WSJ Online Posts Story on Student Football Attendance

Submitted by Hill Street Blue on

Troubled times in student-ticket land. Michigan is not the only school trying to figure it out.  The Wall Street Journal ($paywall) article cites a number of newer data-points that say bathrooms and concessions trumps wi-fi.  No mention of where jumbo-trons rank, however.  The former athletic department regime's pursuit of "super bowl" experiences, "cutting edge" halftimes, and a rawk music driven festival atmosphere, all seem to have been mildly to wildly off track.  

The piece leads with a pic of an embarassingly few Michigan students standing in a sea of empty seats at the Indiana game.  I don't have the pic posting skill to put that image up, perhaps someone can oblige?

Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-do-college-football-fans-today-want-14…

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Wolverine Devotee

July 17th, 2015 at 10:19 PM ^

Joined: 06/29/2009

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Canadian

July 18th, 2015 at 8:50 PM ^

Same for Yost. It angers me to no end that the band was getting drowned out during games last season. Students and season ticket holders (in my area anyways) were chanting "No more music; More band sound"

I really hope that dumb fucking dance thing they did last year doesn't get carried forward either.

Joined: 06/02/2012

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jblaze

July 18th, 2015 at 6:34 AM ^

The reason attendance was down for students and everyone else is that we were not very good and like it or not gave up as fans.

A lack of rawk and $5 bottle water would not have increased attendance. Similarly, if we were really good, rawk and $5 bottles of water would not have decreased attendance.

Joined: 08/29/2008

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maizenbluenc

July 18th, 2015 at 8:05 AM ^

Sold out in 5 minutes. There was a lot of angst from those who slept in or who's mom didn't sign in right away. Of course they are $10 a game so the only real skin a student has in the game is the ability to buy season tickets the next year. (If you don't attend or someone doesn't attend in your place, you can't buy season tickets the next year.)

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Perkis-Size Me

July 18th, 2015 at 8:37 AM ^

Win football games and students show up. It's not that complicated. No one wants to watch a losing product.

There's a reason OSU has a full, or a darn close to full student section for every game.



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umumum

July 18th, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^

Winning games certainly is the single biggest factor in attendance, but are we really dismissing all of the Brandonesque crap that also made attending less enjoyable?  The WSJ article makes it pretty clear that this is a nationwide, ongoing problem. Sometimes people on this Board forget they are hardcore--and not necessarily representitive of the majority of attendees.  Remember, Harbaugh + Hackett > Harbaugh + Brandon.

Joined: 01/06/2011

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jabberwock

July 18th, 2015 at 3:14 PM ^

Michigan is temporaily exempt due to HARBAUGH!

But an 8-4 season or (shudder) worse could easily change that.

I think it's a "death of a thousand cuts" scenario.
Poor recent on-field performance isn't the only fator and no, winning won't cure EVERYTHING.

High prices (inflation or otherwise)
More televised games
Big screen TVs
Generic NFL like strerile atmoshpere & too many timeouts
Students with a dizzying amount of activities and social free-time choices nowadays.

What proportions of disinterest these factors cause is up for debate.
 

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