularly attending fans, we’d draw better for playoff games too.
(07-03-2019 12:55 PM)olddawg Wrote: [ -> ] (07-03-2019 12:49 PM)Wear Purple Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with you, olddawg.
My hope is that Dukes fans will expect us hosting playoff games and plan accordingly. I know I do. And even if we underachieve like last year and wind up without a first round bye and going on the road in the 2nd round, I think the expectations should still be plans to host at least 2 home games in December.
I do think a lot of people do expect & plan (though not as many as we'd like), but not many thinking we'll have to play in the 1st round though. That week is the difference between subpar attendance and atrocious attendance.
Our attendance in later rounds in 2016 and 2017 sucked though. I don’t think we’ve ever cracked 16k announced attendance for a playoff game at home in any round. We also never get the later round Saturday games. Fridays make out of town attendance harder.
I’ve just accepted that our more casual fans don’t care enough to bother to block off their thanksgiving to New Year’s Day weekends. Holiday parties take precedent in Virginia.
Also, we fudge the numbers as low as we can get away with, as does any university who knows the playoff hosting system.
(07-03-2019 06:05 PM)Potomac Wrote: [ -> ]JMU is different from most universities outside of the P5 in that the overwhelming majority of our fans that physically attend games don’t live within a 1 hour drive. This requires a commitment of a full day and more advanced planning. For many it’s a social element too, so involving many people in a group as a requirement for attendance furthers the challenge.
Meanwhile schools like NDSU benefit from having an indoor stadium (comfort and warmth) and the vast majority of their fans living right there in Fargo. If JMU had 245k in the Harrisonburg metro with most of that consisting of its regularly attending fans, we’d draw better for playoff games too.
True. Even though I have a kid at JMU I rarely go to games. 3 hour car ride there, 3 hour game and 3 hour drive home. And unlike a crappy place like Fargo, there are plenty of other things to do here in the fall.
(07-03-2019 06:05 PM)Potomac Wrote: [ -> ]JMU is different from most universities outside of the P5 in that the overwhelming majority of our fans that physically attend games don’t live within a 1 hour drive. This requires a commitment of a full day and more advanced planning. For many it’s a social element too, so involving many people in a group as a requirement for attendance furthers the challenge.
Meanwhile schools like NDSU benefit from having an indoor stadium (comfort and warmth) and the vast majority of their fans living right there in Fargo. If JMU had 245k in the Harrisonburg metro with most of that consisting of its regularly attending fans, we’d draw better for playoff games too.
I’m a little surprised to hear that (not saying you’re wrong. Vast majority to me would be at least 2/3). I thought a large chunk of their fanbase (non student/season ticket holders) lives in the MSP about 3.5 hrs away. I wonder what percent is Fargo vs MSP. If one of their fans is trolling they could probably answer that.
(07-04-2019 03:18 PM)BDKJMU Wrote: [ -> ] (07-03-2019 06:05 PM)Potomac Wrote: [ -> ]JMU is different from most universities outside of the P5 in that the overwhelming majority of our fans that physically attend games don’t live within a 1 hour drive. This requires a commitment of a full day and more advanced planning. For many it’s a social element too, so involving many people in a group as a requirement for attendance furthers the challenge.
Meanwhile schools like NDSU benefit from having an indoor stadium (comfort and warmth) and the vast majority of their fans living right there in Fargo. If JMU had 245k in the Harrisonburg metro with most of that consisting of its regularly attending fans, we’d draw better for playoff games too.
I’m a little surprised to hear that (not saying you’re wrong. Vast majority to me would be at least 2/3). I thought a large chunk of their fanbase (non student/season ticket holders) lives in the MSP about 3.5 hrs away. I wonder what percent is Fargo vs MSP. If one of their fans is trolling they could probably answer that.
On the other hand, there's zilch in terms of population once you get outside of Fargo. Fargo is *the big city* in ND, at 229k for the combination of Fargo and Moorhead, 125K in Fargo proper. The rest of the state has a total of 600k people.
Harrisonburg is up to 48k (kinda impressive really), with 190k in Shenandoah, Rockingham, and Augusta counties alone. The state has 8M people, so in terms of people to get there, VA definitely has a bigger base to draw from. But the OP was right - there's a lot more to do in VA in November than there is in ND.
(07-08-2019 08:29 PM)94computerguy Wrote: [ -> ] (07-04-2019 03:18 PM)BDKJMU Wrote: [ -> ] (07-03-2019 06:05 PM)Potomac Wrote: [ -> ]JMU is different from most universities outside of the P5 in that the overwhelming majority of our fans that physically attend games don’t live within a 1 hour drive. This requires a commitment of a full day and more advanced planning. For many it’s a social element too, so involving many people in a group as a requirement for attendance furthers the challenge.
Meanwhile schools like NDSU benefit from having an indoor stadium (comfort and warmth) and the vast majority of their fans living right there in Fargo. If JMU had 245k in the Harrisonburg metro with most of that consisting of its regularly attending fans, we’d draw better for playoff games too.
I’m a little surprised to hear that (not saying you’re wrong. Vast majority to me would be at least 2/3). I thought a large chunk of their fanbase (non student/season ticket holders) lives in the MSP about 3.5 hrs away. I wonder what percent is Fargo vs MSP. If one of their fans is trolling they could probably answer that.
On the other hand, there's zilch in terms of population once you get outside of Fargo. Fargo is *the big city* in ND, at 229k for the combination of Fargo and Moorhead, 125K in Fargo proper. The rest of the state has a total of 600k people.
Harrisonburg is up to 48k (kinda impressive really), with 190k in Shenandoah, Rockingham, and Augusta counties alone. The state has 8M people, so in terms of people to get there, VA definitely has a bigger base to draw from. But the OP was right - there's a lot more to do in VA in November than there is in ND.
Actually, most recent estimates put H’Burg’s population at approximately 53k. H’Burg is the 3rd fastest growing city in VA.