Getty Image / Andy Lyons
- For the seventh straight year, College Football attendance saw a decline
- Attendance numbers for the 2021 NCAAF season were the lowest they’ve been since 1981 but it wasn’t bad news for every school
- Read more College Football articles right here
Everyone I talk to has a valid excuse for why they haven’t been to College Football games in the past few years. People move around, teams grow disappointing, some are worried about the packed stadium atmosphere. All of the excuses I’ve heard from friends and colleagues are valid but the end result is the same, College Football attendance has taken a beating in recent years.
A new report from Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports has pulled back the curtain on just how dire the College Football attendance situation has become. Attendance fell for the seventh straight year and its now at the lowest levels since 1981. That’s 40+ years ago! Ronald Reagan was in office. Google wouldn’t even be created for another 17 years. That’s how far College Football attendance has fallen, all the way back to an era when Jane Fonda was the highest-paid star in Hollywood that year.
The numbers paint an interesting picture. There were some wins across the College Football attendance landscape. Rutgers and Arkansas figured out how to put butts back in the seats. But every major conference other than the Big Ten saw declines and the Big Ten only saw a minuscule increase of +0.003.
College Football Attendance Sees Lowest Numbers In 40 Years
Last season marked the seventh straight year and ninth year in the last 10 that FBS attendance has declined. The NCAA has been tracking FBS attendance since 1976, two years before then-Division I-AA (Football Championship Subdivision) was created. The per-game national decline of 1,629 fans in 2021 is the steepest ever, a 3.93% drop from 2019.
The report lays out some interesting findings. Conventional wisdom would suggest that a successful program would see an attendance boost but what it found is over 50% of the NCAAF teams ranked in the AP Top 25 saw declines in attendance.
College Football’s crown jewel, the SEC, saw its lowest attendance since 1999. The Big 12 had its lowest attendance since 2000, Pac-12 had its lowest attendance EVER, and the ACC saw its lowest attendance since 1990… College Football attendance last season was pretty dismal.
NCAAF Attendance Wasn’t Bad News For Every Team
The Arkansas Razorbacks saw a steep increase in attendance last season. Their average per game jumped by a whopping 14,353 fans per game compared to the last full season of data (2019). And on the East Coast, Rutgers attendance saw an increase of 14,458 fans per game.
Why Did College Football Attendance Dip So Hard?
The best guess of ‘why now’ isn’t just the ongoing health crisis in America, it’s also the fact that watching games at home have become easier and better than ever. Dennis Dodd cites “the convenience of 70-inch TVs” as a reason many fans are choosing to watch at home.
I mean…it really boils down to it being too expensive to attend games. I’d love to attend more Clemson football games but I can’t afford to do it often with gas/hotel/food/tickets/parking. Much rather watch it from my couch
— Mark Miller (@markwmiller07) February 24, 2022
For me, it’s just a matter of distance. I went to Florida State and to get to a game I’m looking at either a 6-hour drive or a short but expensive flight that also requires me to drive an hour to an airport with a direct flight. It’s not as if this is a new problem but it’s just a LOT more convenient (and cheaper) to watch at home on my 4K projector with friends.
And like many young parents, I would also treat a game day trip as a vacation. In that instance, I’m choosing between a vacation to Tallahassee or a vacation to somewhere like the Florida Keys or The Bahamas or out West. And in the latter scenarios I can still watch my Noles anywhere I go….