Ohio Football Topic
Topic: Win and They Will Come
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GroverBall
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Posted: 1/8/2019 10:40 AM
Interesting article that refutes the notion that winning fills stadiums:

https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/empty-feeling-at-college-f...

Hasn't worked for Alabama Football (article obviously predates flop in National Championship game last night), the trend appears to be nationwide and not directly connected to winning/losing?
BillyTheCat
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Posted: 1/8/2019 11:56 AM
GroverBall wrote:expand_more
Interesting article that refutes the notion that winning fills stadiums:

https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/empty-feeling-at-college-f...

Hasn't worked for Alabama Football (article obviously predates flop in National Championship game last night), the trend appears to be nationwide and not directly connected to winning/losing?
Tickets for last nights game were still available at game time, and saw the lowest price of all Championship games to date on the secondary market.
mf279801
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Posted: 1/8/2019 12:21 PM
Wow, for game played an (approximately) 5000 combined miles from the home regions of the two teams, on a Monday night, its hard to imagine that the prices of those tickets on the secondary market weren't bid through the roof. Its almost like is was vastly more expensive for Alabama and Clemson fans to travel to (and obtain lodging in) Santa Clara than it was for Alabama and Georgia fans to travel to (and obtain lodging for) Atlanta.
Maddog13
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Posted: 1/8/2019 4:32 PM
I wonder whether this is more of an indicator of how the economy is truly going rather than an indictment on the popularity of college football? Besides, I have never enjoyed watching football more with the installment of the overhead camera on TV. There are no lines to the restroom or the snack bar, and I have comfortable seating that allows me to stretch out.
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 1/8/2019 4:40 PM
Maddog13 wrote:expand_more
I wonder whether this is more of an indicator of how the economy is truly going rather than an indictment on the popularity of college football? Besides, I have never enjoyed watching football more with the installment of the overhead camera on TV. There are no lines to the restroom or the snack bar, and I have comfortable seating that allows me to stretch out.
Or just a reflection of a trend that's showing itself across a lot of major sports.

In addition to attendance issues in college sports, attendance at Major League Baseball games has been down for 6 straight years, and NFL attendance has declined for 3 straight seasons.
L.C.
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Posted: 1/8/2019 5:56 PM
I think that the core problem is some data that Alan Swank posted awhile back. This link shows the data:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sports-with-the-old...

It shows that the average age of viewers of all major sports is going up rapidly. What that means is that the people who were watching in the past continue to watch it, but not enough younger viewers are joining them. As watchers age, some will pass away, others will have health issues that prevent attendance, and still others will lose interest. Without new fans, all sports are going to see a significant decline in viewers.

Will today's young people become sports fans at some point? Or, will they turn to other forms of leisure activity?
Pataskala
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Posted: 1/8/2019 8:24 PM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
I wonder whether this is more of an indicator of how the economy is truly going rather than an indictment on the popularity of college football? Besides, I have never enjoyed watching football more with the installment of the overhead camera on TV. There are no lines to the restroom or the snack bar, and I have comfortable seating that allows me to stretch out.
Or just a reflection of a trend that's showing itself across a lot of major sports.

In addition to attendance issues in college sports, attendance at Major League Baseball games has been down for 6 straight years, and NFL attendance has declined for 3 straight seasons.
The Tampa Bay Rays are building a new stadium that's smaller than the one they already have -- under 30,000. I know they have attendance issues there and they already have the smallest stadium in MLB. But building an even smaller stadium cuts against the grain. Maybe they want it to seem that they have larger crowds.
Recovering Journalist
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Posted: 1/8/2019 8:37 PM
Fewer people watched on TV too.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2019/01/08/cl... /

Times are definitely changing.
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 1/8/2019 8:55 PM
L.C. wrote:expand_more
I think that the core problem is some data that Alan Swank posted awhile back. This link shows the data:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-sports-with-the-old...

It shows that the average age of viewers of all major sports is going up rapidly. What that means is that the people who were watching in the past continue to watch it, but not enough younger viewers are joining them. As watchers age, some will pass away, others will have health issues that prevent attendance, and still others will lose interest. Without new fans, all sports are going to see a significant decline in viewers.

Will today's young people become sports fans at some point? Or, will they turn to other forms of leisure activity?
For what it's worth, there are a few sports whose fan bases in the US are actually growing and getting younger: namely, the NBA and various soccer leagues.

Soccer and the NBA have a couple of things in common: games that are a reasonable length and mostly continuous action. I think that's a really big part of the decline in interest when it comes to baseball.
L.C.
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Posted: 1/8/2019 9:29 PM
Per that article, those two sports are resisting the trend, but not completely. The average age of NBA fans increased from 40 to 42 between 2000 and 2016, but note that College Basketball increased from 44 to 52 over the same time period. MLS went from 39 to 40 between 2006 and 2016, a small increase, but still an increase.
Kevin Finnegan
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Posted: 1/9/2019 9:50 AM
Pataskala wrote:expand_more
I wonder whether this is more of an indicator of how the economy is truly going rather than an indictment on the popularity of college football? Besides, I have never enjoyed watching football more with the installment of the overhead camera on TV. There are no lines to the restroom or the snack bar, and I have comfortable seating that allows me to stretch out.
Or just a reflection of a trend that's showing itself across a lot of major sports.

In addition to attendance issues in college sports, attendance at Major League Baseball games has been down for 6 straight years, and NFL attendance has declined for 3 straight seasons.
The Tampa Bay Rays are building a new stadium that's smaller than the one they already have -- under 30,000. I know they have attendance issues there and they already have the smallest stadium in MLB. But building an even smaller stadium cuts against the grain. Maybe they want it to seem that they have larger crowds.
Actually, they're not building a stadium. They're staying in the dreadful Trop through at least 2027, when they'll either need a new stadium or move (if not beforehand). What they are doing is closing off the top section of the stadium, lessening the seating to, yes, under 30,000.

https://www.draysbay.com/2018/12/11/18136358/tampa-bay-ra...
Andrew Ruck
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Posted: 1/9/2019 8:39 PM
Just wanted to throw in that the numbers often cited for baseball TV ratings and age of viewers are severely flawed. Baseball is a local game and the local TV ratings are doing tremendous, but in articles and discussions like posted above just pull numbers from national broadcasts. Because the season is spent following your team with your broadcasters on your channel...it stands to reason that there is not a large national following, and national telecasts, namely the playoffs, rate poorly. But night and night during the season, baseball is dominating many markets locally. There is a lot of data to suggest interest in baseball is holding strong...the biggest being ever increasing revenues. And the MLB At Bat app and MLB.tv streaming package shows young fans are very much present. But all ESPN likes to talk about is how the only people watching baseball are a few old guys.
Deciduous Forest Cat
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Posted: 1/9/2019 8:49 PM
Andrew Ruck wrote:expand_more
Just wanted to throw in that the numbers often cited for baseball TV ratings and age of viewers are severely flawed. Baseball is a local game and the local TV ratings are doing tremendous, but in articles and discussions like posted above just pull numbers from national broadcasts. Because the season is spent following your team with your broadcasters on your channel...it stands to reason that there is not a large national following, and national telecasts, namely the playoffs, rate poorly. But night and night during the season, baseball is dominating many markets locally. There is a lot of data to suggest interest in baseball is holding strong...the biggest being ever increasing revenues. And the MLB At Bat app and MLB.tv streaming package shows young fans are very much present. But all ESPN likes to talk about is how the only people watching baseball are a few old guys.
Truth. Could espn in all its forms spent any more time fellating the nfl? It begs the question... why did the NFL decide it needed it's own network when it already has espn?
Mike Johnson
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Posted: 1/9/2019 10:23 PM
After the 2005 season, Stanford razed its 89,000-seat stadium and built a new one on the same site that seats 50,400.
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